News
FOUR OF SIX MAYORAL CANDIDATES SPAR DURING FORUM
By Erin France and Ray King/Of the Commercial Staff
Thursday, October 30, 2008 10:03 AM CDT
Barbs were traded among four of the six mayoral candidates at a forum held during the meeting of Pine Bluff’s chapter of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees.
About 20 people listened and asked questions Monday of incumbent Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr., City Treasurer Greg Gustek, Peter Daniels, and the Rev. R.J. Lightsey.
Candidates Larry Freeman Jr. and LaJuan London Roaf were invited but did not attend.
Although policy and procedures were discussed, mayoral candidates were on edge with each other. Lightsey and Redus argued over the two-minute time limit during closing statements, which caused Redus’ opponents to earn an extra minute.
Daniels and Redus disagreed over the number of police officers on patrol, and Daniels accused Redus of being out of touch.
Gustek stayed out of most of the fray, although his arguments for the proposed half-cent economic sales tax were passionately debated by Redus.
Each candidate had six minutes for an introduction and Daniels was the first to speak.
“Pine Bluff, in my opinion does not need another master,” Daniels said. “It has one and he’s in heaven.”
Daniels stressed that Pine Bluff needs a mayor willing to serve, and showing that commitment in his attire. It has been a common theme in Daniels’ campaign to indirectly compare the clothing of various candidates. If he saw residents improving the town, painting or removing trash, he wanted to be dressed to help, he said.
He would also cut his mayor’s salary, if elected. The current salary for mayor is $78,999.96 plus benefits. Daniels said he would take $35,000.
“Pine Bluff does not need another politician, it needs a statesman,” he said.
Daniels said he is running heavily on crime reduction. “I am a law-and-order candidate.”
He mentioned Sam Taylor School, the proposed site for the police department, that has been batted around by city council members for more than eight months. On Nov. 3, the council will likely will revisit the issue.
“Why the city administration has been dragging their feet on that, I don’t know,” Daniels said.
The idea of using the school started last year when the police department moved out of what was the west precinct, an old nursing home on West Seventh Avenue. The move was necessary because the building was falling apart and would have cost more to repair than it would have been worth.
Redus spoke next and rebutted Daniels’ implication that he was not serving his office well.
“We have been serving in the role as public servant,” he said.
Redus reminded the audience of challenges his administration has faced and overcome in the last four years, including less that $260,000 in the 2005 reserve funding, an unbalanced budget and an under staffed police department.
Redus said there currently are 137 police officers in the city, with about 140 authorized for the 2009 budget.
“We have restored the police bike patrol,” he said. He also cited the return of school resource officers as an accomplishment.
There are currently two school resource officers, one in the Pine Bluff School District, the other in the Dollarway School District. The salaries of those officers are paid for by the respective school districts.
Under his leadership, city employees received the first cost-of-living adjustment since 2002, Redus said. And there’s another 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment for city employees in the 2009 budget, he added.
Redus also cited the city’s purchase of a ladder truck, and the new fire safety house, purchased by Simmons First National Bank as other things the city has done during his term that made people safer.
“We’re providing free smoke detectors,” Redus said. “That results in saving lives.
“I’m the mayor that led the city to be smoke free,” he added.
In 2005, the city council adopted an ordinance that prohibited smoking in workplaces and restaurants inside the city limits.
He also pointed to improvements on the former Lake Pine Bluff.
“A lot of you can remember how we used to just disregard that lake,” he said, referring to Lake Saracen, where a pavilion and fishing pier were constructed, and plans are under way to construct a recreational trail on the levee around the lake, using grant funds from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, through the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.
Redus said that the city needed someone with a strong vision and experience to get things done.
Lightsey listed his different accomplishments and work with various local organizations including the United Way of Southeast Arkansas and his work for U.S. Mike Ross, D-Prescott.
“We continue to hear that Pine Bluff is a divided city,” Lightsey said. “It goes way beyond race.
“The people in Pine Bluff are just not united,” he added.
Lightsey stressed that progress was more of an abstract goal. “Progress does not just take place because you have a building or infrastructure.”
