GROVES — Voters in Groves have important decisions in front of them, including election of a mayor.

Incumbent and longtime mayor Brad Bailey drew two opponents: Suzanne Williamson and Kaelan Ramos.

Here’s a look at the candidates:

 

Name: Brad P. Bailey

Age: 53

Occupation: Director of Business Development-HydrochemPSC LLC

Political experience: 18 yrs Mayor of Groves Texas.

• Why are you the best candidate for the position of mayor of Groves?

Experience and Knowledge of City Government. The city has experienced unprecedented economic loss (Wal-Mart and K-Mart) and 5 natural disasters under my tenure. Between a very hard-working city hall staff, city employees and first responders, Groves has been the first city in Jefferson County to be ready to handle the citizens returning from evacuations.

• Has the city recovered from Tropical Storm Harvey?

No, we still have people working on their homes and many homes that have not been touched.  The city will put those homes on a list for empty and dangerous structures and then if no progress is made in a defined time period they will be torn down. The city has torn down 193 structures since 2005 with the support of our City Council. If not, what needs to be done and how can it be achieved? Money, most of the issues are people that did not have flood insurance. FEMA and the SBA have provided some help, but the costs to repair sometimes outweigh what the house is actually worth. The city will continue to help with rolloff boxes for trash and relief from some of the permitting fees.

Important note: No lives were lost! Thanks to our first responders.

• There appears to be a divide on council. How would you bring these sides together?

Between the media and Facebook the topic has been exasperated by a select group of individuals, I believe that the issue is about integrity and being held to a higher standard as an elected official. The communication between the council members and staff will keep us on the correct track.

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

Keeping our Employees safe and providing competitive wages compared to other cities equal to our population. We have listened to citizens concerns about drainage and I want to make clear that “Harvey” was the highest recorded rainfall in the History of the United States. Drainage in the short term is to try to remedy problems that have quick and minimum costs involved. Long term is to continue our program for cleaning out ditches and culverts; again, this takes money and probably will not happen immediately.

On of the most important factors about rain events is not how much it rains but how fast it rains. Also, we have a limited number of employees so when other issues arise our crews will be shifted to the job with the highest priority.

1. Created CODES council on empty and dangerous structures to have a legal method to remove dangerous structures from the neighborhoods. Removed 193 and counting dangerous structures since 2005.

2. Started the Peace and Dignity program for Groves’ neighborhoods to actively protect neighborhoods and the peaceful enjoyment of property. To help residents take care of their own neighborhoods.

3. Created the Neighborhood Services and hired full time Code Enforcement officer in 2016 to protect Groves Neighborhoods and make them safer.

4. Created the new homes incentive program to encourage development and grow the city with new homes on the same site where dangerous structures once stood. 306 and counting new homes built since 2005.

5. Pushed for more active EDC in 2005 to help offset loss of K Mart and Wal mart and promote existing and new business in Groves and keep sales tax rebates to city as high as possible.

6. Oversaw 4.2 million of grant match to obtain 11 million in grants from federal and state government to improve infrastructure, communications, purchase 2 new fire trucks, and build new police station, court and Emergency operations center.

7. Emergency management coordinator for GROVES in 5 natural disasters impacting city from 2005 to 2017. Starting with Rita and ending with Harvey flooding.

8. Supported creation of sewer receiving station to sell sewer treatment services to industry generating nearly 4 million dollars to subsidize citizen water and sewer bills since inception in 2007.   

9. Supported creation of 4 new subdivisions to promote residential growth in Groves with potential of additional 150 new homes built in the next two years.

10. Voted against all multi-family apartment development proposals brought to council.

11. Doubled street program budget from $300,000 to $600,000 for 2019 budget and in favor of using grant money allocated for Hurricane Harvey GLO/CDBG funds of 4.5 million to improve streets, drainage, and water and sewer rehabilitation.

12. Added two new police officers’ positions to city police force for 2019.

The Peace and Dignity Program/New Home Construction Incentives

It has helped protect and strengthen our existing neighborhoods.

It has allowed for the growth of new neighborhoods.

It has attracted new families to the City.

It has allowed our city to grow in population.

It has expanded the city customer and tax base with new homes and new businesses.

It has stabilized and improved sales tax and property tax revenues.

It has protected the value and investment of our citizen’s homes and businesses. This program is the reason that over 99 percent of our damaged and flooded homes have been rebuilt or remodeled. The owners had the confidence to stay and reinvest in Groves.

It has allowed the city to maintain and promote our individual identity and not be looked at as a part of any other city.

 

Name: Suzanne Williamson

Age: 51

Occupation: Wife, Mother, Former Business Development/Recruiting Professional/Business Owner

Political experience: Proud to say I’m not a politician, but rather a concerned citizen of Groves who sees the need for transparency, honesty and putting the needs of the majority first. I have no political experience.

