Three candidates vying to become Maumelle's new mayor say the city needs to do a better job selling its potential for growth in order to attract more retail and commercial businesses to spur a much-needed increase in sales tax revenue.
Roger Harrod, 73, a former Maumelle district judge; Maumelle City Attorney Caleb Norris, 38; and Leticia Sanders, 42, an independent hair braider and partner in a cleaning service, are the mayoral hopefuls in the Nov. 6 general election. Mayor Mike Watson announced in July that he would leave office when he closes out his third term at the end of the year.
The current mayor's annual salary is $81,600, and mayors are elected for four-year terms.
Once the fastest-growing city in Arkansas, Maumelle has many newer features, such as its police and fire headquarters, high school, a wellness center for senior citizens, a community center with a public aquatic center, an array of youth athletic facilities and approval for a long-awaited interchange for a third entrance/exit to help alleviate some of its traffic problems.
But the city has mounted a bond debt for several of its projects that will mean paying $1.25 million next year in annual interest alone. City voters approved raising the city sales tax from 1 percent to 2 percent in March, which will drop to 1.5 percent once the $15.9 million bond for the new interchange at Counts Massie Road and Interstate 40 is paid off.
A 2012 strategic plan for the city "sets goals, but not how to achieve those goals," said Harrod, who retired as an attorney with the Nash Law Firm in Maumelle this summer. "It's a plan worthy of considering as a guideline. But we need to look first at where we are and where we want to go."
Harrod said he would use Maumelle's reputation as "one of most livable and wonderful cities anywhere" to open doors for businesses to locate there. Completion of the new interchange and development to it and around it will be a priority, he said.
"We do not want to wake up six years from now and we have yet to realize the benefit from it," he said. "That will not happen.
"I want people in business who are considering coming to central Arkansas to make Maumelle their first choice," Harrod said. "We'll be developing a new area as a result of the new interchange and the potential for new tax income. With the increases in revenue from the new businesses that locate there, we will have new options for the City Council to consider to enhance life in Maumelle without increasing taxes."
Norris called the planned third interchange "ripe for commercial development" and that, as city attorney, he's already been working on annexation agreements for Maumelle to acquire undeveloped land on the other side of I-40.
"I think we owe it to the residents to come up with a long-term financial plan," Norris said. "What happens in the next five to 10 years in Maumelle is really going to shape the future of the city for generations to come. We really need to start focusing and thinking long-term. It's not about what something is today and what it is tomorrow, but what it's going to be next week, next year and the next decade down the road.
"There are a lot of exciting things going on in Maumelle," Norris said of the city's potential to draw new development. "We need to do a better job as a city in letting people know about these exciting things."
Sanders, a political newcomer who ran for governor in the May Democratic primary, said she sees the biggest problem Maumelle faces as "not being competitive enough to bring in revenue."
"Maumelle is a unique place," said Sanders, who said she is pursuing a second master's degree, taking night courses at Webster University. "We need to make our businesses more unique in order to draw businesses here.
"We need to be bringing in more [24/7] businesses," Sanders said. "We're missing out on money because we're sleeping."
All of the candidates said they decided to seek the mayor's office because of their love for Maumelle and a desire to see it keep improving.
Harrod, a Warren native, and his wife, Libby, lived in North Little Rock before moving to Maumelle in 1997 when Harrod returned from working for a Baptist seminary in the western Canada province of Alberta. He said his many careers are part of his "nine different lives," as he referred to them, adding that retirement didn't suit him.
"I tried retirement for two to three months and I found I didn't enjoy it much," Harrod said. "I do bring some important experience to the position. Experience that counts. To be the chief representative of a city, I think I am well equipped to do that.
"We are really, really fortunate in Maumelle," Harrod said. "I already enjoy Maumelle, but I want to make it better."
Norris, a California native who moved to Maumelle in 2003 with his wife, Ashley, served two years on the city council before being elected city attorney in 2016. He was the first to announce a run for mayor, declaring his candidacy in June, before Watson made public his intention not to run again. His city attorney term ends Dec. 31.
"I probably could have retired as city attorney," Norris said. "I tried to talk other people into the position. I think there are things that need to be done [as mayor] and I looked around and the best person I could find for it was me.
"I see some of the stuff we're coming up against really soon and we need to make the right decisions," Norris said. "This is not a hobby for me. This is not something I'm doing for fun or because I can or because I'm bored. This is something I'm passionate about and have been passionate about for awhile."
Sanders, a Chicago native whose family moved to the state in the 1990s, when she went to Hall High School in Little Rock, said her campaign platform is "accountability and being big on economic development."
Saying that she is a "versatile person," Sanders said she wants to help the city generate more revenue and alleviate some of the tax burden on residents.
"The reason I want to run is that I'm for change," said Sanders, who moved to Maumelle in 2008. "I'm more of an action person. I don't want to talk about it. I want to see it done.
"I love this place, the hospitality here," she said. "I miss my roots [in Chicago], but I'd never go back there to live. I know I can be safe here. I love the energy here. It broadens my horizons."
Metro on 10/15/2018