Candidates make their cases at forum

Cleveland residents heard from the four candidates vying for the two seats on the Cleveland City Council during a candidate forum hosted Oct. 5 by the White County Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the White County News and WRWH radio.

Running for the Ward 3 seat are incumbent Kevin Stanley and Jeremy McClure, while  incumbent Bradley Greene and CJ McDonald are seeking the Ward 4 seat. (Voting for both seats, however, is citywide.) During the forum, candidates were asked questions about different issues in the community, and were each given an opportunity to respond.

Candidates were asked what they thought could be done or has been done to support economic development for the city.

Greene said the city has done several things in the past to increase the growth of the community, especially with infrastructure. He said the city has put in a new water tank and a sewer system that was installed along U.S. 129.

“The sewer system that was put in down [U.S.] 129 is already paying back dividends, fostering growth, with the economic impact of the investment of $3,136,000,” Greene said. “Over nine years it’s brought back $64 million worth of reward, created 206, 240 jobs retained for a total of 446. Another thing that we’ve done to foster growth, and continue growth, is keep jobs here with water connection to NOK. They were in the process of needing to expand with the assistance of a grant of $275,000, $100,000 committed by the county and $175,000 by the city. We’ve managed to ensure that 450 jobs or more will be stabilized in the next 30 years.”

For McDonald, making the city more business friendly and more visitor friendly with public restrooms and more parking is key to economic growth. He said he has spoken to businesses throughout the city about their issues, and that they should be viewed as stakeholders and partners with the city, not hinderances. That includes a need for public restrooms and more parking.

“In the past the City of Cleveland has been the city of ‘no,’” McDonald said. “‘No, you can’t do this, no you can’t do it this way.’ Maybe there’s an ordinance that they refer to. Maybe that’s correct. We need to change the ordinances and become more business friendly. Secondly, we have great untapped potential in this downtown area. Public restrooms would do a world of good for our downtown area. Also parking – we need to address parking in the downtown area. Whether it’s more parking, whether it’s advertising parking that is unused, also we need to become more pedestrian friendly in the downtown area. If you do these things, if you give the businesses a chance to succeed, and as a municipal organization you help them, the rest will take care of itself.”

Listening to businesses is what McClure stated he believes is a large part of economic development. Businesses are the life line of a community, and local businesses feel they aren’t being listened to, he said.

“You take some of the restaurants on the square that are outside the city limits, just a small portion, they feel like they are losing out on business potential because of the pedestrian situation, parking situation,” McClure said. “You take into the fact that when you go on Friday night to the square, you may spend five minutes to find a parking spot and you may go somewhere else because you aren’t going to wait. You also have to look at the fact that, you know, you’ve got infrastructure issues, roadways need to be fixed. That’s going to cause a lot of people to run away. You’ve got enormous potential that’s being neglected from business owners that feel like they’re losing money. If they lose money, they’ll eventually pack up and leave, because if they lose money it’s not worth it for them.”

Stanley said the city has made changes, and continues to make changes to let businesses know the city is ready for them. He cited upgrades the city is doing to the wastewater treatment plant, which not only meet EPA and EPD standards, but will also the plant to handle an increase in usage.

“That doesn’t sound like a ‘no’ to me, that sounds like a ‘yes,’” Stanley said, citing past additions and future planned development of grocery stores and fast food restaurants. “So that to me is a big ‘yes.’ We’ve also got another fast food restaurant that is coming in, Popeye’s Fried Chicken, but then we’ve also got T-Mobile coming in. So as far as I’m concerned, we’re doing things to make businesses be able to come here. That’s not a no, if anything it’s a resounding yes. Lastly I will say as far as the water situation goes, that’s also, we’re in the process of closing on a deal right now that DOT is going to give us the property. We’ve already got the well on site, it’s ready to go once everything is recorded. So again, it’s preparing for the future. It may not be glamorous, it may not have a lot of bells and whistles, but by doing this we’re letting businesses know we’re ready.”

Public safety was also an important topic, with all four praising the work done by the police and fire departments. But, they all felt there was more that could be done to assist them.

Stanley said the police department has a great group of officers. If there are any concerns from the public, they can go and talk to the police chief or any officers, he said. His main concern was making sure the city keeps the officers.

“We need to try and pay them a competitive wage so we don’t lose them,” Stanley said. “I think our city, maybe two or three years ago, we gave an across the board wage increase to all of our employees. But it started out as more helping the police department, but then we realized we have employees in general, we need to take care of and do what we can to help them.”