 

• Why are you the best candidate for the position of mayor of Groves?

We need a fresh take on Groves after 18 years of the same leadership. With a long career in Business Development on straight commission as well as a business owner, I understand fully the need for hard work, being a self- starter, highly motivated person who sees issues that need to be solved and then works toward a solution.

In January 2018, my newly finished Harvey repairs were nearly damaged by water in my home again during a morning rain event. I made the personal decision that day to understand the issue of drainage and why our city was still in need of Harvey debris pick up some 5 months post Harvey.

I contacted DD7, toured their ditches/pump stations that service Groves to educate myself rather than listen to rumors, as well as, contacted the City Manager in order to formulate a plan of action to get the debris that remained from Harvey removed. Public Works, City Manager and Republic Waste and I worked to make this happen with a roll off dumpster initiative in the hardest hit area of Groves. At that point, I began a Facebook page called “Keep Groves Beautiful” to update/share with citizens what was learned. My involvement grew from there to me attending all council meetings, DD7 Commissioner meetings, understanding city programs, reading budgets, audit findings and it became clear to me that Groves needs someone who will actively work to eliminate unnecessary government spending since our last audit revealed we are in $958K deficit in the general fund , support economic development, work together with DD7 and promote the needs of the majority of the citizens and not a select few.

• Has the city recovered from Tropical Storm Harvey? If not, what needs to be done and how can it be achieved?

Not fully.

People who are still rebuilding, some are starting over because of shoddy contractors, some not passing inspection or have leaks/structural problems and abandoned homes that have sat since Harvey. People have taken out loans to fix their homes and have gotten water in their homes again after Harvey. Elderly have been scammed. Residents are shell shot and stressed out every time it rains.

Leadership must be more hands on with the people. Meeting with them, talking with them, communicating to them where we stand as far as FEMA reimbursement goes, full transparency and disclosure.

Ditches are a huge issue. Groves hasn’t had a continuous ditch maintenance program in decades, add to that silt/debris build up from Harvey and it’s a bad combination for storm water flow. Rains seem to be coming more frequently /more intensely since Harvey, but if the ditches and culverts are not maintained regularly as is the responsibility of the city, the water from Groves will never flow to DD7 ditches/canals and pump stations.

• There appears to be a divide on council. How would you bring these sides together?

There is a divide on council and it is hurting the citizens. In any position, it is important to create relationships and respect each other. While we may not always agree, respect is very important. I would model the behavior that I expect, promote communication, promote the goal and entire reason we are on council which is to better Groves. All impactful leaders know that they must be the change they want to see. Everything rises and falls with leadership.

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

1. Current budget—We need complete financial transparency.

In the last audit findings, it was revealed by outside auditors that Groves was in a $958K deficit. This has been blamed on Harvey, however, when any citizen goes on the city website and looks at the posted financial budget for themselves, they will learn that Franchise and Local Fees where far less than budgeted, that the Economic Development Corporation funded $429K more than was budgeted of debt service and that Harvey accounted for only about 25-30% of the deficit since it was the last month of the fiscal year budget.

Currently, the council votes on paying invoices/paying for items that come before them, but are not provided with monthly financial position statements or monthly expenditures. At my house, I can’t just blindly pay my bills without knowing how much money I have every month, common sense tells me, that the board needs to be provided all information every month on city finances in order to make the best decisions about how to spend YOUR money!

This practice of a lack of full disclosure needs to change.

According to city charter, the city manager can authorize the expenditure of $5,000 without the approval of council. My thought is that needs to be amended and changed to a lower amount. If there are 5 invoices each month for $5,000 over 4 months that are approved without board knowledge, that’s $100,000 that the board never knows about.

2. Economic Development must be a high priority so that additional tax revenues might flow into Groves providing the resources to improve drainage, fix roads, improve parks, take care of our first responders, attract people to our city and many other issues that economic development can satisfy.

The first Economic Development Corp. meeting since May 2017 was held just last month. A lot can happen in 1 year and 4 months!

Groves needs new business. My 15-year career in business development and working on straight commission taught me that it is a very ineffective way to “sell” someone on anything by just waiting for a new potential business to call. I would need to go out and approach businesses about what Groves has to offer and why they should start or move a business here. We are landlocked but there are many vacant buildings just waiting for a new opportunity.

Recently, I spoke with a Mid-County business owner who owns a multi-million-dollar refinery services company. He just completed the process of expanding his business with the EDC of Port Arthur. Perhaps he would have considered Groves if he had been approached.

Proactive is the key word here.

Existing businesses need to be met with on a regular basis to understand what the city can do to help support them/ promote their business so that they can stay in business which helps provide sales tax revenue to fund our city budget.

