Position 7 candidate David Allen

Photo Submitted David Allen
Photo Submitted David Allen

Have you ever served on the city board?

Yes. I served two terms as director for Ward 1 from 1995-2002, and then was elected mayor and served from 2009-2012.

What made you decide to run again?

I have enjoyed my time serving on the city board of directors in the past. I always felt a closeness to our city, having been born and raised here, and living here my entire life. After being away from it (city board) for eight years, I had a great deal of encouragement to run again. A lot of taxpaying citizens are very frustrated with the direction our city has been headed, ever since an almost complete turnover of the board in 2013 and the following years. In the last 25 years, I have 12 years experience in city government, so I get contacted a lot from individuals wanting a voice again.

What made you stop serving before?

I am a firm believer in term limits. I had always planned a "self-imposed" term limit on my own service, simply in order to let others serve as well. After two terms as director of Ward 1, not only was I traveling a lot more for my business, but I didn't want to keep the seat just to have it for the sake of power, as many politicians do. By 2008, my business was not requiring the amount of travel as before, and with the retirement of Mayor Moose Van Poucke, I ran for that position and won. And after one term, I decided to not run again.

How do you see the state of Siloam Springs and how would you make it better?

Many taxpaying citizens have been very upset with the amount of money spent on unnecessary projects, basically put into motion simply because the city had the cash. When I left office as Mayor at the end of 2012, our city had $40 million in reserves, set aside for special projects or emergencies. Our reserves today are around $10 million, because of the excessive spending of the board of directors. I had said for many years that we have been lucky to not have a major tornado hit our beloved city, since we are right on the edge of tornado alley. The tornado that caused so much devastation in Joplin, Mo., occurred during my term as mayor. And I was here when the 1974 flood caused so much damage to our city. That natural disaster cost $17 million in damages -- in '74 dollars. It would be much more costly if it occurred today.

Many board members of the last eight years have just rubber-stamped whatever city staff has brought to them, rather than wisely consider the future ups and downs of economies, the rising costs of necessities (like water, electricity), and disasters, natural or otherwise (such as the covid 19 virus). Even as of 60 days ago, our board was still considering spending the $6 to 7 million for the Downtown East Main Beautification project, which includes an unneeded roundabout and a widened underpass (near the National Guard armory) to allow bikers to travel with autos. It truly shocked me, that after this unprecedented time in our lives, with the world still in uncharted territory, resulting in the loss of jobs, shutting down of businesses, loss of sales tax revenue, that our city board of directors and staff would still be considering this wasteful project. Don't think for a minute, that the city won't bring the $6 million East Main project back for a new vote of the board next year, upon the re-election of the three incumbent directors of Seats 5, 6 and 7.

What were some of your accomplishments when you were on city board?

When I served as Ward 1 director, the most impressive projects we did were the Family Aquatic Center (built for $1 million), and the new City Hall (built for $1 million), both of which showed how cost effective our board was in budgeting and sticking to the budgets of projects. The original city hall proposal was closer to $5 million and we went through it and cut a lot of unnecessary items. In addition, the $25 million sewer line expansion was very much needed, as it allowed the city to handle the massive growth of population and the industry expansion. As Mayor, I led a very low cost project to build a new skate park downtown in Bob Henry Park.

This came about because I received an email from a high school student asking me why the city didn't have a decent skate park, but other cities like Gentry did have one. The fact that a student would get involved in affecting change to his hometown, bringing an outlet for kids who are not a part of team sports to get involved, really spoke to me personally. By raising funds and having three high school students on a committee to design the park, we brought something special and it didn't cost a lot of money. My favorite project that did not happen was the broadband internet project, of which I spearheaded a proposal using the fiber optic lines that the city installed in the early 2000s to bring high speed internet for anyone who wished to switch to a less expensive but state of the art setup. My reason for this was because of the 60% increase of prices passed on to our citizens from Cox, during my first three years in office, which was during the Great Recession started in 2008. The fact that internet is more commonly thought of today as a utility, it should be better regulated and all citizens should be allowed to receive it without paying an exorbitant fee. Those on fixed income should not be required to decide between paying for medicine and food, or paying for internet. Our proposal would have kept prices of high speed internet very low, and it would have kept here all the money that people spend on internet, and therefore would have allowed rates of water and electric to remain low. Very little, if any, of the projects supported by the current incumbents during their terms, have brought in any revenue; instead they have simply cost the taxpayer millions of dollars because a small percentage of voters yell the loudest. The money belongs to all the citizens, not just those downtown. High speed internet at a much lower cost would have helped every citizen of Siloam Springs, and would have brought in $100 million in revenue over the next 20 years. That money would have stayed here, but instead gets sent to a major outside corporation who builds stadiums in Las Vegas and Oklahoma City.

Do you have a family?

I am very proud to be the oldest of the fourth generation of my family to have raised my family in Siloam Springs. I have three children, aged 36 to 23, and two grandsons, aged 2 and newborn.

What is your occupation?

I own a film production company which has made several feature movies, mostly in the horror genre, and have played on SyFy Channel, Showtime, and Netflix, and are available on DVD.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

As I stated earlier, I am a firm believer in term limits. Our federal government and state governments desperately need term limits for our elected officials, but of course those elected officials always fight against term limits. They want to always retain the power structure "as is," the status quo keeps them in power. In the same vein, our local government needs term limits for the elected officials on our city board of directors. In the current power structure, we have two incumbents (seats 6 and 7) who have served for a long time; seat 6 has been in office for 20 years, and seat 7 has been in office for eight years. Both of them are running for another 4 year term. We should have term limits for every seat on our city board of directors.

I certainly believe that my past experience serving short terms within three decades can bring a better historical perspective to how our city was better run in years past, with more cost-effective management and leadership. I would appreciate your vote.