The mayoral race in Bryant pits incumbent Jill Dabbs against two city councilmen.
Dabbs, 42, has held the position for one four-year term. Randy Cox, 55, is the city's retired fire chief and has been a council member since January 2013. The third candidate, Adrian Henley, 36, is devoting his time to his campaign and has served as an alderman since 2009. The position pays $68,868.80 a year.
The election comes at a time when the city's revenue is coming in lower than projected while the city's population continues to grow. Bryant grew by nearly 7,000 between 2000 and 2010 to 16,688, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Each candidate pledges to be conservative with the city's budget. During several workshops in January, the council budgeted a 3 percent increase in 2014 revenue over last year. But it's coming in 3 or 4 percent lower than expected.
"Based on first quarter revenue reports I knew we would not hit that projection," Dabbs said in an email, referring to the increase. "The department heads were directed earlier this year to operate as close to 5% below their approved budget as possible in order to hit a balanced budget despite a shortfall in revenue projections. I am confident we will be very close to meeting this goal at the end of the year."
Under her leadership, Dabbs said the city would continue to operate with a "lean budget" to ensure it can meet its obligations to Bryant residents.
Cox, who worked for Wells Fargo for about two decades, said he would put together a business plan to reduce operating costs in each department with the goal of increasing employees' salaries, he said, though he would not provide details of the plan.
He has proposed a line-item budget review, where each expense is clearly listed. If department heads ask for additional expenditures, they would have to create a project sheet, detailing what they need, what the cost factors are and what the benefit to the city is.
For Henley, keeping a certified public accountant in the Finance Department is a priority. If elected, he said he will work with the accountant to ensure the city is on track on expenditures and revenue.
He voted against the 2014 budget earlier this year, saying it had a deficit, and proposed two alternate budgets that left the city in a surplus. In the budgets, Henley would have cut line items, including travel and training, which he said have increased under Dabbs' administration.
"There are a lot of areas in which money could be trimmed and we could actually get more things done if we utilize our personnel properly," he said. "We just have to pace ourself and make a long-term plan."
Dabbs' challengers have pointed to $186,000 in city funds that they say is unaccounted for and that the city overspent by $1.2 million in 2013.
Her administration found and reported the $186,000 accounting error that Dabbs said dated on or before 2011. If malfeasance or theft were suspected, the prosecuting attorney and legislative auditors would have made a move when the city initially reported it, Dabbs said.
"My opponents continue to cry wolf on the state of the city's finances," she added. "During 2013, about $1.3 million in reserves was allocated by the city council via the budget for worthy projects that benefited our city," including new streets, new city software and the Mills Park pool renovation.
The other candidates have also faced some heat.
Cox is facing two ethics complaints filed by Bryant resident Barbara Champagne. The complaints filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission allege Cox, while providing lunch to city employees, included campaign materials in a restricted area, and that the alderman did not recuse himself from a vote affecting the Boys and Girls Club, even though he served on the group's board.
The materials Cox left with the lunches were notes that read: "Please enjoy this meal prepared by my family and I, as a way to show our appreciation for all of your hard work and dedication you provide to our city throughout the year. Win, Lose or Draw. We wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you!" The notes are topped with "Check the Box for Randy Cox. Randy Cox for Mayor of Bryant," according to the complaint.
A Fire Department secretary emailed that department, along with the Police Department and dispatchers, letting them know Cox would provide food for them for three days in October, according to an email attached to the complaint that bore Police Chief Mark Kizer's city email address. Kizer said he did not forward Champagne the email, though he did forward the email to someone else.
"I don't have any hard feelings against Randy," Kizer said. "I just thought it was kind of odd that a campaign person would be bringing dinner or lunch during election time. I just thought it was tasteless."
Cox has acknowledged he brought the employees food but denies entering a restricted area in a fire station. He has also denied leaving fliers, handouts, mailers or brochures with the food.
Cox, who served as board president of the Boys and Girls Club in 2013, had voting power on how the city allocated money to the group, according to the complaint.
Before running for City Council, Cox said he talked to the Ethics Commission and the National Boys and Girls Club's legal team and both said there was not a conflict of interest. He added he did not remember any specific discussion about the club's line item in the budget when he voted for the overall budget.
The club's current board president, Scott Dews, has said in a news release that the city has allocated about $35,000 annually to the club since 2006.
"The city unanimously approved the request back then and the City Council has voted unanimously to extend the agreement every year since," Dews said.
For Henley, some residents have questioned his ability to shape the city's budget, pointing to a public default judgment showing he owed a credit card company more than $6,400.
"Well, that's one of those instances where whenever I lost my job and got divorced, things just happened," Henley said in an interview. "It's something I'm trying to work out. I'm working with them to try to work out a deal. It just takes time."
Henley said he has been conservative with the city's budget in his years on the council.
"I think that they can look at my past voting record and see that I've been good with the citizens' money," he said.
Dabbs has been married to Allan M. Dabbs for 24 years and has two daughters. She earned a degree in speech communications, along with a minor in biology.
Dabbs initially ran for mayor after she said she felt the local government was "disconnected" with the goings-on in the city. During her tenure, Dabbs said she has accomplished all that she promised in her inaugural campaign, including improving public safety departments, building new roads and increasing park programming.
"We must continue to work on improving street connectivity in order to keep our safety and quality of life at the standard we have come to expect while our community continues to expand," she said, adding that she will bring to the city "proven positive leadership." "It is also important that we take on a more regional mindset when it comes to growth and long-term visions and plans for our future."
Cox, who has been married to Terri Cox for 34 years, has three children. Cox has a high school diploma and has taken several college courses with an emphasis in emergency management and business.
As the former fire chief, Cox helped to reduce the city's insurance rating, lowering homeowners' insurance. He moved the department from a volunteer one to a full-time one. As an alderman, Cox said he saw "the mismanagement" of the city and its employees firsthand and he felt as though he could fix it.
A father of four, Henley is married to Amy Henley and has a bachelor's degree in political science, along with minors in biology and business and human resources management.
As alderman, Henley said he enjoyed getting to help the community, but he wanted to take that to the next level.
Metro on 10/30/2014