WATCH - Mountain View Board of Aldermen Candidate Debate
Wed, 03/26/2025 - 1:19pm
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(51-minute watch)
(51-minute watch)
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The City of Mountain View will vote for an alderman during the Tuesday, April 8 election. In preparation for the election, the Howell County News held a candidate debate recently where voters could submit questions and hear from the candidates. Three candidates, Barbara 'Gail' Wallander, Brigg Pierson and Jennifer McAdams were in attendance. Wallander is running uncontested for the West Ward Alderman position while Pierson and McAdams are vying for the seat of East Ward Alderman.
Wallander introduced herself as having lived in the area for 25 years with 12 of those as a community member. "I have seen how things have changed over the last few years and how much needs to be done to our community to get it right," Wallander began. "I can't gripe about something and not do anything about it so that's why I chose to be part of the city council." Wallander went on to say that she plans to work with the current council the best that she can.
McAdams introduced herself by stating that she has lived in the community with her husband Ernie for 20 years with her children graduating from the Mountain View School District, remaining as residents. She also has grandchildren in the area. "I made the decision to run due to the concerns with the leadership and direction our town is heading. We cannot continue letting this occur and if we don't get it corrected now, it may be irreversible."
Brigg Pierson introduced himself as being a part of the community for the last 10 years. He served as a law enforcement officer, and is currently a reserve as a non-police officer and volunteers for the fire department. "I've watched the city I've seen a lack of government, or at least a lack of responsibility in the government and transparency hiding behind vague RSMos. I can't complain if I'm not willing to step in and help solve the problems."
As the introductions ended and switched towards the debate portion
Will you commit to working with the current city government? If so, how do you plan to do that?
Pierson
"I do plan to working with them as a team. That is the only way we're going to get that done. Hopefully, with all of our minds together, we can find common ground to assess and fix the problems that are currently going on in this town, whether it be the transparency or actual issues with roads, sewers, anything that hasn't."
McAdams
"I do think that there is a lot of doubt in the city. I do think that our city has declined quite a bit in the last several years. I'm not going to pin no blame on anybody, but it takes all of us to do this together. I think there needs to be more transparency with the public. I do think the public should have a voice in everything because it is their town just as much as it is the next person. And I am hoping that I can get with the rest of the alderman and the mayor and anyone and see if we can get together and get this all seen about, take care of, and done. Our city has so much potential, and I have, again, I have four grandchildren. I do not want my grandchildren to move away. I want them to call this home, just like I have for 20 years. And if we don't do something now, we won't have that opportunity that is your taxes. Okay. I'm going to take this opportunity to remind everyone sitting here today that we're going to take questions continuously throughout the event."
What part should social media play in city government?
McAdams
"I feel like it should play a lot, but then again, it shouldn't because that's where things get misunderstood. Everybody starts in and they're doubting everybody making accusations and I think it needs to be where the public can speak one on one at the meetings and communicate with each other without hiding behind phones or instruments and stuff like that. I think we need to do more publicly one on one than we do behind doors."
Pierson
"I know, especially in today's age, that social media should play a large role. It can definitely help with transparency. It gets the word out that hey, we have meetings or this is what's going on. But at the same time, like she said at the meetings, we should be able to just speak clearly and concisely one on one to help get things done correctly."
Do you keep up to date on issues within the city?
What are the top three issues you think Mountain View faces and how will you address those issues?
Pierson
"I can keep up. The three biggest concerns that I have seen most recently has been the hike in sewage, the sewage bills, utilities, all that. Transparency has been the biggest one for numerous years and the next one comes down, I say between the roads or the turnover the city is having. I can't speak to how to fix the employment that is beyond my understanding right now. As for the sewer and the streets, I hope to find information that we can give to the public as to why these hikes occur and why the streets are still as rough as they after so many years."
McAdams
"I do think our town economically is in a decline. I believe if we do not get some new businesses and revenue in this town we're facing a bad direction. I do believe that there could be a lot more improvement. I'm not very happy with how the street conditions are and how some things are being handled, but I plan on getting right in on it the best I can to figure it out and see what we can do to make a solution for it. I am a little upset about the utilities. That is something that our residents here, a majority of our residents are of senior age, and I'm one of them. But they cannot afford this. And there's got to be a better solution than raising utilities. They just cannot deal with this. There's got to be somewhere where everybody can get together, meet in the middle, and let's figure this out because this is not heading in a good direction. And like I continue saying, I want to see Mountain View have a future. If we do not have a future with this town, it is going to end up like a lot of our small towns that has nothing left."
