Four of the five candidates for Signal Mountain Town Council went head to head in an MBA-sponsored candidate forum at the MACC Sept. 9.
Incumbents Annette Allen and Susan Robertson and newcomers Chris Howley and Bob Spalding discussed some of the town’s biggest issues, from conservation easements to mountaintop business to the future of the MACC. Here’s what they said:
Conservation easements
Both Allen and Robertson stated they were in favor of easements that would not allow future development of sites such as Rainbow Lake.
“We’ve held public meetings since 2011 and have gotten a lot of public feedback and a lot of public support for this,” said Allen. “We’ve heard from people there aren’t any real risks from park lands being sold, but we know there are risks out there that we can’t see. And I don’t see why we would not get this insurance policy for our park lands so your great-great-grandchildren, my great-great-grandchildren can enjoy this land.”
Howley said he wants to protect the park lands, but he doesn’t agree with the methodology and that the council can’t know how that land might be needed in the future.
Spalding said hiring the land trust is an example of misplaced priorities.
“I think we can all agree here that no one wants to develop these properties,” said Spalding. “If a town can fund a land trust and not a SRO program, then this is a perfect example of misplaced priorities. The fact that this resolution is being fast-tracked means they are acting out of desperation, not legislation.”
The need for an SRO officer
Signal Mountain Middle/High School is without an SRO officer this year, and the current council has been discussing how to fund a new one with Hamilton County’s help.
“Before this would have been cut … I would have called up [School Board District 2 representative] Jonathan [Welch] and figured out a way to fund this before it happened,” said Howley. “The town and the council has done great work, but they stubbed their toe on this one. They forgot about the schools.”
Robertson said town officials have already been discussing it with county officials and Welch.
“One of the reasons we didn’t immediately send a new [officer] out there is we practically didn’t have the manpower to do it. There was no officer we could spare,” she said. “We would not mind partially funding an officer, but an SRO officer is a 50,000-[dollar]-a-year cost to the town.”
Allen said she also supported a cost-sharing model in partnership with the county.
Spalding pointed out that a town’s core responsibility is to provide police protection, fire service and public works.
“If you fail these you fail the public miserably,” he said. “The current SRO quit in April and the town had four months to replace and fund a new one … but the town quickly funded $125,000 for purchased property [next to the Signal Mountain Library] for future book shelves. We shouldn’t be playing politics with our kids’ lives.”
Police retention and hiring of the town manager
All four candidates generally agreed on the need to raise the pay scale for the town’s police department.
“Right now we are having difficulty keeping our police because we pay lower than any other place in [the county],” said Robertson. “We have terrific policemen; we’ve got to do better with their pay. That way we can retain more officers and have enough to patrol.”
“That includes the fire department because some of them are low paid,” said Spalding. “Some of them start at $9.79 and that’s just not quite even McDonald’s pay in some cases.”
While the candidates seemed satisfied with the current town manager, Howley questioned what happened concerning the firing of former town manager Chris Dorsey.
“We’ve gone through three town managers in four years, I think,” he said. “To me that’s an issue that throws up a little bit of a red flag. I’d be interested to hear what happened with Chris Dorsey. I met him and I thought he was a great guy.”
“In terms of hiring a town manager, the last process we used, the one we used a year ago, was not effective,” said Allen. “We corrected that and I would not recommend using that same process again in hiring a town manager. Now we have a really wonderful town manager.”
The future of the MACC
“The town of Signal Mountain has an obligation to support the MACC, but the town should not be running the day-to-day activities of the MACC,” said Spalding. “When governments try to micromanage volunteers, they usually fail, and it’s certainly true with the town trying to run the Hodgepodge.”
Spalding said the annual town event was much more successful under the Friends of the MACC group that previously produced the event.
“I’d like to see the town continue to support the MACC in the future as we do our other wonderful amenities,” said Allen. “They’re so important to the community. I would also like to see a new Friends group form.”
Howley separated the MACC into two separate issues – the MACC’s programs and the historical building itself.
“How do we try to make the MACC self-sustaining?” he asked. “Do the MACC services need to be housed here? Is there a better place? I’m not saying those are the answers, but once I get a chance to get in and take a look at it, there may be some options to turning it into a 501(c)(3), tax exempt, as [Spalding] said, run by volunteers.”
Supporting mountaintop business
“I think government needs to get out of the way of business,” said Howley, who is a business owner. “These are smart, capable people who want to grow their business. Let them go instead of tying up their time.”
“They don’t have many special rules and regulations to go through once they get a sign,” Robertson disagreed, adding, “I believe in our bizzes 100 percent.”
Robertson said she’s written countless articles for the local newspapers helping to advertise mountain businesses, and plans to continue to do so.
“Rather than getting out of the way of businesses, I’d like for the town to pave the way for businesses,” said Allen, explaining that she is working to eventually set up a resource center through the town’s website for new and existing business owners.
Spalding said, as the only storefront business owner on the panel, he would like to see more advertising of local businesses in places like on the town website and on an electronic sign that could be used as a sort of town bulletin board.
What do you think is the most important issue in Signal Mountain? Let us, your neighbors and leaders know at facebook.com/signalmountain.