FOLEY - Municipal elections are fast approaching. Foley recently held a candidate forum hosted by the Common Sense Campaign, allowing the public the chance to submit questions for the six candidates. All Foley candidates were present at the forum.

Aaron Bika and Ralph Hellmich (current councilmember District 3) are running for mayor. Barry Hughes and Wayne Trawick (current council president, District 1) are up for District 1. Dick Dayton and Ralph Eastburn are vying for District 3.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 25. The City of Foley municipal election will be held at the Foley Event Center located at 1001 East Pride Boulevard.

MAYORAL CANDIDATES

Bika has a four-part plan for Foley. “One is the sales tax. I believe taxation is theft,” he said. “We have a budget surplus of almost 10 million, 10% is unacceptable … I would like to lower our taxes to at least the county level of 7%. The other plan is over-regulations and ordinances in central planning. When government gets involved it becomes an unlevel playing field, there are too many fees, too many permits.”

The third part of Bika’s plan concerns underrepresentation. Politics is a “rich man’s game,” he says, and the average citizen cannot easily run for office due to the number of rules, regulations, and costs. He would like to see it become more about ethics. The final part of Bika’s plan is to bring back a rail line to Foley, which he says will bring high-income, manufacturing jobs.

Current councilmember Hellmich said he’d like to see the city continue to work with South Baldwin Regional Hospital as it grows, improvements to infrastructure through the use of the city’s ten-year road plan, and the city partner with local education and the public school system to offer quality education and job opportunities.

“What I will pledge to do when I become mayor is I will continue to make government work,” Hellmich said. “I think that our mayor and council have worked very well over the past 16 years I’ve been a councilmember, and I think that’s very important. If you look around to other communities where that doesn’t happen, the progress that they make is not as near as far as where I think we are. I think that we have to identify how we move forward, and that’s going to take an effort by the citizens and us that’s sitting behind these podiums to make it happen.”

DISTRICT 1 CANDIDATES

When asked his priorities as councilmember, candidate Hughes said, “Communication, doing a better job at letting District 1 know what is going on with the city … We’ve got a great community, and I think the biggest factor is communicating, being transparent on the plans and what the ten-year plans are, and communicating that to the citizens in our city.”

Hughes says he will have an open channel to the people of Foley, to listen to their concerns and bring them before the council.

“As a person who is very familiar with hard work, I certainly would do my best to go beyond to communicate what is happening with the city beyond just election years, as well as putting my efforts in to solicit other businesses,” Hughes said. “We will do our best and what we can to increase our quality of life and the productivity of our businesses.”

Current council president and District 1 representative Trawick said he believes citizens can “tell the track record of this council by where we are today.”

Rather than think in districts, Trawick said he thinks of the city as a whole when making decisions, as any choice will affect Foley as a whole. The city has a solid council, he said, that he feels has moved forward and been responsible for the citizens and with the city budget.

“One of the main things for a councilmember is don’t forget that you’re here to represent the folks,” Trawick said. “The end result is when they tell you that they want to do something a certain way, if you’re a true representative, you will vote to support them … You are a representative, it’s not just your decision, but you do have to try to convince them of what you think is right, and if you cannot then you move with what they ask you to do.”

DISTRICT 3

District 3 candidate Dick Dayton said, “I want to utilize the skills that I learned to become successful on your behalf as a councilman. I want to focus on responsible financial planning, I want to prioritize spending, improve property values, and balance the budget. I want to capitalize on my business experience to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the City of Foley.”

He said he’d like to eliminate waste, provide outstanding services, improve communication and attract new business investments and expansions. A large issue in District 3 he would like to address is the increased traffic due to new communities coming to the area.

“I’m looking forward to putting my energy and my experience to work for all the residents of District 3 and the people that live in the City of Foley,” Dayton said. “I’m going to do my very best to learn rapidly and become a contributor to the efforts of the city council.”

Candidate Ralph Eastburn has lived in Foley since 1937, and said he watched the city grow into what it is today. “My role on the city council is to find fair and just solutions to problems,” Eastburn said. “I’ve done that successfully in many different leadership roles, my family has been involved in the City of Foley for the past 80 years, we invested in business ventures and provided jobs to residents, and we care deeply about clean air and clean water, good schools and good government.”

He says he would love to see things continue to develop in the community in a safe, environmentally friendly way. “I want to see [the city] advance, it’s going to be the hub of Baldwin County in about another ten years, you probably won’t even recognize the place,” Eastburn said. “But we need to do it in a manner that’s well planned, and environmentally friendly has to be number one on our list.”

You can view the recording of the full forum and listen to the entire Q&A session on The Common Sense Campaign TEA Party’s Facebook page.