Q Why did you decide to run for city commission?
A To really continue in some of the efforts that I started doing the first two years. It’s been a very challenging and yet very rewarding experience. City government is a very critical entity within our community.
Q What do you think are the three biggest issues facing Emporia and how would you address them?
A I think one thing that we need to be alert to is building the industrial and commercial segment of our community. We’ve received very reliable reports that indicates our pull factor of our retention of business in town. That has slipped significantly in the last decade. That’s the commercial side.
On the industrial side, we’ve been extremely successful as a community. The creation of the RDA a number of years ago has been successful in providing a single voice in working with industrial prospects and been effective when talking with someone who is talking about investing millions of dollars into your community.
It’s a real pleasure to report that tremendous accomplishments have been made. At the end of ‘05, there was a $700,000 cash fall and about $450,000 of that was from the prior year. But it turned all the way around to where this year, in 2006 the general fund ended up in the area of probably $350,000 or $450,000 cash and in addition had returned in the area of $250,000 to the utility fund.
I think a third thing that is crucial for Emporia is that we continue to look for ways to be more efficient in the delivery of services. As the community knows, the joint task force between the city and county was developed to pursue a number of things. The group just appointed a special task force to look into the potential of a joint law enforcement.
Q What qualities do you think a city commissioner should have?
A I think one of the things that keeps coming to the top of my mind is a good communicator. Number two is ethics, honesty and fair play. I learned in the many years in being in business that honesty and ethics and openness is absolutely mandatory.
I think the individual needs some good solid business type background. The city of Emporia, like most first class cities, are under a commission-manager form of government and the statutes lay out who’s definitely responsible for policy and who must approve and deny certain things and who’s responsible for operating it. The city manager is like a CEO of a business.
Q What thoughts, if any, do you have about the city’s current process of hiring a city manager?
A I’m going to say very positive. Number one, nobody had ever been entrusted with the responsibility of searching for a city manager before. I felt we made an extremely good decision to seek professional help. Working with the consultant, we developed a profile and it basically said what we expect the city manager to act like and what’s expected out of them.
Q Why should we vote for you?
A I’d say one of them is because I’d like to have you vote. I do think I am uniquely qualified with the background with government finance. I would really have hated to be a new commissioner and not have that (background). I am a conservative, which I think fits in with the Emporia profile, however, I am certainty not a narrow-minded conservative. I will always shoot straight but will demand accountability. I’m not a good yes man. If you want a yes man, you should not vote for me.
Q Is there anything you wanted to say that I haven’t asked?
A Obviously, I’ve got a passion for the community of Emporia. I would like for everyone to feel that passion and really study the candidates and get out to vote. If they study the candidates and get out to vote and they don’t think I’m the one to vote for, well that’s fine, but we really need to participate in the city.