FAYETTEVILLE — Dan Coody and Lioneld Jordan squared off in the second mayoral debate in two days Thursday.
The candidates spent most of the hourlong debate trumpeting their record as the city’s chief executive and criticizing the other’s.
Jordan defeated Coody after eight years on the City Council. Coody held the mayor’s seat from 2001 to 2008.
Jordan mentioned public financing to demolish the Mountain Inn hotel. He said it was up to his administration to secure the deed to roughly 200 acres of parkland in southwest Fayetteville that Coody had negotiated with private developers. He evoked images of a “rusty crane with a big hole in the ground” and a “bankrupt park.”
At A Glance
Council Candidates
Candidates for City Council had an opportunity to introduce themselves at the end of Thursday’s mayoral debate. They are:
Ward 1
• Sarah Marsh
Ward 2
• Ryan Abshire
• Adam Fire Cat
• Matthew Petty
Ward 3
• Martin Schoppmeyer Jr.
Ward 4
• William Chesser
• Terry Black Coberly
• Mike Emery
• Alan Long
• J.P. Peters
Source: Staff Report
Coody reminded residents Jordan voted for both initiatives as a member of the City Council.
The former mayor said the city’s paid parking program Jordan pushed for in 2010 was poorly thought out and is negatively affecting the city’s entertainment district.
“It has not done this town any good, and it’s got to be reinvented and streamlined and made to where it’s simple,” Coody said.
The candidates also argued about city finances Thursday.
“What I inherited as mayor was an absolute nightmare,” Jordan said.
According to the city’s Budget and Research Division, sales tax proceeds fell by 4.8 percent in Jordan’s first year in office. The mayor criticized Coody for drawing down reserve money, and he said his budget proposal for 2013 forecasts the first balanced budget the city has seen in a long time.
Jordan said he has worked hard to cut expenses and grow reserve in difficult economic times.
Coody noted annual sales tax proceeds were greater on average during Jordan’s first term than during his eight years in office.
He mentioned several initiatives he supported, including improvement to College Avenue, initial construction of the city trails system and creating the city’s sustainability department, and said they were all done “with less money coming in than we have now.”
Coody said, if elected, he would bring “creativity and innovation” to the mayor’s office.
Jordan said he would do more to serve Fayetteville residents.
“Anybody can talk about all these great visions, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to have a servant’s heart,” Jordan said.
Walt Eilers, who ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2008 against Coody, Jordan and three other candidates, said following Thursday’s debate he wasn’t ready to support either for mayor.
Eilers said Coody and Jordan both focused too much on the past.
“I would like to see a debate more about, ‘What are you going to do next?’” Eilers said. “I’d like to see what we’re going to get for our money, and you did not get that tonight.”
Thursday’s debate was sponsored by the Fayetteville Council of Neighborhoods. Richard Russell, council chairman, said all questions were developed by a council committee, using input solicited from the general public. The debate was moderated by Fiona Davidson, an associate professor of geosciences at the University of Arkansas.
Early voting for the Nov. 6 general election begins Oct. 22. The last day to register to vote for the election is Oct. 7.