Times covers broad-ranging debate

Answering to the people : Diversity of topics wide at first Fayetteville mayoral debate
BY MARSHA L. MELNICHAK Northwest Arkansas Times
Posted on Friday, September 12, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/69027/
Pick a Fayetteville topic, and it was probably discussed at the opening round of mayoral debates Thursday.

The Renaissance Tower; it’s in there.

Light rail; it’s in there.

Buses and the idea of a western bypass, too.

So were economic development, managed growth, streets, the new sewer plant, SouthPass, parks, the smoking ban, taxes, sidewalks, budgets, the sign ordinance, College Avenue improvements and the future location of the Walton Arts Center.

“I’m still dithering. That’s why I’m here,” said the Rev. Kerry Mueller, a relative newcomer to Fayetteville, before the city’s six mayoral candidates started taking turns to answer questions about themselves and the city.

Mueller joined about 200 city residents at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for the event which was sponsored by the Fayetteville Council of Neighborhoods and the Northwest Arkansas Times.

Facing the crowd, in the order in which they filed for office, were Walt Eilers, Adam Fire Cat, Dan Coody, Steve Clark, Lioneld Jordan and Sami Sutton.

All six candidates agree that communication is a good thing. So is open government.

Beyond that, there wasn’t much agreement.

Take parks and the ideal of an enduring green network, for example.

Eilers said parks help draw business and enhance the city’s quality of life but ongoing support will mean residents have to agree to a sales tax or more property tax to provide a consistent and regular funding base.

Fire Cat argued, “We’re already broke” and said he would not recommend any additional parks.

Coody talked about the 700 new acres of parks since he took office and spoke proudly about how many of those acres were added from donations.

Clark said parks are important to the city’s growth and economic development. An already existing 501c3 taxexempt status could help the city get more support for its parks, he said.

Jordan said as an alderman he voted in favor of parks 55 times, with only one “no” vote and that was against a full-time person to mow. The city could save money by doing less maintenance, he said.

Sutton said the city should clean up the parks it has now, should not raise the sales tax to take care of parks and shouldn’t add more “if we can’t take care of the ones we have.”

Fire Cat is in favor of waiving city requirements, like sidewalks, to attract new business. Sutton said waiving sidewalk requirements is not a good idea because people should walk more not drive.

Coody said cities can help economic development but the private sector will have to be a strong factor. Clark is for public initiatives with some private dollars.

On the same topic, Jordan is about incentive and training for high-tech jobs. Eilers said the key to incentives is to put together a consortium of the people already working toward attracting business.

“We need to pull these together and have them work in unison. Currently, they are not,” he said.

All but Fire Cat favor the smoking ban, some want to make it tougher.

They also debated the value of experience and education, passion and balance, and motivation and common sense.

The final question of the evening was about top priorities.

Economic development would be Eilers’ first and major effort.

“In the last eight months, I’ve come to believe that if we don’t seriously get about the business of economic development, we can very well be a bedroom community. … you don’t want to try to afford that,” Eilers said.

Fire Cat said his priority would be dealing with Fayetteville’s “massive” and “disgraceful” debt.

“How broke we are is just incredible,” he said.

It might mean not paying for parks now and working to reset priorities.

Coody also placed economic development as the most important thing to worry about. He also talked about the changes in Fayetteville since he became mayor.

Coody said the city has an A-plus bond capacity which would be higher if it had a more diverse revenue stream.

“ We rely too heavily on sales tax, ” he said.

He said it’s not that business is moving north, but rather that once Pinnacle Hills Promenade opened, Benton County residents could stay home to shop.

He said Fayetteville’s income has stabilized and is growing and real estate values are higher here. The city broke records this year in commercial building permits, he said.

Coody said “ dipping into” the city’s cash reserves for the 2009 budget is better than laying people off or raising taxes.

Essentials are Clark’s priority. He named fire, police, streets, water, recreation and economic development as essentials.

“ We need to work for and seek jobs for tomorrow, but we need to preserve the ones that are here, ” he said.

He said the best decision the city can make is to make tough decisions instead of borrowing from the reserve.

“I think it’s real simple for me,” Jordan said. “It’s all about, as I said before, the people and how we take care of them.”

He said a better economy is important. Protecting the watershed, building infrastructure, enhancing police and fire departments and proper money management are also important, he said.

“It goes back to the basic stuff, basically taking care of the people that put you in office,” Jordan said.

Sutton said she wants to take care of the future of Fayetteville. To do that, she would focus on youth and recycling to help the city and the planet.

As for Mueller, at the end of the night she had still not made up her mind about which candidate to support.

“I narrowed it down a bit,” she said.

She and other residents will have that opportunity again when the League of Women Voters sponsors a debate at the Fayetteville Public Library at 6 p.m. Sept. 24. Thursday’s debate can be viewed on Channel 16, the city’s Government Channel, Sunday.

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