Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
City Council candidates outline views
PEA RIDGE — Two men are on the ballot for the Ward 1, Position 1 seat being vacated by Ray Easley who did not seek re-election.
Both express a desire to serve the city and its residents.
The candidates are Jesse Fryer and Merrill White.
Each have Facebook pages: “Jesse Fryer for Pea Ridge City Council Ward 1” and “Merrill White for Pea Ridge.”
Fryer, 30, is a native of Branson, Mo. He and his wife, Dawn, have two daughters and have lived in Pea Ridge for six years. Fryer said he moved to Pea Ridge because of his job and because he wanted to live in a small town.
He’s a state employee and is a member of the Arkansas National Guard. He serves on the board of directors of GY6ix as military liaison and director of marketing and business outreach.
White, 49, is a native of Rogers. He and his wife, Darcy, have two daughters, Dallice, a junior at Pea Ridge High School, and Brooke, a seventh-grader at Pea Ridge Junior High. They have lived in Pea Ridge for more than 20 years.
White, property manager/ field operations for Walton Enterprises, has been with Walton Enterprises for 19 years. White joined the Army in 1993, served four years active duty, 19 months in combat and the remainder of his 23 years of service with the Arkansas Army National Guard. He attained the rank of first sergeant by the time he retired.
QUESTION: Why did you decide to run for City Council?
Fryer: I decided to run because I had a feeling Ray was going to not seek reelection and I also wanted to run. I believe well-rounded views from parties are beneficial — different people with different ideas.
White: The reason I decided to run for City Council in Pea Ridge is that I’m a native born Arkansas and I’ve lived in Pea Ridge for over two decades and watched all entities evolve over the years. Due to my schedule in life, I’m now better prepared to be able to serve the citizens of Pea Ridge.
QUESTION: What makes you the best candidate for the position?
Fryer: I believe my experience as far as what I’ve don’t in my life up to this point as a manager, living and working in Branson with attractions, bringing people to town, helps. I’ve been successful in my professional career. I have drive and motivation. I am self-motivated to go out and do a little extra whenever I need to. I think those qualities make a good leader.
White: I feel what makes me the best candidate is that I’m rooted in northwest Arkansas. We’ve lived here my entire life other than outside deployments overseas. I can identify with local patrons, whether farmers, plumbers, electricians, even former military, so that I can listen and react to the needs of the citizens of Pea Ridge.
QUESTION: What direction do you see the city growing?
Fryer: Currently, I see the city as a bedroom community, highly residential. There’s a lot of residential building going on. If we want to build income for city, we have to turn the tide and become a community that also has business in it, builds income.
I think we definitely have the market for fast food, being realistic, easily market ourselves for. We have the real estate right off the main road, coming home from or going to work, if we take some of those places, and build more retail space, such as just built similar to front of Summit Meadows, maybe push some to give more of a feel of a restaurant, more small business restaurants. I think that’s what we should look to attract. We need to develop a small town business community that we support. Currently I think we support our small businesses well. As we grow, continue to support those people.
White: I see the city growing to a large number of citizens within the next five years and I feel that if voted on the city council I can help with that growth due to that background I’ve held working with the citizens and the city officials of Bentonville for almost 20 years.
We’ll probably not get to see industries, but definitely see businesses come here. We’re more like bedroom communities of Rogers and Bentonville. It would be nice to have decent restaurants and really nice parks for kids and their parents.
QUESTION: Do you believe in long-range planning?
Fryer: Yes, you have to or we’re never going to forecast our future to be debt free as a city.
White: Yes.
QUESTION: Can you help guide the decisions by seeking information prior to the meeting and asking to have the information available to help make that decision at the meetings?
Fryer: I have the time and I definitely have the desire. I’ve dug through the 2018 and 2019 budgets on my own time to see where I think we’re spending too much or too little. I’ve taken my own time to review city ordinances.
White: Definitely. And, I would utilize resources from nearby cities to educate myself as to what retail space should look like versus residential space.