He is the only candidate willing to jump headfirst into the challenges of the office, he said. He proposed quarterly meetings with local businesses and clergy, a part of his platform that he has stressed during public appearances.
“Let’s bring all of these people together.”
As a start, he would like to bring two small businesses per year to the city during his administration, while encouraging growth for existing businesses, Lightsey said. “Let’s get something started.”
Lightsey proposed decreasing crime by increasing penalties for repeat offenders, a move that would require state legislation. Repeat offenders are a big factor in the city’s crime rate, he said.
He also mentioned smaller projects, such as sidewalk construction on both sides of the city so residents have something to celebrate.
Gustek’s name, from his introduction to the closing, caused stumbling tongues.
“I don’t care if you can pronounce my name or not — just vote for me,” he said, receiving laughs from the audience.
Gustek pointed to his community service thus far, which includes his 12 years as city treasurer and involvement in three boards responsible for promoting the city.
Pine Bluff has a bad reputation because residents’ concerns rub off on others, he said.
“We’re our own worst enemy.”
But recently, the trend is more favorable, he said. “We’re now improving our image of Pine Bluff,” he said. “Thank goodness that is changing.”
Gustek talked about the proposed half cent sales tax for economic development, which will be voted on Dec. 9. The tax would provide funding for business initiatives and workforce development in the county.
He also mentioned the lack of economic activity in town, compared to the rest of the state which has seen growth.
Not many of his graduating class at Pine Bluff High School stayed in town, probably because of a lack of available jobs, Gustek said. “I was fortunate, I was able to come back to Pine Bluff.”
He switched to safety and talked about the need for additional police officers.
With the loss of the zero tolerance plan earlier this year, Gustek said the crime rate in September climbed. For the third quarter of this year, crime actually increased 3.77 percent, compared to the same period in 2007. For the second quarter, when the zero tolerance program was going strong, the city recorded a 8.50 percent decrease compared to last year.
Police said the cost of using off-duty officers to work the zero tolerance program was eating up the department’s overtime budget, and with the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays coming, were saving the remaining funds to add extra patrols during the holidays.
Pine Bluff’s crime still is less than Hot Springs or Little Rock, Gustek added.
After introductions, questions were taken from the retirees. One audience member asked how Daniels would alleviate senior citizens’ fear of crime.
Daniels said that only seven or eight police patrol vehicles currently patrol Pine Bluff.
Police Lt. Bob Rawlinson said that figure is technically correct, especially at night and on the weekends, but during the day, there are extra officers assigned to the Services Division (who serve warrants and transport prisoners), as well as detectives and supervisors on the streets.
“That’s ridiculous. That’s a scandal,” Daniels said, of the number of patrolling vehicles. “There should be at least 14 to 15.”
He would advocate for more patrols in areas with high concentrations of senior citizens, as well as street cameras, Daniels said. “So we can have an eye in the area.
“My mom and dad are in their 80s,” he said. “This issue is very close to me.”
Another audience member asked Redus about retaining police officers, a department that has historically had a high turnover rate.
“There is turnover in each and every department,” Redus said, though he wants to hire more officers. “Let’s hire like we are hiring to have 150.”
He also talked about the Neighborhood Enforcement Team and how he would like to bring it back. The team was created a few years ago to confront specific crime problems, such as a rash of burglaries in the downtown area. After the department’s manpower was reduced due to the ice storm settlement, team members returned to their respective divisions nearly three years ago.
Decreasing the crime rate is a major goal of his, Redus said. “It’s the No. 1 priority.”
An audience member asked Redus about the high turnover rate for officers and ways to decrease it.
Increased pay will retain officers, Redus said. The 2008 budget supplied a cost of living increase for all city employees. “We’ve got to become comparable to surrounding areas.”
Based on 2007 figures compiled in a salary survey prepared for the city, the starting pay for patrol officers in Pine Bluff was lower than the starting pay in North Little Rock, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Texarkana, Hot Springs and Jonesboro.
In a different vein, an audience member asked Redus if single mothers could earn a small stipend for staying home with their children.
“I don’t think it’s necessary that we do that,” he said. “We recognized that there are single parents that are breadwinners.”
