Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/201420
FAYETTEVILLE CITY COUNCIL Ted Mohn, District 8 Charlotte Robinson, District 9 UCW: In your opinion what is the number one issue facing the City of Fayetteville? Public safety is our number one issue. That includes police, fire, sanitation and code enforcement. UCW: In your opinion what is the number one issue facing the City of Fayetteville? The number one issue is the lack of livingwage jobs. Job availability influences the quality of life in our community. Increasing higher wage job opportunities is my main goal. I will do this by encouraging new businesses and assisting in the development of current businesses. This will establish economic stability and revitalize our city. UCW: What can realistically be done to decrease the crime rate in our community? There is a lot that can be done to decrease crime if our community makes this a priority. We must all step up because crime is an issue that affects everyone. To address crime, we must support the efforts of Police Chief Medlock and give his programs and changes adequate time to work. I agree with his ideas and also propose the construction of two Police Substations, including one in the Murchison Road area. If this could not be accomplished, I would request the acquisition of two Mobile Police Units to be located in high crime areas and supported by police cruisers. The presence of these units would deter crime and they would be able to access high crime areas as needed. I would engage the churches to reach out to the community by opening up their facilities for after-school programs and mentoring of our youth. The schools and our Parks and Recreation facilities could be opened during after school hours to support programs that help our youth by keeping them off the streets and engaging them in productive activities. I would challenge senior citizens and retirees to get involved through neighborhood watch organizations and working as volunteers with the Police Department to assist with tasks, therefore allowing officers to have more time to patrol our city's streets and neighborhoods. UCW: The Fayetteville City Council has teamed with the Chamber of Commerce on Economic Development – how can more businesses be attracted to the city and what economic development initiatives would you endorse? First, I would change the funding relationship between the City and the Chamber by providing an incentive pay structure that would give the Chamber a percentage of the salary for each job they successfully bring to the City. I would need to work out the incentive scale, but as an example, the Chamber would get 5-10 percent of the yearly salary. If the job has a first year salary of $50,000.00, the Chamber would receive incentive pay of $2,500.00 to $5,000.00. The lump sum they currently receive from the City each year would be eliminated. Secondly, I would create an organization made up of representatives from our universities, community college, City Council, and City Staff. This organization will be given the task of putting together proposals to encourage businesses come to Fayetteville. Members of this organization will possess the expertise to address any UCW: What can realistically be done to decrease the crime rate in our community? We can increase the pre-trial release monitoring system at a relatively low cost. We can leverage technology in known high-crime areas to better identify those committing crimes. With the impending jail expansion we can work with our DA to hold those that need to be off the streets while awaiting trial. UCW: The Fayetteville City Council has teamed with the Chamber of Commerce on Economic Development – how can more businesses be attracted to the city and what economic development initiatives would you endorse? The city and county have a joint tax grant-back package that can be expanded to smaller businesses wanting to open in our area. We can work with our PWC for utility incentives for smaller businesses like we have with larger projects. UCW: With diminishing federal funding, how can Fayetteville continue to provide quality services and where /how can alternate funding be raised? Fayetteville has natural growth in its tax base through increased ad valorem taxes and sales tax. With all the deployments winding down we will most likely see our per-capita income reduce over the next few years. This could mean stagnant sales tax revenues compared to previous years. The overall growth in our tax base will need to be scrutinized and the top priority projects should be looked at for funding. I see no need to reduce the quality services currently being provided. However, we might have to remain in a steady state until the economy improves. I'm not convinced at this point that alternate funding needs to be raised prior to a total evaluation of the current services is conducted and priorities are set during council's strategic retreat in February 2014. UCW: What is your vision for the city's Parks and Recreation? I envision better utilization. Parks and recreation are important to a city's quality of life. Instead of building one $26 Million Dollar complex in Mazerick Park, that money could be used for improvements to many of our existing facilities and the construction of smaller facilities scattered across Fayetteville. I would recommend a separate parks and recreation capital improvement plan (CIP) like we have for our information and technology improvements. This is a 5-year living and breathing document that will provide a priority list of various parks and recreation projects. We should concentrate on many of the smaller projects spread across our entire city before trying to build the most expensive project first. UCW: In your opinion, what qualifies you to make hard decisions for the people of Fayetteville? I'm a data-driven decision maker with a transparent voting record on city council related to hard decisions and routine admin decisions. My 21+ years in the U.S. Army has provided me various leadership skills for dealing with diverse and complex issues. I used those skills on council to address and solve a myriad of problems. I will continue to follow the data and make any hard decision that may come before council. Read responses from the Hope Mills candidates at www.upandcomingweekly.com. 26 OCT. 30 - NOV. 5, 2013 company's issues or concerns (e.g., economics, workers' skills, training/ location). In addition, this organization would be responsible for issuing an After Action Report of findings when efforts are made to bring businesses to Fayetteville, regardless of their success. These reports are necessary if we are to become better negotiators in the future. At a recent City Council meeting, Council Member Bill Crisp proposed the idea of forming two task forces on crime and job creation. I support this type of innovative thinking and believe the two task forces could play an important role. UCW: What is your vision for the city's Parks and Recreation? I envision better utilization of our current facilities while also addressing our needs through a bond that would be in the range of $20 to $25 million. The focus should be on using the facilities to meet the needs of our children. Parks and Recreation should work closely with the Police Activities League (PAL) to develop programs that reinforce their efforts. I do not support the funding of an Aquatic Center and feel these funds would be better spent on youth development and crime reduction. There is a need in our city for activities related to parks and recreation. However, the recent Parks and Recreation bond was not appropriate for Fayetteville. That bond would have resulted in a cost of approximately $85 million over its lifetime and is better structured for areas such as Raleigh/ Durham, Charlotte, and Greensboro. Fayetteville is a city with a strong military based economy with a different tax base, infrastructure, and industrial base. Our economic environment, which supports low wage job creation, must be changed. UCW: In your opinion, what qualifies you to make hard decisions for the people of Fayetteville? My qualifications come from years of military training, education in leadership and decision-making. My background as an entrepreneur and business owner gives me the experience to make successful decisions. I am a tax payer, a wife, mother, and concerned citizen who would like to see Fayetteville grow and develop as a community. With the leadership that I will offer, I see a bright future for Fayetteville. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM