Weakley County Mayor Forum Q & A
The University of Tennessee at Martin and The Weakley County Chamber of Commerce held a Weakley County Mayor Forum in Watkins Auditorium on Thursday June 11 to introduce the candidates and ask community submitted questions from each candidate.
Bud Grimes with the Office of University Relations, moderated the event, asking a total of 10 questions and giving each candidate 90 seconds to respond. The event was attended by numerous members of the community, filling up the auditorium. The introductions, questions, responses and closing remarks of each candidate are listed below:
Introductions:
John Robert Freeman, Republican Candidate:
I'm the owner and operator of Freeman Cattle Company here in Martin, Tennessee, and an employee of the Weakley Farmers Co-op. I'm a seventh generation Weakley Countian and a lifelong resident of this county. I graduated from both Westview High School and UT Martin. I have served the last seven years as the Republican Chairman of the County Election Commission, and for the last two years as the County Commissioner for District 4. Therefore, I have taken every step necessary to make me the most qualified candidate for County Mayor.
Dale Hutcherson: Independent Candidate:
Above all else, I'm a Christian, I'm a conservative, and I'm a Republican who's been forced to run as an Independent. I want you all to know today that above all else, outside of my Christian faith, I believe in servant leadership. That's what this county needs. This office and every public office are positions of service, not positions of power and I'm here to prove that every single day that I walk in that courthouse. The county mayor job consists of three main components. A chief marketer for this county, someone who's willing to go and put their best foot forward for each of you. Someone who's a resource for our commissioners, our employees, our department heads, our citizens. And then third, someone who's willing to be an advocate when we need an advocate here in Weakley County. A little bit about my background. I'm an attorney. I've been an attorney for the past six going on seven years. I've served as a firefighter for over a decade and a half at the Dresden Fire Department. I'm six generations deep here in Weakley County and I'm very thankful for my wife and my child.
Danny Powers, Independent Candidate:
A lot of you may know me at Powers Farms, my brother Bernie Travis Jr., Bernie Travis Sr. I've done excavation work, we've done a big job, fencing, fabrication, Baptist Hospital Union City, done numerous jobs around the county and every place else. We've also had volunteer work for Meals on Wheels, we've been doing that for several years and trying to help out the county the best we can. And you know, it's kind of ironic to me that when you look around, I put my signs up out here in front of Wal-Mart, a lot of people may have seen those, have the flags on them, lights on them. Well, the next thing you know, two days later, there was already a hotel coming in and out. People don't realize that taxes from hotels actually go to the county. It's not going to the city. It goes to the county. So it hits the whole county. But something's got to be changed. And it's not going to be easy. I'm going to have to work with all the county commissioners. If they work with me, we'll turn this thing around.
Question 1: What are the top three issues facing Weakley County and how would you address those issues?
Hutcherson:
When I think about Weakley County's needs and us moving forward into the future, we're a county that has the potential for extreme prosperity, but a few things have to be put in place to reach that prosperity. I'd say the big three right now that we're facing as far as infrastructure needs are transportation, public transportation of some sort. Right now we're fortunate to have the Northwest Tennessee Human Resource Agency, which does provide transportation for folks. But we could expand on that. I'd say another major need is housing and housing infrastructure. And there's somewhere, in some way, for us to build on that. The way we do that is to work together, of course, not only as a county mayor, but with the commissioners, with our department heads, other elected officials, to ensure that we become a viable option when it comes to bringing in not only housing, but the right type of housing for home-working families. The last, third component I'd say that's most important, is quality of life amenities. We're very fortunate in Weakley County to have senior centers set up in just about every town. The reality is there are many people over the age of 60, and actually much more than there are under the age of 18. So we need to make sure that quality of life is set up and in place for those folks. At the same time, where we could expand is in the retail area, the retail space, making sure there's plenty for our citizens to go and do, plenty of places for our citizens to enjoy themselves and their families.
