On Monday, June 13, the candidates for this year’s available Shawnee City Commission seats participated in a forum sponsored by PAVE (Pottawatomie County Advocates for Voter Education). The candidates in attendance included Daniel Matthews (Incumbent) and Rob Morris for Ward 1, Amy Camarata and Cami Engles (Incumbent) for Ward 2, Joey Ward for Ward 5, and Edwina Butler-Wolfe, Lauren Richter, and Alan Rogers for Ward 6. Mark Sehorn (Incumbent) is also running for Ward 5, but did not respond to the invitation.
During the forum, each candidate answered questions asked by moderator Ronnye Perry Sharp that were written by different audience members. Each Ward was questioned separately, so some candidates answered differing questions from others, and all finished out their portions with closing statements.
Questions for Ward 1 included:
Q. What is the most urgent issue today for Shawnee?
Matthews: I think the most urgent issue for Shawnee is for too long we’ve kicked things down the road. I think most of the pipes in our city are over 50 years old. 47 percent of our roads are rated as poor….Things that should cost us one thing are costing us a great deal because we kick the can down the road. And so that’s one of the things I’ve kind of become known for around City Hall is we don’t defer maintenance anymore because of what it’s costing us. And I think it’s interesting to note that’s not just a Shawnee problem. This is a coming crisis for communities all across our country where so much of our infrastructure was put in between the 40’s and the 60’s and hasn’t been touched. It’s a huge crisis that we can’t necessarily see, but from a funding standpoint, to all of that, it’s a huge issue that the next Commission is gonna have to deal with, and we can no longer kick that down the road. We’ve got to find a way to deal with it now, so that’s no longer an issue.
Morris: Well, I’m actually gonna lump in two things. I’m gonna say crime number one and the homeless, and not always, but they do a little bit go hand in hand. Because you can’t always tell who the good people are versus the bad, and you don’t want to judge anybody without knowing. But crime in this town keeps people from wanting to go places, keeps people from wanting to go Downtown, it keeps windows broken out Downtown, which does nothing to help our Downtown district. We have homes that I see all the time where people are posting a video of ‘somebody came up on my porch and stole this, and somebody came up on my porch and stole that.’ Yet, we don’t really have enough cops to go after them all, so we need to find another way. So with the homeless and with crime, we can actually solve a little bit of both of those, but crime is what I would say is the greatest thing we need to deal with right now.
Q. Fire Department staffing, according to local news, is a problem due to budget restraints. How do you propose working forward to a solution?
Matthews: We have a budget coming up; I believe it will come from the next vote. Everyone’s hoping we get this fixed within the next two weeks. I think it’s important that we sit down, we do a comprehensive look at all the way from leadership all the way through policies, and see what economic decisions are impacting our Fire Department currently and why are we in the situation we are in. I think one of the things we haven’t talked about; we’ve lost an incredible amount of knowledge from recent retirements. And so, I think it is important that we engage with people that have recently retired and figure out…What did you see? What did you notice, and how do we look at that from top to bottom and look at our spending? I think it’s fair, but I think we make mistakes when we rush, and so I think we need to call for a full look at the spending. Are we buying things at the right time? Are we doing things in a proper and orderly manner? Because I believe the money is there, we just have to make sure we are spending it responsibly.
Morris: As far as working forward to keep our Fire Department and our Police Department funded and staffed, with some of that wasteful spending we have, we need to start going out on bids on certain things. For example, we have a new one coming up that if we take out the full-time employee and the benefits of that employee, it would save us $15,000 right there. There’s just one. There’s another one; if we take economic development back from Shawnee Forward, there’s in there that actually pays employees. So we still have economic development money used, but the money that goes to pay the employees we can now put in other places, such as the Fire Department. There’s plenty of other examples where we can do that in this town, and I will be more than happy to look for all of them.
