My name is Emily Groves and on behalf of the Portland Chamber of Commerce, I just want
to welcome each of you here tonight to our candidate forum. I would like to thank the
candidates as well that have decided to take their time to run for office. Thank you to
each of you for being here tonight as well to show your support and interest. I know
the candidates appreciate that as well. We have with us here tonight Mr. Clark Shiflett
with the Shiflett Law Firm. He'll be serving as our moderator. We also have Mr. Jim
Donahoe with Donahoe Nursery that will be serving as our official timekeeper and thank you Clark
and Jim for being here with us tonight and giving of your time. Lastly I want to thank Mr. Brandon
Roberts and Cedric Gregory with the City of Portland and they have everything set up for us
here tonight and the forum is also going to be live streamed on the city's Facebook page
and the chamber will be sharing that as well. I would also like to mention early voting for
those of you that don't know it will begin this Friday the 18th from 10 to
6 at Portland First Baptist. It will also continue on Saturday the 19th from
9 a.m. until noon again at Portland First Baptist. So again thank you all for
being here tonight. At this time I'm gonna turn it over to Mr. Clark. Good
evening Alderman and candidates. My name is Clark Shiflett as you've already
learned and I'm going to be your moderator for tonight's forum. First
I want to welcome each of you for being here and thank you for your
willingness to serve the city.
I'd also like to express my gratitude to the Portland Chamber
for organizing this forum.
Let's go ahead and review the format for tonight's discussion.
First, order of appearance.
Candidates will be chosen at random,
and the order will be reversed for closing comments.
A time clock will be visible to all the candidates
with a warning sign at 15 seconds, followed by a stop
sign when the time has expired.
Opening statements.
Each candidate will have 90 seconds to introduce themselves.
Topics. A wide range of issues of general interest to the public will be addressed.
These will include questions on candidate qualifications, goals, budget, infrastructure, zoning, and density, and community engagement.
As far as the questions are concerned, written questions were submitted by residents and community
leaders and were screened for duplication and clarity.
I'm going to read the question and no interaction among the candidates, audience members or
other program participants is allowed.
Answers will be limited to one minute, that's 60 seconds, 60 seconds will be the number
of the counting and the number of the counting shall be 60.
There will not be 61, neither shall there be 62.
63 is right out.
Applause by the audience.
All right.
And each candidate will then have the opportunity to respond to the question.
As far as closing statements, each candidate is going to get 90 seconds to wrap up and cover any issues that are not yet addressed.
One word of admonition.
If you are asked a question, your time will not begin until the moment words start coming out of your mouth.
Which means to you, if you need a moment to cogitate and think about what your response needs to be, that's not going to be counted against you.
If you sit there stone-faced for too long, though, I might ask you to go ahead and start.
But just know that your time doesn't begin immediately. It begins when you start speaking.
So we'll go ahead and start with opening statements. Let's start with candidate Charles Cole.
Well, as you said, my name is Charles Cole. Forty-five born and raised.
I have five children, been married for over 21 years. Good thing the wife's not here on that one.
Otis Daughters of School teacher in Georgia. Otis son is in the Army National Guard.
My middle daughter is in college at Ball State.
Then I have a junior report in high school and a third grader.
I still want one more, but mama says no.
So a little bit about me.
My first job out of high school, besides your farming jobs,
I grew up in New Deal.
My parents had a farm out there.
The first job was unit press for eight years,
and then I transitioned to be a professional truck driver.
So I've been in trucking logistics for over 20 years,
a little bit of transportation manager and things like that,
but always went back to driving because that was a thing I loved to do.
I love this community, I love this town, I'm passionate about making it better.
And that's about all I got to say about it.
Alderman Bryan Woodall.
My name is Bryan Woodall.
Born and raised here in Portland.
In 1987, I had three huge events.
I graduated high school here, got married, and went off to the service to serve 22 years
in the service.
Came back home and opened up a small business, and then four years ago I was fortunate enough
to be elected to the city council, so tonight I'm asking for your vote for reelection.
Having served in the service, to me it's a servant's heart, both in the service
listen now here in the city, being able to give back.
As far as family, I have three children, two beautiful daughter-in-laws, two of them live
here in Portland and the other one lives in Germany.
And as far as, again, why I'm running, it's just because I love this community, I want
to give back to the community, it's very simple to me, it's very simple.
So, I think that's all I've got.
Candidate Vince Ellis.
Hello, I'm Vince Ellis. I'm a life-long resident here in Portland.
I graduated high school here. I cut grass when I was a teenager.
I've been married to my wife for five years, happily married.
We have a home here and two dogs.
and I'm actually a builder and contractor.
I do a wide range of things that involves building but I've really enjoyed that
and that's what I've done the past eight or nine years
and before that I had a time working in banking
and also worked for my dad's company.
He owned a paving company and I worked for him as well
but I've really enjoyed the building and I've done a lot of it here in this community
and it's been really rewarding for me to see good growth
and new people coming here appreciating the town that we have that I know that I grew up in
and so many good people who have come and gone
and who still live here that have made it such a warm place to grow up and live.
And I'm running for council because I want to maintain the current town I grew up in,
but help it solve and mitigate its issues that come to make sure that it's safe growth.
Alderman Joey, Jody McDowell.
Hello, I'm Jody McDowell. I'm also a lifelong resident of City of Portland.
I'm a city councilman now and your current vice mayor.
