Get to know City Council candidates

Ward 3 Seat

Jeremy McClure

It’s time for change –that’s why Jeremy McClure, 27, said he wanted to run for the Ward 3 seat on the Cleveland City Council.

“There’s a lot of things in this town growing up that are no longer here, for kids growing up, I know the skating rink is not really in town, but we have two parks and that’s all we have for kids,” he said. “There’s nothing for them to really do. I want to try and do something for the community, nothing’s really happened. We’ve gotten Freedom Park, and that’s really the only thing major that’s happened in this town in the last, I don’t know, 10 years.”

If elected, McClure said his goal is to continue the growth of the city and make sure it’s run the way citizens want it to be.

“I feel like businesses have a big opportunity if given the chance to continue to grow, and instead of sending our business to other towns, try to keep everything in house, if at all possible,” he said.

As for what the most important issue that needs to be addressed, McClure said it’s spending. He added that he believes some of the proposed projects are too much for what the city needs, and should be scaled back. He gave an example of the new multi-million-dollar Cleveland Municipal Complex, planned for the site of the former Talon zipper factory was, which is set to house city hall, the police department, fire department, and include retail shops.

“... They want to put in three or four little shops that people can rent. Why are you going to take that away from the current people that own buildings? It needs to be condensed, there’s no reason it needs to be that big.”

In regards to his qualifications, McClure said he’s run a business for many years and believes politics should be run the same way.

“If you can’t leave personal politics and beliefs at the door and run it as it should be run, you’re defeating the purpose and you’re not doing what your constituents want you to do,” he said.

As for why people should vote for him, McClure said he thinks it’s time for a change.

“If you keep voting the same way you’ve been voting, and I have nothing against [incumbents] Bradley [Greene] or Kevin [Stanley]. I have nothing against either one of them, but nothing is going to change.”

McClure is from Cleveland. He graduated White County School in 2012, as well as the University of North Georgia with an environmental science degree and certificate in GIS mapping. He currently works at Kassouf Insurance and owns a farm.

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Kevin Stanley

Brining businesses to Cleveland is a main goal for  Kevin Stanley.

Stanley, 54, moved to White County when he was 5 years old. He is the Ward 3 council member incumbent and is currently in his first term. He chose to run for the first time because he wanted to serve his community.

“Having a dad that was a mayor for years, I use to talk with him a lot about things going on within the city, development, just hearing him talk about day-to-day city business had always interested me, and just trying to continue to serve,” Stanley said. Then our next door neighbor Ed Young was on the council for years. Talking with him a lot, I think that’s what pushed me to decide ok, I want to try and serve the community.”

He wanted to run for re-election because he wants to see several projects completed.

“We have got several projects in the works that I want to try to see to completion. We’ve got the waste water treatment plant that we’re going to be upgrading. I want to see that completed. Then we’ve also got our water expansion, trying to bring on more wells and other things to serve the city. So those are two of the biggest things for me that I’m wanting to try and see us get done.”

As for what he’s proudest of accomplishing during his first term, Stanley said it’s that the city has been able to increase its infrastructure, which is vital to attracting new businesses.

“Because you can have the land, you can have the buildings, you can have everything, but if you don’t have water and sewage to handle capacity for, maybe a new restaurant, maybe a hospital, maybe a grocery store. If you don’t have the water and sewage, they’re not going to be able to open, no matter what they want to do,” Stanley said.

More infrastructure is not just a goal, but also the most important issue that the city needs to address, he said.

“There are other cities out in the area, let’s say North Georgia, that are struggling with infrastructure and I kind of feel like, our city going back 35-40 years has been, they’ve been forward thinking with trying to get this stuff done,” Stanley said.

As for why people should vote for him, Stanley said he’s easy to talk to and will be honest with people.

“I may not have the answer you want to hear, but I’ll tell you honestly whether we can do something or we can’t do something. I just think it’s more just openness to listen to people, that’s what I feel like is a good gift I’ve got, I’ll listen to people.”

