 So I'm here at Timothy Road Elementary with Mike and so you're running again for reaction. I am I am and yeah thank you for having me here today Chris I appreciate it appreciate you coming up coming over here. Tell me why you're running again. Well there's a there's a there's a lot of reasons why I'm running again we've got so much going on here here in Athens that we've kind of laid the foundation for some a lot of new splice projects some T-splice projects but I'm really running for for office again Chris to help make Athens stronger and to help make it stronger by having a liveable community and by what I mean a liveable community is making sure making sure that there's affordable housing making sure that there's an economy that's working for everybody so so that so that people can make a living and afford to live here and making sure that you know mobility is accessible like here on Timothy Road making sure you know we get some transit out here on Timothy Road some sidewalks there's a Jerry Neesmith and I've been talking about a pedestrian loop that goes all the way from making highway to down Mitchell Bridge Road and if we ever if we had that opportunity that would create a about a 15 mile loop that would connect all of all of Athens and and that would connect in a lot of ways connect neighborhoods connect people and and have the other extra mobility for Timothy Road and Mitchell Bridge Road as well so a liveable community a skilled community where we where we really harness our workforce here in town and get on get people ready to work and ready to ready to be able to do things at a moment's notice and we see that when a lot of companies come to look in Athens they want to they want a good strong workforce to be able to do that but I also want people to have a plan B and a plan B is okay so maybe you want to start your own business and what can the government do to be a catalyst in order to help you do that you know we see a lot of people here in town that somebody may make the best barbecue sauce ever or somebody may make some really good cookies that they're selling here locally so I think what we need to do is look and see how we can sustain those small businesses and we do that by by help by seeing if the government could be a catalyst in some way or offer some sort of incentive or some sort of assistance to help people that are doing that that to expand their product beyond the boundaries of Athens so a skilled community the liveable community a fair community where we do look at equality and equity and make sure that those are always part of the discussions and they need to be and you know the storm going back to the storm and the boats are a good example you know if we're not all in the same boat you know some people are going to have a leaky boat and some aren't going to have have the safety net at all and uh and and what can what role does government play what role does the community play and and helping sure helping make sure that we're thriving together as a community um Commissioner Thornton and I started uh working on the prosperity package as a result of these of these types of conversations and we recognize that that the prosperity package was to address our our poverty situation here in town and we recognize that you know poverty poverty impacts the community as a whole and and and if if one of our neighbors is in poverty then then that's you know we need to we need to see what we can do to to help that and and I think I think as a community if we tackle it as a community then then everybody as a community will benefit as well so a fair community and then also an engaged community and by engaged community I mean making sure that you know neighborhoods uh that are out here in Long Timothy or elsewhere in District 10 that uh that they we have this thing called the neighborhood notification a lot of neighborhoods are signed up for it and we use it primarily for a lot of zoning issues but it could be used for other things as well it could be used to to let people know about different events that may be going on around town or different neighborhood events going on around town or or you see where I'm going with that stuff like that to be a way to communicate what's happening what's happening within within within town here so um so doing having a more engaged community because I see I see it in my own life and I see it in others too I mean every single person I've ever met here in Athens my life has improved by meeting people and and and I and that's that's a good thing and I I think when we when you have the opportunities to meet other people and to engage uh in the community then then you never know what what can happen and and and you know you may be selling the cookies and meet a new customer that helps you helps you with that and uh so um an engaged community a fair community a skilled community and livable community are four reasons why I'm running uh and to help make Athens stronger in those in those regards and great um and uh so what what do you see as your biggest accomplishment um as a commissioner I guess you know I I hope I have I hope I have a few of them you know I I think I think one of the things I'm probably most proud of I'm proud of a lot I'm proud of uh I'm proud of uh of the community I'm proud of getting to know people in the neighborhoods and and uh in district 10 I've been proud of the of the people I work with on the commission and and of staff I mean you know I see a group of people who try hard to to do some to do some good for the community everybody at that table we may have disagreements here and there but everybody at that table I think really has and and our staff really has uh the the the best intentions for Athens at heart and I see this in our community as well I mean we saw it during the during the uh during the COVID situation here where people are rallying around to make sure make sure people are are are being are being safe and and and trying to do the right thing and supporting our local businesses during this downturn as well so to your question what I'm almost proud of I'm proud of that but I'm also proud of the work I've done with with neighborhoods you know we've had a lot of neighborhoods up on Epsbridge road up there that had that had some