My wife, Rhonda, works for Sumner County Schools and I have two daughters,
Makayla and Mackenzie. I'm a patrol deputy with the Sumner County Sheriff's
Office where I'm also a negotiator with the SWAT team. I love the challenge of
trying to deal with people and problems and have an outcome that's fair to
everyone involved. I've been involved in serving my community for over 32 years.
I'm very blessed to work in an area like Portland. I tell people all the
time that most people around here are good people. We have our challenges like
every other city, but I'm proud of the progress that we have made over the
years and bringing the city.
Committee up to current standards. We have struggles like every other city does. It's always an honor for me to represent you as one of your councilmen.
Candidate Bob Tucker.
Hi, everyone. I'm Bob Tucker. I've been married to Dawn for 41 years. We have two successful adult children, and now I'm a grandfather of three.
I was born and raised in a small city very similar to Portland in Michigan.
I then served over 22 years in the Air Force and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.
After the military, I led engineering groups and a business unit for six years at the Raytheon Technologies.
In both the military and industry, I held various positions of leadership, management, and supervisor with increased responsibilities.
I then shifted career goals and became a registered nurse, working at hospitals and medical, surgical, and intensive care units.
Don and I downsized and chose to move to Portland. We have lived here for over five years. I am blessed to have had great family, good health, challenging and exciting jobs, educational opportunities, world travel, and interactions with some really interesting people.
I am hard-working, forward-looking, a problem solver, and a team player.
Integrity means everything to me.
I have always put family, service to country, and nursing care before my own interest.
I'm excited to be part of and involved in the Portland community.
Auto woman Latoya Holcomb.
Yes, my name is Latoya Holcomb.
I served the last two years. I'm City Council. I am born and raised in Sumner County. I've
been married for the last 26 years to my loving husband Tyrone, but he is not here.
And I
am a mother. I am a grandmother. And I am a minister at my church. And as a minister
at my church. I created a program and it was called the Youth. It is the Kings and
Queens program. And with this program we provide leadership and mentorship to our
next generation in our community. So with that from that program I learned
how to have teamwork and spearhead projects. With that it seems like
learning how to listen and learning how to see and get things done by being a team player.
And we're being that for the last two years, I was on a city council and we was doing budgets.
And I bring to that part, I bring the experience of being an HR and payroll management.
Thank you.
Management.
And with that, I know how to subsidize and sizeable budgets.
I know how to get it done and know how to help with that budget.
The reason I'm running didn't get to stop.
Okay. I've been told to inform the candidates that if you have any notes, you can feel free to put those up.
So there you have it.
We'll go ahead and get started with the questions now.
Now, just by way of general reminder, 60 seconds is the amount of time that you have to respond,
so use your time wisely.
We'll go ahead and start with the first question, starting with candidate Cole.
First question, as an elected official, you will be representing the whole community.
What qualities do you possess that make you a good community representative?
Well, first of all, I care about the people, not just a certain group of people.
I care about all the people so I want to I'll be able to listen to them understand
their issues and do everything I can to help both situations now not every
situation can you bakes everyone happy but you can do the best you can job you
can to represent them take it to your fellow council and try to come up with
the remedy to make them happy.
And the number one important thing is the safety of them,
the safety and well-being of our citizens.
So I
guess that's it.
Same question for Auderman Woodall.
As an elected official,
you will be representing the whole community.
What qualities do you possess
that make you a good community representative?
I think the qualities that I bring to the table
are multifaceted with leadership, caring for the people, caring for the community.
I will listen just coming in hearing some issues that I need to go look at this week
and trying to figure out what's going on.
I agree with Charles that it doesn't make everybody happy with what you come back with.
Sometimes those answers just aren't what people want to hear.
But being open and being available and being able to walk down that line
is very important to me and I think that's a great quality to possess.
The leadership for well over 15 of my 22 years, I served in a senior leadership position working with several people,
soldiers alike, 15 second warning.
And now obviously after the last four years being on the council and understanding the city way better than I did four years and one day ago,
I think brings me to a stop sign.
Okay, we'll go on to candidate Ellis.
As an elected official, you will be representing the whole community.
What qualities do you possess that make you a good community representative?
Well, first of all, I go to integrity.
I believe that if you can't give somebody your word or promise that you shouldn't
and that if you tell someone something, it should be straightforward
and if it's going to be a long process or something like that.
I think you should just be upfront with people,
but let them know that your attention is on it and it's in your mind
and you're working to fix the problems that the city has.
And the day-to-day business.
I'm a business owner myself,
and problem-solving on these houses that we build,
it's constantly, every day is a new issue
that we have to back up and punt and figure out what we need to do to make it happen.
And I have good problem-solving experience with that.
I think I have sound judgment when dealing with people that the city will need to do
business and to make improvements.
And I understand the history.
Alderman McDowell, as an elected official, you will be representing the whole community.
What qualities do you possess that make you a good community representative?
I think the qualities that I have is I'm a good listener.
I'm very easy to access, most people can tell you my phone rings constantly with people
calling for problems that they have.
I'm very passionate at fighting for what I believe in to get something past to make
something work and
I've been in this position for 20-something years and I hope that my
history speaks for itself.
Candidate Tucker, as an elected official, you will be representing the whole community.
What qualities do you possess that make you a good community representative?
First, I care about our community.
In fact, I want to be a positive influence as our city grows and strives for continued success.
