The Current
NOVEMBER 2013 • 9
Millwood mayor hopefuls speak to packed house Freeman and Hamlin share different perspectives of city By Josh Johnson
CURRENT STAFF WRITER
Every chair was accounted for — and a few people stood in the back — at a Millwood mayoral candidate forum held Oct. 15 in the Millwood City Hall Council Chambers. The crowd of 50-plus came out to hear City Council Member Kevin Freeman and resident Dennis Hamlin, the two candidates vying to replace Dan Mork as mayor. Mork is resigning after eight years as the city’s leader and more than 30 as an elected official serving Millwood. From opening statements, the two men differentiated themselves along the lines of how they would view their role as mayor and how they view the city’s recent progress. For Freeman, who has served on the Council for eight years and spent six years as a member of the Millwood Planning Commission, a desire to “continue the progress made” in the past eight years is part of his mantle.
“I’ve taken an active role in helping improve the city’s finances, policies and infrastructure with the goal that Millwood is able to remain an independent city,” he said, listing off accomplishments including becoming a code city, addressing public safety issues and making “significant progress” in balancing finances. Hamlin said that, on the contrary, as he has walked to 730 homes while campaigning he has learned “there are a lot of things that need to be addressed.” “I see where I can make a big change to Millwood, helping Millwood, benefitting Millwood, putting money back into the general fund instead of spending it on general contractors,” Hamlin said. “With my experience in owning corporations, partnerships, sole proprietor, I believe I would be a benefit to the city.” When it comes to serving as mayor, Hamlin intends to turn it into a full-time position, saying he will have a cell phone on his side and be available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. “I’m going to run as a different style of mayor,” Hamlin said. “It will be something new for the city of Millwood. I would be a full-time mayor, not a part-time mayor
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or a namesake mayor. I will be heavily involved in the different meetings and working with the businesses and corporations to develop their strengths.” Freeman said he would hold regular office hours, would be available by cell phone and believes he can be as available and responsive as the city needs him to be while he continues to work a full-time job. “Will I be sitting there from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.? No,” he said. “Will I be accessible? Absolutely.” He also praised the city’s staff. “We have folks who are more than capable of doing their work and doing it well,” Freeman said. Hamlin said the city could save money by purchasing equipment and doing work in-house as opposed to using outside contractors for tasks such as street sweeping or striping roadways. He also said the city should explore ideas such as holding court once a month in town and working with the Sheriff ’s Office to bring in a law enforcement officer — perhaps one that is retired or that the city could get at a reduced cost to focus specifically on writing speeding tickets. “That officer would pay for himself in
his own tickets — and probably show a profit in the first year,” Hamlin said. “Everyone who lives around here knows how it works.” Freeman said the idea of adding a law enforcement presence specifically assigned to Millwood is something the city has studied. “We’ve looked at ticketing officers, we’ve looked at these practices, and those issues of having a ticketing officer devoted to your city are a difficult proposition,” he said. “You end up paying for that officer. If you want a full-time officer, you pay a full-time wage.” Both candidates were asked about where they believed they could find waste in city spending, and Hamlin reiterated his point about work done by outside contractors that could be accomplished in house. Freeman had a more difficult time pinpointing waste, though he acknowledged a recent retirement may have “right-sized staff a bit.” “We run a very lean ship here,” he said. “We endeavor to make sure the money we get in is not wasted. I cannot think of something that we have recently quoteunquote wasted money on.”