City Government

The City council has abdicated its responsibility to properly legislate, instead relying on a powerful Clerk-treasurer and City lawyers to make policy in their stead. As Mayor, how would you address this issue?

The Clerk-treasurer is a full time city employee with significant responsibilities involved in the performance of their official duty.  Any gaps or conflicts in council legislation should be questioned by citizens then addressed by both Mayor and Council to weigh the matter and provide an answer. Correctly directing the question when it is beyond the authority of the Clerk is another answer.  The attorney is paid to provide legal opinions and give advice to the matters before the council, mayor and planning commission, and then also act as legal counsel in other city matters. Any legal element can result in mandated policies for legal compliance. However preparing documents beforehand seemingly is making policy.  This is where the stewardship of a strong mayor can influence the decisions and policies which best represent the citizens. It could be very easy to rely on a knowledgeable Clerk’s advice or follow a highly efficient lawyer as both are influential in all matters regarding the city government. The voices of the citizens are too often bypassed in the decision process. As Mayor, the people will get more opportunity to be included and kept informed on a constant basis. Communication and information are the keys.

Public morals in our State and City have reached an all time low, in that they fail to uphold Judeo-Christian ethics in our civic institutions. How would you protect and defend these values as Mayor?

Our Founding Fathers purposely built our nation's framework for we the people to govern ourselves and they brilliantly constructed a balance in government with our religious freedom to worship God. Our entire framework is written with Judeo-Christian or a Biblical recognition at its core.  In the world today we are the oldest government because of our Constitution. Our founders recognized that our freedoms are given to us by our Creator and they are inalienable rights, which is a word not usually understood in its meaning. It means " unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor of these rights". The US Constitution was built as a framework that respected these rights. We need only to follow those principles in our Constitution as we govern ourselves.

The protection of these rights begin at the local government level.   So as Mayor I must abide with conscious efforts and defend always. Any city ordinance which  conflictS or restricts our rights, that ordinance must be vacated OR  at the least be reviewed and revised.

I am proud of our nation's Judeo-Christian foundations and ever aware we are a nation under God.  As a Mayor I can think of no greater purpose than to protect the foundations of our country and there can be no question on this matter.

Crime, though well handled by the Benton County Sheriff's Department has given the City a stigma as a dangerous locale, especially at night. What are your thoughts on constituting a police force for Benton City and combating crime?

Benton City indeed had its own police force in the past years and when deciding to contract with the Sheriff’s Department we saved a lot of money and gained an increase in the presence of law officers around the clock.  I can see a satellite station being built here to support their efforts protecting our city and increasing our local protection.

Crime increases when poverty increases. It also increases with illegal aliens who are forming gangs to commit crimes and sell illegal drugs as their way of earning money. This issue is nation wide and is visible throughout the metropolitan area here locally. We need a secure border and policy changes with strong prosecution. We need well equipped law enforcement.

Downtown Problems

The Downtown is dying, as we have seen business after business close shop or move on to more prosperous cities. How would you rejuvenate the town?

We need to advertise our assets all over the country. Invite businesses to come here and extend their growth in our community  We need to bring in businesses that will serve the TriCity Metro area by filling a void and further advance developments already underway. This will give our city a tax base to rebuild the Downtown, parks, and attract new businesses.

Together we can do this. We have  much to offer medium size corporations (<50 but="">500 employees).  Our business  potential is greater than most citizens have realized and now its worth its weight in gold if the right moves are made.  

We can plan our dreams for Downtown and can develop our assets for improvements that increase our tax base.  This town has never seen investments we need to actually bring tourism to our shops and restaurants.  As your Mayor I will encourage big dreams and work to bring vision to the city.

I believe being a place where people want to visit, shop and put their kids in our schools is what we all hope to have here someday. We will still be a community with our rural culture, but through our commercial efforts we will reduce poverty here at  home and contribute to the  prosperity of the greater Benton City community.    

Benton City has a reputation of being hard to work with and is known for causing potential new businesses difficulties. What would you do to change this reputation?

Benton City is understaffed at City Hall for business development and presents an impression of a  lack of skills for serving new business owners. Benton City’s City Hall leaves no lasting impression either in appearance, or in purpose that we will serve our businesses and support them as they work hard building a strong business. Their success is our success. So this is a serious deficiency we face that needs commitment from the citizens to make effective changes in staff and a new building.

And I strongly feel it is not the authority of a nonprofit corporation such as the Benton City Economic Development Council to represent the City on official business. Encouraging membership to the BCEDC where business owners can discuss questions and present solutions to council is the better approach.