There were about 100 people in attendance last night at city hall to hear from the local candidates. LaVern Vivio was chosen as the moderator for the event. The night started with introductions of the alderman candidates in Wards 1 & 2.
Jana Spicer Singer is running unopposed in Ward 2. She introduced herself first. Jana has lived in White House most of her life. She applied for the alderman position when the former mayor retired. Since Carlos Payne (current appointee in ward 2) is not running, she decided to. She is very vocal in the community and not afraid to be. Jana would like to see more responsibility in the areas of growth and infrastructure. She is also looking to improve pay for the emergency services of WH. Since Jana is running unopposed, she does not have a campaign website. When I reached out to her for a statement about her platform, this was her response.
I believe in responsible growth that puts infrastructure first with the fiscal responsibility being shared by the builder or developer. I’d like to see more of our city funds budgeted to roads, police, fire, and parks. I don’t believe that every rezoning request is considered “city center”. Our City Government should be more transparent and meetings should be able to be readily accessed at the click of a button to our citizens.
William Green, candidate for Ward 1 was up next. Green attended WHHS and has lived in WH most of his life. He believes the the board needs new vision and youth. He believes that the growth should be slowed, but the focus should be on directing the growth. His campaign page can be found here. This is a Facebook page only.
Sam Mathews, candidate for Ward 1 followed. He has lived in WH for over 40 years. His family has been in the area since the 1800’s. He is also a WHHS graduate where he was president of the National Honor Society. He went to college on a full academic scholarship. He has 20+ years of executive and management experience. He has sat on the the board of examiners for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence. Sam has spent time at city meetings learning about how it operates. With the growth in middle Tennessee and in White House, he states we need competent and honest officials. Who we elect will determine the future of the city. We need representatives who will approve and deny zoning when necessary. He believes in responsible development, low taxes, economic development, and community first. You can find more about his stance at his website.
The mayoral candidates were then asked to introduce themselves in 3 minutes. The order was chosen at random. Alderman Hutson was first.
Hutson started with what an honor it was to be in the Don Eden room. Eden was a friend and an mentor. Hutson became an alderman 14 years ago and now he wants to be mayor to make WH even better than it is. His family bought a farm here in the 60’s and he’s been here since he was a young teen. He graduated WHHS in 1979 and married his high school sweetheart. They raised a daughter here and now she is a college professor. He started his electrical business here and retired after 34 years. Now he just wants to raise cows and serve the city. He attends community events and supports the schools. He is currently the vice mayor and is financially responsible. Saving the city money has been his primary objective the last 14 years. In his business life he had to mediate challenges and listen to people. He will continue that as mayor.
John Corbitt has lived in WH for 16 years. He has been an alderman for six years. When the city approved and building began on a subdivision by his home, he ran for local government. He has been opposing irresponsible development, often as the lone voice. He believes that the city can do a better job at making the developers pay for more of their impact. Impact fees need to be reevaluated and the city does not need to rely on traffic studies paid for by the developer. He is a strong supporter of our first responders and pushed for a pay scale study for them. That led to a pay increase for police. He will continue to pursue that for the fire dept as mayor. He is for open and transparent government. In 2020 he proposed an amendment that would allow citizens to speak once a quarter at city meetings, it was voted down. He will reintroduce that bill and push for all meetings to be recorded and posted.
Ms. Vivio then outlined the rules for the forum. The questions would be chosen at random. Since Corbitt was first to introduce himself, Hutson would get the first question and they would switch back and forth. The questions were from citizens. The questions were pared down to weed out repetition and relevance. There are no questions from the audience, it is not a debate, there is no winner, and there will be no grandstanding or off color comments.
#14- How have you served the community outside of your job as Alderman?
Hutson- Back in the day we just called it helping your neighbor. That’s how I’ve lived my entire life. I helped build the Heritage ball field. I worked with the WH band. I helped with some electrical at the park and found out that some help wasn’t the right kind of help. I’ve done projects with the Girl Scouts, including the soccer fields. The veteran memorial was an Eagle Scout project that I helped with. I have worked the concession stand at WHHS and will continue to serve while serving as mayor.
Corbitt- I volunteered with the WHHS tennis team and the football team. I’ve participated in clean up days and believe it or not, the pumpkin run. Several years ago I worked with WH to put on the Fire rock concert in the city.
#16- Is communication to and from the city to its citizens a problem?
Corbitt- Openness and transparency in government is critical. Citizens can email and make phone calls. People can also show up at city meetings to discuss issues. I will reintroduce the amendment to allow citizens to speak quarterly at meetings. Not all citizens can attend meetings, so I will push to have them recorded. Minutes don’t always catch all that has happened in a meeting.