Ward 1 closing statements are as follows:
Matthews: Thank you to the members of PAVE, this is such an honor to be here. Again, I don’t believe that the challenges our city face are too much to overcome if we will simply all get in a room and work through the tough issues together. I believe that government doesn’t make things grow, but I think we play a part in preparing so that the hard work and the effort that citizens of our community put in is soil that things can flourish in. I’m committed to doing the work, building the relationships so that the challenges of Shawnee are something we can overcome. I believe I work every day to make sure that people in this community across the entire community have the opportunity to better themselves. I’ve worked hard to represent all of Shawnee as a commissioner. I feel I have a unique vantage point to see the impact we can make on people’s lives. I’m committed to continuing that leadership, continuing that growth so that all citizens of Shawnee have the opportunity to become all that they can be. And I want this again to be a place where my kids want to stay. I think we have an incredibly unique opportunity as the home of Oklahoma Baptist University. We get to audition for four to five years for young professionals, and I think we ought to be working hard to make sure that our kids, my kids, your kids, graduates of OBU want to call this place home. And if it means having some tough conversations that no longer kick the can down the road, deal with those issues, but then look forward to the future for my kids, for your kids, so this becomes the community we all love and believe it can be. I believe that we can make Shawnee into the things we all dream about, but it’s going to take all of us working together. I’m willing to lead that conversation and continue that conversation as your Ward1 commissioner.
Morris: For me, I don’t want to get in a room with everybody and talk. I want to do it as openly and outwardly as possible so that everyone who is sitting in that crowd, everyone watching at home or listening, knows exactly what’s going on. There are limitations of that with privacy and things like that. There’s no reason that you guys shouldn’t know as much as the commissioners within reason. That’s something I will fight for. That’s something that I will do because I will ask the questions and I will tell everybody. It’s not a problem. This is our town. We are the ones that make the decision. We are the ones that pick the people that sit up here to do what’s in our best interest. And when they don’t, it’s our responsibility to replace them with people that will. I am one of those people. My name is Rob Morris. I am running for Ward 1 for Shawnee City Commission. I thank you for every vote that I get.
Questions for Ward 2 included:
Q: What are the most important duties and responsibilities of a member of the City Commission?
Camarata: I think the most important responsibility is to represent your citizens for future healthy living in the city. And by healthy, I don’t just mean going out and jogging or going on a diet. I’m talking about safety. I’m talking about our infrastructure, our fire departments, our quality of life, and then hearing from our citizens and what they need. That we have the ability to be transparent and visit with them and meet their needs because that’s why we are elected, and that’s why we’re here.
Engles: I think the most important responsibility would be to be a good steward of the taxpayers’ money, to be an ethical member of this commission, to listen to your constituents, and fight for the issues that your ward has. So while we’re sitting up here, we’re each representatives of each ward. And then work together to find creative solutions with our other commission members to improve the town as a whole. But I would say being a good steward of the taxpayers’ money is number one on the list.
Q: According to aspe. hhs.gov, Healthcare is one of the largest employers in the country and contributes to economic growth. Many of Shawnee’s citizens spend their time commuting to OKC for care that isn’t offered in Shawnee. With this in mind, what would you do to encourage additional options in health care, such as Integris, OU, and Mercy, to join our community to create economic growth and give our citizens options in healthcare?
Camarata: I liked the last part about giving the options in healthcare. Shawnee is 44 miles circumference, and we have one major medical. The good thing about having additional options is that you get some diversity that pushes the quality of care that you offer. So diversity in offerings would be good. Also, a lot of times, we’re pinpoint to who we can go to for medical health care by our insurance. So, by having another offering, be it Integris or whomever, we would have more selection. I think that would also bring people from our outlying areas into that. And then, to tie off of an earlier question, if we’re looking at doing something South of Independence, maybe that’s a good area to do that. Maybe we need to bring more health down here to the downtown area to help offset some of the transportation to the North.
Engles: This question is personal to me because my husband is a physician, and so I can speak to this, I think, pretty well. Shawnee, quite frankly, is not an attractive town to a lot of professionals. And so when we are making bids for new physicians, they often pass us up because, quite frankly, they can. So, we have to make our town more attractive to the specialists that we desperately need in the town, and we do that by improving quality of life—offering those professionals things that they would like to see in the town so that they move here. We also want them to live in this town, not just work at the hospital and then live in Edmond or McLoud or wherever. We want all of their tax money to stay here in the town. So, I feel like we need to make Shawnee more attractive to the professionals so that we can attract more specialists that we desperately need. And that’s the real issue here.