Instead, Redus stressed the importance of an all-purpose community center so retirees and students could come together and exchange ideas.
A member of the audience commented on the area’s lack of trained workers and asked Gustek how he would remedy the situation.
Training would be funded by the proposed half-cent sales tax, Gustek said. And it would be necessary for the expansion of business already in the area, he added. “We need a trained workforce.”
Redus used the same statistic to explain why Pine Bluff does not need the economic sales tax. None of the existing businesses are growing, he said.
“They are contracting because of the way credit is,” he said. “This tax is ill conceived, ill advised and ill timed.”
Residents’ taxes are supposed to go to fire departments and street departments and police departments, Redus said, not businesses.
Because of the current economy, it’s a poor time to implement a tax, Redus said.
An audience member asked Gustek how the workforce training of the proposed half cent sales tax measure would operate.
Gustek used the expansion of Stant as an example. If the city knew the company would expand their operations by 120 employees, they could train local residents for the positions.
“Boom,” he said, as his hand hit the podium, “You’re hired.”
Gustek was asked the final question concerning how the job training would be carried out.
Training would take place with assistance from the Economic Development Alliance of Jefferson County at the workforce centers already in place, Gustek said. This includes Southeast Arkansas College and state centers in the county.
In closing, Gustek said he was honored to have served Pine Bluff so far in his role as city treasurer and promoter.
“I want to take the same energy and bring it to the mayor’s office,” he said. “Our city is a first class city by population — I believe it’s time we start acting like one.”
Lightsey took his closing remarks to compare his campaign slogan to others. His attention then returned to training Pine Bluff’s workforce. “Mr. Gustek said that it was a responsibility of The Alliance.”
Lightsey said locals could be trained directly after new businesses announce their opening dates. “From the time it’s announced to when the doors open, it’s at least a year.”
And during that year workers could train for various jobs needed by the industry or business. “That’s one way we would address the skilled work force.”
Redus reminded the audience of the ice storm in 2000 and the 2001 indictment and arrest of former city council members Jack Foster and Billy Freeman Jr., who were charged with attempted extortion for trying to sell their votes on a rezoning proposal that the council was to consider. Freeman was also charged with felony theft of property in state court for a $96,000 check that he wrote to the city to repay a loan that had been given his non-profit corporation. That check bounced.
Freeman pleaded guilty to both state and federal charges and served just over a year in a federal prison before being released last year.
Foster went to trial and was convicted, then appealed that conviction to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis, who upheld the conviction. Foster was sentenced to three years in federal prison and could possibly be released to a half-way house later this year to complete his sentence. His actual release date from prison is early in 2009.
There have been no such disasters under his administration, Redus said.
He also initiated Pine Bluff's 20/20 Implementation Plan in 2007. “We are implementing those 12 priorities.”
The 12 goals of the plan were discussed and voted on by more than 700 residents and community leaders. Each specific goal has one or two captains.
Goal No. 1, voted the top priority by Pine Bluff residents is to create a pool of funds that can be utilized as incentives for attracting employers to the county. The goal team came up with the half cent sales tax as a way to achieve this, a tactic Redus has opposed.
Daniels quoted three different numbers he said Redus used for the amount of funding in the city’s reserves when he took office.
“I don't really think you can trust anything else that he says,” Daniels said.
He said he knew of a dozen police officers who were ready to tender their resignations. “They're getting hired away.”
According to figures provided to The Commercial by the police department, 50 officers have been hired from Jan. 1, 2005, to Oct. 15, 2008. At the same time, the department lost 56 officers to retirements, resignations, and terminations.
Redus attended the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo., the week an elderly Pine Bluff couple was found slain in their home in August and Daniels charged that Redus should have returned to Pine Bluff after learning about the incident.
Lightsey compared Redus’ actions with his own. “I respect your rules and regulations.”
He used this character trait to explain why the electorate should vote for him.
“I will be humble and yet effective.”
Gustek used about 10 seconds to thank the retirees and call in lunch. “Let's eat!”
The Commercial will have up-to-the minute election results Nov. 4 on its Web site at www.pbcommercial.com.
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