Where Are The
City Council Candidates?

July 7, 2008
Every four years we have the opportunity to elect a mayor and city council.  The opportunity to participate in how we are governed doesn't get any closer to home or any more basic than the Arab municipal elections.  It is our opportunity to have a say in the direction that the City will take for the next four years.

To date, five candidates have qualified to run for mayor.  Five candidates for a particular race should represent a fairly broad cross section of backgrounds and management styles.  We think it is good that the people have a choice of several candidates for this important position.

On the other hand, of the five city council seats, only one, has two candidates.  Only Place 2, currently held by Councilman Ronny Shumate has drawn opposition from another candidate.  Drew Woody has also qualified for that position.  As it stands, four out of five of the city council seats could be decided without a vote if no other candidates step forward to seek those seats.  80% percent of the council positions could be determined by a single candidate for each council seat.

It is understandable if the candidates for the other four council seats hope they draw no opposition.  All are honorable men, who, we are certain are qualified to hold the position that they seek.  We certainly have no quarrel with either of them and they should be commended for their willingness to serve.  We do however,  believe the citizens of Arab would be well served if more candidates were seeking each council seat.

In our opinion, a full slate of candidates seeking each council position will assure broad representation of all of the citizens and would be beneficial to Arab.  We believe that having a diversity of opinions on the council is a positive for the taxpayers.  While we are not suggesting that it will happen, filling 80% of the council seats without offering alternatives could lead to a packed council with little opportunity for debate of important issues.

New ideas for progress, and solutions to problems are often derived from competition and debate.  Vigorous campaigns give the citizens an opportunity to hear the candidates and to learn about their ideas, character, and management style.  In short, it gives them a choice.  Democracy rises or falls on the ability to choose our representatives.

Arab is at a crossroad.  Many issues need to be addressed in the next four years. BRAC has the potential to bring many new citizens into our community.  The city infrastructure will have to grow to support their needs as well as current residents. The recruitment of industry and commercial business should be a high priority of the mayor and council.  Expansion of the City Limits is needed and will determine if Arab moves forward or declines.

Arab has many citizens with good qualifications in addition to those who have already qualified for the August 26th election.  It is our hope that several other civic minded citizens will consider entering the city council races before the July 15 deadline for qualifying.  Ideally, we would hope for at least 2-3 candidates in each of the five council races.