Ward 2 closing statements are as follows:
Camarata: Again, I’m Amy Camarata for Ward 2. I’m going to use this opportunity for just kind of my philosophy on something. First off, I want to thank PAVE for taking the opportunity to educate people about the differences on each one of us. I don’t think anybody sits on the commission with an intention to do harm by the city. I think everybody has the best of intentions by the city. We just have different ways of getting to the endpoint. When it’s a big election, when it’s a president election, when it’s something that’s going to go to a tax bill, we show up at the polls by a number. If you want change locally, that’s where it’s going to affect you the most. US citizens of Shawnee have a unique opportunity that not everyone has…in Oklahoma. Not every city in Oklahoma has this; it’s unique to Shawnee. You vote for every ward. You don’t have to live in Ward 2 to vote for me or Cami. You live in Ward 5 and vote for me or Cami, or Daniel, or Rob, or the rest of the people that come. So my challenge to every voter is that if you want to be the change like I want to be the change, that’s why I’m here; your opportunity is to vote on June 28. So, I hope I have your vote.
Engles: Thank you again to everyone who’s in attendance and spending your time here to learn more about the candidates. And also, thank you to the candidates that are going through this process. It can be very stressful and taxing on your family members. Have respect for everyone who would step into this arena and try to make a difference on the City Commission. I again would just like to reiterate my reason for doing this is pure and simple. I want to make Shawnee a more desirable place to live. I love the people here. My husband and I have created a wonderful life. We’re grounded here. We’re committed to making this community better. I believe that I have demonstrated my commitment to improving the community through multiple years of volunteer work that preceded any inkling I had of being in politics whatsoever. I do all of this because I truly do want to improve our community. And I love the people here, and I’ve been so happy to have been welcomed by this community. And now I’m grounded. I’m invested. I want to stay here, and I want to do my part in making it better. I would love to continue to represent you, Ward 2 Commissioner, and I would love to have your vote on June 28.
Questions for Ward 5 included:
Q: What qualifications do you have that make you a good candidate?
Ward: I am a pastor of a church. I pastor the Blessed Rock Freewill Baptist Church in Wewoka, and so I have to deal a lot with people and be able to deal with a variety of personalities and things like that. Every month we sit down, and we have a business meeting. We talk about our budget. We talk about how we’re not only going to take care of our bills but how we’re going to reach outside of our church and take care of our community. I was also an MP in the army as well and got out right after Desert Storm. I enjoyed serving my country. And I sell solar panels, so I’m kind of involved in infrastructure. It’s a world that’s a little bit new and coming in now, but it’s interesting. It gives me an opportunity to work a lot with contracts and things of that nature as well. But all of my jobs, I pretty much have free rein of my schedule. So, it makes it to where I can have plenty of time to take care of the constituents as well.
Q: If elected, what would you do to encourage and strengthen housing opportunities and job growth?
Ward: Daniel talked about the land bank in Kansas City, and I’ve been doing a lot of research on that this week because I used to be a realtor in Kansas City. So, I know that area really well. I know the market. I know the areas that they’re putting this money into. They’re taking these homes that are slated for demolition, and they’re selling these homes for two-thirds of the assessed value. Monday night, Betty Scott got her house slated for demolition. Under this plan, somebody can buy that house for about $1,800. You just have to show a proof of ability to renovate the home, proof of funds to be able to do that. There’s an application process. You can’t be a sex offender, can’t be drug convicted, all of these kinds of things. But I would love to go up there and even go with Daniel because he mentioned it. I would love to even just go up there with him and sit down with the Kansas City Commission and say, ‘How did you guys do this? What have you seen that works? What have you seen that don’t? How can we improve it?’ And maybe try to implement something like that. There’s no reason for us to ever tear down another house.
