GROVES — The contest for the Ward 4 seat on Groves City Council is pitting a political veteran against a political newcomer.

Incumbent Kyle Hollier, 67, is a lifelong Groves resident who has spent 18 years on council. He is a professional photographer of 48 years. His challenger Daniel Diaz, 36, has been with emergency services — EMS/fire/communications/admiration for 17 years and has no political experience.

Here’s a look at the candidates:

QUESTION — The city recovered from Tropical Storm Harvey? If not, what needs to be done and how can it be achieved?

• Hollier – The city has come a long way since hurricane Harvey. Approximately 99 percent of the homes are being rebuilt and refurbished. With the help of FEMA 4.5 million dollars is available for infrastructure upgrades and repairing from Hurricane Harvey. City staff is working hard to qualify those items for repair. The city of Groves has already received 1.2 million dollars from FEMA to help pay for the debris removal that we have contracted with a outside vendor. the city of Groves still has between $200,000 and $300,000 coming for Hurricane Harvey issues.

• Diaz – I do not believe we have fully recovered from the storm. This was a very unexpected event that affected our city in many ways, most importantly financially.  I feel we are on track to getting back to “normal” but we still have a bit to go..  As a leader we need to be involved and made aware of our progress on getting reimbursed from the storm events, and to be made aware of grants we are eligible for and the progress of the grants submitted, and also volunteer to assist in this any way I can. I think the best thing we can achieve from this is knowledge, knowledge to help us better prepare for the future events,  we can never be too prepared. It is true we have received about 2 million in funds thus far, and this is a big step, but we have to assure that we obtain all we are eligible for to continue the strong infrastructure we have.  We also need to make it very open our city’s progress in these events, and not just at the City Council meetings, because some of our citizens are unable to attend these and we need total transparency on this. 

QUESTION – What are some specific issues that need to be addressed in Groves and how would you address them?

• Hollier – As everyone knows the drainage issue in groves is a big concern by all citizens. DD7 is our major facilitator for drainage out of Groves. The city of Groves drainage works by emptying into DD7 Outlet canals. Eliminating bottlenecks in that drainage will help increase flow. When DD7 canals are full, Groves water has no where to go.

• Diaz –

1- Drainage- One of the hottest topics is our drainage in Groves. We have multiple issues that need to be addressed and fixed. I would like to work with the city’s own departments and Drainage District 7 to see what our issues are, and how working together we can get these done, and to be able to see real progress. Citizen and Mayoral Opponent  Suzanne Williamson begun this over a year ago, getting the two entities working together and has made this her mission as a caring citizen and I would like to join that team to continue on a road to complete repair.  We also need to be realistic that these repairs will not happen overnight, and will take time but need to make sure they continue as expected. Any deviation of the current plan needs to be publicly looked at and explained. Groves currently has a public street repairs program where citizens can look online to see future repairs, I would like to work with DD7 to see how we could get a public drainage repair plan posted, so our citizens can see where future repairs will be. This will take some time, but together I believe we can make this happen.

2- Streets- Another big topic in Groves is our streets, obviously we have some issues.. I do see the city crews out there working, but I feel these repairs are band aids and we need to figure ways to have these roads completed correctly. The paved road Monroe patch with asphalt has not held up, and it needs to be done correctly. This is one of the heaviest traveled roads in Groves, and I know we can do better than we have. Yes, we cannot just blow the whole budget on Monroe when so many other streets need help, but we need to figure out ways to fund these, look into grants if eligible, make changes where they are obvious.  As I said earlier, we have plan, we just have to make sure this also does not become a forgotten task, we need to stay on top of this, this is a very important issue and I want to make sure it does, I want to be able to show and prove progress when a citizen questions this issue. Another item that will take time and not happen overnight, but I am positive we will move in a good direction.

3.- Finance- I am an advocate for complete transparency of budgets, finances and how OUR money is spent. We need to be very open to our citizens on any shortfalls or positives we may have. A citizen should never have to “dig” for answers to these type of questions asked.  Complete transparency will help gain the trust back and prove the city is doing as promised. We need to question the department leaders on requested budget increases. We should know why is the increase requested, how will it improve the city or the function of the city, have we received multiple quotes from multiple possible sources for the purchase, and is it a need or a want?  There are always times when a want is warranted, but we need to make sure needs never suffer.  When budget increases are approved, we need to monitor that budget line and see if it is being handled as advised at time of increase request and make suggestions if need be. However, someone’s well being and safety should never be over shadowed by the budget.   In whole, compete transparency of the cities finance’s should be known by each taxpayer and each member of city government.

4- New Business- As I stated earlier, I would want to be involved in the EDC in any manner to see detailed progress of new business for Groves.  The EDC has much to offer to new business and we need to make sure that is clearly advised to ALL prospective businesses coming to our city..   I would like to see a committee or leader within the EDC that meets with businesses that have shown interest in our City but did not choose to place their business here.  The committee/leader would reach out and obtain why these business owners did not choose Groves, what could we have done differently to gain the business and put these answers together and figure a way to make a plan to ensure there is less of a chance of a prospective business choosing not to put their business here. I feel this would be a positive outcome if we always knew where we could be better/stronger. I am a huge advocate for local business, and support and patronize these often, as we all should.

Final notes from candidates:

Hollier – Communication is key for issues that arise in our city. The city website has all of the information Citizens need to communicate with the city and their Council representative. My personal cell number is on the city website so you can communicate with me. As always citizens can speak at any council meeting and can be heard. I answer my phone.

• Diaz – Most importantly, I want to do my part to…

Assure oversight of the street, drainage issues.

Assure complete transparency on all city finances and budgets

Assure I will do my best to find answers for all concerned citizens, and to help gain their trust back

Assure that my integrity to the city is obvious

Assure that the real issues in our city are handled respectively, correctly, and fairly.  The real issues need to be priority.

 I will respect each city leader as we all should and work together and not against each other and to find ways to meet in the middle on issues that we may not fully agree on, we have to learn compromise and what is best for our city and citizens, personal issues need to be handled in other ways that do not effect our city or image..

Early voting begins Monday.