A total of six residents in Arkadelphia’s Ward 2 have opted for the vacant seat on the City Board of Directors. The candidate who fills the unpaid seat on the city’s governing board will be decided by directors at the City Board’s regular meeting Thursday in Town Hall.
Ward 2 was left vacant after Don Hager resigned his position because of a career move that kept him from attending meetings. State law states that, whenever such a vacancy occurs in the office of a director, “the board of directors shall, by majority vote, elect a person to fill the vacancy and serve for the unexpired term thereof.” Directors will choose by one of two ways: either by a vote after a motion and a second, or by a ballot on which directors will mark their decision and turn it in for City Clerk Rendi Currey to read. Under the state’s Freedom of Information laws, each director’s vote is subject to public knowledge.
The newly appointed director’s term will expire Dec. 31, 2012, and after then he or she can seek election as director of the ward.
As each person submitted a letter of interest — whether it be in the form of a letter, e-mail or fax — the Siftings has conducted interviews with those who have announced his or her intent to be elected on the City Board.
Kenneth Blackmon
Kenneth Blackmon said city officials’ main concern should be about the area’s lack of growth. Blackmon contends that many Arkadelphia residents do not seem to “do a lot of their quality of life involvement within our city.” Retention for small businesses is another issue, he said. “We don’t seem to be able to hold our young entrepreneurs who want to make Arkadelphia their home.” Other issues he said he would address as a director include street maintenance and guttering for water control.
He has not said whether or not he supports the Royal Theatre project, but thinks a study should be performed to see what the “will of the citizenry is.”
Cyndia Dunne
Cyndia Dunne agrees that addressing the area’s lack of growth should be one of the top priorities. Retention for keeping Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist students in Arkadelphia and Clark County after college graduation is also important, she said. “I’d like to see more (retention), and I believe with growth that more of that would come,” Dunne said.
She supports the Royal Theatre, which the City Board voted 3-2 in its last meeting not to fund with bonds. “I would like to have seen us move forward with that,” Dunne said of the Royal. I think it would be a great thing. It would give our kids and families something to do.” Dunne served the city of Arkadelphia in the past as a city clerk.
Johnny Harris
A diminishing workforce, a lack of activities for youth and a lack of resources for truck drivers passing on Interstate 30 are the city’s biggest troubles, according to Johnny Harris. He agrees that “we’ve got to find out how to keep the college students in town” outside class and after graduation. “There are three or four thousand college students that are obviously going somewhere else,” he said. “How can we make them feel a part of Arkadelphia?” As for providing resources for goods transporters, Harris proposes free parking or other truck services as a means of income from the interstate. Admitting he does not have much information on the Royal, Harris said he would like to see a study performed to see if a theater in Arkadelphia would be profitable. Harris said he would also like to see a smaller gap between city employees and department heads, noting that all employees should receive equitable pay for the amount of work they do.
Leslie Miller
The wages paid to city employees is the prime concern for Leslie Miller, who said she thinks it is “important that sanitation workers, policemen, firemen and all city employees are receiving salaries comparable to everyone else. Do we need to do a comparable study to other cities to see if we’re on the right track? I think it’s important to keep the current employees we have.” As for her ward, Miller said more should be done for the people who live there. There are “a lot of people that can’t get out and do things” and people “just need to help their neighbors, be nice.” It is also crucial, she said, that the opinions and concerns of the city’s younger generation be heard.
Though she would like to see a cinema in Arkadelphia, Miller contends that other issues should overshadow the government-run Royal Theatre. “I don’t know it’s something we should do right now,” Miller said. “There’s got to be a reason we haven’t had (a theater) in so long.”
Carrie Roberson
Capitalizing on Arkadelphia’s quality of life — two universities, access to a state park and access to Interstate 30 — is imperative for economic development, said Carrie Roberson. “Quality of life is important, and we need to do all we can to continue growing our economy here.” As for education, she said, having Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist universities “really affords us a lot of academic and cultural opportunities. I think we need to do everything to make our public schools the best they can be.”
Roberson commended the City Board and City Manager Jimmy Bolt for their “bold initiatives,” with the recent purchase of a hybrid police fleet, a zero waste study and sustainability efforts, which she said are “putting us in the right direction to grow as a community.”
Roberson said she fully supports the Royal Theatre, calling it “crucial to additional development” for downtown.
Barry Shuman
Economic growth and the Arkadelphia school system are the biggest issues according to Barry Shuman, who did not go into detail as to why he has issues with Arkadelphia Schools. For growth, however, he said, “Getting the right kinds of businesses” is important for the “vitality of downtown. We should be looking at what we can do to vitalize it.” He said he would listen to constituents — not only from Ward 2, but from throughout the city — for “whatever’s best for Arkadelphia. It’s a nice little town. I don’t think there are a lot of things wrong here, but there are some things.”
Shuman said investing in the Royal Theatre project is a risk he would not be willing to take, unless other directors could persuade him otherwise. “I’m not convinced we should be in the theater business,” Shuman said. I think Arkadelphia needs more things than just a theater in downtown.” A farmer’s market or something similar would be ideal for him, he said. “Other towns have been successful with small things like this. My concern is that, if we’re going to spend that much on a theater, I would hope the city would recoup that money.”
Arkadelphia, Ark. —
