Ideas about candidates for Fayetteville Council

Our current Fayetteville aldermen hail from the following backgrounds: a design school founder with a degree in microbiology; an apparel designer with a professional degree in architecture; a former pharmaceutical rep now working as mortgage loan officer; a developer who writes grants; a Realtor; another Realtor who also teaches at the U of A; and an accomplished scientist with expertise in water quality who owns rental property.

The eighth person sitting on the council is a science teacher who was not elected, but appointed. The deciding vote for the appointment was cast by Mayor Lioneld Jordan. My Freedom of Information Act requests regarding this travesty of democracy resulted in a 45-page binder titled, “The Non-Election of the Ward 4 Alderman to Replace Alan Long”.

Four positions will be open in 2020, although campaign season has already begun for those interested in re-election. If all four aldermen up for re-election in 2020 were replaced, we would still have art, science and real estate represented. I’d like to see candidates who are not beholden to any corporation, developer or creditor. Retired persons would make great council members since that crowd is currently under-represented.

Hopefully in 2021, the only persons sitting on Fayetteville City Council will be those who were elected by their constituents. More well-rounded representation could include accomplished attorneys and accountants who make their pet projects accountability and transparency.

In January 2021, I’d like to see the City Council pass a strong employee whistle blower protection law and a recycling transparency law. Hopefully our 2021 City Council will be made up of aldermen who have the time to study issues deeply, and the courage to persist in getting straight answers to questions asked by themselves as well as voters. LOUISE MANN Fayetteville