Who will be Bartlett's first new mayor in 20 years? Here are the candidates

Bartlett will have a new mayor for the first time in 20 years.

Current Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald is not seeking a sixth term and will retire at the end of his term.

Four candidates are seeking to become the city's next mayor: Bartlett Aldermen David Parsons and Kevin Quinn, Bartlett Police Department Officer Brent Hammonds and retired Shelby County engineer John Lackey.

Early voting for suburban elections starts Oct. 19 and ends Nov. 3. The general election is Nov. 8.

Here is a closer look at the candidates.

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Brent Hammonds

Hammonds, 52, has lived in Bartlett since he was a child after his family moved from Raleigh. Hammonds said he’s running for mayor to further enhance Bartlett’s reputation as a great place for people to raise their families.

For this story, Hammonds replied to questions only via email, while the other two candidates who spoke to The Commercial Appeal — Parsons and Quinn — conducted telephone interviews.

“With my 25-plus years of service in law enforcement, I believe I have the best experience to lead this city into the foreseeable future,” Hammonds wrote. “I want to be mayor of Bartlett because I want to revitalize this city with a fresh perspective.”

Hammonds joined the Bartlett Police Department in 1997 and has been there for 25 years. In his time there, he worked with educators and parents through leading Bartlett police’s D.A.R.E program.

The Bartlett police officer is focusing his campaign on three issues: business development, restricting out-of-town investors from purchasing more property in Bartlett and enhancing the suburb’s sewer capacity to further develop the city.

“I would love to develop a quarterly town hall meeting in which residents can come to voice their concerns and express their feedback in a respectful, constructive way,” Hammonds wrote. “I want to hear those concerns and address them in a methodical manner and as part of that ongoing relationship, I want to explain the reasons behind the decisions made at City Hall. We won’t agree on every decision, but I would love to increase communication and trust between the residents and the mayor’s office.”

David Parsons

Parsons was elected Bartlett Alderman Position 3 in 2002 and served in that position for the past 20 years.

Parsons, 64, has lived in the suburb for most of his life and is a general contractor who runs his own business, David Parsons Construction.

He’s also served as Bartlett vice mayor and on various boards including as current chairman of the Bartlett Board of Zoning Appeals.

“It’s a lot bigger job than most folks think it is, being the chief executive administrator you’re running almost 600 employees and a $93.5 million a year budget,” Parsons said. “I just believe that with my leadership and experience that we need a proven businessman and governmental leader. A conservative who will apply sound fiscal policies to city government.”

Parsons’ main priorities if elected are public safety, continued economic development and ensuring Bartlett City Schools remains strong. He wants to see children graduate from Bartlett schools, get employed in Bartlett and raise their families in the suburb.

He also wants to bring more restaurants and businesses to Bartlett. Parsons also hopes to address Bartlett’s sewer issue so the city can take full advantage of being about 35 miles away from Ford’s $5.6 billion BlueOval City project in Stanton that’s set to begin production in 2025.

“I feel like with my development experience and my building experience I have the ability and my knowledge over 25-30 years with the people I know in Washington (D.C.), Nashville and Shelby County that I can build a good collaboration between all those resources to try to make something work and connect the dots,” Parsons said.

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Kevin Quinn

For the second consecutive Bartlett election, Quinn is seeking a new political office. In 2020, Quinn was elected as Alderman Position 6 in his first political run.

Quinn, 55, is a digital media specialist for The Museum of Science & History and partner in Quinn Family Farm.

“I’m running for mayor because I love this community and I want to ensure it has a healthy growth for the next 10-20 years to set us on a path of financial stability,” Quinn said. “Everything we love about this city, first responders and the schools and the clean roads, parks that all has to be paid for. We’re not gonna be able sustain that if we don’t have some smart growth and carefully calculated growth.”

In addition to his duties as alderman, Quinn is a board member of the Bartlett Education Foundation and chairman of the Bartlett Historic Preservation Commission. He’s lived in Bartlett for the past 17 years.

Quinn’s priorities if elected mayor will include addressing the city’s sewer issue, exploring development opportunities with BlueOval City coming in a few years, public safety and increasing communication between the city and its residents.

“I’ve seen and learned how government can work for and against people,” Quinn said. “How you can have the cohesion between business and government. I’ve lived in different cities in between Jonesboro and Little Rock, Bartlett and Memphis. I’ve had interactions with a lot of governments there. I know what works and what doesn’t work. I’ve seen growth and lack of growth in all those places and tried to study that.”

John Lackey

Lackey is a retired engineer with the Shelby County Government who was also a reserve deputy sheriff for 21 years.

He ran unsuccessfully against McDonald in the 2018 Bartlett mayoral election. Attempts to reach him for comment for this story were unsuccessful.

Omer Yusuf covers the Ford project in Haywood County, residential real estate, tourism and banking for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached via email Omer.Yusuf@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @OmerAYusuf.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Bartlett elections 2022: Who are the candidates for mayor?