I have a very broad knowledge, experience, education and training and leadership, management,
organizational structure, finances, continual improvement, and planning.
I currently serve on the Portland's Board of Zoning Appeals and on the Planning Commission.
I completed the Chamber's Leadership Portland Program and the Police Citizens Academy.
I am physically conservative,
Physically conservative with extensive military and industry budgeting experience.
I have the time and the ability to research, study and analyze issues.
I will advocate for common sense policies, ordinances and budget priorities.
I will serve the residents through qualities of collaboration, teamwork and civility.
I will always try my best to find a balance and compromise
and the best interest of the majority of the residents.
And Alderwoman Holcomb, as an elected official, you will be representing the whole community.
What qualities do you possess that make you a good community representative?
For one, I have good leadership skills.
Second, I am a people's person, so I don't be no stranger.
So you can be able to come to me at any time and I will be able to talk to you and let's talk things out.
So with that communicator, I have good skills in budgeting.
I'm just all around a good servant to learn how to serve people.
That is working in ministry.
That helped me to do that.
Helped me to listen.
Helped me to communicate with anybody.
So with that, I went through the program of Portland leadership
and I enjoyed myself learning more history in Portland.
and so I did that program.
So, and I've been here for the last two years
and I hope that I get elected again.
I hope it talks for me that I've been here
learning how to be faithful.
That's a big thing.
And even knowing how to do the right thing.
That's it.
All right.
We'll go with the next question.
We'll start with Alderman Woodall.
Name one goal that you want to see accomplished
by the end of your term.
and what is your plan to achieve that goal?
I
have to be careful with the name and goals.
I named one four years ago and I found out very quickly
that the city government works a lot slower than what I was used to.
Thankfully, in the spring, I'll see that come to fruition.
Quality of life is very important to me
and I think it's extremely important to the citizens here.
Unfortunately, we lost the pool last year,
early this year, last year, and trying to find things for our children and our
citizens to do is my goal. I work with directly with the parks right now. We've
got a few plans in place. Finding the funds is what's been difficult. Thankfully
we were able to get funding for the splash pad in the golf irrigation system
through a grant, and that grant hasn't been had in this city for over 10
years and to me that's a huge huge impact is finding some of that money to come
help us with our taxpayer dollars so for me quality of life is the most
important.
Candidate Ellis, name one goal that you want to see accomplished by the
end of your term and what is your plan to achieve that goal? Well my goal
starting off is to focus on our water situation that we have and that we're
working on. And I think the solution to that that that isn't already in place is
focusing on recruiting the right people to help us to get this job done because
it's such a vital thing to to have water and we I think that we have a ways to go
on that several a few years, but that's one of my biggies is to get Portland's water in
a good place going forward because it will be a generational impact once it's done correctly.
And that's what would be my focus along with safety and controlled growth and recruiting
like retail and services to our city that way we can keep more of our monies here.
There you go.
Alderman McDowell, name one goal that you want to see accomplished by the end of your term
and what is your plan to achieve that goal?
Well, Vince beat me too and I was going to say the water.
We've got several goals we're trying to get accomplished but if you put one at the top of the list
it would be our water source for the city because that is of utmost importance.
the city can't survive without water and unfortunately we are not in an area of the
world where we have access to water as some communities do and that's been a tough work
in progress trying to find the best solution to get it here to have the least impact money
wise on our residents and I would love to see by the end of this four-year term that
that is secured and taken care of.
Candidate Tucker, name one goal that you want to see accomplished by the end of
And what is your plan to achieve that goal?
I'm going to echo the last two comments that have made.
I think finding a new water source for Portland is the number one issue.
We need to have a comprehensive plan, not just a bunch of options.
We need a comprehensive plan with cost, scheduled performance, and sources for funding.
That can only be done with working with fellow aldermen and coming up with that solution.
It's no secret, this legacy challenge dates back...
To 1973. So it's been many, many years and it's time to resolve that in the next four years.
Auto woman, welcome. Name one goal that you want to see accomplished by the end of your term.
And what is your plan to achieve that goal?
I don't want to echo, but it seems like we're doing a lot of echoes.
So I have thought about this and it is our adequate water.
We do need to work on it.
And it is a process in doing that.
And you have to be strategic in knowing what source to go through, what company to get.
I mean it's a whole lot to it than what you see out there, than what we see back here.
It's a lot of planning, it's a lot of making the right decisions, and it's just
don't affect us it affects everybody so with that accomplishing that just making
sure we be strategic on which way to go and doing that water source so that's my
answer candidate Cole name one goal that you want to see accomplished by the end
of your term what is your plan to achieve that goal well I think it's easy
to jump on board with the water issue the water issues been there my whole
life. We've been bad on that. Of course, I want it to be fixed to the degree we don't
have to worry about the drought season. And I think that's something we'll all work on.
But a couple other ones I would like is the stormwater and flooding issues that our residents
have to, that's a big, you know, on one side we have not enough water from time to time.
You know, they said we're flooding half the town because they're stormwater issues.
So that's one big issue I won't be done, but the other is doing a better job of managing
our funds, make sure we're properly spending and not mismanaging, and try to balance the
budget the best we can, and not come to the citizens halfway through the year and
want to raise water rates and fees, and then raise property taxes to make up for
and balance the budget.
So there's three big issues I have.
the water, the storm water flooding, and then the money.
Alright, for the third question, we're going to start with candidate Ellis.
The city operates with three different types of budgets.