some uh some uh potential impacts on their neighborhood from from some development and what I'd like to see I mean I know development is is going to happen but I want to make sure it's the right development for for the neighborhoods around there something that they could walk to something that they that they can that they also can enjoy uh from from that standpoint so uh so helping helping protect the neighborhoods helping protect neighborhoods as far as as far as traffic it goes along along Timothy road and and in neighborhoods I look over here at Kingswood it's uh Kingswood's been a great neighborhood to work with and um you know a couple years ago we did a a repaving in Kingswood and the pavement had gotten so high over the years they had to mill it down quite a bit so um uh so that no one would fall and get hurt on it and they you know it was I was glad to see that happen I also am glad when I'm able to just help individuals one-on-one you know being an issue in their neighborhood that they're dealing with or being an issue uh that they need help getting through some some some sort of instances with the government you know some small businesses I've been able to work with you know uh I've been chair of the of the committee that helps start the community gardens uh ordinance here in Athens the food truck ordinance here in Athens so so I always try to look for ways where I can you know not only help the neighborhoods but help help individuals do what they need to do to help them and what they're trying to do as far as making a living or making making their home better and you know sometimes I'm not successful at it I don't want to I don't want to say that sometimes sometimes we struggle trying to find a way to to get to get the answer that that can help but but uh but I hope people know I do try is there anything that um maybe that any votes you've made that you've regret or anything that the commission has done that you maybe didn't disagree with over the past few years well yeah I'm sure there's uh there's one that does come to mind we did we did um we did uh you know we we deal with so much on the commission with storm water with water rates with you know right now we've got a budget that we're looking at with some um some property tax assessments have gone up so we're going to be next week taking a look at taking a look at that and seeing seeing what we if there's I know Mayor Gersh has put in a millage rate reduction in there there's there's some discussion about whether or not we need to look for look for more or look for ways to to cut back on some of the some of the stuff in the budget so that so that especially during these difficult times you know having having haven't the assessments went up that means people are going to pay more in property taxes so what can we do on our side be it through a millage rate decrease or an extra homestead exemption so that so that somehow or another we might could break even or lower it in some way so so I say all that because your question is I was just wanted to get that out there that we are looking at that but another thing we're looking at one of the things that I had second thoughts on and it's fixed now was our retiree insurance program yeah I'm ahead of the pension board and a few years ago we passed a new retiree insurance program and we didn't quite get it right at the beginning but we've got it right now and I think that vote that vote at the at the beginning was uh was something for Sam hey hey Sam good how are you good seeing you man yeah picking up garbage I see yeah thanks for the sign by the way yeah I appreciate that I hope so yeah thank you what will your top priorities be in your next term in office well the top priorities I alluded to them a little bit earlier with the livable community the fair community engaged community in a skill community but I also think this I need to mention this you know we've laid the foundation for a lot of a lot of things to happen here it happens and I find that we have to do that a lot you lay the foundation and it takes some time to lay the foundation and then then you then you then you start doing the work I mean you know I know we've done that all throughout but you know we've got a redevelopment authority that's that's ready to do some things it has done some things by by putting together a redevelopment plan that has some opportunities zones for businesses I think we have five of them here in Athens Baxter Street Newton Street Newton Bridge Road and Hawthorne or three that come to mind right away but also Lake City Rose one and I and Broad Street's one as well but so opportunities zones with the redevelopment authority the land bank authority I think can be will be a key tool in helping us do some affordable housing stuff so I think moving forward though laying these foundations we laid the foundations and the voters actually laid the foundation this time around when they passed floss and they they did it and I'm glad they did because one of the things that's going to come out of that is affordable housing 45 million dollars that's huge for Athens because what is what it's going to do you know I've read where Seattle gives about 60 million dollars to affordable housing DC is probably around 50 or so so so Athens given 45 doing 45 million dollars for affordable housing that's a lot of money per capita and it's a big and it's a good needed investment so getting that off the ground and running is going to be is going to be a top priority also the municipal municipal center that came out right for me but the municipal center is is another key factor because Chris what that's going to do is it's going to free up the buildings like over in Satura we have finance over in the planning department you've seen where we've got planning and also our code enforcement and our transportation and public works so you move all of those into the existing courthouse we'll build a new courthouse everything all these other departments go into the existing courthouse then what you've done is you've created a one stop shop for citizens to be able to access their government you have all of these things going into the municipal center but then what it does is it frees up these buildings for public private uses that you could that