Candidates address wide range of topics

n A forum was held Thursday night ahead of Dec. 12 election.

Mike Capshaw/Siloam Sunday Board candidates, from left, Reid Carroll, Jerry Cavness and Karl Mounger took part in a "Candidate Forum" hosted by the chamber of commerce at Siloam Springs High School on Thursday.
Mike Capshaw/Siloam Sunday Board candidates, from left, Reid Carroll, Jerry Cavness and Karl Mounger took part in a "Candidate Forum" hosted by the chamber of commerce at Siloam Springs High School on Thursday.

Two dozen people gathered in the seminar room at Siloam Springs High School for a "Candidate Forum" with three candidates vying for the vacant at-large seat on the city's Board of Directors.

Early voting is underway now for the special election, which will be Dec. 12, and because it's an at-large position, all registered voters in the city can vote. If none of the three receive a majority of the votes, there will be a runoff election between the top two on Jan. 9.

The audience included members of the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce, American Legion and Republican Women, who helped host the event, as well as others like Mayor John Mark Turner and Fire Chief Jeremy Criner. The forum also was live-streamed on the chamber's Facebook page and the video had more than 350 views at press time.

Candidates fielded questions that were selected by a committee and also a few from members of the audience. Topics ranged from building maintenance codes and medical marijuana to the city's role in a new kayak park and if a 5/8th-cent sales tax should be continued.

"We're not debating," said chamber member and forum emcee Kendall Layman. "We're just having a forum with questions."

Candidates Reid Carroll, Jerry Cavness and Karl Mounger drew names to decide the order of how each would answer questions and also began with opening remarks.

"I think all three of us have the best interest in Siloam Springs," Cavness said in his opening remarks.

In response to a question about building maintenance codes, Mounger believed the city passed codes that were enforceable because the ordinance in place before "was not being enforced."

"We used to think that when people came to Siloam Springs, what they looked at was the hospitals and schools," Mounger said. "We've come to find out now that these people are driving around town and looking at the town. And we had some very unsightly things."

The city passed a temporary moratorium to explore how to handle state voters approving the sale of medical marijuana. Layman asked the candidates if they believed the city acted properly to implement the law and to protect the citizens of Siloam Springs.

Cavness said he applauded the city for the moratorium because it's a "very serious" issue and the city needed time to examine "different avenues."

"I had no problem with it because I think there are benefits to medical marijuana in a lot of different cases that would help a lot of people," Cavness said. "Having said that, I think we need to be very cautious about how we move forward with this and be careful about how we handle monitoring in our town."

Cavness later added, "Marijuana is illegal. What voters did was approve medical marijuana. I would hate for this to get into a situation where we have too much freedom with the amount of marijuana that would be available ... I want to be careful that we don't have medical marijuana being used recreationally in our community."

Layman said the city already had spent $700,000 on improvements to the area where the new kayak park will be located near the Oklahoma/Arkansas border.

The bulk of the $15 million project is being funded by the Walton Family Foundation and the Grand River Dam Authority, which is overseeing the project, so Layman asked the candidates if they would support the city spending more money than it already has on the project.

"This is a project that will help define us," Carroll said. "We'll be more of a destination than a drive through."

All three were in support of the project because it can help drive more people to Siloam Springs and stimulate the local economy, but none were in favor of the city spending more money.

"GRDA is going to be in charge of this project. Siloam Springs is not going to have anything to do with it," said Mounger, who is chairman of the city's planning commission. "I don't foresee any other expenses because GRDA is in charge of this. Siloam Springs will have nothing to do with this, except reap in the economic benefit."

All three also were in favor of continuing a 5/8th-cent sales tax to help handle growth and maintain the city's wastewater facilities.

"If it were to not be renewed, that would put the burden directly on us as citizens of the community," Carroll said. "Whereas with the 5/8th-cent sales tax, when someone comes in from Tulsa or from Fayetteville and they eat dinner here or buy gas here, that 5/8ths cents comes from them as well.

"So I think it's something that we can get a little help with instead of having to carry that burden on our own."

In addition, all three said they see "problems" with allowing alcohol at events on public, city-owned property like at community parks. Two current board members are proposing the city allow civic groups or non-profit entities to serve beer or wine when hosting dinner gatherings.

Essentially, they all agreed that keeping events with alcohol separated from the rest of the park, where families are, would be difficult.

"I can't imagine if the city was to allow this how you could have it separated from the rest of the park," Cavness said. "I don't see it as really practical, so I'm not for it based on the conversations we've had thus far."

Other topics the candidates weighed in on, among others, included if the city should switch from its current administrator/board of directors type of government to a model with a mayor/city council only, how the city should handle growth via annexation, where street repairs fell on their list of priorities and codes dealing with manufactured housing.

The forum lasted about 90 minutes and voters are encouraged to become more informed about the candidates by watching the video at facebook.com/siloamchamber/.

"I can tell you that I learned a lot from this process," Layman said in his closing remarks. "The most important thing that we should get from this is we need to be informed ... I hope that tonight you came away with something that would make you feel informed enough to vote for a person because of something they said about an issue, and not because you like this person or that person.

"We still like them all, but that's up to you to be informed."

General News on 12/10/2017