Wissman challenged by Pardue
Arlington Mayor Mike Wissman is facing a challenger this year, Alderman Cheryl Pardue.
The municipal election is set for Sept. 19. Three alderman races and a school board position are also contested.
Wissman was elected mayor of the town of about 11,600 people in 2011 and reelected without opposition in 2015. He is also a full-time driver and EMT with the Memphis Fire Department and was a Shelby County School Board member from 2008-2013.
Pardue has been an alderman in Arlington for two years. Born and raised in Memphis, she moved to Arlington 16 years ago. She spent 14 years in sales and marketing before home-schooling her youngest three children, one of whom has graduated. In May, she completed a masters in Christian studies at
Union University.
If reelected, Wissman said he would continue to focus on the platforms he ran on in 2011: schools, public safety and parks.
He “couldn’t be more proud” of the municipality forming its own school system, he said.
“If I was to walk away right now I would be extremely proud of that job we all did to get that done,” Wissman said. “But as we’re growing as a community and growing around a school system, that does create a desire for people to be in Arlington, so that creates a growth or no growth challenge.”
Future goals for Wissman include breaking ground on the town’s second fire station, creating a more walkable city and continuing work on the West Tennessee State Veteran’s Home, which is awaiting federal funding, he said.
He also said he wants to be a part of the development of a freestanding emergency room, in the works for years but finally about to break ground.
“When you have a young viable community, the growth’s coming, so the challenge is to make it as nice as possible through our design review guidelines and through our planning and the board,” Wissman said. “I think we’re doing a good job of that.”
Pardue also said she’s proud of work done during her time as alderman, including pursuing the second fire station. She’s also proud of the board for starting work on the town’s tennis courts and for her role implementing the officer of the year award for deputies of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
She also said that the election will likely come down to “development and Alderman, position 2 Alderman, position 3 School board, position 2 School board, position 4 the economic health of the town.”
“Growth is good, but we need to be smart about it and need to grow in a way that is going to promote our economic health and well-being moving forward,” she said.
In particular, Pardue said she would like to see the creation of more detailed ordinances giving guidelines to developers and putting more authority in the hands of the town. Now, ordinances “leave the door open for the developer to choose what they want versus what the town wants,” she said.
She also said she would like the town to take its budgeting process “a step deeper” by creating long-term plans.
Katherine Burgess covers county government, religion and the suburbs. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-5292799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.
Larry M. Harmon, Jr. (incumbent) Donald Hinkle Dwight Barker Russell Wiseman Joshua D. Fox Jeff Mckee (incumbent) Lyle Wilson Conley Jill M. Yelland Kay Morgan Williams (incumbent, uncontested)