Powers:
Well, we have several issues right now. We've got a tax problem. I don't know how exactly we're going to solve it. We're going to work with county commissioners to try to do something. We've got a school issue. We've got some good schools. The state's going to pass the law in 2026, and all the teachers must have a $51,000 income in 2026. We're going to be cut short on some of these salaries of some of these teachers. And first thing, we need to make sure that we have fire, equipment, and ambulance services. Safety comes first. I don't care what anybody says. If you have a problem, you have to call the police station or fire station. Some of these volunteer fire departments. And they just got $8,000 off at $1,600. $1,600 a month, you can't put a volunteer fire department for $1,600 a month. It's hard to run a household nowadays for $1,600 a month. And these people out here working their heads off and trying to get things done.
Freeman:
Our biggest three issues all come from the fact that Weakley County has grown stagnant. We are not growing. Our population peak was at $35,00 in 2010. In 2022, our population is now 33,000. Our population is on the decline. The next generation is leaving. There is nothing here for Weakley County. There is nothing in Weakley County to keep them here. We have to grow this county, but we have to start investing in our infrastructure. We have to bring in new businesses, new jobs, better paying jobs. You can’t fault the next generation for wanting to go to Murfreesboro or Nashville or Memphis because there are better paying jobs and there’s more things there for them. We have to grow, so we have to reverse the population decrease and we have to start working together on making, growing our funds, our tax base, not our tax burden. Right now we're sitting here in a cash crunch. The second problem is our cash crunch. We are not in any trouble by any means, but right now we can't afford to fix the roads like they need to be fixed. We can't afford to fund all the schools like they need to be funded. We have to grow our tax base. We have to keep our population here to grow our tax base.
Question 2: Tennessee continues to rank near the bottom in per-student expenditure for public education, yet we've seen bills in the legislature that could divert millions of dollars for school choice. What is your position on school choice or vouchers?
Powers:
The vouchers are another issue that we're going to have to have. Some of the vouchers and things we're going to have is going to create a problem. If you have some of the vouchers out and there's not students in the school, you're going to start cutting teachers. And if you start cutting teachers out, that makes another problem. A lot of different things you want to resolve here, and I don't know how you're going to end up doing some of this stuff. But we've got to get a hold of it. And I'm going to work, like I say, with the commissioners and try to get everything we can done. Because if we don't work together, there's more problems than that that's coming up and we're going to need all the help we can get, because if we don't tax, what's going to go on? And the voucher problem is just one of the problems in the schools. And we have to navigate through that the best we can.
Freeman:
Ladies and gentlemen, I don't oppose vouchers. Right now, there is 370 school-age students in our county who do not go to our public education system for whatever reason. Their parents have chosen a different path for them. At 370 students, that's $2.5 million of our taxpayer money that the state is holding back, not sending to us. Now, would I love for that money to come to our school system? Absolutely. Both of my daughters are in the school system here. I'm selfish. I want the best school system for my kids. But these parents have decided they don't want their kids there. So we have to, as a county, we need to start looking for alternatives. If we can't get that $2.5 million into our school system, let's at least bring it into our economy. That would be a huge economic boom by these parents getting that voucher and starting to invest in their kids' education. The fact that the school vouchers will cause issues in the school system. But if you're already looking at 370 students that are not here without getting paid, most parents are not gonna take a $7,000 check and pull their kids out of school. $7,000 won't pay a single tuition for any private school in this state.
Hutcherson:
I am anti-vouchers. And the reason being because of this position, Weakley County Mayor is to fight for Weakley County and what's best for Weakley County. What I see after growing up here my entire life is that we're extremely fortunate to have the public school system that we have. We need to do more with more, not more with less. Right now we have a program, a school board that has put forth their best efforts and finalized us in the top 12 in the state when it comes to academic standards, which is incredible given the budget they've had to work off of. What I would say about vouchers is that it's absolutely a program meant to take away and constrict public schools. We do not need that. Weakley County is uniquely situated with great people, and our people are our greatest asset. And those people have been raised through the school system by great teachers. There is absolutely zero reason in my mind to take away from that. There's zero reason to divert tax dollars away from our public school system. Further, what I'd say about the voucher program is it appears to be a social program that's taking our money as taxpayers and putting it forward to someone who wants to put their child in a private school or homeschool, which is fine. I'm all for educational freedom. However, don't let the term freedom take away from the fact that you already have that freedom.
Question 3: One of the major issues in the county is the need to make teacher pay in Weakley County competitive with other area schools. Some of our best educators have moved to other counties for better pay. How will you solve the teacher retention issue with a limited budget?
