(Editor’s Note: The Elizabethton City Council race is scheduled to take place during the Nov. 8 general election. There are currently five candidates on the ballot: Curt Alexander, Robert “Bob” Cable, Jr., Jeff Treadway, Jennet Morgan and Kim Birchfield. Candidates were asked to fill out a complimentary questionnaire with five questions provided by the Elizabethton Star to be included in this weekend’s edition print edition. Each candidate confirmed they received questionnaires and were notified of a deadline – Friday, Oct. 22 at Noon – to submit responses. Below are the responses submitted by candidates, in alphabetical order, that met Friday’s deadline.)

CURT ALEXANDER
1) What will you do during your time in office to help attract jobs into the area?
As anyone knows that keeps up with the economy, both local and national, we are recovering from one of the worst economic recessions in history. Many jobs were lost around the country. We were not immune from the recession in Elizabethton. However, the economy is slowly improving. In order to position our city for the economic recovery, we as a city and county have joined a regional economic development organization. This should allow us to work together with neighboring cities and counties to promote this entire region to potential investors and developers. We have also spent the last twelve years updating our aging water and sewer infrastructure, as well as rebuilding all nine of our electric system substations. We have also invested in a surface water plant to provide a secondary source of water. These improvements equal close to $60 million in infrastructure improvements in the last twelve years. These improvements were imperative, as our current infrastructure was aging and falling apart. These improvements were also a necessity for any industries looking to locate here.
Another aspect that potential businesses look at when moving to a new location is the education system. We have one of the top school systems in the city and have invested over $12 million in capital improvements during the last 8-10 years. An educated workforce is a requirement for businesses to consider this area. Our graduation rate is one of the highest in the state because our system hires teachers who challenge students to become the best that they can be.
Businesses looking to locate to this area also look at “quality of life” when studying an area. As most of us know, there is no more beautiful place for outdoor recreation than Elizabethton. We have two state parks, a trophy trout fishing area, the Appalachian Trail, the Tweetsie Trail, Watauga Lake, etc. The list goes on and on. We also have access to major highways and interstates. We also have many places to shop and eat in our downtown.
2) What do you feel is the greatest issue that faces Elizabethton at this time and what will you do to address that issue?
There are several issues facing Elizabethton. Several were mentioned above in regards to bringing jobs to the area, economic development, aging infrastructure, and education. However, perhaps the most important issue we now face is for the city to have a “Vision” for who we are and who we want to become. Years ago our city was an industrial based community. We have lost that and now are faced with a more service and retail focused community. We need to come together as a city and county and identify where we are going and how we are going to get there. It is impossible to be all things to all people, therefore, we need to focus on what we want to be the best at and all move forward together.
3) What is your opinion of the Elizabethton Twins and how important is their longevity to the city?
The Elizabethton Twins have been a tremendously valuable asset to Elizabethton for over 40 years and is an important piece to the recreation and “quality of life” many people enjoy. We as a City Council are working diligently to make sure the Twins remain in Elizabethton. However, the citizens must be willing to pay the costs of the improvements the Twins organization is requiring. Our main job as City Council members is to be good stewards of the city’s resources. This project has a price tag of well over $1 million and will require some type of private donations and contributions to complete. We have recently named a task force to work together to bring ideas to City Council and to work with the Minnesota Twins organization to make the Twins remaining in Elizabethton a reality. The results of this task force will determine our next course of action with the Twins organization.
4) What steps will you take to help preserve the historic ideals of the city?
We have a Historic Zoning Commission in the City of Elizabethton that does an excellent job protecting the historic ideals of the city. I will continue to work with them to make sure this continues. However, it also takes the citizens working together with the city to accomplish this.
5) Where you see the City of Elizabethton four years from now?
My hope is to see the City of Elizabethton better than it is today. I look back on the twelve years I have had the privilege to serve on City Council and see many great things that have happened due to the city and the citizens working together to accomplish many great projects. I hope in four years we have created a “Vision” and are well on our way to achieving that vision. We will also continue to invest in our infrastructure improvements, our excellent school system, and our street paving program. The next four years will be an important step in the future of Elizabethton. I will strive towards and work tirelessly to continue to make Elizabethton the greatest place in the world to live, work, and raise a family. Together, we can accomplish great things!

KIM BIRCHFIELD
1) What will you do during your time in office to help attract jobs into the area?
I’m glad this was question No.1 because it is of utmost importance to me. I will work hard with our city staff and other leaders to attract businesses to our town. My motto is JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! And I see the great need to search for good paying jobs from outside our area. We have a beautiful town with abundant natural beauty of lake, rivers, mountains, walking and bike trails to go along with awesome educational options with very talented bands and sports teams for our enjoyment. We just need to capitalize on what we have but not be afraid to reach out to companies to locate here. I have an idea of a company or companies that we can target because of our wonderful water opportunities.
2) What do you feel is the greatest issue that faces Elizabethton at this time and what will you do to address that issue?
