The Trussville Tribune continued its live-streamed candidate forums on Wednesday evening with the final one for the City of Clay.
In a one-and-a-half-hour forum, incumbent Mayor Charles Webster and Jane Anderton, a longtime resident and first-time candidate, discuss the challenges facing the City and their plans to lead.
There were two recurring themes: Webster’s absolute and unequivocal reliance on the current City manager, Ronnie Dixon, and his desire to see the City continue as it has under his leadership for the last 13 years, and Anderton’s desire to improve what she considers the City's lack of transparency and limited opportunities for resident involvement.
Webster has served three terms as mayor and one term on the city council before that.
Citizen Participation:
Anderton suggested that she would seek to increase public participation with additional boards and committees, citing bringing back a parks and recreation board, bringing back the library board that the mayor disbanded and creating opportunities for youth to get involved.
Webster countered that he has had a hard time getting participants to serve on boards, citing vacancies on the planning and zoning board and noting that people often fail to attend board meetings.
When asked how she’d motivate to get people to serve, Anderton replied, “Number one, I lead by example, so most of the people who know me know that I have served diligently in my city and different areas,” adding, “My behavior, my actions inspire others to do the same... I have been amazed at the support I’ve gotten.”
Biggest Issue Facing the City:
When asked what the biggest specific challenge is, Anderton said that it’s the “reputation as a City,” citing challenges of businesses or others from having their needs met.
Webster said the biggest challenge facing the City in the coming years will be developing the 500 acres that’s currently the Alabama Department of Youth Services (DYS). He stated, “There’s no definite plans," and added, "The first phase is cleaning it up and fencing it in,” an answer he'd later change.
The City is leasing the property for $160 per year for 75 years. It is 500 acres, which has already been paid for. “We paid them $12,000 up front,” Webster explained.
When asked what her plans would be for the property, Anderton said that she would want to know what is already being planned. She added, “I don’t want to go in and reinvent the wheel.”
She stressed that this is an area where there’s a significant lack of transparency, asking the mayor why the fencing is necessary.
Webster explained that the property has been the site of vandalism and other property crimes, including theft of metal, tin, copper, and electrical assets.
When challenged by Anderton about the lack of transparency about the project, the mayor finally confessed, “I do have a vision for that property; I haven’t shared it with anybody. I’ve shared it with the city council and shared it with Ronnie.”
Anderton pushed back, saying, “The citizens don’t know the details.” She named possibilities and questioned limitations, to which Webster emphatically and incorrectly insisted, “The state will not allow us to make that public.”
After a follow-up question by the moderators, the mayor stated that Anderton could obtain the land lease through a public records request, subject to a fee.
“Should a citizen have to go to City Hall and possibly be charged?” Anderton responded. Saying the plans and public documents should be on the city's website, she questioned, “We have the technology for that, why aren’t we using that transparency?”
Anderton said she had a plan to put more public information online and said she would “audit” the City website to make it more user-friendly.
Returning Pre-Council Work Sessions with Public Input
The two candidates disagreed on the need for a pre-council meeting, with Anderton pledging to bring back the meetings to increase transparency.
The mayor said they had those for five years, but no one showed up. “We were wasting the council’s time," he explained.
When explaining that the meetings are necessary because, as it is, there's little public knowledge beforehand of what is being voted on, Webster pushed back, stating, “People don’t understand how city government works.” He explained that documents aren’t public record until they’re voted on, a comment that moderator Scott Buttram couldn't ignore.
Buttram interjected to correct that, saying that was not true. Most city councils post their complete meeting packets online and make them available to the public before the council as a whole votes on them.
The State of Alabama has broad open records laws that the governor and legislature have strengthened in recent years.
The Dissolution of the City of Clay Library Board
The mayor stood by his decision to withdraw the City of Clay from the Alabama State Library Service, a move he made in response to the insistence that the City allow the library board, then headed by Anderton, to remain independent of the mayor and City manager's influence.
Anderton pointed out that the control of the former board was local, saying it was “five local women.” What supporters of the library board and state elected officials wanted at the time was for the mayor to follow the terms of the $10,000 funding that they were getting from the state library service.
Growth in Clay
When asked about the growth in the city, Webster said, “My goal is we have more housing developments” to help revenue. He touted the franchise fees paid to the city for each new customer, saying the city has gotten over $600,000 from Alabama Power, though he didn’t specify during what time period that was for.
Anderton raised concerns about the schools and roads being at capacity and said that the city should focus on infrastructure first.
City Manager Position
“We are the smallest city in the state of Alabama that has a city manager," Anderton stated. "I would want that to change. I would want it to go to what the law says is required, a city clerk and a treasurer, and the mayor take over the functions of the daily of the city.”
Webster, who referenced the city manager multiple times throughout the forum, said that Dixon currently oversees public works, “makes sure things are done.” He went on to list a long list of duties that he says are completed by the city manager.
In their closing statements, Anderton asked for votes for their support before the mayor read a Facebook post that Anderton had written in support of him in 2015. After reading the message, he asked, “What has changed?" He added, “Nothing has changed.”
Anderton supporters watching the forum online remarked, "That's the problem, nothing's changed."
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