May city election: 4 Place 3 candidates field questions

Running for Place 3 on the Abilene City Council are Cynthia Alvidrez, Shawnte Fleming, Blaise Regan and James Sargent.

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Here are the candidates' answers to six questions posed by the Abilene Reporter-News:

Bonds, fees or raising taxes? What is your preference to fund programs if the city budget is as lean as it is said to be? Or do you cut services?

ALVIDREZ: "Neither. We’ve had millions of excess tax dollars left over from previous budgets placed in our Minor Improvement Fund. Instead of the current establishment cronies/City Council members, to include mayoral candidate Weldon Hurt, using those excess to assist local taxpayers with emergency infrastructure repairs/streets or funding for programs and services, they all voted to allocate millions upon millions upon millions of tax dollars to fund the local establishment’s business ventures, ie. a hotel that failed to pass taxpayer approval in a bond election. The city’s budget isn’t “as lean as it is said to be”. Don’t drink the Kool-Aid, it’s tainted.

"No need for bond fees or raising taxes. If anything is going to be cut, it should be the establishment’s sticking fingers.  Maybe once those greedy hands have been denied access to our local tax dollars, we’ll start seeing infrastructure getting solidified and programs flourishing."

FLEMING: "Bond fees will raise taxes. The city's budget can be revamped in some ways. Federal money can not be spent in some areas and on certain projects due to FEMA guidelines. If we should ever have to cut programs, our first responders will be the last resort. We could also partner with local nonprofits to help raise funds,"

REGAN: "Abilene has typically been insulated from the massive ups and downs of the national economy. I believe we are well situated right now that even if there’s a recession in the next year, our local economy and budget will be fine. Efficiency is the key for any business and that would be my goal with the city budget. Grow the tax base by attracting new businesses here, support and sustain the current businesses so that they can grow, and focus on infill development so that we can get better without having to stretch our fire and police coverage."

SARGENT: "I believe our city can evaluate specific projects (ex. downtown hotel) that are receiving large amounts of funding and see what can responsibly be done to mitigate that. As I have stated many times publicly; that I am not opposed to the downtown hotel. But, I am certainly opposed to the millions of tax dollars and ARPA (COVID-relief funds) that were/are being spent for a project that was voted against by the citizens. We should seek more fiscal responsibility to limit an increase to our taxes and/or incurring a 20-year debt note. When we focus on supporting the core function of our city and take care of what we already have; we should have no need to cut services."

What is the city's role in morality issues?

ALVIDREZ: "To uphold the United States Constitution."

FLEMING: "The city's role in moral issues should be beneficial to all citizens of Abilene when it comes to religious liberties, human rights, marriage, sanctuary life, education, our judicial system and more. These are all major issues across the country but as your City Council woman its very important, all of our citizens voices are heard and we protect and serve all of citizens regardless of our personal beliefs."

REGAN: "Abilene is a great city to raise a family and to retire in and we want to keep it that way. We want to elect officials that were raised with good values, beliefs, and traditions that will underpin their decisions on the Council. Our community is made up of different beliefs, even Christian churches disagree on issues, and so we don’t want one church preaching from the Council chambers; instead, we need to have Members that have good values and will make decisions that benefit our entire Abilene community. We are not Austin, New York, or Los Angeles. We are Abilene and we want to build on that."

SARGENT: "According to the Abilene City Charter, part of the role of city administration is to conduct in a way for the maintenance of (among others) morals (moral issues). This is not meant or implied to infringe upon our individual liberties; but to conduct and administer in a good governmental order and that protects the citizens and for the peace of the city. Article 1, Section 3 of Abilene City Charter: … 'may pass ordinances and enact such regulations as may be expedient for the maintenance of good government order and peace of the city and the welfare, health, morals, comfort and safety of its inhabitants consistent with the provisions of this Charter.'"

Seeking business for Abilene is a given, but what can be done to help local businesses that have jobs to fill?

ALVIDREZ: "Access the needs of the local community and fulfill those via their job duties/descriptions and pay."

FLEMIING: "Right now, the DCOA and TSTC have programs in place with our high school students to assist with the workforce needs. Such as the LIFT and vocational trade with TSTC. Also, educating our businesses on grants and other funding options to have competitive pay. Having a good salary will retain staff."

REGAN: "Our local universities and trade schools are our greatest recruiters. They’re bringing in new people to Abilene from all over Texas and the country. As a city and as a business community, we need to be the other side of the coin: working with the schools to retain those graduates here upon their graduation. That means promoting internships and job fairs, promotion of job openings, and helping the businesses with grants and support so they can pay their employees competitively when stacked against job opportunities in the metroplex."

SARGENT: "I am thankful that Abilene is able to bring large businesses to our area to help improve our economic stability and growth. Although, I personally feel it would be beneficial to work on taking care of our current citizens, city, small businesses and infrastructure. If we were to take care of what we have currently; then maybe we would not have to bribe the large businesses (at least, not as much) to develop here. If we were to listen better to, build up, and take care of local businesses; it would help to create an environment in our city that is more welcoming and encouraging for local business growth. I believe it would be beneficial to pause or slow down on chasing big business; and use a small portion of those funds to strengthen our dwindling labor force that will only decline with more large corporations continuing to hire hundreds at a time."

What are the pluses and minuses of city-community partnerships?

