Candidates for Mayor and City Council in Salem participated in a candidates forum Tuesday night at the Salem Theater.
In part one of our re-cap, we’ll hear from the two candidates for Mayor. Acting Mayor Nic Farley cited his leadership and not “grandstanding” in working for a number of businesses and community projects as well as improvements Salem has seen in recent years. He noted the expansion of NAL and Americana and other developments on the way to the Salem Industrial Park, a quarter-million dollars in sidewalk improvements, the YMCA and Salem Recreation Department Partnership, the new boat dock, disc golf, and the mountain bike trail in Bryan Memorial Park and businesses that are once again thriving in the Orchard Shopping Center.
“We have a great opportunity to rebound this city and I believe I am the best candidate to do so. We don’t want the swamp politics of Washington or Springfield to enter our city hall. We do need more economic development and that is coming. To help stop the purge of the next generation. And I want to make sure we promote policies that increase economic development, beautify the city and maintain balanced budgets.”
Brock Waggoner noted he has always called Salem home and never imagined running for office until a year ago when he realized how Government can impact businesses. He pointed to what he called Governor Pritzker’s unlawful orders that shutdown many businesses and claimed the city did little to fight them. Waggoner feels his efforts to talk with businesses in the community and to Open Salem were very effective. He also cited other concerns in the city.
“Salem has infrastructure that is in dire need of replacement not the patch and replace as is the current standard. Many residents are experiencing discolored water on a regular basis. I’d like to draft a plan that could address these issues within the next 10-20 years. This is essential to the health of our residents here in Salem.”
Waggoner also cited the need for economic development work and was critical of Farley for supporting a zoning change that would have allowed a cannabis dispensary in some zoning areas.
In addition to Mayor, Salem residents will be asked to select from five candidates running for two open city council seats in the Tuesday, April 6th election. Early voting is now underway at the Marion County Courthouse. You can hear the entire candidates forum in the archive section of WJBDradio.com. We’ll highlight some of the key thoughts of the city council candidates in the Thursday local news.
Here is the link to listen to the entire Mayoral and City Council forum:
