Recently, three local PAVE (Pottawatomie County Advocates for Voter Education) forums were presented so residents could get a glimpse of where the candidates stand on issues before the June 18 primary elections.

On May 23 Candidates for Pottawatomie County Dist. 2 Commissioner gave brief opening statements and responded to written questions from the public. Questions were submitted at the forum or in advance by email and were screened for appropriateness and duplication.

Ronnye Perry Sharp served as moderator.

According to the candidate filing between April 3 and April 5, Dist. 2 County Commissioner candidates are Incumbent Greg Rush; Justin Caldwell; Terry Gregory; Scott Hawkins and John Stanley.

Four candidates participated at the forum.

Some of the candidate questions and responses are, as follows:

QUESTION: What do you think is the most important function of the county’s health department? What services should be expanded?

STANLEY: Well, as far as health, you know, get 911 out and emergency vehicles out on our roads. We’ve got to have decent roads to get there. Get emergency vehicles out there, get the police out there and stuff like that, because when you need emergency – you need them out there. We need to keep our hospitals, doctors’ offices, all them things, you know, urgent care offices … we to keep them in Pott. County and run by Pottawatomie County and not get farmed out to big corporations.

RUSH: Our health department probably needs to expand in the children’s services. There’s always a need for vaccinations and support for our children. Our health department – not a lot of people know this – we are going to have to relocate our health department, probably in about four years. We are already in the process of – we do have property that we’ve acquired to build this facility on, if we choose to do that. So, I believe the children’s services are where we need to expand the health department.

GREGORY: In my life, the county health department was the only place my mom had to take us, as kids. I’ve got a daughter that really counts on them right now with two kids that are under the age of two. And that’s one of the services that I feel like is, has been put back on the back burner. And only after you really know that you need it – or know somebody that does – you realize how important that the county health department is for people, and how much services they do for the women and the children and for the family at whole. So, I personally would support and try to do everything I can to help that government agency out as much as I can.

HAWKINS: I think where we should expand in our county health department is – you know we received a grant a number of years ago when I served on Macomb School District school board – to have a floating nurse to go around to all our rural public schools. I think that program is very vital in our communities, especially in a county where our minimum salary – household salary is around $50,000. We have a high rate of poverty in our county. I also think that public outreach to get into those schools to let those parents know what those services are, because just like Terry Gregory said, for our families that are in a low-income it’s very hard to get into those medical services like that and I think we should expand on that in our community.

QUESTION: What experience have you had in building roads and bridges?

GREGORY: Well, personally, I’ve never built a bridge. I’ve built a few roads, if you want to consider it, out on my pastures. But I tell you what I do have experience in, I’ve spent my whole life in the service industry, where all I do is I take people that has a problem and they hire me to solve their problems for them. And through that is that I have a company, personal project management, is where my main goal is that I look at projects before they’re even brought out of the ground and I’ll point out what problems you’re going to have, and issues before the architect, the mechanical engineers, the electrical engineers, and then that way is that everybody when their project starts is that most all the problems are corrected and it’s usually a job that’s seen to fulfillment.

HAWKINS: I’ll tell you that I’ve never built a bridge and, as far as roads go, I did grow up on a farm and I know what it’s like to fight a commissioner’s office to actually grade your county public road. We had a long road to walk to the school bus from our house. We fought the Commission – I don’t know how long – you know, before we threatened transfer in a lawsuit back when I was a kid. The north end of Coker Road from Romulus Road was a nightmare; it was solid clay mud, … but I will say that on a farm I did help grade roads and things like that. We built our own graders that we did build our own wooden bridge – it probably wouldn’t drive a car over it – but the main thing is that I don’t know any kind of commissioner that builds a bridge. They do assist them in road grading, but there’s always the method of seeking those services out that are available to a commissioner to get their projects done.

RUSH: Before I became commissioner, the experience I had is operating my dozers and farm equipment … but I learned real quick that the commissioner can’t just focus on roads by (himself); he has to have a team. You have to bring on experienced personnel that’s done that. I picked up a road foreman that’s got 14 years’ experience as being a foreman and another county employee – or hired by another county. I’ve learned a lot from him, but he’s the one that I rely on to help with the roads. I do the budget.

