Athens mayoral candidates speak at forum
Published 7:00 am Saturday, August 15, 2020
The four candidates seeking election as mayor of Athens participated in a political forum hosted Thursday by the Greater Limestone County Chamber of Commerce.
Russell Johnson, incumbent Ronnie Marks, Brian Terry and Mark Wilson were each asked a series of questions and shared their take on a number of topics, including why they felt qualified for the position, the biggest challenges facing Athens and how would they handle the city’s growth if elected.
The forum comes ahead of the statewide municipal elections on Aug. 25. The empty District 4 seat on the city council will also be on the Athens ballot.
District 4 candidates Marcia Day and Dana Henry participated in the forum before the mayoral candidates. The News Courier will have additional coverage on that part of the forum in Tuesday’s print edition.
The event was held in the Limestone County Commission Chambers of the Clinton Street Courthouse Annex with a limited in-person audience and livestreamed by the Commission and Chamber.
Opening statements
Candidates drew a number before the event to determine their speaking order. Each candidate was given one minute to express why they felt they were qualified to be the mayor of Athens.
Johnson went first. He relayed a story about how he tried to bring 300 high-tech jobs to Athens five years ago, but those jobs were lost to another city. It was this event that made him decide to run for the office.
“Athens failed miserably in trying to get those jobs, and today, Cookeville, Tennessee, has those jobs,” he said. “At that point, I decided this city needed new leadership, one that knows how to go after that kind of business. I think we need a leader that knows how to run an organization that is measured by productivity, efficiency and delivery.”
Johnson thinks Athens also needs a leader who understands education, citing his 15 years’ experience as part of the Athens City Board of Education.
“I was instrumental in getting the new Athens High School built,” he said. “I understood what the economic impact of the school system would be, and I was the one that pushed hard that the new building make a statement when people come to visit. I think I have that proven leadership for the next generation of Athens.”
Marks, who has been mayor of Athens since 2010, opened up by saying it is always “exciting” when he gets to talk about Athens.
“I stepped in when Mayor Dan Williams was elected to the state legislature,” he said. “I have been excited every day. I have been from Boy Scouts to the senior centers to issues with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I have been all over this community.”
Marks said Athens is one of the most successful cities in Alabama, having grown by 25.5% in population since 2010.
“This did not happen without a vision and plans,” he said. “You will hear people talking about what they are going to do and what they are going to bring, and in the meantime, we’ve been working. I’m excited to be here. I look forward to the next four years.”
Terry said he felt privileged to be a part of the first virtual political forum Limestone County has had. He also referenced his background in education, saying he took a $12,000 pay cut to become an educator 32 years ago and “never looked back.”
“I think all the experience I have dealing with career technical education students throughout the course of my career, dealing with parents and hot-button issues that came up, has given me the experience to not only communicate with city employees, but also with the public in general,” he said. “Communication is a big part of today’s world.”
Wilson, the only Black candidate in the race, said he is running for mayor because Athens needs change. He believes the keys to achieving that change are diversity and inclusion.
“We need a mayor who is for all the people of Athens, not just for some of them,” he said. “The system is not set up for all of the people, so maybe we can get a mayor who can represent all the districts instead of just one district of Athens.”
Challenging topics
Among the questions each candidate had to answer were what they believed was the biggest strength and the biggest challenge in Athens.
Johnson said the biggest challenge facing Athens is the growth of the city, adding his first goal as mayor would be to make sure the city has a certified city planner on the payroll. He said the city also has several unfunded liabilities that are not being addressed and spoke of paying more attention to the city’s police and fire employees.
“That’s an area with all this growth we’ve had that we really haven’t expanded,” he said. “The crime rates are up. I talked to Chief (Floyd) Johnson, and he gave me some statistics on that.”
Marks said the biggest challenge facing Athens is maintaining residents’ quality of life during city growth.
“We can talk about public safety,” he said. “We are one of the 10 safest cities in Alabama. We have to keep that. Do we need more police and firefighters? We sure do. We are working every day to get it.”
For Terry, the biggest challenge is planning for expansion.
“When you talk about our weaknesses, you talk about the growth pains we are going to have to have,” Terry said. “Those are real. There is no slowing down the growth. Those things are going to happen. How are you to plan for those things? How are you going to budget for those things? We are going to have a problem funding that growth. But we are going to get over that hump someway, somehow, with good management and being a good steward of the people’s money.”
Terry said once that growth is properly planned for, it will help Athens prosper.
“On the other side of that hump, there is going to be some milk and honey,” he said. ‘”There will be some funds coming in that we in this county have never seen before.”
City roads and attracting new business were also on Terry’s list of challenges.
“A lot of our streets need to be repaved, not just in the new growth areas but those that have been there a long time,” he said. “We need to continue to recruit big business, but we also have a lot of empty buildings. We have gained businesses, but we have also lost some. You stop and think about the things you can’t buy in Athens that you have to buy online or leave the city. With the growth of rooftops, business will come.”
Wilson said Athens needs to improve its infrastructure and increase diversity across multiple areas.
“I live in District 5, and we need more grocery stores and businesses up there,” he said. “We need a diverse municipality government, and a diverse fire department, police department and school system. The master plan map doesn’t include all the people. That is being seen every day by the public works and construction projects. Being a mayor of Athens is a serious task, and we need a mayor who represents all the people of Athens, not just some of them.”
Strengths
While the challenges may have varied from candidate to candidate, they all agreed Athens had one major strength: its people.
“There is no doubt our people are our strength,” Terry said. “The love for each other and the cooperative unity we have is definitely one of our strengths.”
He said listeners would find a lot of “common ground” between the candidates when it came to residents being the city’s greatest strength.
“I was born in Athens,” Johnson said. “I’ve lived here all my life. I know what the Athens values are. I know what Athens is and what it needs to be. The growth is coming to Athens, but we can’t lose what that Athens value is. We have to make sure we don’t become Madison, we don’t become Huntsville, but we remain who we are and still manage that growth. I think I will be able to do that, and I look forward to making that happen.”
Marks echoed Johnson’s sentiment, saying Athenians had a high energy level and are passionate about the city. He also talked about city growth and revitalizing the downtown area. He said teamwork is an important part of the office, and city government is a “contact sport,” meaning contacts and relationships built with other statewide departments are important to city success.
“We brought in retailers and industrial announcements,” he said. “… We are one of the first at the table because we own all the electric and utility rights of Limestone County. We know how to negotiate and move projects along from retailers all the way to industrial development.”
Wilson agreed with the other candidates that Athenians are Athens’ greatest strength.