How do you think the management and operations of the golf course should be handled?
McAdams
"Well, I think it should be managed properly, correctly. I do believe that our golf course does have potential, a lot of potential. It is a historical place in this town. This is one of our main infrastructures that has been built for many, many years. It honors a lot of people through the years, and I think given the right potential, I think it can be managed correctly if done properly."
Pierson
"The golf course is a big topic. I've heard a lot of people say one way or the other on whether the city needs it or not. I do know that it has been here for a very long time and there are several citizens who do enjoy it. I feel like since I've been here, it's members have been fine and I don't know what it's doing for the city financially one way or the other, as I've not been privy to budgets and spreadsheets. But given the right leadership and maybe some advertisement, hopefully it will thrive and return to its glory.
Should Mountain View seek to hire a city administrator.
Pierson
"That's been a hot topic for years. It really could go either way. It could alleviate stress off of others that work in the city and manage more departments than they probably should be. So again, that's something that I would have to look into more if I can see more numbers and things like that.
McAdams
"I do believe we need it. I do believe that would help us fundamentally. I do believe that would help us a lot better with grants and bill writing and directions that they could take us and take our town. The city administrator has a lot of pull, has a lot of knowledge of things that can be done for this town and I think that is one thing that we are definitely lacking and I am very much willing to."
Separation of power is important. How will you as a council person ensure the council will have a fair voice and opinion on the board?
McAdams
"There is a time and a place for everything and I do believe that it can go a little too far, but I think with the right team, I think you can ... actually there should be no reason why there would be any issues with anybody at all. We are all in this together for our town. We are all in this to make sure our town is better and moving forward. And I will stand up for the town. I mean there's going to be disagreements, there's going to be, but I think, I think that we should just all just be in it, be in on it together and just do what is best for our town. Put everything aside. That is what our number one concern is right now is our town."
Pierson
"Yes. On the city council, I would hope to be able to come to agreement with fellow council members to at least come to a majority vote so it doesn't have to fall onto our mayor. At the end of the day, it is the council's job to make those decisions. And again, common ground should be found with like minded individuals who want to help this town."
The public sentiment around our town is there is no cooperation between the mayor and the council. How would each of you work for the citizens to build public trust and to show government cooperation?
Pierson
"Again, that goes back to common ground. Clearly, there needs to be calm and concise discussions between our council members, which also needs to be conveyed to our mayor. I've heard that there are disagreements in that, but as not being part of the council, I cannot speak to how bad they truly are. It's being able to communicate, being able to come to common grounds without being bullheaded and just so stuck in your way that you can't agree to meet them."
McAdams
"I think it all comes down to transparency, and I think that it needs to be honest. Everyone needs to be honest. Everyone needs to be fair. It shouldn't be what one person wants. It should be what the community needs. And I still believe that the community needs to be on the top of the list of being involved. I think they should have a right to stand up and speak. I think they should have a right to voice their opinion on it and be informed, involved in it 100%, because it is the council and the mayor's job to listen to their citizens and not make it a personal vendetta. It should be all about listening and transparency and honesty on top of that."
The current administration has indicated that tax increases may be coming. Would you vote for or against them?
McAdams
"Depending on what the tax increase is, depending on where the funding will be coming from, it needs to be looked into. It needs to be studied. It needs to be where the people can afford it. Again, we're a small town. We live just like normal folks around here. We don't have that extra money for taxes and utility bills raising and this and that. And that is where we have got to figure out what is best and not just jump up and make a rash decision over it. And that's where a city administrator comes in. Also, I think that they will look into the best possibilities for our town. They know where things can be gotten, where it doesn't affect our citizens as much.
Pierson
"Unfortunately, taxes are part of our lives. We live in an unperfect world. There is inflation, everything's going up, which means the cost of everything in the city is going up and to afford that, unfortunately, we're going to have to shoulder some of that burden. I myself understand the issues with being unable to afford taxes and utilities, but I also understand that it's going to happen. There are bills to be paid, there are improvements to be made, and even with grants, most of the time they require the city to bring at least so much money to the project. We have several big projects needed done. Our roads, to my understanding, the sewer lines are extremely outdated, and these projects have to be done without funding that comes from the city taxes.
You state golf course memberships have declined. Where did you see those numbers? Also, would you be for privatizing the golf course over city control?
