When our citizens look to Fayette County for services, availability is important. Affordability is important. Believing that they are respected is important. Being able to remain in their homes and pay their taxes is important.

What is not important is who gets to keep the drug bust check. What is not important is where the helicopter that can save lives is parked. What is not important is the commissioners’ Marshal’s Office having the power to make an arrest and carry a gun.

My promise to the citizens of Fayette County is that I will respect them, listen to them and stop the waste.

I am a life-long citizen who has lived through the changes of our great county and am from one of the few second-generation families. When faced with our county’s adversities, which have now precipitated my involvement in this race, I feel that most citizens are greatly concerned with the wastefulness, which is so customary in the decisions that are made by the current commission.

We need to focus on maintaining our current strong property values and keeping them moving in the right direction. When development comes, it is obvious that we are all looking for the next “street of dreams” to be built.

The average new home price is greater than $400,000. That is over twice the average home value of our current county residents. As long as our citizens and the commission demand the next “street of dreams,” with quality planning, it will only maintain and pull all of our property values in the right direction.

In addition, we need to continue to attract quality industrial growth to enhance our tax base and make life affordable for all of us. People in this county depend on the county commission to provide responsible growth, not wasteful spending.

The county commission manages a very small portion of our county’s tax dollars. Currently almost 40 percent of the budget is allocated for the use of public safety, leaving only $50 million to provide services and facilities that we all need.

Being an executive officer and director of a community bank with assets reaching almost $100 million, my qualifications are clear. Bankers manage public wealth and meet our community’s financial needs every day. As a group, bankers are known to be careful, conservative, and responsible leaders. I pledge to provide services and facilities that match our tax bill.

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