Photo by Jason Evans
A crowd came out for the first-ever debate between candidates for the District 6 seat on Anderson County Council. The debate, sponsored by the Powdersville Post, was held at the Powdersville Fire Department Thursday.
The candidate forum was sponsored by the Powdersville Post and held at the Powdersville Fire Department.
Post Editor Nathan DiBagno, Natalie Gillespie of Pinnacle Bank, and Ryan Thien with Michelin served as the forum’s panel.
Republicans Rick Freemantle, Ann Smith, Ken Waters and Democrat Donovan Loftis touched on some of Powdersville’s hot button issues.
Do you believe Powdersville should be incorporated?
Waters said that if the people tell him the area should be incorporated, he’ll act on their wishes.
“I’m asking to be the representative of District 6,” he said.
“If the people vote me in, what we’ll do is we’ll sit down and look at the process of being incorporated,” Waters said. “If the people of Powdersville want to be incorporated, we’ll follow that process. And if they don’t want to be incorporated, we’ll do that, too.
“All I’m asking to be is the representative of the people of Powdersville.”
Freemantle said that he’s seen what happens when a council member tries to enforce his own personal will on his district.
“Whether or not Powdersville needs to be left up to the people who live in Powdersville,” he said. “They know best what they want, and that’s a decision they’ll have to make. It should be left up to the people. It’s their government. It’s their choice.”
Loftis said he could see incorporation becoming an issue in 5 to 10 years, and said he would hold town hall in meetings to discuss the issue, calling for “unity in the community.”
“There’s no ‘I’ in team,” he said.
But Loftis said business owners have told him that moving to Powdersville is hard for them, due to higher insurance premiums since the area has no full-time EMS or firefighters.
“That’s the advantages or disadvantages of it. I’m not saying yes or no,” Loftis said, adding that projects such as Tri-County or the rumored Target shopping center could force the issue in the near future.
Smith said she would leave the issue up to the people.
“That would be left up to Powdersville,” she said. “If I were their councilperson and they brought that issue to me, yes, I would back them. 100 percent. It’s their prerogative, and I would stand by them.”
Zoning
The candidates said they could support zoning only if their constituents came forward requesting it.
Loftis said zoning comes with incorporation.
“It’d have to be a merger of the two. We’d discuss the pros and cons,” he said. “You can’t have one without the other, I don’t believe.”
Smith said that zoning requires a petition, and urged residents not to wait to deal with zoning until it’s too late.
“Don’t wait until you’re faced with an issue you can’t get out of,” she said. “Zoning is for your protection and only your protection. When your child walks out the door and they see a Pandora video store, or walks down to the school and maybe sees one, you’re going to say, ‘Oh my goodness, why aren’t we zoned?’”
“It’s up to the district, it’s up to the precinct,” she said. “If Powdersville wants to be zoned, there are steps they have to take.”
Waters used the landfill as a example.
“I didn’t want it either,” he said. “And zoning, I didn’t want it either. The majority of people in this area don’t want zoning. Mr. Wilson had a meeting, and people told him that.”
Waters said that when the people give you a mission, you have to follow the wishes to achieve that mission.
Freemantle said he didn’t see why people would want the government controlling their property.
“Anything government takes care of, they mismanage and handle terribly,” he said. “I will never support zoning, unless it’s a situation where a community came forward, went through the process and begged for zoning.”
Should Anderson County Council continue its investigation of former Administrator Joey Preston?
Loftis said county council should let the grand jury conclude its portion of the Preston investigation and stop “putting a dead horse before the cart.”
“Let’s worry about the now instead of the then,” he said. “Let the investigation handle itself.”
The investigation is in the hands of the grand jury, Smith said.
“That’s where it needs to be,” she said. “They’re not getting anywhere. Cut our losses and move forward. We’re never going to get anywhere as long as we keep looking back.”
Waters said the evidence is out there.
“You can look at it yourself and make your mind up,” he said. “We’re ready to move on. (The grand jury is) going to make the decision whether we like or not. If we like it, we’ll be happy. If we don’t like it, they made the decision and it’s finished.”
Freemantle said he’s tried to clear up “the gray areas” of the case as reported in the media, and that council never said the investigation never would only cost $35,000 or take 45 days.
“They never knew how long it was going to take,” he said.
“Should it continue?” Freemantle said. “That’s a moot point. Investigation is over, because it is now in the hands of the grand jury.”
The candidates did not have much in way of praise to give to Ron Wilson, with only Smith approving of his time on council.
“He has fought for this district,” she said. “There’s been a lot of battles that he’s fought. I don’t have any fault with him. He’s fought for us, and he’s been there for me when I’ve called. I pray that I can fill his shoes. He’s done a wonderful job.”
Waters said that when he voted for Wilson, “I definitely thought he would do some things different.”
“And he did, but not in the way that I thought,” he said. “I’ll just leave it at that.”
Freemantle blasted Wilson, calling Wilson “a shame and a disgrace.”
Freemantle said Wilson “stabbed constituents in the back” by telling them he was a conservative.
“Don’t tell me he’s done a good job,” he said. “The very first budget that came before Ron Wilson, he passed more taxes in one night than the honorable Mr. Bill Dees did in six years.”
Loftis said that he called a friend to tell him he was running for council, the friend replied, “Oh, you’re running for Bill Dees’ seat?”
“That re-affirmed why I’m running,” Loftis said. “No, I don’t think he’s done a good job. The only time I’ve seen Ron Wilson is when he’s given the Tri-County Soccer Club a photo check … a photo op.”
about it.