Be sure to cast your ballots in Tuesday primary election. Heres lead reporter Jessica Dockreys story on the Madisonville City Council candidates. Ward 6 City Council candidates speak out By Jessica Dockrey Messenger Lead Reporter jdockrey@the-messenger City Councilman Bill Smith will face opposition in the primary election for the city’s 6th Ward. Madisonville resident Tony Smith is running against him in Tuesday’s election. Bill Smith was born in Mortons Gap and grew up in Earlington, where he said he graduated from Earlington High School. He has served on City Council since January 2007. He said he moved to Madisonville about 45 years ago. “I didn’t go to college,” he said. “My dad wanted me to go. I wanted to go work in the mines. They were paying pretty good money at that time. I worked 39 years in the mining industry.” Bill then decided to work for 16 years in commercial and residential real estate before retiring. “I have been married to Ann Kay Smith, a retired West Broadway Elementary School guidance counselor, for 22 years, and I have three children — Jeffrey, Timothy and Tanya,” he said. Bill said he does not have a criminal background. “I have a clean bill. I’ve never been arrested, I’m not a drinker, I’m not a smoker — never have been — and I’m not a gambler. I just have problems with my marriage and I guess a whole lot of people do,” he joked. His experience best qualifies him for the job of city councilman, he said. “I am president of my local union — they are a retired union of about 350 members,” Bill said. “I have been president of that for about 15 years. I’ve been on the Grapevine Cemetery Board for about 23 years. I’ve been on Hopkins County Christian Food Bank the last four or five years.” If re-elected, Bill said he wants to strive to do the best he can to serve the citizens of Madisonville. “I think that we all need to strive to do better,” he said. “I’d like to see some more completion work done on the Mahr Park. I’d like to see America In Bloom progress on exits 44 and 42. I’d like to see flowers and shrubs up through there to beautify our city.” One issue that Bill would like to see addressed are the city’s streets, which he said are “in dire need of repair.” “I would like to see that part of our infrastructure taken care of, as well as ditches, in my district — one in particular, which need serious attention,” he said. Bill said he thinks Madisonville truly is the “Best Town On Earth” and he is proud of what he has been able to help accomplish in City Council. “I think Madisonville has really come a long way,” he said. “We have paid the city debt off — almost $2.5 million from March 31, 2013 to March 31, 2014. This year, we bought new fire trucks and a heavy duty utility truck for a little over $700,000 and we wrote a check for it, didn’t have to finance it at all. “I love doing things for people. I’ve been like that all my life,” he continued. “I think very little about the money part of it. I just want to be of service to people. I just enjoy doing what I’m doing.” Bill said the position of city councilman is important to the community. “We have six seats and we represent six different areas, so each one of us try to take care of our area the best that we can,” he said. “We try to work together as a whole for Madisonville.” Bill’s opponent, Tony, was born and raised in Madisonville, where he said he attended Hall Street Elementary School, Grapevine Elementary School, Seminary Street School and graduated from Madisonville-North Hopkins High School. “After high school, I took classes at Madisonville Vocational Technical School, which is part of the community college now,” he said. “I was in the coal mining program.” Tony has spent the last 10 years with, and is engaged to, Bonnie Clyde. He said he has three children — Matthew, Faith and Brice — five grandchildren, three stepchildren and four step-grandchildren. He admitted that he has made some mistakes in his past. “To me, the charges are irrelevant,” he said. “It’s in my past and has been dealt with. All of that has been expunged. To delve further into it doesn’t just affect me, but others that have dealt with it and moved on. I don’t think it is fair to others, that my running for office should affect them in a detrimental way. I will not stand on another’s character to make myself look taller.” Tony Smith said he has been in business for himself since 1989. He started Blades Hair Salon, brought the General Nutrition Center franchise to Madisonville and was the owner/operator of Father and Sons Liquor, East and West, for more than 25 years. “I didn’t inherit them and I didn’t have a rich uncle,” he said. “I created these businesses on my own, and have been successful at employing people and maintaining employment. All of those businesses that I created have new owners and all of them are still prosperous, still hiring and doing well.” If elected, Tony said his number one priority is creating area jobs. “I’ve got 25 years of creating jobs without the assistance of government, and the power and weight of government,” he said. “I think, with the power and weight of the city government, and resources of the state, we can do a lot more when it comes to creating new jobs in Hopkins County.” He would also like to bring his budgeting experience to the table, Tony said. “Someone needs to say, “No, we are not going to buy that at this time,’” he said. “‘No, we’re not going to go ahead with this plan at this time — not until the plan has been thought through and all avenues have been explored so it doesn’t cost the people of the city of Madisonville any money.’ We need to create a revenue stream so that the product can pay for itself.” Tony said he thinks the first responsibility of elected officials is “to be a good steward of the constituents’ money.” “I see that we have a new fire truck that has a plaque on it that has the City Council’s names on it,” he said. “City Council had not one thing to do with generating the income to purchase that fire truck. They spent the taxpayer’s money. I don’t think that’s right. If a city councilman, a mayor, or a county judge-executive want to spend the taxpayers’ money, then there is going to be a plaque on that product that they bought, and it should be to the taxpayers of the city of Madisonville.” Tony would also like to see Madisonville become “more business friendly.” “I still hear too many complaints from too many people about how difficult it is to start a business in Madisonville,” he said. “It should be very easy to start a business and people should not hear why they can’t; they should hear why they can.” Unopposed City Council members include Tom Morgan, Ward 2; Raymond Marion, Ward 3; and Franklin Stevenson, Ward 5. Incumbent Republican Ward 1 Councilman Mark Lee will face Democrat Frank Gaither in the November general election. Democrat Barry McGaw is running unopposed for the Ward 4 seat. He will likely replace Democrat Hannah Myers who is running for county magistrate in the 7th District. According to Hopkins County Chief Deputy Clerk Kennan Ratliff, voting for Ward 6 will take place in the following precincts: portions of 34, 35, 47, 48 and 50, as well as all of 43 and 49.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 18:11:44 +0000
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