STANLEY: Well, I have helped build a bridge. I’ve done cement work, back when – I want to say ’85, ’86 – it’s been a few years back. As far as doing it all – no. I helped tie rebar, help dig, pour cement … I’ve done stuff like that. As far as maintaining roads, I’ve run a bulldozer, excavators, anything like that, heavy equipment. My road, I built my own road grader to pull behind a 100-horse tractor that’s 14-foot low board. I built that one to grade my road to help the county, where they didn’t have to come down and do it so often. So, I think I know how to do roads to be in pretty good shape when I did it.

QUESTION: What can commissioners do to ensure that the county jail is being run in a manner that respects Constitutional rights and is accountable to the public for deaths of inmates?

STANLEY: One of my concerns with the jailhouse is they needing enough empty seats for if we have somebody from Pottawatomie County that needs to go to jail, we can put them in jail, where we’re not farming them things out. We need a few seats saved where if we need to jail somebody, we can. As far as somebody getting abused or anything like that in that jailhouse, you know, that’s totally wrong. I do not agree with that stuff whatsoever. I’m kind of a gruff man, but I’m a very passionate man, too. Everybody tells me I’ve got a heart of gold — and stuff like that I just do not tolerate.

RUSH: Well, the death of an inmate should never happen. We do have a jail trust, which is an authority that the county’s in charge of. The jail trust does have their rules and regulations that they go by and their employees go by. It is the county commissioners’ duty to be aware of those rules and regulations and make sure that they are following them. But the trust authority is the one we rely onto protect the inmates’ rights.

HAWKINS: Greg Rush pretty much summed up, you know, that it is a trust, and it is not under the authority of the sheriff. Our county has been that way since about 2003, I believe, 2002 or 2003. It does ultimately fall back on the county for the responsibility of, you know, what happens in the county. That is governed by a trust. I do feel like death should be reported and investigated to the fullest extent, to exonerate any(one), and to flush out any wrongdoing.

GREGORY: Yeah, it’s a trust, but whenever you decide to become a county commissioner and you get lucky enough to be voted in, anybody should live on the side of trust, but verify. And if you’re not personally going down there yourself, and making sure that things are right, and listen to the concerns of the public, and look into it yourself instead of just relying on a trust to tell you what’s going on or how it is, then I think you’re doing a disservice, not only to the inmates that are in the county jail, but also to all the people in Pottawatomie County.

QUESTION: What plan do you have for communicating with your constituents, dedicated email or messenger?

GREGORY: Well, I’m from the old school; I’d much rather talk to you face-to-face. If I’m elected your county commissioner in District 2, you probably won’t have to have to come and chase me down; I’ll probably find you. That’s just the way I do my business; that’s the way I do my life. If I feel like I hear – in the scuttlebutt through the community — that so-and-so’s got an issue with me, I’ll be the first one to come to you and we’ll talk about the issues. … I will be a person-to-person county commissioner.

HAWKINS: I don’t disagree with anything he said; I think an open-door policy to the county commissioners’ office is ideal for anybody – especially our elderly, who do not like any technology, but text messaging, phone calls, in person … I think I stated last time that I planned on putting in an online reporting portal; it’s not only just for reporting, but it’s going to be also for tracking what the district is doing, for transparency. I can’t tell you – not one time in my government service – that I could show you a report where the Commission or the commissioners’ office showed you exactly what they did month-to-month. It doesn’t happen. But I want that to be more transparent. I want reporting. I want people to know what your money is being spent on and that issues are being addressed.

RUSH: Currently we have, of course, my government email – my county email; I have my phone number – my personal number out there on my business cards. It’s on my County District 2 website there. … They can call my phone; they can email our assistants there. I do return my calls just as fast as I can get to them. Believe me, there will be a bunch of them for everybody to weed through. I do try to meet with them once I contact them, I’ll go meet with them and look at their issue.

STANLEY: I’m a lot like Greg; I’m a one-on-one guy. I can probably talk your leg off, too. But as far as any other media — social media, texting, phone calls – all of it needs to be wide open. If somebody’s got a problem, they need to be able to call, talk to you; you need to discuss it with them. Open-door policy all the way around. And when you tell somebody something, do it. That’s me; if I say something, that’s just it. I’m old school. When you say something, shake a man’s hand, that’s like writing it down on paper and having it on that.

PAVE forums

PAVE is the successor organization to the county League of Women Voters. The non-partisan group has been hosting candidate forums for several years.

The three forums were live-streamed on the City of Shawnee website and recorded for later playback.

Voting

The election is June 18. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Early voting starts June 13 and 14, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and June 15, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.