Our greatest issue is again jobs, which I mentioned, but also its the drug epidemic that is taking this country over. Prescription drugs have become a major concern for our citizens and facing our law enforcement. The drug use has come into our communities, parks, schools workplaces and our homes!
3) What is your opinion of the Elizabethton Twins and how important is their longevity to the city?
I think the Twins is an important part of our community because it gives our area some recognition on a national level but also provides recreation for our youth and our middle aged and our older generations as well.
I think it’s great that we have the longest running association with an organization in the Appy League but I don’t think that longevity should be the reason we are working to keep the Twins because of the aforementioned reasons I gave you. My stance is: We should do what we can to keep the Twins and the enjoyment and entertainment they bring, as well as the economic gain they bring into the city. However, I do not think we should open the city vaults and empty our pockets to give them more than we could afford to give.
4) What steps will you take to help preserve the historic ideals of the city?
We have several organizations and committees in place that stay on top of historical ideas and importance of our city. I would make myself available to them and lean on them for guidance in this area. The general public normally doesn’t know of the things you can and can’t do in areas deemed as historical districts. We have the most beautiful covered bridge, and green area that surrounds it but we are in dire need to further beautify that area with gardens of various natural beauty that’s in our area. We have a group put together led by my friend and classmate of 1978 EHS, Chris Little, who has put in a lot of time and effort to come up with ideas that will keep the undesirable types, that includes drug use, from our most beautiful area.
5) Where do you see the City of Elizabethton four years from now?
I hope to see the city growing due to the addition of new better paying jobs but also to be able to keep the jobs that we have. In addition to not attracting new business, we have not been able to keep the jobs we have, this means our citizens are forced to either find other local jobs with possibly lower paying jobs or be forced to move their families away.
I hope that by recruiting new jobs that our taxes coming will increase drastically. Also the Elizabethton Board of Education has done an incredible job with our facilities with the half-cent sales tax that our citizens voted in during my time, six year, on the Board of Education. We have increased our numbers and added such programs as a flight simulator which has given our students a huge opportunity to work on getting their pilot’s license while still in high school. In closing, I want the best for our town and citizens and I want to be part of the City Council that is out front leading our community to obtain these things that will continuously make our city better!

JENETT MORGAN
1) What will you do during time in office to help attract jobs into the area?
I would learn more about how the Economic Development Agency, which includes Washington, Carter and Unicoi counties, could benefit Elizabethton in getting jobs.
I would also learn more about TIF, tax increment financing, Districts. This concept could work if the development planning is done correctly to get new jobs in the area and keep them here. I would be willing to work with others to try and find ways to get new jobs in Elizabethton and keep them here for a long period of time.
2) What do you feel is the greatest issue that faces Elizabethton at this time and what will you do to address that issue?
One of the greatest issues is unnecessary spending of the tax payers money. To address the issue on this, I would have meetings with the city officials and come up with a plan to stop some of the unnecessary spending and spend what needs to be. Also before spending money, there needs to be a precise decision made and stick to it. Also I feel the citizens should have a vote on anything where the city wants to spend a large amount of money.
3) What is your opinion of the Elizabethton Twins and how important is their longevity to the city?
I feel that the Elizabethton Twins can be a major importance to the city if they are to stay in Elizabethton. If handled properly, it could bring in more people to Elizabethton, which could help the growth and improvement without raising taxes. It could turn into a much larger attraction over time with the right advertising and planning. We now have a committee which I feel will be able to do the planning as it should be done. We should have had a committee for this that knew what they were doing before now.
4) What steps will you take to help preserve the historic ideals of the city?
I would be willing to meet with anyone about the preservation of the city’s history to see what improvements could be done. I would like to see the city keep its history but also combine the future in with it in a way for the town to grown, but not take away from the historic part. It would take planning and working together to improve and preserve.
5) Where do you see the City of Elizabethton four years from now?
If we don’t get changes in the city government, it is not going to be that much different than it is now.
When I moved back here, I found very little change. It was almost like going back in time, except less to do as for recreation. From past to present, we have lost several businesses which had decent paying jobs and benefits, such as NARC and Bemberg Plants, Alcoa, Great Lakes, Omnisource and Summers–Taylor to name a few and have not replaced any of these with other good paying jobs. I feel if we don’t get some new people in the city government that wants changes made in the correct way, then we are not going anywhere.

JEFF TREADWAY
1) What will you do during your time in office to help attract jobs into the area?
As anyone tracking the state of our national economy knows, we are continuing to recover from the worst economic recession since the Great Depression during which many millions of jobs were lost. That being said, our entire area, and specifically Elizabethton, has been significantly impacted. In order to attract jobs to our city, we need to continue on the path on which we have started, namely, enhanced involvement with Regional economic development organizations, continued commitment to updating our decades old infrastructure (water, sewer, etc.), economic incentives for employers looking to locate here, focusing our recruitment on industries in which most of the higher wage jobs are being created (e.g., information technology, computer engineering, all healthcare occupations, other industries concentrating on knowledge services, etc.). The days of the “smokestack” industries in the U.S. and Elizabethton are gone and we need to focus on those occupations and industries where jobs are being created. A big part of attracting employees is providing a city with an above average “quality of life” for our citizens, including great schools, a wide variety of recreational opportunities, good transportation and access to major highways. An area in which we are very behind is in modern housing availability for middle income families. In addition, we need to continue to try to work with our county, region and state to develop land suitable for industrial and commercial development which we are sorely lacking. Finally, in order to attract the employers of today, we need an educated and trained and employable workforce which encompasses many factors, however, training beyond a high school diploma and emphasis on “soft skills” (e.g., work ethic, timeliness, ability to work with others, etc.) is required.