Pierson
"I'm not seeing numbers when I say I've seen the decline. It's when I drive by, I don't see the vehicles there that I used to. I used to drive by and see rows, two or three rows of cars, and now it's very hit or miss on how many people are there. I will admit I don't drive by as much, but I, again, when I do, I just don't see the people. Whether it should be part of the city or private. Again, that would come down to budget, in my opinion. I'm not privy to those numbers at the moment, but it's something that definitely should be looked into."
McAdams
"I really don't think I need to respond on that one."
What do you think is the biggest issue the business community faces?
McAdams
"I believe that we need new businesses. We need employment. A majority, and I'm talking over half of our residents, have to drive for at least 30 minutes to an hour to a job. Why can't our town have that? At one time it did, and there was a lot more people here, and they're leaving because there's nothing. We have not shown any vast improvement over the last few years that I'm aware of. I feel like that there's just so much potential for our town, and I can see it. Willow Springs is absolutely blooming. Our town needs to back on track."
Pierson
"We definitely need more businesses. It definitely helps with the city's income and infrastructure. We don't have enough to support our citizens right now. We have to drive 30 minutes or more to get a sufficient amount of groceries. We have a grocery store, but they just don't carry everything. We are on a major fairway. I looked in on the Van Buren area and I have seen people who live over there. I've seen people from Eminence here shopping. If we had more infrastructure and more businesses, we might see more of them because Carter County is very small. Shannon County is small. Neither one of them really have much and their options right now are driving. I feel like we can come together to help that."
We have all experienced inflation over the last few years as many components used by various city utilities have increased which rather raise taxes to keep utilities operating at a current level or not raise taxes and perform less utility maintenance in reverse.
Pierson
"Repairs are mandatory. If things are not kept up to date, then the city can be fined for having issues with say the sewage leaking to other places. Too much drain water going in, it's not being recycled the correct way and costing us more the same with our electricity. If we don't keep it up to date, the city's going to constantly be losing power. The other day during all the wind the whole west side, at least a good chunk of the west side, lost power. Better poles, better transformers, better lines could help keep that going."
McAdams
"There is a lot of studying a person can do. I don't feel like decisions should be hit as hard. You know, there's things like gas taxes let somebody else pay the extra. We have travelers. We have seasons around here where people come through here all the time from different states and are already used to paying a high gas anyway, so why not have a gas tax. Let's not tax our citizens personally and let's kind of keep these utility bills down again. There is a lot of our citizens that live on fixed income. They cannot afford a $500 electric bill. They cannot afford a high sewer. And there has got to be a solution out there to prevent this from happening and getting it through other means."
Would either of you agree to look where money can be cut from the city budget before bringing another tax to the citizens?
McAdams
We've got to do something to prevent this from being on our citizens back. There is things that's probably wasteful. I'm sure there's wasteful spending, but we need to look and see where it's at and we need to fix it. We need to find other ways through grants, through programs, through whatever it takes before we start taking it out on the citizens."
Pierson
"That is most definitely where we should look first before taxing our citizens. There's a lot of fixed income. So if there is frivolous spending in the city somewhere, that should definitely be stopped to help alleviate any financial issues that could be burdened, put on our citizens. Again, not knowing those numbers at the moment I can't say how much we spent, but I do believe that there is probably, as she said, plenty out there to cut and move towards other."
What is your plan as you sit here today for the financial difficulties that the city is facing? Do you have one?
Pierson
"Again, not being privileged with numbers, it's hard to really say. Checking spending, making sure departments aren't spending more money than they need to be buying things that aren't necessarily needed would definitely be a way to help alleviate stress. Looking into ways to bring new businesses in, that would be a task I have to figure out a way to entice other people to come here, show them why this is such a great city. It's a beautiful town, I love it here. W need other people to see that, to bring businesses in to help the infrastructure."
McAdams
"I do believe that a lot can be taken care of if we get our infrastructure up to date. We have pipes under the ground that's been there for years, many years, and if you get them upgraded, updated and repaired, that is less wasteful spending later on down the road to constantly fix, to constantly repair something. This town needs a big upgrade. There is spending out there that probably could be cut back, but it all pertains to saving money by upgrading our utilities, our street, street repair."
The community has had concerns in the past about conflict of interest. Does either candidate have family members or is employed by the city? If so, in what capacity?
