2018 Election — Hot Springs mayor Brandenburg wants to return focus to health, wellness
Brenda Brandenburg has announced her candidacy for Hot Springs mayor.
“Together we can revitalize our economy, create good jobs and turn (the) Spa City into the health, wellness and longevity capital of America for the benefit of our residents as well as our visitors,” Brandenburg said in her announcement.
“We have every asset needed to accomplish that goal. In fact, we’ve had those assets for many generations, but present and prior leadership have not held the vision nor grasped the importance of moving Hot Springs into the big leagues by merging tourism with wellness and longevity,” she said.
“We don’t need any more consultants telling us what to do to make our city better. It’s just common sense to repackage our assets to revitalize Hot Springs as the place where visitors of all ages and all income levels come to feel better, look better and live longer.”
Brandenburg noted that “We used to ‘bathe the world.’ That’s what tourists used to come for when they wanted to cure what ailed them. Technology is rapidly showing us proven cures and procedures that are on the cutting edge of wellness and longevity. Let’s invite it in. Let’s grow with it. Let’s benefit from it.”
She said, “Hot Springs is more than a race track or casino, more than shopping or fishing, more than even a national park and a colorful history. Hot Springs has a capacity that is big enough to incorporate all our existing assets under its new image which will draw new businesses, create many new high paying jobs and hopefully keep families together instead of young adults leaving to look for greener pastures.”
Brandenburg was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital’s original location on Whittington Avenue and graduated with honors from Hot Springs High in 1981. She received her associate of science degree in nursing from what is now National Park College and has been a practicing registered nurse since then.
She is employed by Healthy Connections Inc., a federally qualified health center that operates care clinics in Hot Springs and surrounding areas. “I have oversight for five of these clinics. For 12 years before that I was employee health nurse for Munro and Company (the shoe factory) where I successfully managed their self-insured health care plan for employees and their families,” she said.
She previously managed a 50-plus person staff and was responsible for a multimillion dollar budget at a long-term care/ rehabilitation facility in Colorado. She returned to Hot Springs because “I wanted my children to grow up here.”
Brandenburg’s youngest child graduated from Hot Springs High as the valedictorian of her class in 2016 and was also a National Merit Finalist. She has a son who recently graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with a degree in physics and her eldest daughter has been with the Social Security Administration for 10 years. She has two granddaughters.
She has been a volunteer at the Charitable Christian Ministries Clinic and the Garland County Health Department, and is an active member of Piney Grove United Methodist Church.
Wally Mueller and Brandenburg are co-owners of the new Majestic Bakery and Cafe on Park Avenue.
“My parents and our extended family settled in Hot Springs in the early 1990s. They owned a dry cleaning business on Central Avenue. My grandfather and his brother, Bill Brandenburg, were both in law enforcement here. Bill was chief of detectives,” she said.
“My father worked for the Garland County Sheriff’s Department. He was also a pilot and co-owner of Spa Flying Service at Hot Springs Memorial Field. He also was responsible for all aerial photos of the Ouachita National Forest, and he made all the photographs featured on the covers of the Hot Springs telephone directory for years. Many of the old postcards you see today were pictures he made. Additionally, he was a musician. He played at the Vapors, the Majestic and other venues during Hot Springs’ glory days.
“All told and above all, my heart belongs to Hot Springs.”