Ward 3 Candidate Tennessean Responses

The Spring Hill and Thompson's Station Journal
Ward 3 Candidate Responses

Sharon Cantrell
Tommy Duncan
Rick Graham
Tim Holm
Tamra Mezera

Published: March 14, 2007
By: Sue McClure, Staff Writer

Ward 3 is the city's most hotly contested ward, with five candidates vying to represent it on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

The ward includes the city's "old downtown" area and more established neighborhoods, extending up to Buckner Road and down to Depot Street.

Here are the contenders:

SHARRON CANTRELL

A short bio:
Sharron Cantrell, 59, and her husband have four children. They have lived in Spring Hill for 12 years. Cantrell is a teacher at Whitthorne Middle School. She has served on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for six years.

What makes you the best candidate for alderman?
I think experience does help. I have been an alderman for six years and I know the ins and outs of the process of how government works. I have always tried to represent the citizens and vote the way they want me to vote. In fact, several times I've voted in a way I would not have voted myself, but my constituents wanted me to vote that way. Ward boundaries have never been an issue for me.

What would you focus on?
Three areas. First, to make sure we are representing citizens as a part of our government. The citizens elect us to represent them, and we need to make sure their opinions are getting heard. Second, fiscal responsibility. I am one of the few who voted against the 800 percent raise for aldermen. I want us to look closely at what our budget has in it and be fiscally responsible. The reason many people moved here is because of the zero property-tax rate; older people on a fixed income and young families just starting out. So we need to make sure we are being responsible with our budget. Finally, managed growth. I voted against the GBT (development) on Duplex Road because of the high density and I received calls from residents saying it was too much for that dangerous road. I also want to continue to lobby our legislators to get our roads fixed.

TDOT says it will be at least 10 years before road improvements are made to Main Street. Would you be willing to use city money to try to speed up projects?
I would look at it. A lot of people don't realize how expensive road repairs are. Hopefully it will be less than 10 years before that road is widened. I'm always open to new ideas, but we also need to look at how much money we have and be fiscally responsible with that money.

What can Spring Hill do to encourage smart growth? Are you in favor of a moratorium?
We have a five-year plan that people are working on and we need to look at that plan and decide where we want that growth to go. There have to be certain areas where certain things aren't built. For instance, young families don't want to look out their backyard and see commercial building going up right there. But, we have a very active Planning Commission that looks at those zoning matters to make sure that development is appropriate to the area. I'm reluctant to say "moratorium," because you stand to lose some of the growth you do want. We have some people who want things to come into Spring Hill, like Target and Lowe's and others, so they don't have to go to Columbia or Franklin. But our growth has to be a kind of balancing act, using the five-year plan and long-range planning as a guide. I also think we should have a needs assessment of what the city needs and incorporate those items into our plan.

How can Spring Hill recruit businesses and keep qualified employees, particularly police and firefighters?
We formed an Economic Development Commission to actively recruit businesses to our city. Our water and electric usage shows that we are a bedroom community and that our residents go elsewhere to work. It would be nice to have people staying in Spring Hill to work. Our mayor also does work with recruiting; I know people approach him about locating in Spring Hill. As for keeping qualified employees, we have to pay those employees a salary comparable to other cities in our area. I have always voted for a cost-of-living raise for city employees. We have the most top-notch employees in the state, even in the nation, and to keep them here we have to make sure their salaries are comparable to others. If word goes out that Spring Hill is a good city to work for, which it is, we will attract and keep our good employees.

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TOMMY DUNCAN

A short bio:
Tommy Duncan, 43, is vice president for operations and technology for Quality Mortgage Services LLC in Franklin. He and his wife and two children have lived in Spring Hill since 1999. He serves on the board of zoning appeals for the city of Spring Hill and did serve on the city's Economic Development Commission.

What makes you the best candidate for alderman?
I understand a lot of the needs the city has. And in order to provide for its needs, the city must capture its revenue. Spring Hill is currently a bedroom community, where people leave the city to work, go to ballgames and attend entertainment events. Because of that, Spring Hill is losing thousands of dollars. I see Spring Hill not being like that; I want people to stay in Spring Hill to work and shop, and I see other people coming to Spring Hill to shop and eat. So my platform is, let's keep our citizens in Spring Hill and not have to raise property taxes because we can live on the money we raise here. I have a great deal of experience in leadership skills. I've never been an elected official, so I hope to round out that part of my leadership skills.

What would you focus on?
Bringing jobs to Spring Hill that represent the demographics of the people who live here — publishing companies, architectural jobs, the types of jobs that citizens already have. An estimated 10,000 people leave Spring Hill every day to go to work. I personally spend $6.60 every day on a Subway sandwich. What impact would that have on the city if half the population stayed in Spring Hill? That's what I hope to do.

