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County commission hopefuls face off at forum
Published 7/30/2010 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
Three Republican candidates who are vying for an open commission seat in the fourth county district took part in a public forum Thursday evening at the Senior Center of Finney County, 907 N. 10th St., also hosted by the Garden City Area Chamber of Commerce.
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Brad Nading/Telegram Cliff Mayo, right, and Jason Dougherty, left, listen as Harold Starr answers a question Thursday during a Finney County Commission candidates forum at the Senior Center of Finney County.
About 25 people came out to hear the candidates address concerns such as property taxes, economic development and Sunflower Electric Power Corp.'s efforts to build a new 895-MW coal-fired unit at its existing Holcomb plant.
Cliff Mayo, 76, currently the chairman of the county commission, was appointed by the governor in 1998 to fill a new seat, when the county board grew from three to five.
The incumbent seeking his fourth term reiterated Thursday that his long-standing involvement in the community and service on the commission would benefit the public well, touting both his "people" and "budget" experience.
"These are necessary, I think, to being a good county commissioner," he said.
Mayo, a farmer since 1953, was a former chairman of the fundraising board to construct the Garden City Family YMCA and has served 12 years on the Garden City Co-op board, in addition to various other local groups and directorial boards.
Mayo told the small crowd gathered Thursday he is most proud of the commission's efforts to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, to prevent large spikes in property tax rates during his tenure and to lower the mill levy this year because of the economic recession.
The chairman of the county commission also told forum-goers that county officials began a dialogue well ahead of their usual timeline with county department heads and outside agencies about judicious spending in anticipation of 2011's tight budget year.
The newest face in the race, Finney County resident Jason Dougherty, who operates a family-run landscaping businesses and lives in the county with his wife, Jennifer, and their four kids, thanked Mayo for his long-standing public service during Thursday's night forum.
However, Dougherty expressed his conviction that the public is best served when there is turnover in elected offices, a pattern quite rare in the region, he said.
"When it comes to (my) business or my family, I know we can get stuck in doing things the same as we've always done," Dougherty said. "I'm not a politician, and it's easy to spend others' money. We've seen increases every year, and my question is, 'Have we gotten enough from that?'"
The business owner, a self-described fiscal conservative, said working with budgets and numbers on a daily basis is one of his strong suits and that he did not envision serving in public office as a career.
Harold Starr, a retired teacher who made a previous run against Mayo in 2006 for the same office, said his main priority was to set limits on property tax increases for seniors and bring reform scrutiny to the procedure of appraising properties.
Starr said he felt the county was spending too much money, and proposed reining in spending by consolidating law enforcement and road maintenance and repair offices in the city and county, consolidating schools, and also advocated reducing the commissions of Garden City, Finney County and Holcomb councils in half.
"They're trying to Mickey Mouse us with the mill levy, and they're misleading us," Starr said.
Towards the end of Thursday's forum, Mayo also made a pitch for his and the commission's efforts to spearhead the HorseThief Reservoir project near Jetmore, the recreational campground and burgeoning water body which feeds from spring-fed Buckner Creek and rainwater runoff. In April 2005, voters in Finney, Ford, Gray and Hodgeman counties approved a 0.15 percent sales tax to fund the $10 million project, and dam construction at the site began in early 2008. Parts of the park opened to the public in June.
Dougherty threw in that he, too, supported the project because of its economic and recreational benefits to the area.
During Thursday's forum, Garden City resident Sam Hermocillo said it was the first time he'd heard Dougherty speak and would like to see the "torch passed on" to the "entrepreneur" though he's respected Mayo's service to the community.
"I'm a little skeptical of those who've held government positions too long because then we've got bureaucrats running the show," Hermocillo said, adding that he felt the community has been "overly taxed without the benefit of being told why."
With no democratic challengers, the winner of Tuesday's race will take the county commission seat.
County Commissioners Roman Halbur, representing District 1, and Larry Jones, representing District 5, also are running but are unopposed. They, too, are registered Republicans.
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