you can then go back to remember at the beginning I was talking about the small businesses and the barbecue and the cookies then you have a place where people could go and and and produce those or and have those maker space areas where where they could do that or a creative incubator can't can't you just imagine around city hall there the buildings around city hall become in a creative sort of space I mean and what kind of story would that tell that you have buildings that that are producing income for people and producing income for the community and and providing goods and services and and all around city hall I think that would I think that would just tell a tell a good story for this community but I also think in moving forward you know we've got to figure out the virus and and what the new normals if what is a new normal and what does that look like and I don't know I don't know I'm still trying to figure that out are we still you know how long are we going to have to stand six feet apart in order to do an interview like this where you may not be able to hear me very well or or the or the lighting's not very good but uh uh but how long are we going to have to you know uh go get our food from the restaurants to go and and and such as that I know you can go in there right now but but when are we gonna when is everybody going to want to want to start doing that again and when when is it appropriate to start doing that again and what is it what is the economy going to look like when all this is is said and done and how do we how do we get it back on track and fix it I don't know the answers to that I welcome the discussion do you feel our local government is adequately funded right now um and if not how would you change that and are there some taxes you like or dislike more than others you know I don't think anybody likes taxes one way or the other so and I mentioned that we're going to be talking about the budget just a few minutes ago so we'll start those discussions next week I think Kelly Mayor Gertz has it uh where we're voting on it in the middle part of middle part of June so with this budget I did mention the property tax assessments went up that means that you know property taxes went up so so I think we've got to figure out figure out what the how much I know our tax digest grew by seven percent out of that seven percent it's grew by seven point nine percent actually and out of that seven point nine percent uh two point three percent was was uh grew as a result of new construction and five point six percent grew as a result of reassessment of homes here in Athens so so uh I kind of I'd like for us to see what we can do to to get Mayor Gertz has put in a a millage rate reduction we need to see see how how that impacts the assessments on the homeowners here in Athens or how how how they've done this impact the assessment but how it impacts the property taxes that they're paying from from that standpoint so so and we also need to make sure that you know during this during this downturn in the economy that that we need to be prepared to to do some things for uh homeowners and for local businesses to help them get back get back on their feet so so to answer your question about all this uh we need to make sure that the budget covers those things to see what we can do to to lower it's always it's always a tricky balance you know what can we do to lower lower the tax burden on people but also provide the services that that the people also expect so so and and I hope we can I hope we can meet that challenge and why should voters choose you over your opponent well you know I'm gonna just I'm gonna just tell them why they should choose me so I'd like to like to uh stay stay positive in that regards because who has my opponent Noah I mean I'm gonna say his name I was watching an episode of West Wing uh the other night trying to fall asleep and uh Jeb Bartlett was talking about somebody told him not to say his opponent's name he goes why not say my opponent's name I mean everybody knows my opponent's name it makes me look silly if I so Noah's a good guy and no doubt about it uh but uh I'm I'm hoping that the voters will allow me to serve another four four four years on the commission because because I I hope I've I've hope I've served them well I hope I've worked hard I hope I helped them address some neighborhood issues some traffic issues some zoning issues some budget issues uh and and and for for the community and I hope so you know I also hope I'm able to address some of the bigger issues that we need to address like making sure that everybody has has a good has a good boat to help them get through the storm or help them figure out how to get through the storm uh I'm hoping we can address some issues on on health care so that we can work with our state officials to to expand Medicaid so that so that this whole this whole situations made us look at at things that we knew we needed to look at and this is kind of kind of really pushed a lot of it to the to the front burner as far as health care transit and and small business and and neighborhood support so I hope the voters know that I've worked hard I hope I hope they see that I'm I'd like to to think about ideas and to figure out ways to make those ideas happen uh their ideas or or anybody's ideas really and make sure that they happen if they if they're benefiting the community because I like to be able to to to do that and I I think I've I've been good and see an idea see it taking an idea and bringing it to fruition uh I I feel like I've been a good problem solver for things on on the commission but I also think I think also what I've tried to do is I haven't tried to do I try to do things with people and and and for people and I find partnerships in order to do that it's not it's not always just me it's not ever about me it's always about the work I don't always try to be I don't always try to be the loudest one in the room but I do try to do the I do listen and I do try to do the work and make sure that I find the partnerships and and work on building those partnerships in order to to to do good things for people and the community so uh with that said I I do ask for your vote uh June 9th June 9th hope so okay is that good all right thanks chris