Ward’s closing statement is as follows:
Ward: Well, I appreciate PAVE first of all for putting this on tonight and allowing us to come and express our opinions. I know that I have a lot to learn as a commissioner. I’ve never been in politics. There are elements of taxes and things that I’m gonna have to learn. But I’ll tell you one thing. When I was a pipefitter, I was told that it would take me two years to become a licensed pipefitter and start running my own work. In three months, I took the test, scored higher than anybody in the company ever had, and was running all the work at Chesapeake Energy. I learn very quickly. I went to college when I was 16 years old. I learn very quickly. And so I would just love the opportunity to show you that I can do that and that I can represent you, and be there for you and not be absent. I want to be there. I want to be there to help you. That’s my life as a pastor, my job. It’s what I do is take care and love people. That’s what I do. And so help me continue my passion. My birthday is June 28. If you just don’t know what else you’re gonna do, it’s just as good a reason to vote for somebody for some people as any, is it not? But it is, and I’m gonna be 54. And I’ve got 54 years of experience to put to this. I’ve gone through some tough things that we’ve had to grow through, through that time. My wife is a three-time stage four cancer survivor. I’ve had to love her through every one of them battles and the last time she survived hospice. It’s been a roller coaster ride I wouldn’t wish on anybody, but we made it. We survived it. And I know that I can come in here, and I can go to Ward 5 and serve all of Shawnee from Ward 5 and do a great job and just be there for you guys. And I promise you when you call me I’m going to answer the phone.
Questions for Ward 6 included:
Q: What do you believe are the top three issues currently facing this city? And explain what possible options to consider in resolving those issues.
Butler-Wolfe: One of the main issues that I see is communication, and that’s communicating with all citizens. To break that gap, I’d like to, if elected as Ward 6, to meet with my voices, citizens and also to meet with all other wards to see what kind of ideas, concerns they have in different wards. I want to be that one that they could come to and talk to me about their concerns. And to fix that is basic same old communication. It’s gotta be open to everyone in this town. Everyone makes up this town. It’s not just one set of people. It’s everyone.
Richter: The first one I would say that could probably help solve or at least progress bound some of our issues is to restore faith in people who sit up here and represent you. Working to be someone that you can depend on, even if you don’t agree with them, and believe and feel confident that they’ve made the right decisions. Second would be infrastructure, water, and sewer lines that are eighty-plus years old that break on a world record breaking basis. Third would be homelessness, working to mitigate and get people off the streets if they so choose. And providing resources for them in a coordinated effort so that they can get back on track if they want to, and the businesses that they loiter around or harbor around aren’t suffering because of it.
Rogers: Well, obviously, communication has been a big issue. I spoke about that earlier. The infrastructure I spoke about earlier too, and that is a horrible problem. I mean, we’re expanding daily on new housing further out our peripherals in the city limits. Our response times are growing longer and longer. It takes 20 minutes for a fire truck or an ambulance to get from Shawnee proper to the lake. You have an emergency out there; you’re on your own for 20 minutes. You know, and same with police, I know they just started doing the proactive policing out there, but we need to have full time out there. Our infrastructure, we need to work on getting that fixed. Our homeless issue, we need to be looking at creative solutions because if we’re just congregating them from one section of town to another, all we’re doing is moving the same problem around the city of Shawnee, and that needs to be severely looked at make sure that we’re just not busing them around Shawnee to spread the problem out to different areas different times of the year.
Q: What qualifications do you have that make you a good candidate?
Butler-Wolfe: I would be a good candidate because I would bring leadership to the table as my past experience of being a governor of a tribe. My willing to work with others, my motivation, and my dedication. My dedication of being there and working for the people and listening to the people, what their needs are and what their concerns are. And I’m not afraid to get up and talk about anything, and I would think I would be the better person as being there for the citizens and working with each and every one.
Richter: I think my background in education will serve me well as a potential Commissioner. I am a forever learner. I learned how to, as an educator, work with very little to accomplish a lot. I feel like us teachers have a minor in being able to resolve conflict in a condensed body of people. I have just the emotional investment to Shawnee. I want to see it thrive, and I hold it personal when I see things negative about Shawnee. And I’m inspired to be a leader. I don’t have leadership skills or leadership background because I’m just in my young age of 33, but I do have a desire to be a leader. I’ve finished my master’s in educational leadership with the goal of being a leader one day and I feel like this is a lateral move for me that I could be a city leader for the people.
Rogers: I spent 22 and a half years at Oklahoma City VA as a nurse. Five of those years, I worked as a union steward. Two and a half years after that, I served as a union president. I know how to mediate. I know how to listen. I know how to have hard discussions with people about what’s going on. I’m also an active listener. I like to listen to people and find out what their problems are, and see what we can do to resolve those. It doesn’t always work out for everybody to get the right answers that they’re going to get. There’s never always a win-win situation. I know that’s a nice term that we like to throw around; everybody gets a win-win. Sometimes it’s a loselose. Both sides of the parties lose because it’s not done correctly. Like the Spectra contract, we’re losing right now. I think Spectra is losing on that as well. So I think that me personally, my leadership skills that I have shown in the past, being a nurse, being compassionate, being able to have the hard conversations, and being able to make the hard decisions, would make me a good leader.