ALVIDREZ: "Current public/private partnership in Abilene are seen from the taxpayer’s perspective as ways for the local establishment to recycle monies back to themselves, their family members and/or friends. The “city-community partnerships” are more about controlling the community than they are about stimulating an environment of independence and self sufficiency."

FLEMING: "In my experiences, having city partnerships has been great. We run into some stumbling blocks sometimes but we find ways to work through them. Having a fairly new nonprofit, there are morebenefits. This was one reason we put our Juneteenth Celebration under a 501c3. There is some red tape with partnering with the city but like with anywhere else, we go there are rules. We partner with Abilene police, fire and city staff."

REGAN: "Nothing gets accomplished without a city and community partnership. You have to have buy-in from the community on any project or vision for it to succeed. We need to do a better job at communicating timetables to our citizens. Once a bond package or funding has been granted, a realistic timetable needs to be laid out so the citizens who are paying for it aren’t frustrated when a year has gone by and nothing appears to be built. We’ve also got to do a better job on transparency and showing exactly where our taxes are going."

SARGENT: "Some of the pluses of a city-community partnerships is further fostering an environment in which the voice of the citizens can be heard and social issues addressed. Strong relationships are key to any partnership process. The city can also utilize the voices of the community leaders to receive insight from various focus points through-out our whole community; and those leaders can also be a liaison (of sort) to other members/groups involved.

Some of the minuses can be selective partnerships where some community members/organizations are seemingly given preferential treatment. Also, who would make the determination of what degree/level does the administration and resources for the partnership and its mission merge, cross-over or share responsibility?"

Is city business, including DCOA activities, transparent enough? Does the city have a servant's attitude toward taxpayers?

ALVIDREZ: "No and no."

FLEMING: "Our DCOA has produced financials and their annual budget. Also, to my understanding ,DCOA staff are not city staff. Any questions of transparency, they can produce records. Bringing multi-million dollar companies to our city for Abilene to continue to thrive and grow has been the focus. I can't speak on the city's servantattitude toward taxpayers. Taxes are part of our life and they fluctuate. No one wants to ever pay more taxes or fees but sometimes it's necessary."

REGAN: "The city always needs to be working on this. When you’re dealing with millions of dollars and massive projects and the government is involved, there is always a high level of mistrust by the taxpayers, and rightly so. We’ve got to do a better job of accounting for our expenses, our bonds, and general fund payments so that the citizens of Abilene know where they’re money is going. No one likes paying taxes or the street maintenance fee, we can at least require the City to show us exactly where our money is being spent."

SARGENT: "In many instances, I and many other citizens believe there could be improvements in transparency between city business, DCOA activities and the information shared publicly. Especially when it involves our citizens’ tax dollars being spent; there should be more accounting of how and why some of those decisions are made. Living in Abilene since 2008 and as a small business owner for over 9 years; I personally have not experienced “the city” having a servant’s heart toward taxpayer’s. Our city is blessed with many dedicated and amazing city personnel who have and will (at times) go out of their way to help our citizens and our community, and for that we are thankful for. But, it leaves doubt of transparency when continued questions and concerns go unanswered or when a citizen receives varying answers from city administration. That is why transparency in communication and how our tax dollars are spent is one of the priorities that I would like to address."

With downtown revitalization going strong, can attention be turned elsewhere in the city, particularly north Abilene, to raise living standards in crumbling neighborhoods?

ALVIDREZ: "The same revitalization that is going on in downtown Abilene can be going on in crumbling neighborhood. But again, the establishment cronies/current City Council members have chosen to continue to strategically cut out local taxpayers.

"For example, Abilene Christian University. Kelly Young, Abilene Christian Investment Company executive, sat on the TIRZ {tax increment reinvestment zone, governed by Chapter 311 of the Texas Tax Code historically used to rebuild dilapidated neighborhoods via frozen taxes and investments in that particular area) when ACU’s property was added to the TIRZ. That ultimately resulted in millions of tax dollars being allocated to fund ACU’s Allen Ridge shopping center along with other revenue producing business venture. The reason this is an issue, according to acuoptimis.com: 'The university’s endowment has made a significant increase .... skyrocketing from $475 million to $675 million most recently.'"

FLEMING: "The downtown revitalization is amazing. I would love to see Ambler Avenue come back to life with flourishing businesses. The Impact area would be great to revitalize as well as East Highway 80. Renovationsto these areas would provide dignity and a better quality of life. I was born and raised on the northside. When I travel to the Wylie area (south Abilene) I see the difference in our retail and city streets. A fresh, welcoming environment is what I would love to see for northside crumbling neighborhoods."

REGAN: "I’d love to see development along the I-20 corridor. So many people outside of Abilene just drive through on I-20 and that’s their only view of Abilene. By developing along the entire stretch of I-20 in Abilene that we can improve the statewide image of Abilene, making it easier to attract new businesses, easier for the colleges to recruit, and for more drivers to be incentivized to pull off the highway and shop at a local business on the north side, bringing in outside dollars into our economy. Our parks and roads on the north side will be a huge focus on mine, including Sears, Cedar Creek Walkway, and GV Daniels."

SARGENT: "I have voiced this exact concern for years. I have lived on the northside of Abilene since 2008 and it is disheartening to see the continued investment in specific areas while many northside neighborhoods continue to decline. Since the TIRZ and other incentives seem to work so well for downtown; we (the city) should certainly look into the viability of those options for more areas of the northside as well."

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: May city election: 4 Place 3 candidates field questions