General Fund, Special Revenue Fund, and Enterprise Fund.
Revenue for those is based on taxes, fees, and rates depending on the type.
What is your plan to become more educated on government
finances and related regulations?
Well, so your question is what is my plan for that to be more educated?
Well, to be more educated for those types of things, I think you have to be a good representative for a town.
You have to go to the people and talk about the issues who know the information on the subjects that could affect your enterprise funds and your general fund
and knowing the laws of the state where you can't mix the money, you have to keep all
the money separate.
And I think my plan to be just out there talking to the right people and I already have some
knowledge on cash flow and the finances of the city and how what we can do is alderman
women and women to make sure those dollars are spent and not wasted and put to use.
That would be my plan, is to talk to the right people who know more than maybe I do.
Alderman McDowell, the city operates with three types of budgets, General Fund, Special
Revenue Fund and Enterprise Fund.
Revenue for those is based on taxes, fees and rates depending on the type.
What is your plan to become more educated on government finances and related regulations?
This is kind of a tough question for somebody that's been on the council for several years.
It's more of, I guess, related to someone that would be new into that.
Myself and Alderman Woodall and Ms. Latoya, we've probably learned more about taxes and fees and rates than we ever cared to
about when you can and can't charge those and how you have to go about enacting them and when and why.
there is a lot of education in it and that is something that a council
person kind of gets as they're doing the job. It's kind of an on-the-job training.
I don't know how they would educate themselves up front for that other than
just speaking to some folks that have been there and had to work through those problems.
But we're never to those top learning new things and it changes constantly.
Candidate Tucker, the city operates with three types of budgets, general fund, the special
revenue fund and enterprise fund.
Revenue for those is based on taxes, fees and rates depending on the type.
What is your plan to become more educated on government finances and related regulations?
I do have a lot of experience in budgeting and finance.
From my time in the Air Force, I helped to manage the Air Force test base budgets with all different types of appropriations, different types of budgets.
I believe for our city, we need a longer planning cycle, perhaps three years, to capture out your funding requirements.
I think we need to know and separate what our fixed funding needs are versus discretionary
funding for each of these types of budgets for new and future projects.
I think if we do those types of things, it could really help in our budget priorities.
I'm sure that I still have things to learn at the local level, but this sounds very
similar to what I've dealt with in the past.
and
Auto Woman Holcomb. The city operates with three types of budgets,
general fund, special revenue fund, and enterprise fund.
Revenue for those is based on taxes, fees, and rates depending on the type.
What is your plan to become more educated on government finances and related regulations?
Of course, like Alderman said that we already had some experience,
But with that, while I've been here, I went to utility training that was with the Tennessee comp.
I did that. I think it was 12 hours of comp learning how to work with a budget.
And that was the water system that's fried. It's a whole lot of systems that you had to learn how to learn with a budget.
Then also, I went through the elected official level one, that was showing us how to do some type of budgets, completed that.
Then also, you have to go to the departments, see what, I mean, because it's a whole lot.
You have to go to the departments and see which one is a special, you know, revenue.
There's all departments of public works, you have to see what they're needing, so it's
just a lot you have to go to each department and see what's going on.
Candidate Cole, the city operates with three types of budgets, General Fund, Special Revenue
Fund and Enterprise Fund.
Revenue for those is based on taxes, fees, and rates depending on the type.
What is your plan to become more educated on government finances and related regulations?
Well, leading up to this in the last few years, I've pulled Portland's finances and budgets
and I went through it and I've pulled another town similar to this.
I think you need to research other towns that are similar to your size.
Go look at them, talk to them like some of the other ones said and see where they're
having some of the same issues and see where they've improved and see if you
can prove on that.
One of the other things is I think we need to lay it out and be more realistic about what
our budget necessities really are.
You have wants and needs.
You get a lot of grants and that's great, but you can't sit here and say, well, we're
going to get a $30 million grant, but it's a $60 million project, town to small.
So I think we need to be more realistic.
And I think you need to take some classes and dive into and do all the research you
can to try to benefit the people.
Alderman Woodall, the city operates with three types of budgets, general funds,
special revenue fund and enterprise fund.
Revenue for those is based on taxes, fees, and rates depending on the type.
What is your plan to become more educated on government finances and related regulations?
I'm thankful for Jody bringing out that after the last four years,
I've had the opportunity to really dig deep into some of these
and learn what they are, how they're funded, and what they pay for.
Some days I'm privileged to lead the ad hoc fees committee where a lot of this comes through,
specifically the special revenue and the enterprise fund when it comes to trying to do projects.
That's helped me along with having direct access to the directors,
specifically the finance director, who's walked me around the tree hundreds of times so far
to try to show me how these finances work and what can be bought and what can be paid for
and what needs to happen. So I'm not sure about learning about the finances and the regulations
as much as I'm more concerned about future planning. That's my key.
How do we plan for the future so we don't have multiple increases yearly?
We'll
move on to our fourth question starting with Alderman McDowell.
Currently, there is no infrastructure to bring an adequate supply of either raw or treated
water into the city without spending tens of millions of dollars.
Are you prepared to approve the funding and projects needed to ensure our city can grow
and withstand drought conditions?
There is no doubt that at some point in time we're going to have to spend money to make
our water supply happen here.
None of us, I don't think, are comfortable with the figures that they've given us at
this moment.
None of them are cheap.
Inflation has gotten everybody, including cities, over the last several years.
