Mark Wilson is one of four candidates running for mayor of Brentwood voters will have on their ballots on April 7. Wilson contacted 40 South News on Tuesday to talk about why he is running and to go into detail about some of his goals. See more of Wilson’s positions on his campaign website.
Wilson said there have been “hiccups”, from city administration down to acrimony at city hall. “There just comes a time where there needs to be a new face put out front, and there needs to be a new attitude set.”
Wilson said working in the public and private sectors has given him experience creating consensus so that policies are carried out the right way.
Residential and commercial corridors
“When we look the Manchester area as well as Hanley Industrial Court, we already have available commercial resources that maybe we need to look into revitalizing…try to work with some key retail partners, to bring in businesses that can be sustainable.
“I think there are ways to create that economic development without impeding on the existing residential areas.
Running the city, and a financial reserve
“I think the one thing we probably have not honored as much as we need to, within the international city managers association and different groups of city mayors associations that provide guidelines for city governments…to make sure you’re thinking about circumstances that may not be apparent now, but could come up through emergency or though a change in policies or procedures.
“You need to have a budget reserve that allows you to be able to react to the changes without having to build a budget reserve from scratch…over and above the recent collection of the TIFs, planning not just for immediate costs.
Police and fire departments
Wilson said following Ferguson everyone has had to look hard at what they were prepared for.
“How we can maybe better prepare ourselves for circumstances we maybe don’t foresee. I’ve heard some different things, I’d have to study it, there’s been some complications with the transfer to the ECDC program. I’ve also heard of…people talking about how there might be efficiencies through taking the Brentwood government and the police and fire departments, and possibly merging with other communities in order to create a more efficient situation. At least at first blush, I’m not really for that.
“I think we have got a lot of things we’re very pleased with in Brentwood, as far as safety and knowledge of our immediate community that our Brentwood police and fire departments have that I think are great advantage to us. So before we look into anything like that, that we would have to do a very thorough cost study.
“On top of that, I want to make certain as we go forward that we make certain that our Brentwood police and fire department have ample resources to effectively and safely perform their duties.
“There’s always something new that’s cutting edge (body cameras for instance). For us to think evolution won’t continue is somewhat shortsighted, so we need to prepare ourselves for the potential cost.
City government – school relationship
“I was on the Brentwood financial advisory committee that came out with Prop K a couple years ago. I was taken aback by how much city hall in general sort of distanced themselves from the school district.
“Brentwood is such a small community that it’s ridiculous to think that every step the city takes does not have a direct impact on our school district… We should do a better job of communicating with the school district to make sure whatever we’re doing, we’re doing it most effectively, and sharing what’s best for our community.
Would like to hear a reply on this from each of the candidates.
Dorothy, I think a lot of people would like to know the true number of “rats in the ECDC kitchen” hidden from the public–and hope also to hear responses from all the candidates. Thank you.
Candidate Wilson, I am very pleased to see your concern for the considerable problems with ECDC and our FR’s. It is my understanding that the information they receive is re-dispatched to non-functioning radio systems; the patrolman’s SOS calls to let other officers know there is an emergent situation that needs back-up and the back-up has not been notified due to ECDC miscommunications has risen in communities outside B’wd, and other communities covered by ECDC; the only B’wd dispatcher hired by ECDC from B’wd quit out of the on-going internal failure to do a professional job by the ‘settled in’ dispatchers; and that ECDC does not staff up to the contractual number of dispatchers on a regular basis. Our FR’s are first rate–and the quality of our sister-cities is good also. The common denominator in FR’s problematic incident responses is ECDC–not the sister community of FR’s or B’wd FR’s. This information came from various communities–and I consider it a disaster waiting to happen. Would you either return our EMS dispatchers, or take ECDC to court for contractual breech, and litigate for the amount it would take to restore what was never broken in the first place: our EMS in B’wd? We are paying for what we are not receiving, and FR’s are right in the middle of the fires. Respectfully, maureen
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