Freeman:
So as a county commissioner I have been pro teacher pay increases. My voting record is voting to increase our teachers pay because good teachers make a good school system. The biggest problem we have right now is the unfunded mandate by the state. Every new teacher gets paid $50,000 out of the game, which sounds great. Do you think about that teacher that has been there for eight years? And they're getting paid $54,000. As a county, we have to start bringing in more money. We have to grow. We have to start increasing our tax base. We have the money on hand to increase the teacher salaries ourselves. That way, our teachers are the most competitively paid in the state.
Hutcherson:
What I'd say, as I mentioned at the start, one of the jobs of the county mayor is to be an advocate for Weakley County. First thing I’d do is advocate to the legislature that we certainly don't want a program put in place that is going to take away money, take away tax dollars that should be going to our public school system and our public educators. That's number one. Don't divert donors away from our county. The next phase of that, there is a direct correlation between local sales tax and our public school system. I would highly encourage each and every one of you and everyone watching out there to continue to shop local because it has a direct impact on the dollars and the funding that goes into our public schools. Keep doing that. Local business is important for various reasons, but know, take it to the bank, that it is a great incentive for you to shop local because you know you're going to be supporting our public schools.
Powers:
Well, the first thing I'd like to do is have some more business here in Weakley County. If you have businesses, you have individuals. If you have individuals, you're paying taxes. The more taxes we have, the more money we have. Like Mr. Hutcherson said, you're going to have to shop locally to have our money here for taxes. If we have the taxes, we can have an unlimited budget for what we want to spend and keep all the people here, the teachers get good salaries, and everybody will come back. If we don't do something with all the vouchers and other programs we've talked about, we're going to have some bad problems down the road. We need to keep our teachers. We need good education. We need good schools. We need good roles. But we're going to have to have some kind of business to come in here. We can't just sit back and say, well, we've got a hotel sitting over here. Oh, that's great. We'd like to have more businesses. Because everybody remembers, when Good Year closed over in Union City, Tennessee. It was doomsday. If MTD was closed out here, it'd be doomsday tomorrow. We need more businesses, because if we have more businesses, we'll have everything a whole lot better and be taxed. People will come. Don't worry about people wanting to work here. If you have a good job, individuals will come. If they have good pay, they will be here. Don't worry about that. We need businesses here. And we're going to have to generate somehow or another to get businesses here. And they will come. And there are businesses that will come here. And if we give you businesses, we'll be fantastic. And all the teachers can get raises, and the schools will be good, and everybody will be happy.
Question 4: The county mayor holds the ability to break a tie vote within the Weakley County Commission. Hypothetically, if school consolidation came up for a vote in the Weakley County Commission and the vote was tied, how would you vote?
Hutcherson:
I would absolutely vote against consolidation. I'm a firm believer in our community schools. Study after study after study shows that the student to teacher ratio is one of the most paramount elements when it comes to student success. We're, again, extremely fortunate to have the schools we have in Gleason, in Greenfield, in Sharon, in Martin, in Dresden. We have also seen what a community losing their school looks like. Unfortunately, and the folks at Palmersville know, as I've talked to them, they are the example, the shining example of what it looks like when a community loses their school. A once thriving community is now having to deal with the economic impact and the loss of losing their school. I want each and every one of you to know, if you take nothing away, nothing else away from tonight, that we will have an advocate in me when it comes to each community keeping their schools.
Powers:
It’s real easy to explain this. When the four-lane roads come through here in our county-they went through Sharon, good town-they went through Greenfield. Do you want it to go around? Sharon did. And it went through Greenfield. And Greenfield is still growing. If you have a consolidation of these schools, you know what’s going to happen. It’s going to shrink the town down to nothing. That’s one of the reason I decided to run. I mean, think about the cost of what's going on with this. You're talking about consolidating schools? Well, you Union City’s got it but we're not in Union City- this is Weakley County, Tennessee. I think we do a better job on this thing, and I think we're doing a good job. And if people want to consolidate, you're talking the wrong guy. I don't want to consolidate schools. Because just like that road going through Greenfield. Sharon, look at Sharon. Sharon's a good town, good people. But you need it to go through your town, and you need all the help and support you get. We also need one thing else: All the people need to band together, be together, and we'll work this out.
