New mayor wants to move West Fork forward

West Fork's new mayor says he is looking to the future and wants to heal city leadership divisions brought on after the former mayor resigned.

Heith Caudle defeated Alderman Mike Nelson in the Nov. 29 runoff election. Alderwoman Misty Caudle, Heith Caudle's stepmother, ran for mayor in the Nov. 8 general election. Heith Caudle probably will be sworn in sometime this week after he has signed and submitted his certification and oath to the Washington County Clerk's Office, said Kristie Drymon, finance director and treasurer for the city.

Interim Mayor Don Rollins said he was surprised Heith Caudle, a former City Council member, defeated a sitting council member.

"I think Heith will be a good mayor," Rollins said. "I just hope he has the time to put energy into it."

Heith Caudle, a private tax accountant and business consultant who has an office in Farmington, said his work as mayor will not be centralized in an office.

"My hours in the city office will be much more limited than recent mayors," Caudle said. "West Fork just a few months ago had a city manager. I'll look to set something like that back up. Most of my time as mayor will be facilitating meetings and making connections outside the physical office."

Heith Caudle, who served on the City Council from 2006 to 2008, said he won because West Fork residents wanted a change.

"They wanted someone who would lay out a future vision for West Fork; they've had the status quo for way too long," Caudle said. "Mike Nelson is a great candidate, but (the citizens) liked that I focused on a future vision for West Fork."

Caudle's vision

Heith Caudle said he wants to move the city forward by uniting the leadership and coming up with fresh ideas.

"I want to be facilitator and mediator that will bring the various groups together and start facilitating that vision," he said. "There's a lot of exciting projects taking place in West Fork and potential for growth."

The best way to move on from the rancor among leadership is to walk out of it as if it didn't exist, Heith Caudle said.

"It's in the past; West Fork is all about moving forward," he said. "I'm going to dive in with all the City Council. I want to involve all those guys with projects moving forward. Someone in the group is going to have the best idea, and I want us to gravitate toward that."

It's important to connect West Fork to the Razorback Greenway, Heith Caudle said.

"It's something on West Fork's radar," he said. "All of the cities, especially the smaller cities, are looking into how to fund their connection (to the Greenway)."

Working with the West Fork School District is a top priority, Heith Caudle said.

"We're losing enrollment; our numbers are down a little bit," he said. "The city and school need to come together to work toward growth in West Fork."

Superintendent John Karnes confirmed enrollment among kindergartners has declined, steadily falling from 87 students in 2011, to 82 in 2012, to 76 in 2013, to 69 in 2014, 75 in 2015 and 62 in 2016.

"There's been a discrepancy between the number of kids graduating and the number of kids starting kindergarten. When you have 90 leave you and 70 come in, you're losing kids," Karnes said. "It's hard to know the reason for the discrepancy. I've talked to other school districts, and they've also noticed that their kindergarten classes have been smaller."

Karnes hosted a meet the candidates forum, putting the mayoral candidates through a series of questions that pertained to the school district. Karnes said if the city succeeds the school district -- which is made up of an elementary school, middle school and high school -- will succeed.

"We need more jobs in this community, good jobs that would attract families and young families to come to West Fork and live and put their kids in school in here," Karnes said. "There's not (any) jobs, and if there were jobs, there's not available housing. I'm going to do what I can to encourage the mayor and City Council to create jobs and businesses, do some things to attract people to West Fork. Once they get out here they will want to stay because we have a great school and a beautiful community."

Turbulent past

Finding a new mayor has not been easy.

Rollins, the interim mayor, was selected during a Aug. 9 special meeting to replace Charles Rossetti, who suddenly resigned July 19. Rollins, a City Council member at the time, wasn't one of the four people -- Heith Caudle, Misty Caudle, Nelson and Alderman John Collins -- who volunteered to succeed Rossetti. Rollins offered during the meeting to become interim mayor and said he wouldn't run for mayor in November.

Rollins volunteering and being supported by Alderman Joe Toher raised a furor as Nelson and Misty Caudle objected and the latter questioned Rollins' claim he only wanted to be interim mayor to prevent council division. Nelson changed his mind later that July night and voted for Rollins to become interim mayor. The council approved and swore him in. He later instead ran for his council seat uncontested.

Rollins said he will miss being mayor.

"It's been an eye-opener," Rollins said. "I've learned a lot, and I've received a lot of support from the City Council, and the residents have expressed a lot of support."

Rollins said Heith Caudle has good qualities and accounting skills that will be a benefit to the city. Rollins also said Caudle will inherit some important city projects, including repairing the Woolsey Bridge and converting it to a foot- and bicycle-only bridge, as well as continuing to connect the city to the Fayetteville sewer system.

Toher, who described Heith Caudle as a "fine man," said the city also is getting ready to kick off multiple bond-funded building projects, including library improvement, work on the city hall, work on the community center and work on an old Arvest Bank building on Centennial Avenue that will be converted into a city administration building.

NW News on 12/05/2016