SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Springfield City Council candidates are making their last pitch to voters before election day Tuesday.
There are six candidates vying for three spots on council:
- Zone 3: David Nokes vs Brandon Jenson
- General Seat D: Derek Lee vs. Bruce Adib-Yazdi
- General Seat C: Callie Carroll vs. Jeremy Dean
KOLR10 spoke with the candidates for General C Seat Friday. Below are a list of questions, and each candidates response.
Why did you decide to run for General Seat C?
Callie Carroll: “I’m doing this because I care. I care about the future of Springfield. I care about decisions that are made now that will impact the future generations. I just feel like, I wanted to serve and this was this is an opportunity for me to serve.”
Jeremy Dean: “The real reason that I got invested into the community and like local government was after my mom suffered three strokes after having a heart surgery, I realized how hard it was to get resources and be able to get into those access areas. So it kind of led me into the health care field where I learned a lot more about other people’s issues and things that people are really facing here in Springfield.”
What are your plans if elected?
Carroll: “We’ve got to improve our communication between our city and our residents. I think, one of the first things that I would really try to implement is just improving communication, improves trust. I think that a city, if we get rid of this us versus them mentality and come together as one, I think we can do that through some communication.”
Dean: “The first thing that I plan to focus on is local investment. I really think that using our tax money here in Springfield and keeping it here in Springfield is really fundamental to helping our economy. Whenever we’re shipping our tax dollars out to other local municipalities and other states, sometimes even other countries, that doesn’t benefit the person here in Springfield.”
What are your top priorities?
Carroll: “Our residents have got to feel safe in their homes and in their neighborhoods and in their places of place of work. I’m endorsed by both the police and the firefighters here in Springfield. I think one of the things that we have to do is get fully staffed. Also, you know, just making sure that our our neighborhoods keep their unique character. We want to grow in those areas that need to be developed. So those are two things. And then the third thing I really focus on is communication and building trust. We have to be able to trust our city government. We have to be able to trust each other.”
Dean: “I think that neighbors and neighborhoods deserve a voice whenever it comes to what’s happening around them. Here in our city, we’ve seen huge fights, debates happen within this last year. And one of the consistent things that we see is that neighborhoods genuinely feel like they don’t have a voice. And so we have to restore that. The second one is Young Voices. We talk a lot about retaining and keeping young people here in Springfield, but we don’t have any direct representation whenever it comes to our municipal governments and what’s happening on our boards. So just giving that voice and showing that we are here and we’re ready to work is another one. Then my last one is working with public safety. I see public safety really as a big issue here in Springfield. That’s the top of the mind of a lot of people whenever it comes to who they’re going to vote for. So it’s not something that we can just ignore, pretend like it’s not happening because it’s important. I believe that the first step in that is getting resources to people that need it.”