Freeman:
So, tonight we're lucky because all three mayor candidates up here agree. Consolidation is not for Weakley County. I represent people in Greenfield. Greenfield wants to keep their school. I represent people in Dresden. Dresden wants to keep their school. I represent people in Gleason. Gleason wants to keep their school. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a great school system. We have freedom of choice of school. We have freedom of education in Weakley County because you can send your kid to whatever school you want to send them to. I know that my kids flourish in a highly competitive environment like Martin schools. That's why they're in Martin. Not every kid learns that way. As parents, we have to decide what is best for our kids and pick the school system that we feel they will flourish the best in.
Question 5: According to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the most recent unemployment rate in Weakley County was 2.9% with 15,065 people in the workforce and 440 unemployed. Additionally, the workforce participation rate for May 2024 was 55.6%, the second highest in northwest Tennessee. If you plan to bring more jobs to Weakley County, what strategies would you use to attract the workforce?
Powers:
Well, the first thing you've got to have, is we all know, you've got to have a business. You've got to have something to do. We've talked about having businesses and we're going to have businesses. We need to have a business. And if you have a business, it's like anybody else. The people come there because they've got a good product. If you have an organization here right now, If you've got a good place to come to work, the people will be here and they will work. And guess what they do? They pay taxes. Makes the schools better. And everybody will feel better about it. Everybody will get along better. But you've got to have an industry. There's no excuse for not having some kind of industry around there. None. Zero. And if we all work together, y'all people know people out here in the country that want to create a business. Y'all people know people out here that might want to come here. You need to talk to them. We're all in this boat together, people. And if we sink, we're all going down together like the Titanic. Because taxes are going to go up again. And it looks like they're going to. There's no excuse for it. We all work together and we'll survive.
Freeman:
So 2.9% unemployment, that's a great number, that's because the next generation is leaving Weakley County. We've already talked about how in the last 12 years we've lost 2,000 people. That's the next generation, they're leaving. To retain those young people, we have to bring in better paying jobs. We have to invest in not only new business and industries, but we also need to invest in the existing businesses that want to expand. As county mayor, my job is to be the number one salesman for this county. I want to go out and not only shore up our existing businesses, but I want to ask them, who is your suppliers? Then I go to their suppliers and ask them, when you're ready to move or expand, look at Weakley County. We can't sit back and wait for them to come to us. We have to go to them. For this county to grow, we have to reach out. Guys, I've been married, I've been with my wife for 20 years. No doesn't scare me, and that's the worst thing they can say to you even though it's not.
Hutcherson:
I believe that Weakley County has a lot of opportunity as we sit right now. I believe that we have major opportunities for our students. We have major industrial partners in just about every city, and one way that we can continue to expand on that is bridging the gap in communication between our great public school system, the University of Tennessee at work, TCAP, on either side of our county, that put our great employees year in and year out that have skill sets that fit those jobs. I want you all to know that we do have something in Weakley County. We have something special that we can absolutely do. And the way to expand on that is to implement and spend funding on infrastructure. That includes the transportation that I mentioned earlier. That includes making sure that we have our viable option for housing when it comes to make sure that our middle class families are ready to roll when it comes to having a place to live and a job to go to. I'd also say to expand on that, to attract in our retail space, to continue to grow that retail space so that families have plenty to do. Mr. Freeman is correct that we do have a lot of folks that leave because they feel like they have to, not because they want to. As the chief marketer of this county, I will absolutely go and recruit and recruit and recruit until we find the right jobs and industries that fit our citizens.
Question 6: Chancellor Yancy Freeman has set an enrollment goal of 10,000 students at UT Martin by 2030. How would you support this growth?
Freeman:
First of all, UT Martin is one of the key study industries of our county. This is a great resource that not every rural county has. So with Chancellor Freeman, who I promise you, no relation, even though we kind of look alike, you know, with his call to increase student enrollment, you know, as Weakley County, we need to embrace this. Now, the biggest problem we have right now is the housing shortage. You know, other than there's no pipeline. So as county mayor, I want to put a big drive, we have to start working on increasing. We have to start working on building more houses, more residential areas for these students. And to do that, we need to lean in to our existing technical and STEM education. A highly skilled workforce is a better paid workforce and for us to be able to meet the needs of the college to build new houses, we have to invest in our kids' education.