TDOT says it will be at least 10 years before road improvements are made to Main Street. Would you be willing to use city money to speed up projects?
Yes. However, I'm not for spending money we don't have. So we'd have to look at this in regard to our other initiatives, like bringing parks and other recreational facilities into Spring Hill. We need to also look at our master land-use plan and develop a grid system to divert traffic off the main arteries. That would be a partial solution.

What can Spring Hill do to encourage smart growth? Are you in favor of a moratorium?
We are not the Spring Hill that we were six or eight years ago. I am for smart growth. We definitely have the people and the tax base. Now let's look at things that give citizens items of convenience, like a Target center and a movie theater. I'm also for an incentive program for builders to encourage wise planning — like encouraging them to give land for schools in exchange for higher density. That's a win-win situation for both. We are not desperate, so we can now be picky, or selective, about what we get. We don't need a moratorium on building, but we need to try to build around the road network the city has in place.

How can Spring Hill recruit businesses and keep qualified employees, particularly police and firefighters?
When Spring Hill started building homes, people came to Spring Hill to look for homes. If we build facilities and make them available to the public, they will come for those. For instance, I was talking to a software company that couldn't find the square footage in Spring Hill. If you build it, they'll find it and come. As for the city, as a business owner, I know there are training mechanisms out there for all types of jobs. We need to interview and screen employees to make sure they are of the highest caliber and then use training to better the quality of employees. I am for seminars and management training. There are all sorts of training programs available.

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RICK GRAHAM

A short bio:
Rick Graham, 50, and his wife and two sons have lived in Spring Hill for four years. The general manager of dining services for Lipscomb University in Nashville, Graham serves on the Campbell Station Homeowners Advisory Committee. His roots run deep into Maury County, where he was married and worked at Maury Regional Hospital.

What makes you the best candidate for alderman?
My 26 years of business experience, including budgets and project management. I've been involved in strategic planning, so I'm very much into five-, 10- and 25-year plans. I believe in building relationships, I'm a team player and can be both a leader and a follower. Also, my time schedule will allow for this, since I get off at 2 or 3 p.m. I am honest, have common sense and I'm working toward consensus building in Spring Hill.

What would you focus on?
My whole campaign is more a mission than a race. I want to unite the board. Of course, the roads issue is the biggest issue for our city and we need to work with the state on the state roads, but also work with the city on the city roads. I want to manage taxpayer dollars well, and I will never vote on anything we don't have cost estimates on. Also, I'm looking for more citizen feedback. I think the board needs to allow citizens to discuss issues as they come up before the board.

TDOT says it will be at least 10 years before road improvements are made to Main Street. Would you be willing to use city money to speed up projects?
Only if approved by the taxpayer bill of rights, which I'm huge on, so only by referendum. Regarding Main Street, we can only do the Spring Hill portion, so what will happen at Thompson's Station? Will it just drop off? We need to be creative and keep working with TDOT but also make some hard decisions, based on cost estimates, about our city roads. We've got to do it right once; we don't need to put down sewer or water pipes knowing we'll have to eventually move them. We need to have a plan and work our plan.

What can Spring Hill do to encourage smart growth? Are you in favor of a moratorium?
Definitely not on building. We need to manage our growth wisely, but if we're not growing, we're dying. We can't have the philosophy of "closing the door behind us." But we do need to be wise about the density of future developments. I think we should be pushing more developments west and I also like the idea of an industrial park and a business park.

How can Spring Hill recruit businesses and keep qualified employees, particularly police and firefighters?
We need to use the Economic Development Commission to go out and entice and recruit businesses. And the city needs to help and do as much as we can for the existing businesses, working with the chambers of commerce to sponsor more "Shop Spring Hill First" events. If we bring in businesses that will keep people here in Spring Hill rather than going to Cool Springs — like Applebee's and Jeffrey's Grille — we will benefit those businesses and the city. The fact that we have no property tax is a big enticement. Regarding city employees, I'm really concerned that we aren't paying our city employees enough, that they are below what our neighboring cities pay. I'd like to see a pay study of those cities comparable to Spring Hill, like Franklin and Brentwood, and I don't think our city employees should be paid less than the employees in those cities when we're about to pass them in population. I'd also like to address their concerns and see that they get the proper tools to do their jobs. I can't say enough about how great our police and firefighters are, so I want to make sure their pay scale is in keeping with comparable cities.

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TIM HOLM

A short bio:
Tim Holm, 21, and his wife have lived in Spring Hill for nine years. He is a corporal deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff's Department and has served for four years with the Tennessee National Guard. A member of the Republican Party, he graduated from Page High School in 2004 and was active in Junior ROTC. He also heads up an explorer program at the Sheriff's Department.

What makes you the best candidate for alderman?
I have lived in the city for nine years and I've seen the changes, the mishaps and beneficiary stuff that Spring Hill has gone through. It's gotten too big for its shoes, so we need to take a more proactive approach when it comes to the growth of the city. I want to work to maintain the small-town feel of Spring Hill.