And everything that we used to bid out are so much more expensive now than they used
to be, I still would like to look for some other options, I hear of new options, constantly
of things that we haven't maybe thought of yet, trying to find water sources, whether
it be maybe underground, or some of the issues we're having is with piping the water here
from a river that's not close to Portland, and that's where the money comes in at.
And at some point in time we're not going to have any choice but to pay something to make that a reality.
I'm going to change up our format a little bit. I feel like I'm asking you the same question and I am over and over again.
So let's change it this way. If you need me to restate the question, please ask me to do so at the top.
Otherwise, I'll simply go from candidate to candidate. Fair enough. Does everybody understand?
Yes.
Candidate took her. Do you need me to restate the question?
No.
Candidate took her.
The short answer is yes, I think we have to we have to solve this problem. It is it is a
As I mentioned, it's it's Portland's number one need in the future
Looking back to 1973 is when it was first recognized and through the years
It's been continued to be recognized as as an issue
On the other side of that coin, we need the growth.
New residences, commercial and industry is going to help pay for future improvements.
So we can wait and deal with it as a crisis later on or deal with it now.
Future water and sewer treatment facility upgrades need to be budgeted likewise.
Additionally, there are nearly 400 miles of underground water and sewer lines, many undersized
and aging past their service life.
Some of our neighborhoods are experiencing low water pressure, so we have a lot of issues
that need to be resolved.
auto woman hulkham your response the response is yes but I wish we could find
different ways I'm open to new ideas on how to fund it or even new ideas on how
to even get the water here but we need water that's that's we know that for
sure we need water. So we need to make sure. And I just hate to even tax the
people. I hate that we have to go through this, but it seemed like we've been
going through it. He told me 1973. That's a long time. So I think we've been
holding off, holding off, and then we keep growing and growing. So we need
to
candidate Cole, your response to the question.
I'm never ready to spend
that much money. Number one, you have to go to the people for the money. And I feel
like as a city or any kind of government, they're always going to
Now, we need to look at every option. We need to research. We need to search any alternative
we can to keep from spending that money. If it comes down to that we need to spend that
money, the city and its leaders need to ensure 100% that that is the solution that will fix
the problems before spending $10 million, $20 million, and then, oh, by the way, two
years later, we didn't fix the issue. We need to raise the rates of fees some more
because we need ten more million dollars to see if we could fix the issue again.
Like you said, 1973, it's been a problem longer than I've been alive.
And I'm sure every mayor and every board that's sat here has said,
we're going to fix the issue.
And here we are, 50 years later, and it's not fixed.
Alderman Woodall, your response to the question?
This one is a hard and very short answer.
The answer is yes, we have to have water.
It doesn't matter where you're at, you've got to have water.
Where I see part of the problem in the last four years is that we've got to have a solid plan and move forward as quickly as possible with that plan.
The longer we wait, the more and more expensive these plans become, and that's what we found out.
I'm very excited.
We just saw a 7 million gallon plan that was just brought to us at the last council meeting.
I'm very excited about the plan.
I'm not excited about the money and then I'm not excited about the other numbers
We don't know which is the additional pipelines that have to be repaired or replaced to take that water from Gallatin to the plant
But at the end of the day
Yes, it's going to be very difficult
But we're going to have to spend the money and solve the problem
Candidate Ellis your response to the question. Well, Mike my answer would be
being prepared to carefully approve that funding.
I think it's inevitable that the town does need the updates and the cost.
It's just like buying a home.
The cost when you buy it, it's painful and it's unpopular, but it pays dividends for years to come.
And I think it's the same way with the city.
And I think if we don't do something about it right now that the current
generations will be the one to pay like we are now for waiting from 1973 on.
And you know that the future generations are the ones who are going to wind up
paying for it and paying that money back and they're going to be the beneficiaries.
And I think growing pains are part of a flourishing community.
I think there's always a cost associated with a good thing.
And Portland has a lot of opportunity and I think we have to make tough but careful decisions.
Good news. We're more than halfway done.
We're going to start the next question with candidate Tucker.
The subject of zoning and density comes up often on the council.
Please explain your views on housing density and how you would approach these requests.
Well, as a member of the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals, I review re-zoning
requests by landowners, developers, and builders.
First I look at the GIS map for what zoning exists around the property.
And I look for consistency and continuity.
I look at current area density versus what is proposed.
I look at the surrounding road system to see if improvements are going to be needed.
I also apply common sense if the request compliments the community or if it is not in our best interest.
I also listen to and consider public comments, whether they're pro or con, and the associated reasoning.
I support a planned growth strategy for Portland with increased residential, commercial, industry and retail businesses.
Alderwoman Holcomb, same question in your response.
Of course, like Bob said, you would have to look at the GIS map to see, look around to see if the area is even good around the area.
at that the roads I take for instance my house we on a little one one-way road
and then they want to build houses across the street they're gonna have to
widen the road so you have to look at everything look at the neighborhood so
those with the credit you know request when we get in I try to look at all
that before I answer and try to get some information about that
candidate
David Cole, your response to the question.
I think we get too wrapped up in trying to make this harder than what it is.
Looking at all the GIS math and all that stuff is great.
But number one, you need to see where the location is, how it connects with our roadways, what's
the in and out access, is it flood plains, all those areas you need to check first
and then listen to your people.
So if you live on a little road where it's not wide enough to get one car through, are
you going to put 200 house development through there?
