Support manager making City Council run

FAYETTEVILLE — A support manager with experience in customer service wants to preserve what residents love about the city by serving on the City Council.

Raymond Burks, 34, is running to represent Ward 2, which includes the Dickson Street entertainment area and downtown square. Other notable landmarks include Wilson Park, the historic Washington-Willow neighborhood, Lewis Park, Woodland Junior High and the University of Arkansas campus east of Garland Avenue.

Mark Kinion, who has served on the council since 2010, holds the seat and is seeking re-election.

Burks has lived in the city for more than 15 years. Originally of southwest Arkansas, Burks graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Arkansas in 2009. His focus was in creative writing, and he produced a serial drama, Bring Down the Moon, with Fayetteville Public Television in 2007.

He also served as a trial writer for the CBS daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful.

Burks worked as a front desk associate at The Inn at Carnall Hall from 2008 to 2012. He worked in the Student Accounts Division at the university’s Treasurer’s Office for two years.

Burks has been a support manager for the Walmart on Campus since 2015.

Voters will get one of their own on the council if they elect Burks, he said. Burks walks everywhere, spends his money locally when he can and is all about experiencing everything the city has to offer, he said.

“I want to be that bridge between City Council and everybody else, between the city and everybody who’s concerned about the direction this town is taking,” he said. “I share a lot of those same concerns.”

Burks said out-of-scale development is pushing longtime residents out of established neighborhoods, reducing affordable housing.

New construction should mesh with its environment and approval should be based on what’s best for the entire city, Burks said.

“I’m not anti-development; I just think that we need to think about a lot of things before we approve of some of these structures,” Burks said.

Burks also said he would like to focus on better connecting the city’s sidewalks and improving safety in the downtown entertainment area.

Council members earn $12,504 annually and have four-year terms.

The election, which is nonpartisan, is Nov. 6.

Burks