Two men are on the ballot for the Ward 1, Position 1 seat being vacated by Ray Easley who did not seek re-election. Both express a desire to serve the city and its residents. For the next three weeks, The TIMES will publish questions and the candidates' answers to help voters get to know both men.
The candidates are Jesse Fryer and Merrill White.
Each have Facebook pages: "Jesse Fryer for Pea Ridge City Council Ward 1" and "Merrill White for Pea Ridge."
Question: What direction do you see the city growing?
Fryer: Currently, I see the city as a bedroom community, highly residential. There's a lot of residential building going on. If we want to build income for the city, we have to turn the tide and become a community that also has business in it, builds income.
I think we definitely have the market for fast food, being realistic, easily market ourselves for. We have the real estate right off the main road, coming home from or going to work, if we take some of those places, and build more retail space, such as just built similar to the front of Summit Meadows, maybe push some to give more of a feel of a restaurant, more small business restaurants. I think that's what we should look to attract. We need to develop a small town business community that we support. Currently, I think we support our small businesses well. As we grow, continue to support those people.
White: I see the city growing to a large number of citizens within the next five years and I feel that if voted on the city council I can help with that growth due to that background I've held working with the citizens and the city officials of Bentonville for almost 20 years.
We'll probably not get to see industries, but definitely see businesses come here. We're more like bedroom communities of Rogers and Bentonville. It would be nice to have decent restaurants and really nice parks for kids and their parents.
Question: Do you believe in long-range planning?
Fryer: Yes, you have to or we're never going to forecast our future to be debt-free as a city.
White: Yes.
Question: Can you help guide the decisions by seeking information prior to the meeting and asking to have the information available to help make that decision at the meetings?
Fryer: I have the time and I definitely have the desire. I've dug through the 2018 and 2019 budgets on my own time to see where I think we're spending too much or too little. I've taken my own time to review city ordinances.
White: Definitely. And, I would utilize resources from nearby cities to educate myself as to what retail space should look like versus residential space.
Editor's note: This is the second of a three-part series on the two candidates for the Ward 1, Position 1 Pea Ridge City Council seat.