LAURINBURG — The Scotland County Courthouse was filled with about 80 residents Tuesday as municipal candidates gathered for the Fall Candidate’ Forum.
The forum was put on by the Laurinburg-Scotland County Area Chamber of Commerce and the Laurinburg Junior Service League. It was the last forum before One-Stop Early Voting began on Wednesday. The event was lead by moderator Bill Loftus from St. Andrews University.
Two candidates from Gibson were in attendance — Jerry Lee Glover, who is running for town commissioner, and Lisa Bullard Campbell, who is running for mayor. They were given two minutes to give an introductory seat but as there was no challengers the candiates did not answer any questions.
Laurinburg candidates were also in attendance and were given the same two minutes introductory speech before questions from media and the public.
Laurinburg mayor
Candidates Frank Evans, Paul A. Tate Sr., J.D. Willis and James “Jim” Willis were all in attendance.
One of the questions brought up to the mayoral candidates was that of using social media to discuss city matters and performances by city employees — which all agreed should not be done.
“Absolutely not, somebody mentioned the elephant in the room,” said Jim Willis. “The elephant in the room is exactly that and we all know that. It’s ridiculous and it’s done so much damage here, not just discussing politics but personal attacks. It’s outrageous and it shouldn’t happen; it’s a large reason as to why I’m running.”
“Of course the answer is no to that,” said Evans. “I feel though that our city has its own Facebook and social media outlets that it uses and, in my personal views, if a member of council or city manager decided to have a social networking site that was purely professional based, it should be run and administered by the city … those things should be kept internal and made public during public forum not on social media.”
A question from the audience was what the candidates’ visions were for Laurinburg.
“In four years I would hope to see the true divisiveness in our city disappear,” Evans said. “I’m talking just the overall aspect of things, from one side of town to the other. Sunday night we all got together and it was brought up about the beautification efforts on one side of town versus the other. We all know where the divide is, it’s right at those railroad tracks. I’d like to see a time when you cross those railroad tracks that I don’t know if I’m on the north side of town or south side of town.”
“I want to start my answer to that with rejuvenate the ‘we the people of Laurinburg,’” Tate said. “We’ve lost that spark in the 13 years I’ve been here … there’s people outside this state that have negative aspects towards Laurinburg and we never hear about the wonderful things that are going on here and the wonderful people that live in this city … we have to step up to the plate to make a difference.”
“My vision for Laurinburg as I have addressed before is to strengthen the industrial power and reducing water drainage,” J.D. Willis said. “I will say that I have, over the years, worked and we did not all agree but we agreed to disagree … we need to build consensus, learn to work with each other and not expect to get everything your way because it does not work that way.”
“My vision is to heal,” Jim Willis said. “Just about every issue that has been brought up is already in the works to find a solution. Governments are not jet skis, they’re battle ships they don’t make sharp turns … it’s very deliberate and a lot of process that goes into it. We’re taking so many steps in the right direction (but) sometimes there’s one individual that thinks he knows better than anyone else.”
Another question from the audience was, if elected mayor would they agree to retreats to strengthen the council and deal with issues that have arisen, and the unanimous answer was yes.
Laurinburg District 1
Candidates incumbent Curtis B. Leak and challenger Don Rainer were in attendance, while challenger Reginald Korrie McNair was absent.
Between the two candidates, a large topic of conversation was that of the city’s Northside Fire Station and the city infrastructure, which was hit on in introductory speeches and in questions.
“My first priority would be the drainage system in this county,” Rainer said. “All over this city we have a flooding issue, we have a drainage issue and that is the number one concern I have at this time along with getting the fire station on the North side back up and running. It should have been up and running 10-months ago.”
“My No. 1 priority is the north fire station,” Leak said. “Most of us know that the fire station on the north side was our main office. That was our office, sleeping facility everything. You have to understand on the Northside of town our future is the Laurinburg Industrial Park … it’s a must that we have a fire station on the north side of town for insurance purposes for residents and for economic growth … it’s still an item that the future council will have to see.”
The two were asked if they would work positively with the other council members, even if they disagree on items, and it was agreed by both that they were team players.
Laurinburg District 2
Candidates Mary Jo Adams, the incumbent, and challengers Matthew Block and Nicole Williams-Gibbs were in attendance.
The candidates were asked how they could bring cohesiveness to the council if they were elected.
“Team building, strategic planning and then after strategic planning there needs to be some execution,” Williams-Gibbs said. “Then there needs to be some coming together, implementing and executing what we said we were going to do.”
“I would suggest team building activities and discussion of how we can get along,” Adams said. “We don’t always have to agree, but once council makes a decision, it’s important for all council members, even if they didn’t support it, to publicly support it. You can say you didn’t vote for it, but you need to support the decision of council because that helps the city.”
“I think the focus should really be doing the right things by the citizens,” Block said. “The reason why there’s five people is for five different viewpoints. We have had some major disagreements and we’ve made efforts to work together. I asked the city attorney to arrange a meeting to meet with Miss Adams and figure out a way to work together and Council member Adams refused that effort … it would be wonderful to work together where I feel it crosses a line it’s not a difference of opinions but secret underhanded discussions, plots and misinformation.”
Adams did come back with a rebuttal to Block’s claims, saying that there were no secret meetings, as well as asking for all of council to meet together for the meeting rather than just the three, because she doesn’t believe in secret meetings.
Another question was if the members feel it is important to publicly support law enforcement, the fire department and first responders along with other city employees.
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” Gibbs said. “Divided we can’t do anything, so with that being said it’s extremely important.”
“I see my role as an elected official to serve the people I was elected by, not to serve the government infrastructure,” Block said. “My feeling is that, first and foremost, I serve the citizens and if I don’t think a city employee is doing that then I have a problem with that. That’s what I’m hired to do, serve the citizens not the employees — but with that being said, I have the highest respect for all first responders and police. I could never do that job.”
“I think it is extremely important to not publicly bash your employees,” Adams said. “I think that as an elected official, if I have a problem with something that an employee is doing, it is not my job to go to the employee or to send an email out about that employee for the world to read — it would be my responsibility to share my feelings with the city manager and let him do his job.”
Other questions from the public included what ideas there were for cleaning up Laurinburg and plans to decrease the crime rates. Loftus added that there had been some questions for the candidates that he decided not to read, as he felt they were personal attacks on the candidates.
Katelin Gandee can be reached at 910-506-3171 or kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.
