Candidates share views of campaign during Armourdale forum

by Mary Rupert
Candidates were a bit kinder and gentler at a candidate forum Wednesday night at the Armourdale Recreation Center, 730 Osage, Kansas City, Kan.

The Neighborhood Revitalization primary forum went by the Armourdale rules, with long-time Armourdale Renewal Association member Patty Dysart present to enforce them. Those rules state there will be no candidate-bashing and no debating. Linda Pendleton was moderator of the forum, which was sponsored by the Armourdale NBR as well as Historic Northeast Midtown Association, Rosedale Development Association and Leavenworth Road Association.

Someone who has no opposition in the election this year, 3rd District Unified Government Commissioner Ann Murguia, also spoke at the forum and received wide praise from other candidates for successful economic development efforts in the Argentine area.

Unified Government Commissioner, 1st District at large

Five of the seven candidates for Unified Government Commissioner, 1st District at large, attended the event.

Nathan Barnes, who served as 1st District commissioner formerly for 18 years, said, “This election is about fairness.”

He said he would seek common ground and use common sense to serve citizens of the community.

Candidate Melissa Bynum mentioned that residents would be paying a higher fee, $5 more, when they walk in to pay their bill at the motor vehicle department. Those who mail in the payment will not be charged more. She said it bothers her that older adults who conduct business in person and those unable to afford to get there earlier in the month because they are short on funds will be charged more.

“It’s regressive and penalizes our most vulnerable population,” Bynum said.

LaVert Murray said he decided to run when he saw that the commission was “deadlocked and deadpanned.”

The retired UG community development director said he believed in being strategic, using critical thought and being innovative.

Christal Watson said she was a candidate who would not cause division, who blends well with others and has no baggage, no history of controversy.

“I believe I can do better, can be fair and objective,” she said. “I can be a voice of reason.”

Janice Witt told the audience she had been out feeding the homeless in advance of the cold temperatures that were moving in Wednesday night. Witt said she is currently running the Reola Grant Civitan Center food pantry for the needy at Victory Dodge on State Avenue, which had an overabundance of calls Wednesday. Witt referred the audience to her flier.

“We need to do better by the people of Wyandotte County,” she said. “If I thought everything was great, I wouldn’t be running.”

When the candidates were asked if there were any adverse effects from not filling the 1st District at large commissioner post for two years, Murray, Bynum and Watson agreed there were.

Murray said without representation there was no voice for the 1st District at large for two years.

Bynum said the other individual commissioners tried to provide coverage, but they were missing an at-large commissioner, which was adverse.

Watson said the district was affected as shown by a lack of hearing about community growth and economic development in the northeast and midtown areas.

Unified Government Commissioner, 4th District

Harold Johnson, a candidate for 4th District, Unified Government Commissioner, talked about teamwork and listening to constituents. Johnson, the pastor of Faith Deliverance Family Worship Center, said he was very pragmatic in his approach, believes in well-thought-out decisions, and allows his work to speak for itself. He said he would be an advocate for things that could be done in the 4th District, and a lot more could be done.

“I’m going to research best practices and figure out a way we can implement them,” he said. “We need somebody that can be focused enough, pragmatic enough, detailed enough, to make sure the things that are spoken of, the things that are promised, actually come to fruition,” he said.

Johnson, who has years of experience working at a bank where he helped develop major projects for nonprofit groups, said he plans to develop good relationships with individuals and organizations. He said he would like to find one good business to build in the district and then to leverage that to build others, he said.

Scott Murray, running for 4th District Commissioner, is a former city planner here who has written $3 million in awarded grants and worked on economic development projects.

“I want to bring some economic development, a slice of the pie, down to the 4th District,” he said. He said he wants to see a national grocery store and some restaurant chains in the downtown area.

Murray said he admired Commissioner Ann Murguia’s efforts in bringing development to Argentine.

“I believe you have to get out and try something, you can’t sit around and wait for things to come to you. We’ve been waiting too long in downtown KCK. It’s time we got our act together, we went out and made some deals happen.”

Board of Public Utilities, District 3, member at large

Murray Anderson told the audience that he intended to privatize the BPU.

He said it was important to eliminate taxation without representation, which is what he called the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) on BPU bills.

The tax should be borne by the UG , and not the utilities, he said.

Anderson said there is a need for a seed capital fund for businesses in this community, and using a portion of the proceeds from the privatization of the BPU would fund a seed capital fund for about $160 million.

Thomas Gordon said there were a lot of promises in the past years that have not come through.

He said relationships were important in getting things done. His theme was “unity.”

He has a platform of improvements, and said he favored live televised BPU meetings so that residents could view meetings.

Gordon also supported electronic means of communication between residents at home to the BPU meeting, calling in and asking questions.

Chris McCord said one of his main themes was taking care of the BPU customers.

He said he would like to dovetail with the mayor’s plan to improve customer service at the UG, through working with KU Med, and would dovetail that with the BPU to improve customer service.

If elected, he said his first priority would be to visit with customers and patrons to find out what they think is wrong, and help to improve the utility.

McCord said his business experience would be an asset. He is a small business owner in the real estate appraisal field.

Norm Scott said he was in favor of keeping the BPU as a public utility. “We definitely do not want to sell this facility, this is a great facility,” he said.

Scott is a lifelong union member and retired as a business agent for the operating engineers, Local 101, union, and has been endorsed by an electricians union, including electrician workers that represent the BPU, and the Heavy Constructors Association.

He said he is interested in representing the citizens and he has asked some questions of the board. “I need to know why our rates are high,” Scott said. “I need to know why we can’t address some (more) alternative energies.”

Two of his themes are keeping rates low and improving customer service. He also is interested in more alternative energy. He said he knows that some business facilities today are totally self-sufficient, with a zero environmental footprint.

“When you call and all you can get is a machine, that tells me we need to get a little closer to the table,” Scott said. He said he wanted to understand the reasoning behind all the decisions made at the BPU.

The primary election is Tuesday, March 3, and polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day. Advance voting is going on currently at two locations.

For more stories about the candidates, see https://wyandotteonline.com/information-offered-on-primary-election/.