Hutcherson:
I want him to know that he has a partner in Weakley County, someone that's willing to do that and serve as not only a resource, but someone that's willing to go and not only recruit students, but recruit industry to come to Weakley County. Now, fortunately, I've had the chance to listen to him speak as well as a few others in this room about this 10,000 number. Now, it sounds like a crazy goal on its face, but it's really not. If you take into account the fact that UT Martin has satellite campuses all over West Tennessee, that number goes into that. It takes into account the Parsons Center. It takes into account the various other centers that are affiliated and associated with our great university that they have right here. Now, knowing that, that gives us a little bit of breathing room and a little bit of cushion as a county to try to make sure we set up infrastructure, yes, but make sure we set up infrastructure in the right way. Making sure we have homegrown growth right here in Weakley County. Keeping our children here. Making sure our high school students see UTM as a viable option. We're bridging that gap in communication to make sure that they see that UTM is not only a great option, but it's the best option for them to attend, it's the best option for them to go and get their degree and add to the already existing workforce that we have here in Weakley County.
Powers:
You've not only got education here, but you'll drum up more business. And people, I'm under business 100%. I want to be with business. Because if you've got business, you pay taxes. Then you've got people coming that got jobs. And if you've got a good enough job, they're going to pay good money. And they want to keep their employees, and they want to do good things for them. And then once you have all the jobs, you have tax revenue. You have tax revenue, you can expand more on everything that you want to. Taxes are more important. Guess what, people? We're paying taxes. And if we have people that's bringing businesses here, it'll make it a whole lot easier on people that have houses. It's paying taxes. It makes it easier on everybody. The main thing is having businesses here, and we can recruit more businesses. And I'm strong for businesses. The businesses down here will come. They will come. And that is one of the best things that I want to do is have businesses here to cut some taxes.
Question 7: If elected county mayor, what do you hope to accomplish in your first 100 days?
Hutcherson:
When I think about this position, as I mentioned earlier, there's three main components. It's being a leader. It's being a marketer. It's being a resource. And it's being an advocate. I'm extremely familiar with the concept of how a team works. I've been extremely fortunate to grow up in a fire department, grow up as a football player, playing with great teams and great people all through my raising. And I know after that experience what it takes to build a team. So what I'd say my first goal is, is to make sure that the county commissioners know that they have a resource in me. Someone that I can trust. Someone that they can come to, someone that they can consult with, someone that they can look to find them an answer when they need to make decisions on behalf of their constituents. I want them to know that if they're in here tonight, that you're going to have a resource in there. I'm not someone who's going to lead by ego or with pride, but I'm someone that leads with logic and reason, and as I said earlier, someone that leads through servant leadership. I want to serve each and every one of you. I would do the same thing for our other election officials, our other department heads, our employees, and our citizens. That would be the main thing I want to build on right out the gate. Further, as I mentioned earlier, I'd like to have a meeting with Chancellor Freeman and various other industry leaders to see what direction our county needs to go when it comes to our economic development. I'd say that's one of the chief concerns of our county, is homegrown growth.
Powers:
The first thing you're going to have to do is meet with all the county commissioners. The mayor has responsibilities. He cannot work without the county commissioners. They're going to have to agree to the language that's got to be done. And you're going to have to work with them. I mean, some of the county commissioners, the knowledge that they have on doing things, it's kind of like Larry Kelly- I'm going to call him out. The knowledge that he has on building, my goodness. He built so many houses. All you've got to do is get the county commissioners and take his knowledge and go with him and say, what can we do or what can we not do? And that leads you in the right direction. Each one of the county commissioners, you're going to have to get with them. They've got special tips that they can give you. And they've got knowledge, and we can use that. We've got knowledge and if we work together, you can pull an awful heavy load. But you've got to work together. You can't pull against each other. And the people in the county, you're the same kind. We're all in the same place, and we need to work together. The only goal we need to have is for Weakley County to be successful, be number one. It's everybody. Every citizen in Weakley County needs to understand we're all in this together. Because if our taxes goes up, everything's going to go up.