Stanley has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from North Georgia College, now the University of North Georgia. He currently works as a home mortgage consultant with Homestar Financial.

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Ward 4 Seat

Bradley Greene

Continued growth of the city is a main goal for Bradley Greene.

Greene, 67, is currently on his fourth term as the Ward 4 councilman and wants to see projects he’s been involved with completed.

“I felt like there is unfinished business I would like to see done,” he said. “I felt like I kind of got it started, want to see it continue. I feel like we’re in a state of growth. There are some decisions that are going to be made in the next few years that are going to affect the citizens. I feel like, my conservative point of view and the way I work hard to provide the services and keep taxes as low as possible. Then of course you’re adding water and sewer charges, not doing it all at one time, phasing it in. We’ve been doing it for the next few years, and people don’t even know it’s happening. That’s the way you want to see things done, where it doesn’t have a huge impact on citizens at one time and I think that’s the right way to handle things. Some other projects, the sewer plant, the Talon project, I would love to see started or completed in the next four years.”

During his time in office, Greene said he’s proud of the leadership he’s provided. He added that he’s also proud of the decisions he’s made, even if they aren’t the popular ones.

“I’ve been able to go home and sleep well with my decision because I feel like I made the best decision possible,” he said. “I understand some people didn’t agree, but I try to follow the regulations, the ordinances, the statues that have been set up.”

As for the biggest issue that needs to be addressed, for Greene one of the biggest one to address is sourcing additional water for needs in the city.

“With the growth we’re experiencing, the need to provide more water is a concern of mine,” Greene said. “Of course, we buy water from the White County Water Authority, and we’re grateful for that, but bringing this new well online out here, the possibility of bringing two more on, which would give us a good buffer. Because everybody knows if you can provide the water, provide the sewer, growth is going to come.”

Affordable housing is another issue that Greene feels like needs to be addressed.

“Not necessarily apartment living, but just housing for single, family dwellings in the city,” he said. “Unfortunately we live in one of the highest property value areas in the state, Northeast Georgia, let’s put it that way. Which is good in one way and bad in other ways. I think the last I heard our unemployments is around 2.9%. A lot of that’s due to because a lot of the residents that live in White County are like me, retired. And the children have move somewhere else. The importance of bringing in those jobs that will retain those people is something we’ve been striving for, but it’s very, very hard to accomplish. I think we’ve done everything we can possibly do, just keep grinding at it and try to press home the importance that we try to put something in this county, in this city, not just entry level jobs so that people can continue to benefit from the services we offer. There is no fast answer for it.”

Greene first took office in 2006, and after years of considering it, he ran for office the first time because he felt like downtown needed more representation.

“I wanted to see some things change for downtown,” Greene said. “I delayed running for office because John Palmour was the present councilman and I had great respect for that man. I didn’t run because of him, and I told him so. I asked him if he was gong to retire and let me know. Of course he didn’t come out and endorse me. I ran and I had an opponent and I won. Another thing ... with the police department, to see them progress and move forward. I think we’ve made some real good improvement in both of those areas.”

As for why people should vote for him, Greene said to take a look at his previous decisions.

“I think I have a proven track record of listening to folks, making sound decisions, providing the services that they requested and they can check anywhere they want to, our services are top of the line,” Greene said. “We have the lowest tax rate of any city our size that I know of in this area, with what we provide. And that’s my pledge is to keep it as low as possible and still provide those services and then also provide for what the city needs to grow. I’m  not one of those people that is going to promise no new taxes, but I’ll do the best I can.”

As a current member of the Cleveland City Council, Greene said he has had over 300 hours of training through the Georgia Municipal Association. Greene was born in Hall County and moved to Cleveland when he was 21 after meeting his wife. He recently retired from Nix Hardware & Furniture, which he co-owned. He spent 46 years at the store. With his retirement, Greene said he has more time to invest in the city.

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CJ McDonald

 

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

This Spiderman quote is how CJ McDonald feels about being a city leader.

McDonald, 31, wants to help lead the city of Cleveland into the future. He said that a lot of his family lives in the city, and he has a vested interest in its future. That interest is what lead him to running for the Ward 4 seat.