Probably not.
Is it a flood area?
Maybe not.
But I think with our current water drought issues and our flooding and stormwater issues,
I don't think we should even be talking about zoning for any future developments.
But yeah, I think it's more just common sense of your layout, of your town, of your neighborhoods and what represents the best for our community.
Alderman Woodall, your response to the question?
Mine is pretty simple. I look more for density in the center, the higher the density inside the center of town and as it moves out it loosens that density out.
Thankfully over the past year or year and a half now we've been working with a
comprehensive plan with input from the citizens on where they see density
within the community and what they'd like to see as it moves along. It's not
quite done yet but as soon as it's done it's presented to council. I'm very
excited and that way you have the citizens input on where this should
be. It's still a small town but the town's got to grow in certain places.
Candidate Ellis, your response to the question?
Well, in my time, I'm a member of the Planning Commission.
I serve along with Bob, and this issue comes up quite a bit.
And to kind of go along with Brian, I think a lot of times density is a necessity
to update the infrastructure that we have,
because you have to look at it from the city's point of view
But I think higher density inside the city is a good thing because we have the infrastructure that's already here that does need some updates.
But at least we're not pumping water way out of the city and we're able to protect our farms on the outskirts keeping the density within the city limits as well.
But I would look at the roads and the traffic studies and things like that because that's really where your problem comes in.
You've got to look at it. What would you do if your mom and dad lived on the property adjacent to it?
Is this really fit? Is this really working? Is it fair?
Alderman McDowell, your response to the question.
My view on the housing density is we do have a planning commission that is tasked with ironing the details out of whether something will work in an area or it won't work in an area.
sometimes that makes its way to the council when when they don't get a
mantra they like there but we've already stopped some projects like there was
one on TGT Road that we were pretty strongly felt that it was going to
cause too much problems with the intersection at TGT 109 and traffic and
stuff so so we do have some teeth in that sometimes we rely on citizen input
a lot and if you run into a situation where the road isn't wide
enough or if the density is workable there and a road is not wide enough, most of the
time the developer pays to have that fixed.
So that kind of solves that problem.
But it's something that it kind of takes a team to work on together to, there's no
right answer for that.
Alright, we're going to move on to question six, Alderman Holcomb.
Many retail businesses require a certain population threshold before they will consider
coming to a community.
How does Portland continue to grow its population to attract these businesses while maintaining
its home town charm?
I do believe we do have something in place.
I believe Sherry and I believe Megan are going to Atlanta to a event trying to attract
business here.
But you still, as my word is strategic, you have to be that in planning and how to get,
because we have a beautiful community and we need shops.
I mean, I wish we could get a Walmart.
Some won't save a lot, you know, so we need different shops here,
but we just need to know how to, what businesses will fit for Portland.
Portland. That's my thing, what fits for Portland. It makes Portland best because we have a small
home time feel, and you want to keep that so you don't want it so big. So that's...
Candidate Cole, your response to the question.
I kind of look at this a little bit different as a homegrown Portland boy. Most people here
wants pulling to remain a collaborated small town, but we want options. But I think we should
be choosing the options we have instead of worrying about if we're going to get these
big corporations like a Walmart or things like that, not to give them a shout out
or nothing. But you can have certain events and things, and you can go talk to all the
people you want to talk with try to get some of those things to come here but
there's only a certain population that you want and still maintain your small
town so I don't think the people would want all these big chain things to come
in here and over overtake their town so you you got to be smart you got to be
diligent and you you got to be very selective on how you go about these
things because they want to keep it a stop sign.
Alderman Woodall, your response to the question?
This is a difficult question to me because Portland is not a big circle like you see in other cities.
We're across when you look at the map.
You can drive down 109 and 50 feet off the road is the city limits and past that it's a county.
You're not getting any property tax or anything off that house that's outside that.
So, inside the city over the last four years, we've probably built, I can't remember exactly the numbers, I think it was 40 last year and the three years before that around 50 houses.
That's not a lot of people that can come in. Not inside the city limits.
But keeping the hometown feel is, I love what the mayor's done with downtown for the fall decor that's come in. I see a lot of people taking pictures.
I've heard things about the strawberries, but I can tell you this.
There's always somebody sitting on top of one, there's always somebody who's got a camera behind it.
So keeping that hometown feels right there.
Using the Chamber of Commerce, they do an excellent job.
Fall festivals, Music on Main, the Strawberry Festival.
Those things don't exist without that organization right there.
And that's all I've got.
Candidate Ellis, your response to the question?
Well, I would focus on the development of our downtown area.
You know, we want to keep our downtown area and give it a sense of it being quaint where
people want to come visit and the strawberries and the lights over the hometown heroes.
All that stuff is great for our downtown area and I think with the history, you know, High
Street and the historical district we have, I think that a lot of people have come in
and bought those houses and really made them nice.
And I think you can do that, and the bypass that will be coming through,
I think you can focus on having your retail in those areas and out by the interstate.
The interstate gives Portland a lot of traffic,
and I think that the Chamber of Commerce, like Brian said, does a great job with our town and its events.
and I hope to be a part of seeing the retail come in.
Alderman McDowell, your response to the question?
So I can tell you from someone who has been a part of the retail committee before,
we go to Atlanta to meet with all of the people you can imagine
from your old Charlies to Applebee's to Chili's to department stores to many, many things.