Hutson- Communication is the biggest thing. We have boards made up of citizens. I talk to the members of the boards, and encourage citizens to call me. The city website is good, but needs some work. There are no major changes to the website, but some tweaking could be done. With the new building, we now have the ability to live stream. I’m not against people speaking, but go to the worst council meetings online. It shows what can happen at meetings. I love to talk in person one on one. Call me with any questions.
#11 What is the most important thing you think needs to change?
Hutson- We have to take care of what we have. The roads are a priority. We have to work with both the state and the county to get things fixed. Herman does a great job talking to them, but the people need to get involved too. Citizens need to support the city by calling the county and the state about the roads.
Corbitt- We need to slow the growth. There have been 5300 units approved since 2005 and 1300 are completed. That still leaves 4000 on the books. We need a moratorium until the infrastructure can support what is here and already approved.
#10- How do you plan to hire new and retain the police and fire personnel we currently have?
Corbitt- I pushed for a pay study for police and will do the same for fire. There are already some great benefits such as tuition reimbursement. Their pay needs to be comparable to other cities of similar size.
Hutson- I want to thank Gerry and Amanda for the great job they do with personnel. We can’t compete with cities live Nashville, but we want to be better. I don’t want to be average I’ve never wanted to be average. We offer great benefits, but the pay needs to be raised. This isn’t a political issue it should be thought about daily. What can we do to make it better.
#18- Until the city’s infrastructure is in place, would you consider a moratorium on SRPUD’s?
Hutson- I have sat on the planning commission for many years. Every approval goes through a process. It’s looked at by fire, police, public works, and planning. If they say we can’t handle any more then I’ll say stop it. We are already down about 16% in housing and are heading into a recession. We don’t need a moratorium. We need more retail. People want more stores. We need to let the process take its course.
Corbitt- Yes, we need a moratorium. We need to take a hard look at what is going on. It may drop off, but we need to step back and make sure we can handle what is here and coming, if it doesn’t.
#20 How do you handle controversial and complicated issues?
Corbitt- Head on. Let’s get the issue on the table and discuss it.
Hutson- I’ve been in business for 34 years. It’s taken me all over the state. Somewhere in the middle there is a win/win for everyone. I like to be as fair as possible to both parties. There should be a win/win for the city and its citizens.
#13- How do you plan to work with the county on issues facing the city?
Hutson- It is very important to work with the counties. We send the schools every approval. We need more information from the schools. I know the players and will be talking with them. We need to talk to everyone from the county to the state. WH is complicated since it is in two counties. Herman does a great job with this.
Corbitt- I agree with Clif on this. Herman does well. These issues are not just city issues, but county as well. If we approve 1000 homes and the county says they don’t have the money for a new school for 15 years, we need the ability to be able to pull back to better align with the county.
#9- If you were given $1 million dollars to spend on the city any way you like, what would you do?
Corbitt- I would make a list of all road improvements. I would start at the top with the worst one and keep fixing roads until the money was gone.
Hutson- It’s amazing how many grants the city gets. We already have a process just like John described in our budget. I too would put roads first.
#8- Would you be for adding more new homes and businesses to the city, or rehabbing the old homes and businesses in the city?
Hutson- Most of the storefronts in WH are new. WH was only incorporated 50 years ago. It’s pretty impressive what the city has accomplished in 50 years. We need more industrial. People need good paying jobs and we do need more store fronts.
Corbitt- Rehabbing homes and businesses isn’t the job of the government. We do need more commercial and industrial builds. We need to pump the brakes on residential.
#5- Transparency in government is most important, how will you address that?
Corbitt- Overall the city does a pretty good job. Citizen need an avenue to speak. I will reintroduce the amendment that allows citizens to speak once a quarter.
Hutson- City hall is transparent. Herman gets calls all of the time and always talks to the citizens. You can call any alderman. You don’t need a meeting to get things fixed. You can just call someone and public works can get on it. You simply need to find the right person in the right department. The city’s app needs some help, but we just need to meet face to face.
#7- What are your top 3 goals if elected mayor?
Hutson- I’d like to see the rec center finished. That has taken 40 years. I’d like to take care for what we have now. Road improvements need to move up on the time frame. It all takes time.
Corbitt- 1. Slow the growth. 2. Take care of our first responders. 3. Make sure our government has openness and transparency.
#17- What has been your biggest contribution as alderman?
Corbitt- I pushed for the pay study for the police and got them a raise. I have been a fresh set of eyes on many things. I’ve not been involved in city politics for years, so I am kind of an outsider.
Huston- Being in business for 34 years I’ve learned to take care of employees and be thrifty. I’ve saved the city money over the years. One example is the parks needed a new building. The bid was close to 500k. It was too high for something I had built myself for about 100k. I asked why the city couldn’t just do it themselves. The guys at the parks dept built what they wanted and did it themselves. It cost just under 200k. They are proud of what they built. We have an engineer, so we were able to do it. I have saved the city money.