“I also have the skill set to be a good councilman,” he said. “I have strong leadership skills, business acumen, and those two things coupled together give me the power to, I think, be an effective leader at the city level ... I truly do believe I have a responsibility to help the city move forward, to help lead it into the future.”

If elected, McDonald said he has a couple of goals, including making improvements to downtown and making the city more pedestrian friendly.

“I want the City of Cleveland as a municipal organization to be more business friendly, and truly work for the citizens and the businesses,” McDonald said. “The City of Cleveland as a municipal organization should be a conduit through which the citizens can live a fulfilling life and the businesses can thrive. It shouldn’t be an obstacle through which the citizens and businesses have to overcome. I truly do believe attitude reflects leadership, and with my leadership on that we can help move in a positive direction. Also, I want to see the  downtown grow an continue to thrive. It’s thriving, but I think we can do a lot of things better.”

McDonald said he also wants to invest in the infrastructure, which ties into the growth of the city. He added that the infrastructure is not only the biggest challenge, but also the biggest opportunity.

“I truly believe we don’t need to be reactionary in regards to water and sewer, paving roads, fixing sidewalks; We need to be proactive,” McDonald said. “We need to plan for the next 40 years, make sure we have enough water capacity, enough sewer capacity, just get creative about things. I know there’s private wells we could possibly buy or lease from individuals that the city has tried to get before, we just need to get back to the table with people.”

In regards to downtown, McDonald said public restrooms, parking and making it more pedestrian friendly are important goals of his.

“The downtown area – I think one of the big things, I know everybody says it, but we need to try and to do as best possible, get creative, we need public restrooms,” he said. “... We owe it to our businesses to provide that service, I truly believe that. This is still in regards to the downtown area, parking. I’ve heard some people say we have enough parking, it’s just not advertised enough or there’s not signs, people aren’t aware of it, maybe that’s true. I’ve also heard we just frankly don’t have enough parking. That’s something I want to address. Whether it’s buying a piece of property and providing more city parking or getting creative and partnering with one of these businesses that has parking and then advertising that as available to the city. I want the downtown to be more pedestrian friendly. I understand that it is, [Ga.] 115 and [U.S.] 129, that’s Georgia Department of Transportation. I understand they gotta do what they gotta do, but we can lobby and petition them to help this place become more pedestrian friendly, better crosswalks, possibly a new crosswalk toward Freedom Park to get to that side of the square, things of that nature. I truly do believe if you do all these things, the businesses on the square will thrive. Not that they aren’t already, but it will be a net positive for them and it will also attract new businesses to come to Cleveland.”

With all of his goals, McDonald said the most important issue is the growth. He added growth of I-985 and Ga. 400 is coming toward White County.

“It’s our biggest challenge, but it’s also our greatest opportunity too,” McDonald said. “With that growth is going to come problems such as housing. There’s also going to be opportunities to address that. Can we look at doing mixed use developments, having condos on the top floors and retail and restaurants on the bottom? We haven’t been able to do that in the past, but if we allow people to do that, that’s certainly a factor. Also with that growth, more population, but also more businesses are going to be attracted to come in, they’re going to follow that population.”

McDonald graduated from White County High School in 2009, and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in finance in 2013 from the University of Georgia. He is currently the project manager for a commercial construction company.

“I don’t just work for a commercial construction company,” he said. “I work for one that does business with small government, counties, cities, public school systems all the time, I know how it works. I know how to read and write RFPs for paving projects, for waterline expansion, I know all that and my expertise in that is invaluable to the city.”

McDonald said he will truly represent the citizens.

“If you vote for me you’re not voting for the next four years, you’re voting for the next 40 years,” he said. “I will truly represent the citizens of Cleveland. If they call me, I’ll call them back. I will serve at the pleasure of the citizens. They don’t work for me, they are not my underlings. I am their representative, so they should vote for me because I will truly represent them and I have a lot of great ideas, great energy, I can make sound, decisive decisions and their faith in me will not be misplaced.”