McAdams
"I can understand that. And yes, my husband is the manager of the golf course, but that is not why I'm running. That is not anything to do with what I feel is going on in the city. That is his job, just like my job. My thoughts on it is there could be a conflict and I'm sure somebody's going to come up and say, well, you know, your husband works for the city. I have no use for the golf course. But it's nothing to me other than it is a historical structure for our town, just like the parks, just like the Veterans memorial. But that will not affect my thoughts, my decisions on anything to do with this town."
Pierson
"I have no conflicts of interest. The only family I have here is my wife and my two children. So I'm pretty neutral on anything. And again, I would be here to just come to common ground and help alleviate any issues we have in the city. I am employed as a reserve officer and a volunteer firefighter. I currently do anything I do for either department unpaid. It's all my volunteer time to help out where I can so I can stay neutral. If it is something that pertains to wages or something that could benefit monetarily to either department, I would abstain from the vote."
The mayor and board were voted in by the people. They were entrusted to do the job, to do the right thing. Do you think it would slow the decision making process at meetings if every citizen were allowed to speak? What is a good solution for making voices feel heard?
Pierson
"I believe if everyone in the meeting spoke yes, it would extend the meeting. A good forum would actually be what's going on here. People write down questions, have someone who goes through them putting the list of questions together, bundle some up. But I do believe the people have a voice. They should have a voice. They're the ones who put us in office. Why would we want to ignore them?
McAdams
"I do believe that everyone should be able to speak. There's a lot of times there's 10 people, sometimes there's 20 people at a meeting. It shouldn't matter. They are elected officials. It shouldn't matter if it takes 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 4 hours. That is the people's voice. It's their time, and they should be able to be transparent with the city council, the mayor, or whoever's involved. I do not think it's right that people don't get to say their piece or speak. That is why you were elected in that seat. You work for the people, they don't work for you."
We talked a lot about transparency here today. So is this idea of creating more of a town hall atmosphere at the meetings of the Board of Aldermen the main idea that you have for how you will help to be transparent to the people who vote?
McAdams
"I think if you're just honest, if you just, if somebody has a concern, just be honest with them. Don't mislead them. Don't make promises, because promises just cannot be kept. You just express that you will do the best you can, you will work hard for them, and you will let them know every step of the way how things are going. You communicate with them. You do not ignore their needs. You stay on top, but as far as transparency, if you do not have it with the public, you will be mistrusted, and they will not believe or feel like you're doing them right. And that is one of the biggest things that's going on now."
Pierson
"Transparency is important. One way would be, again, social media. It could be a great way to get information straight from the meeting to the public in a way that helps out those who may or may not be able to get to the meetings. Another way is I've heard a lot of issues with closed session meetings, vague reasons for them, and there needs to be a more direct answer as to why we would go into the closed meeting without going into private details or too many details that aren't privy to the public, but other than that, making sure that if questions are posted prior to the meetings, that could be put on the docket to make sure that people are heard."
What is your impression of the work of the administration over, say, the last five years? Would you seek to reform or are you seeking to maintain the status quo?
Pierson
"From what I've seen in the past several years, there is some reform needed there. There are jobs internally that should be looked into, as I've heard lots of complaints as to how things are handled, communication and cooperation between council and city employees. And that is something that definitely needs looked into and corrected if at all possible."
McAdams
"There needs to be some reform done. We are just stuck. We're not moving forward. I believe that there's quite a few changes that could be done for our city and could be done with the administration. I just feel that we cannot stay on the same thing. here's a lot of ordinances I feel needs revised, updated to fit the needs of today. Not what has happened 20 years ago or occurred 20 years ago or was set in stone 20 years ago, five years ago, 10 years ago, however you want to put it. I do believe that everything needs to be looked into. I we don't get that up to date, then how can our town go on? How can we continue on if we don't get things where they need to be right now?
To close, Pierson stated, "Thank you for being here today. Being able to voice my concerns and my hopeful solutions to problems that we are facing, in a face to face manner"
McAdams closed with, "The role of a city council member is to act as a legislative body representing the citizen and establishing policies and guide to future developments, services and operations to ensure effective governance. Advocating for both their needs and concerns while effectively serving the community. And as your city councilman, my priority will be in taking responsibility, addressing and finding solutions along with ways to improve our town. Actively listening and representing the concerns of the residents by communicating openly, honestly and gaining their trust by promoting full transparency, acknowledging mistakes and taking corrective action because accountability leads to better results."