We present the city, the mayor, the community development,
they do a great job at promoting the city and coming up with flash drives and
documentations that shows everything Portland has to offer and every one of
those people tell us the same thing that guys your numbers just ain't there
yet. Some may ask how does White House get it when we're a bigger city than
White House but it's the proximate
We're going to get the closeness to Nashville that they are, and some of that we can't control.
As long as we continue to keep our downtown area clean and beautiful, and like it is, your
temple theater, your places like that, it will always keep that hometown community
charm to it. There's probably not very much development in downtown. You're going to see
most of it is going to be on the outskirts. So it will come. It's just taking time.
And Candidate Tucker, your response to the question.
When we talk about hometown charm, I think of how people think and how they interact with other people.
Our chamber does a great job, fantastic job.
Things like the theater, what a great place that we now have for entertainment and for informative kinds of presentations.
We need the growth to pay for our future infrastructure upgrades.
We need the increase in people to attract new businesses.
The Planning Commission has favored the growth of retail businesses as well.
We've seen signs of new growth beginning such as the TA Travel Center out by the highway,
Waffle House coming in, Scooters Coffee, things like that.
And I don't see that changing our hometown charm, but it's going to provide new amenities for the community.
And I agree, Sherri Ferguson leading our Economic and Community Development Office,
I think we're really going to start to see things take off.
We are down to the last question, so the end is just in sight.
For the last question, we'll start with candidate Cole.
What positive impacts have you seen from the City Council over the past four years?
That's a very hard question. I won't say none, but that wouldn't be realistic.
I think they're willingness to learn about some of the issues and to educate themselves.
I know Brian and Jody, they're well-informed with the issues, but not only them,
They take classes, and they talk, and they research other cities,
and they communicate with those leaders.
So I think the most impactful thing
is them just trying to make them more educated
and become more well-rounded council people
to try to lead our town.
I was very impressed with some of the classes of things
that some of them done.
And so I'd like to see that even more from the next counselor.
Thank you.
Alderman Woodall, your response to the question?
Well, there's a lot for the whole council
because we decided things like the sidewalk program, which
only two years old.
We're finding out how expensive sidewalks are, too.
But we've got a sidewalk program now in place.
It's two years old.
So we support public safety.
We've got one new fire engine already here, the other fire engine in route, we've got
that second fire hall, you've got for the police station, we try to make sure that they've
got everything they ask for from weaponry to cars, they've got all the new lights
on them so we try to protect them when they're out in the evenings.
As far as infrastructure goes, you've got a council now also that's willing to
step up and make these hard decisions and although it's going to be painful when
we vote for that that number that's going to cost to move that line up up from
Gallatin I think you've got I think you're going to see a council that is
completely for it so working on the infrastructure and that's all I have.
Candidate Ellis your response to the question. Well over the last four years
I think it's been, it's been a tough job due to things like COVID and inflation.
There's not really, you know, you have to focus on what your needs are and pool the money to
what the town needs. And I think they've worked very hard during these times with things like
work studies and research and their relationships with like our state leaders and representatives
and focusing on the different enterprise funds because prices have gone up and you have to
kind of back up and punt and look at things and look at the budgets and decide what
you can do and what's the first thing you need to spend money on and what's left
to do other things all while protecting the tax rates best that they can, and we can.
And they've done a lot with fire departments, building buildings and such, so that's good.
Alderman McDowell, your response to the question?
The positive impacts I've seen out of the council in the last four years, Alderman,
what all are going to sound like a broken record because we've been there the last
four years. But our parks increase and improve in them. Public safety with adding the resources
we have in police and fire both the police department over this last four years has become
accredited actually upgrading our utilities, our infrastructure and the hard work we've
put into trying to secure a water source for the city. These have all been positive
impacts that are going to make a difference down the road.
Candidate Tucker, your response to the question?
Well, I actually attend most of the city council meetings and many of the other city meetings that go on.
And I'm actually pretty proud of our city council for taking on the tough problems and not kicking them down the road.
I know that they have raised taxes and raised rates and done things like that, but sometimes that's what you have to do.
And I think they've done, taken on the tough problems, made the hard decisions to move forward.
There is a lot of transparency in what they do.
There's information now about the city and the decisions that go on.
You just have to look for it. Not always obvious.
So that's about it.
And Alderman Holcomb, your response to the question?
I want to say the positive impact. For the last two years since I've been on, it's a good harmony up here.
Even if we disagree on anything, we come back together and maybe get some coffee and it's okay.
That's a good group that we work with. Appreciate everybody for that.
But we have accomplished a lot, even though things was thrown, I believe I was thrown in at a time that we had to raise money and stuff.
And these taxes and things that you have to do, it's not easy, having to make a decision like it.
But you always look at all your information to make the right decision.
But while we've been doing this, we're getting ready to renovate the police station where it means storm, the storm water building is going to be built.
So we can get out of the police department. So it's things that we done in the city convenience center.
We did that for everybody, but they trashed. So we've done some good things.
All right. Now we're going to go on to closing statements. Just by general reminder, you will
have 90 seconds to wrap it up and sort of cover any issues that you feel need to be discussed
that have not been discussed. We'll go ahead and start with Autumn Woman Holcomb. Your
90 seconds.
First, I want to thank the Chambers of Commerce for letting us host this on tonight.
I appreciate that so everybody can hear the candidates.
Just know that our jobs appear are not easy.
You do have to get more information and you do talk to the people and you have to learn
about a whole lot of stuff.
