Who's it going to be? Ward 12 candidates make their pitches to council

The question of who will be the next city council member for Ward 12 will be known soon.

A month after Ward 12 city council member Trisha Butler's resignation, seven candidates went in front of Clarksville's City Council on May 4 to express their interest in being the one to fill the now-empty seat.

During this meeting, the candidates introduced themselves and answered questions from the council such as what they believe is the biggest problem in Ward 12, how they would communicate with the residents living in Ward 12.

Here's a summary of who those candidates are and what they told the council.

Kirk Zeaman

Kirk Zeaman has been a Clarksville resident for six years but has been coming to the city for over 20 years.

Zeaman works as the senior digital imaging engineer at Jostens and is a volunteer deputy for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

He received his undergrad degree in electrical engineering, his master's from the University of Minnesota and he is working on his Ph.D. at Capella University.

Zeaman said the most pressing problem in Ward 12, and Clarksville as a whole, is growth.

"We've got to start planning for that growth and working with the communities as they grow," Zeaman said. "It's not an easy fix, we've got to start building roads. I think we should work on the infrastructure before homes go up, but we have to work with what we have."

To connect with Ward 12 residents, he said he would do town halls and have people come to talk to him similar to how Councilperson Deanna McLaughlin does in Ward 2.

Zeaman considers being very analytical to be both his strength and weakness.

"I tend to want more data than the average person," Zeaman said. "It causes you to hesitate in making decisions."

David Bilan

David Bilan has lived in Clarksville since 1991. He served in the Army as a soldier and as a military-civilian.

"My love of this city is why I want to serve," Bilan said.

He believes his work in management, journalism and community involvement makes him a good representative for Ward 12 and he would communicate with the residents through town halls, newsletters and going out to neighborhoods.

Bilan said his strength and weakness is candor.

"I think in order for us to progress as a city we have to collaborate," he said. "One of my strengths is active listening and maybe through that we can find compromises to solve whatever issues we have."

Zoyie Jackson

Zoyie Jackson has been a resident of Ward 12 since 2018. She's a retired veteran after more than 20 years in combat and received a Purple Heart medal.

Jackson is a college graduate, business owner and is active in organizations in the community including the Women Veterans of America Chapter 47, where she serves as president, the NAACP's communications relations and a member of the Clarksville Rotary Club.

"I've seen firsthand and understand the challenges that our community faces and I am eager to be a part of the decision-making process that will allow the constituents of Ward 12, the city and Montgomery County a better place to live, play and raise a family," Jackson told the council.

Jackson said the most pressing issue in Ward 12 is the traffic on Wilma Rudolph, especially by the Chick-Fil-A.

She said one of the ways to fix this is having surveys done for light or finding other ways to direct traffic from bottling up.

To connect with the residents of Ward 12, Jackson said she would use town halls and weekly posts on the Internet to inform and remind residents to share their thoughts.

Jackson said her strength is fighting for others, and considers her weakness not knowing when not to fight.

David Webb

David Webb is a familiar name for Ward 12. The Austin Peay State University grad and Air Force combat veteran ran for the city council seat against Butler in 2020.

"Even though I didn't win that bid for Ward 12, I never stopped working for Ward 12," Webb said.

Webb told the council in the two years since the election, he has worked on street lights, ADA, traffic and building and code issues and on Veteran's Administration issues for disabled vets.

To communicate with Ward 12 residents, he said he would continue using his Facebook page that he says "has been working well".

Webb said if elected, he'd like to accelerate Mayor Pitts' transportation plan, funding it with budget cuts such as the public golf courses since there are private ones in Clarksville.

He considers his strengths are that he's determined and hard-working and his weakness is "sometimes looking at a problem and taking the hard way when the solution was right there looking him in the face."

Keri Lovato

Keri Lovato has lived in Ward 12 since 2012 and works as an insurance agent.

Lovato told the council that she comes with the experience of helping people from all walks of life, being mindful of strict budgets and helping people through their toughest times. She founded a networking group that focuses on local businesses and nonprofits.

She started off by saying she had more questions than answers such as making parts of Clarksville safer and accessible to walk, what to do to expand parks and recreation, if the Clarksville Police Department and Clarksville Fire Rescue need more support as the city expands and can the city government do more to help local businesses.

Although she is new to the city government, she said she made the decision a year ago to get involved because she enjoys serving her community.

"I am committed to the mission of the people of Ward and all of Clarksville," Lovato said. "The citizens of Clarksville deserve council people who are fair, impartial and look out for the rights of everyone."

To communicate with Ward 12, she would do town halls, newsletters, phone calls and social media.

She considers her biggest strengths are being able to listen to people she disagrees with to make a compromise and not make hasty decisions. Her weakness is being new to the city government and having a lot to learn.

Kenneth Pointe

Kenneth Pointe considers himself a team player after he served in the Army for 20 years and is a retired postal worker after 21 years.

Pointe said his biggest accomplishment is graduating college at 54, the first in his family to do it.

"We need to grow the smart way," Pointe told the council. "We need to get our heads together and find a solution to help with growth."

He would communicate with Ward 12 with Facebook and emails.

Pointe considers his biggest strength to be his rapport with people and his biggest weakness is that he loves people, and is sometimes taken advantage of.

Miacia Porter-Clark

Miacia Porter-Clark is a Nashville native who moved to Clarksville last year after becoming a homeowner.

Porter-Clark attended Middle Tennessee State University for her undergrad, Howard University for her master's and is currently getting her doctorate at Trevecca Nazarene University. She has work experience at the higher education level and is currently serving as a consultant.

"I'm fresh," said Porter-Clark. "I'm not going to come up here and act like I have this whole community service in Clarksville, but I am a member. of Delta Sigma Theta and one thing we know is service."

Porter-Clark said after the Covenant school shooting in Nashville in March, she came to the board to see what the council was doing to protect the children in Clarksville.

"I started to look for ways that I could participate in getting my concerns heard and that I am part of the solutions that need to be done to make sure every individual in the city of Clarksville feels safe," Porter-Clark said.

She said in Ward 12 she sees a lot of subcommunities and wants to bring them together as a whole and believes in the grassroots approach of getting into the communities and address their issues.

As far as growth, she believes Clarksville should look at cities and see what worked and what didn't to come up with solutions that could work here.

Porter-Clark said she'd communicate with Ward 12 residents with her grassroots, going to businesses and churches and social media and seeing what would work with residents.

She considers her biggest strengths are strategic thinking, and her weakness is thinking she can do it all.

Now what?

City Council will vote and decide on who will become interim at a special called meeting on May 10 at 4:30 p.m.

Whoever is appointed will immediately be sworn in by Mayor Pitts and take their seat to finish Butler's term that would have ended in 2024.

From there, the candidate could run again during the next election for a full term, something most candidates expressed they would do.

Reporter Kenya Anderson can be reached at kanderson@nashvill.gannett.com or on Twitter at KenyaAnderson32.

This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: Who's it going to be? Ward 12 candidates make their pitches to council