Mayoral candidates talk city revenue, growth at forum
Georgetown’s four mayoral candidates took the stage to answer a range of questions at a mayoral forum Thursday, May 7. The forum, hosted by the Georgetown News-Graphic, drew a crowd of over 100 attendees to Scott County Public Library and thousands of Facebook livestream viewers to hear from each candidate ahead of the primary election Tuesday, May 19.
Candidates Alonzo Allen, Dan Holman, Burney Jenkins, and Kim Menke were given approximately one minute to answer questions, fielded by moderator and Georgetown College Professor of Philosophy Roger Ward. Audience members were also allowed to submit questions.
Ward kicked off the questions by asking candidates what they saw as “the single greatest issue” facing Georgetown. Menke pointed toward housing, stating that there were gaps in both available and affordable housing, especially when it comes to “starter homes.”
“I think what we need to do is provide more data-driven information,” he said. “Where do we have available space to be able to infill projects, and look at the ways that we can work with our developers to be able to provide starter homes, and a wide variety of homes, in our community.”
The city’s rate of growth was Holman’s area of concern. Implementing the existing comprehensive plan may be part of the solution for managing projects and setting a community “vision,” he said.
“There’s supposed to be a comprehensive plan implementation committee, but that hasn’t happened yet,” Holman said. “So we need to implement the comprehensive plan and start having these conversations with the public, and have a lot of public involvement.”
With only two sources of income, the city needs to focus on finding more paths for revenue, Jenkins said.
“There’s two ways we get revenue: taxation, and bringing in jobs,” he said. “What we’ve got to be doing as forward-thinking is bringing in more revenue so we can continue to provide the services that you as citizens expect from our government.”
Similarly, Allen finds a lack of “recurring revenue” for the city to be its most pressing issue, he said.
“Our tax structure’s put a strain on our city finances,” Allen said. “We really need to sit down and work with the county, because on the payroll taxes — which is 50 percent of our budget — the county also gets 40 percent of the payroll taxes. So we need to sit down and work with the county to rebalance this.”
Candidates were then asked what made them the “best candidate” for Georgetown’s next mayor. Holman, who described himself as “not a politician,” felt his citizen focus made him the best fit, he said.
“For the past four years, I’ve followed closely, through open records requests and attending multiple meetings, what needs to be done,” Holman said, proposing specific changes like reforming the city’s committee process and working with Scott County government to bring more funding into Georgetown.
Experience was the primary selling point for Jenkins, the incumbent Mayor going into the upcoming election cycle.
“For four years, I’ve been in this job; I have sat in this seat,” he said. “So I understand, you know, when we’re talking about procurement, and working with the government, not just with the different agencies on the federal level, but also on the state level.
“I’ve been a person who has actually served this public for many, many years. I’ve invested my time in this community for years.”
Allen sees himself as “data-driven” and open-minded, qualities that would help him “make the best decision(s)” for the community, he said.
“I think every project should have multiple options, so that we can evaluate those options and make the best decision for the citizens of this community,” Allen said.
For Menke, being a “collaborator” would allow him to lead best, he said.
“I spent my entire career being a translator, because business has a language; education has a language; government has a language,” Menke said. “Being able to bring the folks together, to collaborate and work together in a comprehensive way, to be able to get to the solution that is best for people in Georgetown.”
Ward then asked candidates to describe “the most important part of the mayor’s job,” as they saw it. Collaboration and management are critical mayoral qualities, Jenkins said.
“We’re in the business of service,” he said. “To do that, you have to be able to talk with people, get input from people in the community, and also understand with your staff — You hire your staff to get the information you need to make the best decision for people.”
“Long-term vision” and having a grasp on current conditions are the keys to being a successful mayor, Allen said.
“It’s not about just this potential project; it’s about how this project impacts downstream or upstream,” he said. “In my opinion, long-term vision and understanding the current condition. There are two important things.
“Listening is the key. You have to listen to the constituents, understand what they want, understand what the needs are, and try to balance that out with the other elements that you’re up against.”
Being Mayor starts with setting priorities, Menke said.
“Then, being able to empower the people within the city to actually carry out those activities, provide them the resources they need to do it, and then make sure that we’re meeting those targets and we’re holding folks accountable,” he said. “With that, then we can make the progress, and we can actually move forward. But it’s through that collaboration of all the partners that are out there working together.”
The Mayor should be responsible for “connecting the dots,” Holman said, opening the door for collaboration.
“The mayor is the person who brings it together, connects the dots, and makes things work collaboratively together,” he said.
Given the collaboration between Georgetown and Scott County governments, candidates were asked if they viewed the mayor’s role as “equal partners” to the Judge-Executive in “governing the community.” Being partners is essential, Allen said.
“We have to be supportive with each other,” he said. “One can’t work without the other. So, yes, there has to be a good collaboration, good partnership with the county.”
Menke echoed the sentiment, adding that there are opportunities to expand existing “interlocal agreements.”
“We need to just continue to expand that (interlocal agreements), because that’s how we can best provide services to our citizens,” he said. “It’s all about partnership, and cooperation, and coordination of those things.
“I think we can take that to another level in the interlocal activities, even in how we operate the joint functions that we have and ourselves as individual government bodies, as well.”
Collaboration between the city and county leaders is “incredibly important,” Holman said, who added that the eventual consolidation of the governments may help better manage those interlocal agreements.
“That’s another example of two groups of people that don’t always collaborate, and that do need the dots connected and do need to work together better,” he said. “For example, EMS is ... managed by the county, but most of the calls take place in the city. So, should EMS and fire be consolidated? We have a county fire, a city fire, and then we have an interlocal EMS. Someone needs to talk and get that all working together.”
