SPENCER — Two well known faces are back on the ballot this year, head to head in the
race for mayor.Jody
Everhart is again challenging incumbent Buddy Gettys for the top seat in town.
Everhart, 40, has worn the hat of
fire chief, alderman and mayor pro tem. He served on the board of alderman for 10 years
and has been involved with the Spencer fire department for 20 years.
Gettys, 63, has been mayor since
1991 and is a retired engineer from Hoechst Celanese.
The “mayor’s job is to
provide leadership in creating policy, formulating the budget and running meetings,”
Gettys said.
“He needs to set the pace and
establish a vision for the town.”
Gettys says he doesn’t see
himself as a politician but as an advocate for the town. “I am not afraid to ask for
the things or fight for the things that will make Spencer a better place in which to
live,” he said.
Gettys points out that
“visionary things might seem unimportant at the time, but they are important to the
future.”
But he also pays attention to
smaller issues, like curbside trash pick-up, which he clearly opposes. “It
doesn’t save that much money and it takes from our beauty.”
Park Plaza, the large under-used
shopping center in the middle of town, is his number one project. Problems like Park Plaza
“seem to hang around and solving them is very frustrating.”
While Park Plaza and the
occasional “slum lord” are concealing some of Spencer’s beauty, Gettys said
the Transportation Museum “is going to be an economic plum for growth in the downtown
area.”
He pointed out that Thomas the
Tank Engine attracted more than 15,000 kids and parents.
“I think this is an
indication of what the weekends will be like in Spencer’s future. We have to get
ready to be a tourist town and deal with all the problems and opportunities that come with
it.”
And last but not least, water is a
problem Gettys wants to continue working on. “A significant change will have to come
from our provider of water, the city of Salisbury.
“Salisbury has increased
water rates about 9 percent every year for 10 years.” But in Salisbury’s
defense, Gettys said the city does not charge double rates like many others do.
“In the next six months,
there will be several options for the board to consider. We have got to find a
solution,” Gettys says.
Everhart shares the concern,
saying water rates are a more serious problem because the cost “hits not just once a
year, but it comes every month.”
Everhart said the town should
“upgrade some of the older water lines and tie-in the dead end lines to make a loop.
“This will increase water
pressure for the residents and decrease the amount of stagnant water in the town.”
Everhart also said the town
currently has an “above ground storage tank that we are paying for and it is not in
use. I would like to see this tank used for the purpose for which it was intended.”
Everhart’s experience with
the fire department provides him with insight to the department’s problems. During
Everhart’s terms as alderman, “eight of those years we discussed building a new
fire department.
“The current building is old
and the firefighters have outgrown it, but more importantly, it creates hazards to the
firemen’s safety.”
For example, Everhart says,
“the turnout gear has to be stored in the bays where the trucks are parked. When an
emergency occurs, the firemen have to put on their gear while breathing carbon monoxide
from the engines. This violates (federal safety) standards.”
Despite the issues citizens have
brought up and the board of alderman have posed to the mayor, Spencer’s biggest
decision now is filling the seven seats with people willing to serve the town.
Each candidate and especially the
candidates for mayor, encourage every citizen in Spencer to vote. Remember, they say, two
years ago only six votes made the difference. |
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