What would you focus on?
Putting government back in the hands of the citizens. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen has the ultimate power, but they are forgetting the citizens. I want to see us start some independent boards, like a beautification board, that could focus on revitalizing the overall appearance of the city. I also want to focus on disciplined growth in Spring Hill. Not necessarily stop development, just slow it down so we can build a solid infrastructure and roads to support the growth.

TDOT says it will be at least 10 years before road improvements are made to Main Street. Would you be willing to use city money to try to speed up this project and others?
Definitely. I want to allocate excess city funds to divert traffic off the main roads and do much more than just talking to TDOT. We need growth management. And if we need more money to pay for that, we should research raising impact fees and licensing fees for projects. If development wants to come into the city, they won't mind paying those fees because there's no property tax. I will vote against reinstating the property tax because it's not needed.

What can Spring Hill do to encourage smart growth? Are you in favor of a moratorium?
To encourage smart growth we need to revisit our master land-use plan and clearly designate certain areas for certain types of growth. We also need to come up with a "wants and needs" list. We don't need strip mall after strip mall after strip mall. If we have that, we'll have business spots that aren't filled. I think we should put an annual cap on commercial and residential building projects. We could allow 2,000 houses to be built a year and then that's the limit. At the same time, we should be building new access roads to ease the traffic problems.

How can Spring Hill recruit businesses that would provide good-paying jobs for Spring Hill residents? And how can the city recruit and keep qualified employees, particularly police and firefighters?
I'm in favor of bringing in businesses that would generate the most revenue and bring good-paying jobs to residents. I believe in small-city values and want to maintain the small-city feel of Spring Hill. As a public service officer, I see the need to work with the police chief and fire chief to improve their departments and will seek more operational funding. I will research the need for a public service office to house both the police and fire departments. I will work to create a plan for retaining proficient firefighters and police.

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TAMRA MEZERA

A short bio:
Tamra Mezera, 39, and her husband have nine children. They have lived in Spring Hill for five years. Mezera worked at a Salvation Army camp for inner-city children for 10 years before moving to Tennessee from California. She describes herself as "very politically active."

What makes you the best candidate for alderman?
A lot of people move to Spring Hill thinking this is a starting point; you make money and then move to Franklin. I don't want that. I think if we plan better and deal with the traffic, Spring Hill won't be a consolation prize for Franklin. Like the schools — we've got very good schools. We have a low crime rate. I think I can help make it happen. I talk to a lot of parents and I understand their concerns and I want to help address them. As a parent of a lot of children, I know how to listen and how to hear what people want.

What would you focus on?
First, we need to catch up on our infrastructure. Right now we have 2,000 building permits approved. Either we need to slow down and catch up or come up with innovative ways to address our roadways. I'm losing quality of life because my husband is sitting in traffic and not home with his family. I want us to be the best-planned city in America, not necessarily the fastest-growing city in America. We can have a beautiful well-planned city where people want to live. Also, I'm all about preserving land and parks. We need fields for sports so our children don't have to go to Franklin to play ball. We need sidewalks. I'm driving my 14-year-old over to a friend's house, when she could walk or ride her bicycle over there if we had sidewalks.

TDOT says it will be at least 10 years before road improvements are made to Main Street. Would you be willing to use city money to try to speed up this project and others?
Yeah, I would. We need to continue to work with our lawmakers, but the state also needs to update its open-container law and get those funds back. Gov. Bredesen needs to get back the road money that was taken out of the budget for other uses. It wouldn't take 10 years to fix Main Street if we did those things. And again, we need to keep working with our state legislators and the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) to get things done.

What can Spring Hill do to encourage smart growth? Are you in favor of a moratorium?
I'm not for a moratorium, but I am for a slowdown. We don't need to kill growth, but we need to be more thoughtful about it. Every single new project needs to be studied to see what the impact will be. I'm kind of tired of strip malls — that's one of the places where we need to say, "How many more?" Many of them are sitting empty. I'm all for the Target center and not giving them incentives. They get plenty of tax breaks by coming to Tennessee. I don't want to see Spring Hill give tax breaks to businesses. It's a privilege for businesses to come to Spring Hill, so they need to pay to be here. I would like to see more of the big-box stores. They keep residents here, spending their money here. I represent a demographic of people who stay in the city and spend their money here.

How can Spring Hill recruit businesses that would provide good-paying jobs for Spring Hill residents? And how can the city recruit and keep qualified employees, particularly police and firefighters?
(In Franklin) Mayor Miller was very proactive about going to Nissan and lobbying them to come here. We should do the same thing. Why can't Spring Hill have a Hewlett-Packard or an eBay locating here instead of California, where they're paying outrageous taxes? And as for the city, we need to go after good workers the same way schools recruit coaches. If we know of a good fire chief or police chief in another city, go after them. Or hire a headhunting firm, if necessary. We also need to do whatever it takes to make the city's work environment pleasant and productive.

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