Vandeveer, Jones and Norm Parker prevail in races for council seats
Kempner residents on Tuesday re-elected City Councilwoman Melba Vandeveer, voted in new councilmen Norm Parker and Jared Jones, and decided the municipality shall hire a city manager.
For Place I on the Kempner City Council, Norm Parker won 251-156 over Vance Rodgers.
Jared Jones unseated Place II incumbent Betty Parker – Norm Parker’s wife – by a vote total of 260-155.
Place V incumbent Melba Vandeveer defeated Anelicia Cheney-Campbell, who is married to Rodgers, 231-186.
The proposition to hire a city manager passed 262-165.
State law requires the council to appoint a city manager and set the person’s salary – by ordinance – within 60 days of the election.
Those who advocated for hiring a city manager said such an administrator would improve the flow of information in the city, give city employees necessary independence by not having them report directly to the mayor and solve problems that critics say Mayor Dr. Keith Harvey has caused.
Harvey and others who opposed the city manager plan argued that the push for a city manager was driven by a vendetta against Harvey. The mayor and other opponents of the measure also said Kempner has too few city staff members – and too tight a budget – for the municipality to need or afford a city manager.
In post-election comments, candidates offered their thoughts not only about the results of the council races, but also about the effects of the city manager plan that voters approved.
REACTIONS TO ELECTION RESULTS
Norm Parker said he is not sure what factors propelled him to victory in the Place I race. He added, though, that he and his wife faced many very negative remarks from various people, and he said the candidates who verbally attacked him and his wife lost.
Parker said he stayed positive in his campaign brochure and in his pre-election candidate questionnaire in the newspaper.
“Hopefully if people read that and took that to heart, that is what helped me,” he said.
Parker said he is “very unhappy” that the city manager proposal passed, and he said he is not sure voters understood what they were approving. The councilmanelect said he and others – including former Kempner financial consultant Jack Clark – warned residents about the financial struggles Kempner would face if it added a city manager.
Kempner “has no money to hire the person” and will have to increase taxes to pay for the position, Parker said.
Proponents of the city manager plan said Kempner can follow several strategies – such as reducing other staffng, cutting City Hall hours, hiring a part-time city manager or working with a firm that provides city managers as contractors – to afford a city manager without a huge tax increase.
Parker said there are very few ways to avoid a tax increase – and he expressed doubts about some ideas he has heard, such as getting rid of Sylvia Tucker Memorial Park or firing secretarial employees.
“We’re going to have some conflict, is all I’m afraid of,” Parker said.
Jones, the Place II winner, said Kempner citizens sent a message Tuesday “that we still live in a democracy where people get to choose.
“I think I won because I didn't approach the election with any motives other than to help the citizens and city of Kempner grow,” he added. “I'm looking forward to the opportunity of serving the people of Kempner and learning all of the different dynamics of a local municipality. I'd also like to thank Mrs. Betty Parker for being such a good opponent and so encouraging to me.”
Jones commented about what the council needs to do now that voters approved the city manager plan.
“The City Council needs to be able to first, have the conversation openly with each other and the mayor, review the budget collectively and ensure that the citizens of Kempner aren’t the ones footing the bill for the added position,” he said. “We also need to be open minded and make sure that the best possible candidate fills that slot."
Jones serves on active duty in the Army, and he added that “the views expressed are solely those of Jared Jones and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Army or any other associated government agency.”
Vandeveer said the Place V race turned heated at times, and she was surprised to learn of her re-election.
Vandeveer said she thinks she may have prevailed because she stayed quiet before the election and did not get into arguments.
Vandeveer said at one point, she thought Kempner needed a city manager. She said now that she has received more information about the issue, she does not believe Kempner can afford a city manager.
Kempner needs some changes, the councilwoman said. Kempner will need a city manager in the future, but not now, she said.
Harvey said he did not want, or advocate for, a city manager. The position will cost Kempner “big-time,” the mayor said, adding that he is concerned about raising taxes on elderly and disabled residents.
Because the city manager hiring deadline is approaching quickly, the person the council picks can set his or her own price, Harvey said. The city is seeking somebody with years of experience, Harvey said, adding that “we’re not going to get somebody who just says, ‘Let me do this for you for $8,000 as a favor.’ ”
Cheney-Campbell – who helped start the city manager petition – said based on Norm Parker’s and Vandeveer’s wins Tuesday, a city manager will not do any good. A city manager would have helped, Cheney-Campbell said, if a majority of the council members “didn't blindly follow the mayor’s suggestions.”
Cheney-Campbell expressed her concern that most of the council will follow what the mayor says, which she said means “the city manager will now become another liability, being that it is another department head that Keith could fire without consulting the council.”
Cheney-Campbell said based on the expected city manager workload, plus a comparison of the other Kempner city employees’ salaries to the state average, the annual salary for the city manager should be about $23,000.
Cheney-Campbell also said the City Council should combine one of the current positions with the city manager position.