Creation of a Small Business Mentor Team to help provide information/support to local businesses who may be new or struggling and pair them with ones that are succeeding may be a possibility.

Lots of people can start a business but it takes financial intelligence and big picture thinking as well as support from residents and city leaders to make them succeed.

3. Infrastructure:

Drainage:

-We need a comprehensive, long term, consistent ditch/ drain maintenance program. In a recent council meeting, it was disclosed that there are about 100 miles of open ditches in Groves. 4.9 miles of them have been cleaned and reshaped in 2018. If we do the simple math, that will take 20 years to complete! While weather patterns have changed, the FACT remains, if the water in Groves ditches, can’t flow to DD7 ditches/pump stations, we will continue on this path of creating lakefront property for our citizens. Perhaps it’s time to contract out some of this work to get done faster!

-Eliminate the filling in of roadside ditches with culverts. Storage is lost and the inlets are always too small or get clogged and the water cannot get into the city storm sewer. Groves has already started this but it must be enforced, no special treatment.

-Mayor or City Manager needs to be at every DD7 Commissioner meeting to keep up with what is going on with DD7. Currently, there are 2 potential DD7 detention areas in Groves area that are being looked at by DD7. City leadership needs to show interest and support in any way they can for these needed projects.

-Set up informal monthly meetings with DD7 and “drainage representatives” from Groves not like a formal meeting but a meeting of goodwill so that DD7 and Groves can be on the same page about issues and potentially work together to solve problems.

-There was a recent meeting of local city managers, DD7 and the Corps of Engineers to discuss local cities participating in a Corps study of drainage. This is an issue that Groves leadership needs to fully understand and be willing to participate in if recommended. It is my understanding that the last time local cities were approached about this drainage study years ago, they all declined to participate.

-I attend all DD7 Commissioner meetings to keep abreast of what is going on with their system in order to understand the impact it may have on Groves. Yet, I have not seen a single Groves leader at a meeting yet.

-Every manhole cover and every ditch/culvert need to be looked into to determine the EXACT condition of our city drainage and plan from there.

Streets:

-We need to do an economic feasibility assessment to determine/justify using a road contractor to fix our roads that are so desperately in need of repair.

While it may be cheaper for public works to fix a road now, is it cheaper in the long run?

Monroe comes to mind. Perhaps there are other things that can be eliminated in the budget to free up money for our roads to be fixed by contractors so public works can complete the ditch maintenance program.

We have to improve all areas of streets and drainage sooner rather than later!

This will take a lot of hard work and dedication and it won’t happen overnight, but if we don’t address our infrastructure (drainage and streets), other than to say the weather patterns have changed, then people will sell their homes to flippers for rent houses as they are already doing, move out, our property values decrease and we make the economic issues even worse.

 

Name: Kaelan Ramos

Age: 21-years-old

Occupation: Sales Associate/Night Stocker

Political experience: No political experience

• Why are you the best candidate for the position of mayor of Groves?

I personally believe I’m the best candidate because I’m a very hard working individual at both of my jobs with a good initiative to get the job done the right way, and also I’m happily driven to help and work with council members, and Groves citizens, to implement ways to ensure a better and brighter future for the City of Groves for future generations to come.

• Has the city recovered from Tropical Storm Harvey? If not, what needs to be done and how can it be achieved?

Groves has come through many great lengths to recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey. I don’t believe that Groves is 100% recovered from the storm. From the past month, I still see some trash in front of people’s yards from Harvey, and several people are still having their homes rebuilt. The storm has also exposed the drainage issue that has unfortunately plagued the City of Groves for the past few years. I plan on contacting Groves citizens that still have trash, and organizing a group to voluntarily get whatever trash is left from Harvey’s wreckage. I also insist that the group and I will help whatever homes are still in the process of being rebuilt. Groves and its citizens have come together in a charitable and loving cause to assist each other, and I’m keen on helping others who still need it.

• There appears to be a divide on council. How would you bring these sides together?

I get along with many people who happen to agree and disagree with me. I would get along with both opposing parties, and propose ideas with them to eat Groves on the right track again.We must band together to help Groves in whatever way possible,  I’ve listened to both sides, and ultimately, I believe Mr. Coburn. However, just because I believe in him doesn’t mean that I won’t get along with the opposing side. I personally believe that no matter what issues makes us confront each other, we need to put our differences aside and help out Groves and its citizens. Groves belongs to its citizens, and we must act in the best interest in regard to the citizens.

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

I would like to address the increasing debt that the city has been having issues dealing with. The financial report for the past year indicates that our debt is little above $8 million dollars, and I will try to find ways to cut down on our expenses cost. I have many issues that I will like to address, and anyone is free to contact me anywhere and anytime for me to address them.