McClure said for the general public, he believes sidewalks and pedestrian walkways are a big issue because it’s difficult to cross the road in certain spots. In regards to the fire department, the biggest issue he sees has to do with the ladder truck.

“Our ladder truck, you can put out a fire, but you can’t pick somebody out a building if you had to,” McClure said. “That’s a major concern that needs to be addressed and I feel like as a whole, we’re kind of neglecting that at this point. That needs to be addressed fairly quickly.”

McDonald said he wants the police and fire departments to have the best equipment possible because they put their lives on the line for the public.

“I have talked to some of the fire, our fire department, the firefighters there are doing an amazing job,” McDonald said. “But they are scared to use the current ladder truck to its full capacity. That’s one thing, we need to give these guys the tools to do their job so they don’t have to worry about their own safety so they can worry about our safety.”

Greene said the police officers and firefighters in the city are some of the finest trained. He also addressed the concern about the ladder truck, stating that they city is looking at the issue, but it’s not a cheap fix.

“I understand the question about the fire truck and its use and dependability,” he said. “Our fire chief uses it as he can in situations when it’s possible. We have a plan, we are looking forward to replacing that firetruck in the future. But a firetruck of that magnitude, and of that consequence, the size that we need, will be well over $1.2 million. We’re looking for grants, we’re looking for any help we can possibly get provide that.”

Candidates were asked what they thought the most significant issue facing the city was.

McClure said he believes spending is the most significant issue facing the city, citing the city’s proposed municipal complex at the site of the former Talon factory property as a place where spending could be cut.

“I think there’s a lot of spending going on there [Talon] that does not have to happen,” said McClure said, citing ways he felt the project size and cost could be scaled down. “That’s a lot of money that could be saved. On top of that, infrastructure needs, huge, huge deal in this town. But, definitely spending. If we can reduce spending and save the money where it can be saved and put it where it needs to be, I think this town would be a lot better off.”

Greene addressed the Talon project, saying no plans are definite and have been changed several times, before addressing the affordable housing issue.

“There’s been no decisions made on what size building we’re going to build or how it’s going to be built or if it’s going to be in stages as it can be afforded or maybe not even built at all, that’s up tot he citizens of this city to decide,” Greene said. “We are the stewards of their money. It will be their decision and their decision only. As far as the greatest need I see is the need for affordable housing. I’m not talking about apartments. I’m not talking about large scale subdivisions. I’m talking about some housing that can be built, I don’t think it can be built in this day and time with the cost of lumber and building materials, and the shortages we’re facing.”

For Stanley, infrastructure and preparing for the future is the most important issue.

“As far as the most pressing need to me, I’ve mentioned it several times now, it’s infrastructure,” Stanley said. “Because it doesn’t matter how many businesses want to come here, how many people want to come here, if we don’t have the water and sewage to handle the capacity for what is going to happen in the future, it doesn’t matter ... If we can’t provide these things to the potential businesses and citizens here, it doesn’t matter our dreams are if we don’t put them into action. I feel like the city with the things we’re doing with the water and the sewage, we’re doing things now that is going to set the city up for at least the next 20, 30, it could even be potentially 40 years.”

McDonald said growth is both the biggest challenge and biggest opportunity for Cleveland, citing that many residents commute outside of the county for work.

“ Growth is coming to the city of Cleveland, whether anybody likes it or not,” McDonald said. “We as a community, as a city, have to embrace it and use the growth, and make it good growth. I agree, invest in the infrastructure, increase water and sewer capacity, because that’s one of the first things businesses look at when they want to move to a city. Set the city up so it’s more business friendly, businesses want to come to the city. Then we have high paying, full-time employment for the citizens of Cleveland so they don’t have to drive to Gainesville, they don’t have to drive to Dawsonville, they can stay in Cleveland and work. Growth is our biggest challenge, by far. It’s also our greatest opportunity.

Parks and recreation space in the city was another topic, with all four saying there is a need for more, and some saying they would like to see some greenspace in each of the wards. Other topics included asking candidates what they would do if they had $3 million to address an issue and what they would spend it on, as well as their thoughts on property maintenance.

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The full forum can be found here or by going to the videos tab on the White County News Facebook.

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Cleveland early voting is set to start on Tuesday, Oct. 12, and continue on weekdays through Friday, Oct. 29, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cleveland City Hall. There also will be early voting on Saturday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 23 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at city hall. Election Day voting will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 2, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the fellowship hall of First Baptist Church in Cleveland.