Bartlett elections: Paul Kaiser, David Reaves vie for Position 3 alderman
Bartlett has three contested alderman races on the Nov. 8 ballot, including Position Three.
Longtime residents Paul Kaiser and David Reaves are vying for the four-year seat on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. David Parsons currently holds the position, but is currently running for mayor.
Early voting for suburban elections started Oct. 19 and ends Nov. 3. The general election is Nov. 8, and the deadline to register to vote was Oct. 11.
Here is a closer look at each candidate.
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Paul Kaiser
Kaiser, who is originally from Memphis, has lived in Bartlett for more than 30 years. He is a Farmers Insurance Agency owner, operating a franchise in Bartlett for nearly 30 years.
This is his first time running for elected office, but he has been involved in local government for more than a decade, including serving on the Bartlett Planning Commission for over 16 years, including four years as chairman.
"I’ve just had a lot of background in the city, I’ve spent a lot of time and effort to try and give back to the community and I have a lot of volunteer service, and I like to give back to the community that I’m working in," Kaiser said. "I’ve been in Bartlett for 31 years, I've had an agency for 30 years. And I’m just trying to give back to the community, I think it’s very important. And I think I have something to offer. People have their say for what they decide, but they have a choice and I think I’m a good choice.”
He decided to run for the position after seeing that only one person was running.
“[There was] no competition, he was running by himself, and so I figured I would give people a choice there of two people of pretty different backgrounds," Kaiser said.
Kaiser's campaign focuses on maintaining the "superior" police department, fire department, public works and parks, as well as improving the quality of education in Bartlett. He also emphasizes the experience he has as a small business owner in Bartlett.
"We also want to remember that taxpayers' dollars, Bartlett doesn’t have a printing press, so we need to make sure we’re stewards of the people’s tax dollars," Kaiser said. "Trying to maintain things, but also I think every community is concerned about crime right now, so we just want to support our police and fire and make sure people are safe. I think those are the key cornerstones to the community, if people feel safe and have a good education, and I think with those two main things we can drive economic opportunity.”
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David 'Harry' Reaves
Reaves is a director for Nike and has spent more than 30 years living in Bartlett. He has long been involved in politics, serving on the Shelby County School Board for four years prior to Bartlett leaving the district and on the Shelby County Board of Commissioners for four years.
"After that I promised my wife I would take off and watch my kids graduate from high school and not be involved in politics, so I took four years off and just enjoyed that," Reaves said. "So now I'm looking to get involved with a little more local government and seeing what I can do."
During his time away from politics, Reaves became co-owner of Side Porch Steakhouse. He said this experience in small business helped him learn the process of opening a business and what things might make it difficult to run a business in Bartlett, and that's one of the reasons he wanted to run for office.
"So one of the kind of things that I really wanted to do was really take a hard look at how we kind of refine that process, make it more simple, make it more collaborative with small business owners," Reaves said. "So that’s the No. 1 reason. And another reason, really is just about charting the future of Bartlett, to where it’s more sustainable, to where it’s really well defined and we’re taking advantage of our position, regionally.”
Reaves' campaign focuses on high quality of life in Bartlett, making it simpler to do business in the city, investing in youth athletics and keeping "crime at bay."
"I take pretty seriously the fact that when we appoint leaders, or appoint directors, that they’re in positions for a long time," he said. "So we want to make sure we have the right people appointed. That really kind of inspires loyalty as well as a high level of team performance."
Gina Butkovich covers DeSoto County, storytelling and general news. She can be reached at 901-232-6714 or on Twitter @gigibutko.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Bartlett elections 2022: Candidates for alderman Position 3