2) What do you feel is the greatest issue that faces Elizabethton at this time and what will you do to address this issue?
In my opinion, our greatest need at this time is to have a unified “vision” for who we are as a community. Over the last half decade, our community has slowly, but dramatically transformed from a community centered on a heavy industrial base, to one struggling to identify a unifying sense of who we are and where we are trying to go. In other words, are we trying to regain the “glory years” when the plants were operating and many local businesses and families depended on them; or are we wanting to be a commercial community catering to retail and service industries; or are we a community focused on tourism related to natural beauty and history; or are we moving toward being a “bedroom” community for larger regional cities where the large employers are located? We need a frank and well-considered vision for who we are and what we want to become that the majority of our citizens can actively support. Once we have our “vision”, then every proposal for infrastructure, government services, economic development, grant proposals, etc. is considered in light of our vision as to whether it will move us forward toward who we want to be as a community. We need desperately to change the perception of Elizabethton from people thinking of us as “Cowtown” and move to the perception when Elizabethton is mentioned, the idea of “THE Place to Live” comes to mind first. To do this, we must come together and work toward a common “vision” and stop trying to be everything to everyone and focus on the assets we have and developing those that support our “vision”.
3) What is your opinion of the Elizabethton Twins and how important is their longevity to the city?
The Elizabethton Twins have been a valuable recreational asset to Elizabethton for many years and are an important component of Elizabethton’s recreational program. Working and doing everything feasible to maintain the Twins in Elizabethton is something I very much support. That being said, the reality of our present situation is one of essentially “flat” growth in recent years (limiting our revenue) our aging infrastructure and higher priority needs in terms of attracting good employers to our city and economic development. In my opinion, if the citizens of Elizabethton make pursing having the Twins remain in Elizabethton and are willing to pay the cost of the improvements the Twins are demanding, I will have no problem voting for the increased revenue to do the needed work, however, if the community has only the desire to have the Twins remain in Elizabethton and not the willingness to pay the price for this want, in my opinion, we do not now have the revenue to make the demanded improvements without affecting the financial health of Elizabethton, and that I am unwilling to do. As with any good idea floated in the community, I will support it, but only if there is a revenue source to support the endeavor or the overwhelming community support to raise the revenue.
4) What steps will you take to help preserve the historic ideals of the city?
I promise I will do everything feasible to support the historic ideals of our city. However, this cannot be accomplished by any single individual or organization. It takes an overwhelming consensus from the citizens of our community to preserve and publicize the many unique and important aspects of history in our community. I will support working with federal, state and regional organizations in preserving our historical heritage. That being said, having served on the Historic Zoning Commission during my term and through the attempt to expand our Historic District to include all the downtown area, I am somewhat disheartened by the lack of citizen support to preserve our history. Hopefully, our citizens are aware that we were not successful in expanding our downtown Historic District, primarily due to the opposition by property owners in the proposed expanded district, many of whom no longer reside in Elizabethton and by individuals fearing restrictions and requirements for maintaining the external appearance of structures within the district. In other words, your question is very appropriate; however, if people who own historic properties do not support preserving our history, it will be lost and never recovered. As a member of City Council, I have fully supported the efforts by private organizations to purchase, renovate and establish a revitalized community resource in the Bonnie Kate Theatre and I would encourage others interested in participating in this very specific project to preserve a historic building and to offer a valuable community recreational resource to become involved.
5) Where do you see the City of Elizabethton four years from now?
My sincere hope is to see the City of Elizabethton (government and citizens) coalescing around a community “vision” and establishing goals and objectives, assigning specific responsibilities for meeting these goals, and integrating every proposal and decision to ensure it is directed toward enhancing progress toward the “vision” of who we want to be as a community. Specific goals I would like to see us either having accomplished or working toward include: (1) Maintaining our superior public school system, (2) Continuing to invest in infrastructure improvements, (3) Working toward improving our transportation systems, (4) Taking steps to significantly improve the inventory of modern, moderately priced housing options, (5) Continuing to develop and add additional recreational activities and venues enhancing the quality of life of our citizens and prospective citizens, (6) Taking effective steps to increase development within the city in order to increase our tax base to lessen the burden on each taxpayer, (7) Working with governmental partners, developing property to have available for commercial and industrial development, (8) Taking steps to modernize and, provide to the citizens of Elizabethton the highest level of emergency services feasible, and (9) Working with all citizens and groups to change the perception to Elizabethton to “THE Place to Live” . These and others are conditions I would like to see implemented within the next four years