Everett, Lee seek District 3 post

An experienced politician will be elected commissioner in District 3.

It might be Paul Lee, 48, a sitting commissioner first elected four years ago, who says he always votes his convictions, or voters may choose Kenneth Everett, a 69-year-old former mayor and successful businessman who has been critical of the city’s spending habits.

District 3 voters will make their choice one week from today.

Kenneth Everett served as Dothan’s mayor from 1981 to 1985. During that time, some fees were raised and taxes imposed, but today Everett says a vote for him is a vote to end “tax and spend.“

To that end, he favors cutting expenses drastically, believing that if families must cut, the city must too. Everett said he does not believe in any tax or fee being imposed without a vote of the people and does not favor a garbage fee. He, like mayoral candidate Keith Seagle, wants to see the removal of a $7.90 fee charged to Dothan Utility customers.

Everett said he is against two Brownfield Tax Abatement projects which put possibly contaminated properties back into use through state tax abatements, saying the Friend Bank, which received one abatement, should pay the exemption money back. He also opposes a tax abatement approved last week for Cottonwood Corners, a retail development located in District 3, which will bring the city its first Publix store.

He calls the latter project an example of “reverse Robin Hood” because big developers can benefit from the tax abatement then sell the property. “It’s legal embezzlement. That’s my opinion,” he said.

He also wants to discontinue the city’s annual water rate increases.

During a recent meeting with the Eagle’s editorial board, Everett said he considers himself a servant of the people.

“I feel so strongly (that) the tax-and-spend era is utterly unthinkable,” he said. “We have seen thousands of elderly people choose between comfort, food, medicine and medical care. Their income has no way to go up.

“Expenses with the city are rampant and can be cut drastically. Any tax or fee should have to be voted on by the people. There is no reason not to do that. If we had an emergency, we could borrow the money. …. The annual water rate increase is not acceptable. It should be voted on. We’re big boys. Let’s vote.“

When asked specifically about where he would cut expenses, Everett said the city has too many employees. “I will ask the commission to reduce jobs,” he said. “We can cut 20 to 25 percent.“

Everett said he wants to stop what he calls the city bailout of well-to-do property owners downtown. “It is absolutely wrong,” he said, to purchase dilapidated properties that owners should be responsible for.

As he has campaigned in the district, Everett said he has met people who are afraid to be out after dark. Residents live in fear behind locked doors, he said.
“You deserve to feel safe in your home,” Everett said. “We have rampant crime. I told Mr. (Mike) West to get out of his cocoon. Fear is here. I will take this city back from the criminals.“

Paul Lee said he is comfortable defending the city’s expenditures over the last four years, including the one-cent sales tax he voted for three years ago.

“When I was elected, I was naive to what the city was facing,” he said. “We needed to do road resurfacing because none had been done two of the three previous years before my arrival. We had 25-year-old fire trucks. We had old garbage trucks that we worked on at night to have them running for the next morning. Things had gone down.

“We had the state retirement issue. It was voted on to go with the Retirement Systems of Alabama prior to my arrival. That’s $9-plus million we have to pay ever year. I am not sure the consequences of the debt were understood.

“We had to prepare for tomorrow — the landfill and long-term water — yet we couldn’t maintain our roads and buy fire trucks or police cars. Prior to my arrival, the city borrowed the money for the police cars just so they could get them.“

Lee said he looked at his parents, who are in their 80s, and wondered how the city could fund long-needed improvements and capital expenditures, without over-burdening the elderly.

“It was clear,” he said. “Fifty percent of our sales tax revenues come from people living outside the city of Dothan. The one-cent sales tax costs us very little compared to other options. These people who are coming into Dothan are also wearing our roads and using our emergency services. This way, they help pay that burden. It was a difficult decision. Some say it was a selfish decision, but it was unselfish. It was the lesser route to take.“

Lee said he favors keeping the city manager form of government and wants to continue efforts to recruit more jobs and industry. Those efforts, he said, can be hindered or improved by city leadership.

“The environment of a city is directly reflected by its leadership,” Lee said. “We are fortunate. We have done very well. We’ve paid cash for a lot of the things we’ve done. During my term, $9.5 million of our debt has been paid off. We are not letting any people go from their jobs and we are not putting on any more bond issues. Other cities wish they’d been as prepared. We’ve done some things right. We are the eighth least expensive metro city in the U.S.“

Lee wants to continue the annual $1 million appropriation to the Dothan City Schools, but wants more of the money to go toward lowering the drop-out rate, and address ninth grade problems.

“I favor putting most of the money there to get them over the hump and move them to where they need to be,” he said. “The public school system is absolutely critical to a community.“

Lee favors continuing efforts to provide for short- and long-term water needs, through the construction of a reservoir, and getting a permit to pump water from the Chattahoochee River. He does not favor a garbage fee.