Jesse Fryer and Merrill White are running for Pea Ridge City Council.
Fryer, 30, a native of Branson, has lived in Pea Ridge for six years.
White, 49, a native of Rogers, has lived in Pea Ridge for more than 20 years.
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 definitely have the desire. I've dug through 2018 and 2019 budgets on my own time, to see where I think we're spending too much or too little. We should be armed with what we are going to address at council. I don't believe in making a decision after reviewing something one time.
White: I have the time, and, what I would further do, utilize resources from nearby cities to educate me. We've enjoyed Pea Ridge for years because it is a small town -- it has a feel about it. I want to do whatever is possible to keep it as hometown feeling as possible as well as address the needs of the citizens moving into the area.
Question: What is your opinion of single serve trash service?
Fryer: As long as it doesn't increase rates beyond something sustainable for everybody in the city. We should delay a price increase for a while down the road because we just did a price increase. While I think it was probably needed because of inflation, the residents should not get hit twice back to back.
White: I've done some research, but to give an educated response, I would have to research further. If voted in, I would like to reach out to citizens of Pea Ridge and see what their opinions are. I am in favor of asking vendors to give bids and have those bids be apples to apples and ensure that in that process, they address the senior citizens in Pea Ridge so they are offered a lower rate than the average citizens.
Question: Are you able to identify the spending needs above wants and cut those wants and fulfill needs?
Fryer: Yes, I believe we should identify the needs, reviewing budget, figuring out what those needs and wants are and really diving down maybe even to the point of considering some needs being reduced so we can incorporate other needs.
White: I'm a retired first sergeant and had to budget needs across an entire unit. In my civilian job, I have to budget multi-million dollars. I have to budget needs over wants every day. I would sit with department heads, determine what is their ask, before making decision on overall package. One thing I'll never do is make a decision without doing research first. Being a city council member involves a lot of research on the city's behalf to understand a two-part system: First, the citizens' wants and needs and secondly, the city's department heads; wants and needs. We need to collectively put those together and come back with an informed decision.
Question: What is the biggest challenge facing Pea Ridge today?
Fryer: There's tons of people who feel like challenge is roadway, but roadways are state-owned and we can't change what state does. My thought process is that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, if Pea Ridge is in ear of ARDOT, we should get louder until need is met. Other needs I see, are a definite need in increase in self-generated income. We need to market Pea Ridge as a place that makes businesses want to come, incentivize people to come to or expand to Pea Ridge. How do we do that, work together as council, as city, collaborate that, what do we do? That's going to fund the city, the number one thing, everybody is talking about is city funding -- equipment, roads, full time Fire Department is needed but not affordable.
White: Any city experiencing rapid growth like Pea Ridge has a challenge -- today's needs and balancing infrastructure. I think our investment in local law enforcement and the new wastewater treatment plant is an example of balancing. I would like to see the city have an open discussion to priority needs without going to citizens every year for new tax.
Conclusion:
Fryer: I'm not running for City Council to change Pea Ridge to a city that is completely unrecognizable. I want to improve the areas we're struggling at and sustain the areas we're doing really good. One area we're good at is city pride. Most of the people I walk with are very prideful of their small town. I want to maintain that pride. I chose to come to Pea Ridge because it's a small town. I come from a small town. I wanted a place where I walk out of my front door and I know my neighbor's name, can have a conversation, has camaraderie, makes you feel like you're part whether 25 years or 1 year.
White: I grew up in Rogers, we were poor, six kids, college had never been mentioned growing up, so I took and tried a different path and spent a lot of years working very hard, manual labor, management that required manual labor. The military required a lot of schools to succeed. The driving force to me, the good part about serving on the City Council, is just like becoming a first sergeant -- extending the help mentality to others. It makes sense. It's my way of giving back and make things better for someone else, at lowest level, which is really cool. That's the truth of the matter; that's the big driving force of everything.
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Editor's note: This is the last of a three-part series on the two candidates for the Ward 1, Position 1 Pea Ridge City Council seat.