Ward 6 closing statements are as follows:
Butler-Wolfe: I’d like to thank everyone for coming out and PAVE for putting this on and inviting us to come and speak. But I think that you know, one minute is not enough so if anybody needs to talk to me or get ahold of me and talk about some concerns, I can talk very long, I’m longwinded…So there’s a lot of things that I have ideas for our great town here, Shawnee, and like everyone has said, you know, we’re not going anywhere. I’m not going anywhere. Born and raised, and my family grew up here. This is just home, home here. And we want to see our city go in the right direction, and to go forward, and to be up to date, and want people to come to visit, and also stay and make that family environment here. So with that being said, June 28, I hope that everyone goes out and votes. That’s everybody’s right to go vote. You vote for whomever you want to vote for that you feel that is right for that position. And I really would like your vote on June 28 to make a difference, to speak for everyone out there and as a citizen. The people that don’t go out to vote, that’s the ones that I’m trying to get out there. Their voice is just as important as someone that is a vocal speaker. A lot of them don’t think that they are heard, and I want to make that turnaround, that gap for those citizens that has been here for a very long time, our lifetimers here. I want to be that one to be there for them.
Richter: Thank you, PAVE, for putting this on. This is the second PAVE Forum that I’ve been at, and I don’t remember much of the first one because I think I was shell shocked. This one I’ll remember even past election day. Thank you to everyone who came tonight… Everyone watching online, thank you. Vote for me on June 28. Happy birthday to Joey. I had to put it out there because it was great. You can contact me anytime inside and outside of this election.
I’m native to Shawnee. I’m not going anywhere, and I want to be available. It’s the educator in me. Again, I’m gonna press that one pretty hard. I want to make connections and inform people; it doesn’t matter what ward you live in. You can get me on Facebook. You can email me. If you approach me, I’ll give you my phone number. But if you know someone who has my phone number, they have my permission, expressed permission to give it to you in advance. I think that people who care about these issues should work towards helping others care more about these issues. And not just keep it to this month and this race from April to June. You know, I mentioned to a few other people during my time during this race that I didn’t hear about a lot of these issues until filing week, and since then have been hearing more and more about them. And that breaks my heart a little bit because they’ve been around longer than this period of our candidacy, and they’renot going anywhere, these, issues and so we we need to be conscious in keeping our stamina to work through the things that matter to us about this city, to make progress in the best places that we can.
Rogers: I know this might sound like a broken record, but really thank you, PAVE, for putting this on. It gives us an opportunity to share our views and our beliefs how we’re going to do this. I said this from the beginning; I’m invested in Shawnee. I live here. I was born here. I was raised here. I go to church here. I’m here. I have a reason to be here. My home is here. My family is here. This is our town. I can remember the good old days when you can go downtown on your bicycle as an eight-year-old. I lived over on the Federal. We used to run all over Shawnee and not have to worry about somebody running you over or hitting you with a car with congestions and stuff like that. I can remember going to the municipal swimming pool and paying a quarter to get in and swim for the day. That’s how long I’ve been here. That’s how invested I am in the city. I think that we as a city have a long way to go to get back to where we restore faith in our commission, faith in our city, faith in that we’re all doing the right thing for the city. So my wife and I have been married 35 years, this July. We’ve got two children who are aged 32 and 29, and I’ve got three grandkids, and I want them to be here. That’s where we’re at. We’re in this community. We want to stay here. We all want to be able to voice that opinion of what’s going on, if it’s not right or if it’s wrong. We want to be that voice. I want to be that voice. I want to be able to be the one that talks for you. I’m listening. I’m actively listening. If I don’t know the answer to the question, I guarantee I’m gonna work hard to find that answer. I’ve always been told the smartest guy in the room isn’t one who thinks he knows all the answers, but he’s the one who is willing to ask the questions to find the answers. I’m Alan Rogers, I’m running for Ward 6, and I’d appreciate your vote on June 28.
The full-length forum can be found at the City of Shawnee YouTube page for those inter-