#6- As the city grows, is there discussion to open the utilities for more hours. For example the dump is not open on the weekends.
Hutson- The city dump is only for household items or brush. I think we should consider a half day on a Saturday maybe once a month or so. Most city employees only work 4 days a week so there is some flexibility on those days.
Corbitt- I think that is a great idea. I work M-F and had to go to Gallatin last weekend to dump some things. I will look into the dump being open on Saturday.
#2- With the growth in WH, are we at a place where we can employ a full time animal control officers or are we to continue to rely on the county?
Corbitt- We did not have much of a need for animal control in the past. It needs to be revisited at this point.
Hutson- We had a full time employee years ago, but the work was only part time. Maybe it’s time to cross train one of our employees to work part time as animal control. It is time to add animal control.
#19- Are you open to the general public being allowed to attend and speak at meetings?
Hutson- I am open to quarterly discussions with citizens, but before the city meeting begins. Once the meeting begins it is time for the city to make decisions. Citizens could speak after meetings, but not throughout the meeting.
Corbitt- Yes. That is why I proposed the amendment in 2020.
#?- How will you address city employees not being able to afford to live in the city with the cost of living and inflation?
Corbitt- We will need to do a pay study. Clif is right, we can’t keep pace with Nashville, but we can with cities of similar size.
Hutson- Inflation effects everyone. We might need to look at an inflation rate in the pay scale. We should be giving this continuous thought and looking at it every day. HR does well keeping up with this. We should be thinking about it continuously. WH should be the best place to live, work, and play.
#12- How will you work with the state and the county to make improvements to WH?
Hutson- I have positioned myself to be able to help Herman in this role. We need the citizens to call their representatives about our roads. There have been 3 wrecks on Tyree Springs just in the last while. We need to talk to the state and it takes all of us.
Corbitt- I agree, Herman does a great job. We need the road improvements moved to the front. We are struggling to compete with cities like Brentwood. We need the citizens to harp and hound their state representatives. Start wearing them out.
#21- Would you override a planning commission decision on BOMA if there was enough public outcry?
Corbitt- Planning’s role is advisory. They make recommendations to the BOMA. Most of the time they get it right. I have no problem going against planning if it’s the right thing to do.
Hutson- I have sat on the planning board for many years. Each project goes through the department heads. I have voted against things on planning, but I was out numbered. When the item got to BOMA I voted yes because all of the planning commission is made up of citizens. I’ve talked with them and listened to those citizens on the board.
#4- Would you pursue building up the east side of 31W?
Hutson- There is not enough water over there which is why development is slow. We have spent several million in the center of WH for water. Once that area is developed the builders will pay for the improvements.
Corbitt- I will work with anyone who wants to develop that area. 76 has grown faster because of the freeway ramps. As 76 fills up, 31W growth will happen naturally.
#3- How do you see the town in 5 years?
Corbitt- We need to get a better handle on the growth in the city. We need to improve our roads, and pump the brakes on new growth. It’s time to take inventory and get a handle on what we have.
Hutson- I don’t think it will be much bigger than what we have. We don’t need to annex anything else, there is plenty on the books. We need road improvements and infrastructure. The water issues are being solved with the new storm water rules. We need more retail and amenities. WH still has that home town feel and we’ll keep it.
#1- How will you focus on the future while managing what is here?
Hutson- The mayor and the BOMA run the city like a corporation, and Herman maintains it. We will need more employees, but we are on a good track. We need more retail, and retailers want to see higher numbers of rooftops.
Corbitt- The present isn’t so awful, we just need to slow the growth and plan for the future.
Closing Remarks- Hutson went second in opening, so we went first in closing
Hutson-Call me with any of your questions, I want to hear from you. BOMA is just a conduit on how to get things done. There has been explosive growth in Nashville, but we want to maintain our hometown feel. I am proud to be here and am excited for the future. We need to support each other and take responsibility to build a stronger future. We need to understand how things work but know that change will continue. What is WH? Why do we live here? What keeps us here? It’s a feeling of community. Home is where the heart is, I will embrace and mange this city.
Corbitt- First there needs to be openness and transparency in our city. I will advocate for a moratorium. Elections have consequences, please don’t just listen to us talk. Look at voting records before you make a decision in November.
Here are links to their websites. Hutson & Corbitt
I apologize for the missing number on one of the questions. The questions themselves were often longer, but I simply could not take notes fast enough. I am not a trained journalist so often I am just writing frantically.
If you find these useful, send me a cup of coffee through Venmo. @Nicole-Taylor-262
You captured it well, Nikki, and this is very beneficial for WH citizens in order to be informed before they vote.
Thank you Nikki. We were at the forum Tuesday night. You covered it very good in your article. I hope the citizens of WH will read your article.