Owensboro mayoral candidates address issues
The local campaign season got underway Thursday morning when the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce hosted a mayoral forum during its Rooster Booster breakfast at the Owensboro Convention Center.
The five candidates — Sharon Castle, former Owensboro mayor Ron Payne, City Commissioner Pam Smith-Wright, Mayor Tom Watson and Titus Willis — each had one minute to answer six questions from moderator Jared Revlett, Owensboro Public Schools’ public information officer, as well as make a closing statement.
The mayoral primary is May 21, with the top two vote-getters advancing to the general election in November.
The candidates opened with what they view as the primary job of the mayor. While Castle said the mayor should be focused on controlling spending, Payne said it’s all about leadership.
“The mayor cannot do anything by himself; you have to build a consensus,” Payne said. “You’ve got to build a consensus with your commissioners — it takes three votes to do anything — and you’ve got to work with others. A good example is, look around you, when we built all you see here downtown, it took leadership first and foremost, and it took consensus.”
Smith-Wright said she wants to be the “biggest cheerleader” for the community, while also having a vision for its direction.
“We need to look past all of the things that have happened and look forward,” she said. “We can’t go back and look through the rearview mirror.”
Watson said public safety should be the first priority for the mayor, followed by creating a balanced budget, living within financial means and to pass on a better community than it was when starting, while Willis said he wants to make sure “we come together and collaborate and make decisions that will impact everybody’s lives for the better related to safety, infrastructure and economic development.”
The candidates were asked about board appointments and the need for diversity, with the boards of the Regional Water Resource Agency, the Riverport Authority, Owensboro Municipal Utilities and Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission having a combined two women and no people of color.
Payne said he would change that.
These days, these times, women and minorities need to play a major role in making decisions about this community. I can’t say anything other than I would change that.”
Smith-Wright said she feels a lack of diversity is holding back the city. “That is what’s wrong with our community as I see it today,” she said, “is that we don’t have a variety of people who are doing things in this community.”
Watson, who served as mayor from 2005-2008 and since 2017, said while diversity on boards is ideal, reality can be something else.
“I try to place the people I can in the places that they’ll do the most good,” he said. “We do have issues with having minority candidates — I’m always trying to find them. We don’t have a big minority population in our community; it’s difficult to reach out and try to find (someone). And I don’t like to put token people into places. I think they need to be qualified.”
The candidates were asked if Owensboro needs a downtown development director to counter what some see as a stagnation of downtown growth.
Castle said she would have to weigh the cost, while Payne was adamant in supporting the position.
“We need a downtown development director, there is no doubt about that,” he said. “We need someone who gets up every morning and thinks about “How do I fill up downtown?’ We need to look at how we can make downtown more accessible, easier for businesses to do business downtown.”
Smith-Wright said she would “have to do some research and find out what all that would entail. But I do think that we need someone to promote our downtown businesses just like we have promotions for other things.”
She said she was also concerned about rising rent costs hurting businesses.
Watson said the issues go beyond having someone to tout the area.
“It’s a tough deal to try and get people downtown,” he said. “We have parking issues. We have high rent. It’s very difficult, and the size of the units are also a problem. Plus, there are a lot of (Americans with Disabilities Act) issues in those old buildings. There are a few roadblocks sitting right in front of you. Hopefully, the economic development and planning and zoning will be able to do a better job trying to fill in the spots.”
Willis said he’d like to see more effort put into attracting entrepreneurs, and that “whenever it comes to attracting talent, we have to show our talent as well. One of the main things is we’re fostering the talent we have.”
The candidates were largely in agreement on their support of home rule, which lets cities have more control over taxing decisions to generate revenue.
But Payne also sounded caution.
“Home rule is very important to cities all across Kentucky, and I would do anything in my power to make sure we maintain that strong aspect of city government,” he said. “The thing you have to be careful about with sales tax, and don’t get me wrong, I’m all for cities having the option to do it, but whether we do it or not is another question, because sales tax is very volatile. It’s driven by the economy.”
Smith-Wright said, “I don’t think that anyone needs to tell us as a community on how we should regulate our taxes in our own city,” while Watson said it makes the city less dependent on being awarded state and federal funds.
“Cities are limited in how they can generate revenue,” he said. “The opportunity to have revenue that you don’t have to go on bended knee to Frankfort to try and get, or Washington. Let the community decide what they want to do. There’s opportunities there to raise money, but we have to change the tax code, and that will take a constitutional amendment. Without cities, this commonwealth is going to die.”
All of the candidates agree that it’s important to retain local talent. Payne, mayor from 2009-2016, said he would consider a talent recruiting effort.
“We need to continue to work on our city in that regard,” he said. “How can we help get these people to Owensboro. Maybe we need to be out recruiting. I think we need a major effort in doing that, because this city won’t survive if we don’t have young talent here and young people to keep our city going.”
Watson said the ideal scenario would be landing a corporate headquarters.
“I’ve looked into it,” he said. “There’s quite a bit of incentives involved. One of the big problems we have inside the city is we don’t have much land, with the river to the north, flood plain to the south, and farmland we can’t afford in the west, with the east headed toward Hancock County. We only have 19 square miles inside the city limits, so you’re hamstrung with what you can acquire and where you can put people.”
Castle and Willis said they would work to lessen the contentiousness between city government and Daviess Fiscal Court.
Payne said the consternation is a terrible look for the city.
“Cooperation between the governments is extremely important,” he said. “Can you imagine if somebody that’s out there that’s looking at Owensboro to try and make a determination whether they want to locate their business here, and the two governments are fighting each other. It’s just no good. It cannot occur if you want to have a progressive community.”
Smith-Wright doesn’t believe there is an issue between governments.
She said, “I don’t see that the two governments are fighting. I see that we may have a difference of opinion, and that’s OK. Not everybody is going to see things the same way. I feel we work well with the county. I don’t have a problem with county government. I think we work well together.”
Watson said the discourse is just par for the system.
“There’s always going to be a little consternation,” he said. “But that shouldn’t be a big deal. When it comes down to a big issue, senior citizens center, things such as that, we’ll come together and certainly make the right decisions for the betterment of our community.”
By Scott Hagerman Messenger Inquirer