Georgetown and Scott County have a “model system” for interlocal collaboration, Jenkins said.
“In my travels throughout Kentucky as Mayor, I’ve seen horror stories where the city government and county government do not work together, and just civilians end up suffering from this — the people who put you in that position,” he said.
Ward turned the candidates’ focus toward City Council meetings, asking each of them to describe what they see as the role of Mayor during those meetings. The Mayor should oversee and run meetings while “providing perspective” and incorporating public input, Menke said.
While the Mayor should be a “facilitator,” they are “not the leader” of City Council, Holman said.
“(The Mayor is) there to empower the council when they have ideas,” he said, and referenced an example where a city councilmember had ideas that “died” following inaction.
It’s the Mayor’s responsibility to “run city business,” Jenkins said, and provide council members “an opportunity to have that open space to bring concerns.”
City Council should be a place for “healthy debate,” Allen said, and it’s the Mayor’s role to “facilitate” those conversations.
“The end result is you should come out with a result that satisfies the citizens,” he said. “Not every citizen’s going to agree with it, but you’ve got to make sure that you come out with a result that satisfies the citizens.”
Allen suggested regularly scheduled workshop meetings and introducing city council districts to help facilitate engagement through decision processes.
Candidates were then asked how they would handle strong disagreements with councilmembers.
While the mayor gets a tie-breaking vote, councilmembers are “the decision makers for council issues,” Holman said, though the mayor can help “frame the situation” for voting matters during meetings.
Disagreements happen between the Mayor and City Council at times, Jenkins said, but such disagreements should not get in the way of decision-making.
Some disagreements can be avoided by having more than one option to propose, Allen said.
“When you only have one option, it sets the stage for this disagreement and debate,” he said. “I think that having more than one option, and being able to measure those options across the same metrics — again, I’m process-oriented, I can’t help but be that way — that eliminates some of that confusion.”
Another way to curb council disagreements is “making sure that all the information is there” for decision makers, Menke said.
“You’re having conversations, and being able to have those pre-conversations in a workshop, or whatever format that they take, so that all the information is there, and the informed decision is the decision,” he said. “Sometimes, you just have to agree to disagree.”
Candidates were asked to look at the current city council to describe one thing they have done well and something else they could have done better. Jenkins feels that the current council has been “cooperative” on moving forward with projects like Georgetown Fire Department’s training center and renovations at City Hall, he said. However, he believes the city’s legislative body could have better incorporated all points of view on certain matters.
Allen commended the city’s preparedness in setting a 30 percent “rainy day fund,” providing a six-month cushion for city expenses. Inversely, he pointed back to a lack of recurring revenue as a fault.
“We did not vote on (a proposed fourth fire station) because we didn’t have the recurring revenue to support 12 firefighters,” he said. “The council needs to work on methods for recurring revenue.”
City Council has maintained strong communication, even in the face of disagreement, Holman said, but has fallen short of “speaking up.”
“People view them as, often, just rubber-stamping what’s put before them,” he said. “For example, like the regional business park that went on for like a year, the conversations about that, the council ultimately voted it down; they ultimately voted down stormwater utility fees; they ultimately voted down impact fees. Instead of letting that drag on for so long, you’re wasting so much time talking about that. They should have just let their opinions be known early on and made their decision quicker.”
While the current council has done well to open the door for conversation, Menke, who currently serves on city council, said more could have been done to prepare councilmembers prior to decision-making.
“Unfortunately, sometimes a lot of information is being given in a very general way without the supporting information, and decisions or opinions sometimes can get out of control,” he said. “I believe that having those workshops to be able to talk about all the facts so that we can come to a real decision, I think, is one of the things we could’ve done better.”
Fielding a question from the audience, Ward asked candidates to weigh in on public comment during government meetings. While the opportunity is important, more could be done to facilitate “dialogue” between the public and elected officials, Allen said.
Similarly, Menke felt that public comment was “one option” for community members to have a voice, but felt that more opportunities could be provided.
Rather than have public comment open for one portion of the meeting, Holman proposed implementing a system used by boards, like the Planning Commission and Board of Adjustments, where public comments are generally allowed on each agenda item.
Public comments allow community concerns to come before all council members, Jenkins said. City Council then has an opportunity to address certain matters during the “council comments” portion of each regularly scheduled meeting.
Candidates were asked if they see issues with the differences in occupational taxes between city and county residents. The “state-driven” process should be evaluated regularly to ensure “adequate representation” and a “fair use of funds,” Menke said.
The tax is a “major problem” that has left Georgetown “continually underfunded,” Holman said.
“This is a crisis,” he said. “It’s a state process, but the state allows the county to change it. … Either that needs to happen, or the governments need to be consolidated.”
While the county may see more money from the taxes, Jenkins said that working together and taking advantage of interlocal agreements allows for mutual benefit.
Allen, however, felt that interlocal agreements were unbalanced, given the 50-50 share of costs, he said. Reworking those agreements, especially as the city continues to grow, is important, Allen said.
“It is time to sit down with the county and challenge that 50-50 (cost share) to maybe a different perspective,” he said. “65 percent of people live in our city, and 35 percent live in the county. That’s projected to change by the year 2050 to 70 percent in the city. So we have to look at changing the interlocal agreements, or some other change.”
Candidates also took questions about downtown parking, affordable housing solutions, and strengthening the arts in Georgetown. The full Mayoral Forum livestream can be viewed on Georgetown News-Graphic’s Facebook page or YouTube page.
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