But it's good things that you learn about your community.
And I want to also thank Mr. Clark and Mr. Jim Donahoe.
Thank him for holding up his sign every time. Stop.
But you just want to thank everybody for coming out.
You thank everybody that's here today, that y'all came out and listened.
Thank everybody that's online that listened.
Please go out and vote.
We need your vote.
Votes count. Your vote count. So we need your vote. So please come out and go out and vote.
And while you're out voting, please vote for LaToya Holcomb.
I would love your vote. I would love to get back on here and get my four years in. I only got two.
So I would like to come on here and make a change and not make a change for the bad.
I see you, but make a change for good because what we're doing up here is good work, and we're just trying to want to continue it.
So please vote, and vote for LaToya Holcomb.
And candidate Tucker, your closing statement.
A lot of people have heard me say in the past, Portland is a great place to live and work, many opportunities.
There are always going to be issues to resolve, processes to be improved, practices to be made more efficient and effective no matter where you live.
Growth and change bring city challenges but also future community opportunities.
The city does a great job teaming with its Chamber of Commerce and partnering with local businesses and industry.
Thank you to the Chamber for putting on this candidate form.
Thank you to Mr. Schifflet, Mr. Donahue.
Thank you to the audience for caring about who governs your community in the future.
I also thank Mayor Callis and County Commissioner Harrison for their advice and kindness as I
prepared to undertake this campaign.
It's been a unique experience, allowing me to meet many good people across our community.
Lastly, I think the city department leads I visited last week, seven of them.
They shared current and future plans and challenges for their departments.
I can assure you they are working to make the city better, safer, and affordable every
day.
I would appreciate your vote and trust.
For more info, you can visit my Facebook page, Bob Tucker for City Council.
Thank you.
And Alderman McDowell, your closing statement.
Well, in closing, I'll try to keep this really brief.
You've heard from me and five other great people who decided to run for City Council of Portland.
I would be proud to serve alongside any of them.
You've got a lot of choices to make this year when you go vote,
not only for the City Council, but for our Sheriff as on the ballot,
as well as the President of the United States.
When casting your vote for the City Council, you've got four choices you can make.
I would be honored to be one of your choices.
Candidate Ellis, your closing statement.
My closing statement, I think the best part about my campaign and running for this spot has been
so many people willing to help and who believe in me.
That's just really a humbling thing when you've had your whole life in a town
and you've had really good days and high days and you've had down days too, but
it's all come out to be a great thing and a great place to live and my future
children I would I would hope that they would live here and have the
childhood that I did but if elected I just want people to know that I will
make my decisions based off if it were myself or a close family member
And I just want to be fair, and I want people to, I want to have people's trust, I want
to earn people's trust, and then I want to just make Portland better than I left it.
And that kind of be my goal.
And you have to be professional, you have to have unity.
I appreciate all the people who are currently serving and who's running.
It's been just an honor to do that and I'm looking forward to the outcomes and go vote
and please vote for me.
I'm ready to work hard to do the right things and it's just been a joy to see and talk to
the people in our community.
Alderman Woodall, your closing remarks.
I think I'm like Jody, I'm going to keep mine very simple.
Well, thank you for putting your names in the hat.
It's not easy, as you're probably finding out, but I appreciate everything you're doing
because this is what makes our community better.
As far as, you know, this weekend we'll be early voting here in Portland and then on
November 5th.
I just ask that you go out and vote.
Just go vote.
We have a low turnout in Sumner County.
Please vote.
It doesn't matter who you vote for.
You vote for who you think is best for this community, who you think is best for state,
federal, whatever.
Get out and vote.
Now, I wouldn't like for you to vote for Brian Woodall while you're doing that.
He's on the bottom of that list.
But no, I think I do appreciate everybody here.
And like Ben said, I'll echo, there's something humbling about those who call you
and want to put a sign in the yard or say something to you on a message or call you up.
It's very humbling.
So I appreciate that.
I appreciate all the directors that work tirelessly throughout every day and face the challenges.
The phone calls that come to them from alderman and alderwomen. But anyway, please vote bryan
woodall. Thank you. And candidate coal, your closing remarks. I'm not going to be nice. These
guys, these guys all suck. Vote for me. No, I would like the chamber for the invite. I
got to experience this two years ago when I ran for mayor. And that was a different
experience. This is kind of a different experience. But thank you for Jim for holding the sign.
I know that was a hard job, and Clark for being the moderator, we're kind of all in the ball clubs, we'll take that.
I just want to represent my town. I have a passion for making this town as good as it can be.
I don't have any leverage in the hat. I don't own any businesses.
I don't have anything to gain from this except for trying to represent the people the best I can.
There's a lot of issues, a lot of issues that's been going on for a long time and I think I can bring a lot to the table to help remedy some of those issues.
I'm not always the nicest guy, but I think Jody and some of the ones that have told me in my whole life, they could probably tell you what kind of guy I am, what did I come off wrong or not.
But I'm going to stand behind what I say.
I'm not always going to be nice, but I am going to be 100% real.
And you're going to get authenticity out of me.
And I'm going to do everything I can to represent the people.
So all I can say is, I hope you vote for me,
but at least get out and vote for the best candidate
that represents you.
All right.
So thank you to all the candidates
on behalf of Jim Donahoe and myself
and the Portland Chamber of Commerce, including Emily Groves and her staff.
This concludes the City Alderman Candidate Forum.