In preparation for the Nov. 6 election, Mayor Tom Watson hosted a Q & A forum for the 12 candidates competing for seats on the Owensboro City Commission. With so many potentials running in this year’s election, former Judge-Executive Reid Haire — who asked the hard-to-answer questions — said, without a doubt, it was going to be a tight race for the four available seats.
“It would be difficult for me to pick the top four candidates,” Haire said after the event.
The forum gave each candidate 90 seconds to answer two questions drawn at random. Each person was given a unique question to answer, so the spotlight was put on the candidates as far as originality and knowledge in answering.
Business owner Larry Maglinger has run his business, Custom Audio-Video, Inc. for over 30 years. Maglinger was asked how he’d address the problem of funding public employee pension plans because, as Haire explained, the City of Owensboro would be required to increase annual funding if the state legislature failed to modify those pension plans.
“We have to fund our portion of the city pensions,” Maglinger said, focusing on modifying the city’s budget as the best solution. “Nobody wants taxes raised. So, we have to go back to the budget and look at what the priority is to cut some expenses. We might have to cut down on some of the amenities that we have in the city–because we need them–but we have to fund our portion of the pensions in the city.”
Vietnam veteran Joseph Martin described himself as an honest, hard-working citizen who wants to make a difference. He tackled a question from Haire regarding concern on South Frederica St. in comparison to growth on Hwy. 54 and downtown Owensboro. Regardless of growth, Martin said efficiency is the key to developing other areas aside from the former.
“We need to come up with some plans to help this situation. We need to be more efficient. We waste money,” Martin said. “That’s where the money goes, and that’s why we’re in debt. We’ve got to use a certain amount for certain things and quit wasting money–taxpayers’ money. Quit raising taxes–we’ve got the money; we need to use it right.”
Jeff Sanford previously served as Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Owensboro. Sanford was asked by Haire whether the system of taxation was fair for citizens of Owensboro.
“Well, it’s the only system I’ve known since I’ve been here,” Sanford said with a laugh. “I think it’s fair to a degree. The more you make–you’re going to be in a higher tax bracket.”
Sanford added that Owensboro rests on the middle-to-lower scale as far as state-wide tax rate distribution was concerned, saying, “We have a lot to offer in this city for what we’ve paid for. We don’t want to pay more taxes, but you have to pay more if you want to live in a decent city.”
Ricky Searcy, Vice President of Community Living at the Wendell Foster Center, told the crowd he’s running amongst a group of individuals who care about the city, and that his candidacy was focused on bettering the city by building a commission that faces issues head-on and understands its citizens.
When asked whether the city commission deserved a say in zoning and planning ordinances, Searcy explained why city commissioners deserved involvement in those decisions.
“Planning and zoning is a good service from the city, but the city commission needs to have a little input on it. What I would like to see is — we need a little relief from the business community,” Searcy said. “A lot of times with planning and zoning, there can be a little bit of red tape when it comes to getting properties re-zoned. I would like for that to be a lot faster process, that way, in the middle of our city development, including downtown as well as other properties across the city, we could be a lot more flexible when it comes to developing the city and moving forward.”
Adam Marshall manages River City Pawn Shop and believes citizens need a voice when it comes to decisions such as raising taxes.
“What I would like for us to consider every time we have that conversation [of raising taxes] is how that’s going to affect our citizens’ pocketbooks,” Marshall said. “The rising cost of living in this city is astronomical. Our citizens always have to pay that debt [of the city]. At the end of the day, we need to consider how it affects them.”
When asked if he’d ever consider raising taxes for Owensboro citizens, Marshall said he’d make that consideration only if the rewards outweighed the risks, using Smothers Park as an example of a questionable reward-vs.-risk scenario when it came to taxpayers’ money being effectively used.
Certified public account Charlie Shelton was asked what Owensboro’s next step was in regard to economic development, and what role the City should play in that process.
“I believe the city should be out advocating and recruiting large employers,” said Shelton. “We should be going after someone who’s going to facilitate higher pay, good, long-term jobs and career growth employment,” Shelton said.
As far as people who say Owensboro doesn’t breed enough college graduates, Shelton said that’s untrue.
“We have plenty of college graduates — they just live in Nashville, or Louisville, or Bowling Green — they’ve all moved on somewhere else,” Shelton said. “And why do they feel like they need to do that? Because they can make a six-figure income. If we had the jobs here in Owensboro, they’d love to be here.”
Incumbent Larry Conder serves as the executive director of operations at PEAK–Public Energy Authority of Kentucky–and is the President of Riverwalk Properties, LLC. Conder’s question was, “What is the city’s biggest challenge, and what is your plan to address it?”
“You could see this coming over two years ago. It was very evident,” Conder said. “This year in the budget, we had $817,000 additional pension costs on top of what we currently had. Next year, $835,000–next year, $875,000. The accumulative effect of $2.5 million. Now, what could we do with that?”
“Not only the City of Owensboro, but Daviess County Fiscal Court,” Conder said. “OMU, RWRA. All of our governmental energy and amenities will be facing this issue. It’s going to happen. The needs vs. wants issue? It’s going to hit you square in the face.”
Conder said in exchange for signing a 30-year long-term contract with electrical companies, OMU and other companies would give customers a 15 percent discount, which Conder says is happening all over with longer-term contracts. Conder said the savings from the 15 percent yearly savings would be split evenly between the ratepayers themselves, while the other 50 percent would go to the state.
Incumbent Pam Smith-Wright has served on the city commission since 2011 and was the first female to serve as Mayor Pro Tem. Smith-Wright was asked her opinion on the city’s allocation of taxes toward museums and other public entities focused on art.
“I think every community needs art and things that bring people in,” Smith-Wright said. “I think it’s the city’s responsibility to take care of these things–we have to have something to bring people into the city.”
Smith-Wright added that highly educated people–such as doctors–expect cities they work in to be diverse and artistically driven. With the number of doctors lacking in Owensboro, and especially doctors of minority, Smith-Wright feels Owensboro museums are important to Owensboro’s economic development.
“We don’t have the culture everyone likes,” she said.
Incumbent and real estate broker Jay Velotta was asked whether he was able to make tough decisions as city commissioner — the kind that weren’t necessarily loved by everyone but important to the city.
Velotta told Haire that his priority in making any decision as a city commissioner was to consider the citizens first, even if that meant putting the city’s growth second.
“You have to look at the city as a citizen,” Velotta said. “The first thing I’d do is collectively talk to those 50,000-plus people out there. I’d carve an opinion based on the community’s input.”
Freelance writer Meagan Hagan discussed her ideas for offering strong public safety departments across the city.
“It comes back to the question about the police department,” Hagan said. “Our public servants should be given better pay, and we don’t mess with their pensions.”
Hagan believes a strong voice as a city commissioner could make a powerful difference in the lives of public servants.
“We can go to Frankfort and speak on their behalf,” Hagan said. “Police officers don’t get paid a lot of money, but they put their lives on the line for a lot of people. I’d like to see them get better treatment.”
The final candidate, Andy Gambin, serves as a bus monitor for Owensboro Public Schools. He was asked by Haire what Owensboro’s most critical services were, and why.
“Our police department and fire department — we need to be taking care of them,” Gamblin said. “The government trying to change pensions to a 401K has a lot to do with that.”
Gamblin, who’s worked for the school district for many years, said being a city commissioner means taking a stand for teachers and other public servants who may not have a voice, telling the crowd, “We are a voice for the people.”