Freeman:
Two years ago I ran for county commissioner and I won. I already have a great working relationship with the county commissioners. Sometimes I'm pretty sure they want to knock me in the head. But hey, it's all fair. But the first 100 days I want you to go to every major industry in this county. Stanley Black & Decker, Greenfield Products, UT Martin. And I want to let them know, the managers of these places know, who I am and that I have an open door policy for every business in this county. We have to grow this county. And I want to find out who are their suppliers so I can work down that chain and go to their suppliers to see if they are willing to move the county. Not only that, I want to go to Blue Oval. With that Blue Oval moving in, there are going to be feeder industries that are looking for other areas besides Memphis to move to. We have a great opportunity. We can have an economic boom. If we just simply, if you have a mayor who is growth forward, who is willing to go forward and talk to people and ask the question, what do you need to come to Weakley County?
Question 8: As county mayor, how do you plan to represent all municipalities to make sure Weakley County succeeds?
Powers:
Well, the first thing you want to do is what I've been doing to start with. You want to go out to each one of the counties and communities and talk to people. You'd be surprised at the knowledge that I've learned from people and told me the concerns that they have for the county. You need to be out there and talk to each one of the people as much as you can and find out exactly what's going on. Because a lot of the stuff that you don't know, I had no idea that some of the stuff that they told me. And all the concerns, if they're a citizen, that's my problem as well as it is theirs. You need to go out and talk to the people in the county, so you'll have a better relationship with the people. And you'll learn a whole bunch of information from the people out there, because they have concerns and they want to find out something. And if you'll do that, it'll make Weakley County a whole lot better, and stronger, and everybody will work together, and we can make Weakley County number one again. Make it strong and profitable. Like I said, business is the basic thing that I want to do, and that's what I'll try to do.
Freeman:
I’m commissioner for District 4. District 4 sits in the heart of our county. It’s a unique district because I already represent not only the good people of Sharon but I have voters in Martin, Dresden, Gleason and Greenfield. I already sit there and represent a vast swath of the communities in our county and as county mayor I have, and like I said, an open door policy. Whatever the problem is, we'll figure out a solution. Furthermore, since I've worked with the co-op, I've learned I work, you know, I do a lot of work by phone. My phone number is not secret. It will never change. I'm always there. I'm always reachable by phone. In order to serve everybody in the community, you have to be willing to answer the phone. You have to be willing to sit down and have that conversation and make yourself available to them. And as the next county mayor, that's what I intend to do.
Hutcherson:
During this campaign, I've had the chance to meet with each and every mayor from each and every city. They simply want someone who's going to serve in this office as a resource. Someone who's going to listen to their needs. I know that the mayors of each town have their municipalities under control. They're thriving. And they're working to continue to thrive. They're working to continue to build on what momentum they already have. All I can tell you is in this office, my job is to listen to them. My job is to make sure that they have everything they need to succeed from the county's perspective. What I can tell you I'll do is I'll listen and I'll listen and I'll listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason. That's what I'm going to do to make sure that every municipality from Sharon to Gleason to Greenfield to Martin to Dresden to Palmersville to Latham to Dukedom is heard. Because each and every one of them has needs. And there's a gap that needs to be bridged. And I want each town, and each mayor, and each alderman to know I'm here for you. And I'm looking forward to the chance to work with you.
Question 9: Why are you running for Weakley County Mayor?
Freeman:
I'm running for county mayor because of two very important people right here. My very own special interest group, my daughters Ellie and Caroline. Right now, our county has nothing to keep the next generation. My oldest daughter is 14, and she will be the first to tell you that when she goes to college, she's gone. That's the problem we're facing as a county. That next generation is moving. I've been fortunate and blessed that I have served as a public servant for so long, that I have seen these problems. And I feel like I am the kind of person who can get ahead of this problem. And I'm willing to stand there and fight this problem. I want to reach out, grow our businesses, grow our economy, and make Weakley County the type of area that our next generations aren't leaving, but we're attracting the next generation from other places.
Hutcherson:
I love this place. Weakley County, there's no place like it. I would argue that we definitely do have something here. We have something that I hope my three-year-old daughter will want to come home to if she leaves. And I want to make sure that this is a viable option for her as she gets older. I'm running for Weakley County Mayor because I love this place. I'm running for Weakley County Mayor because I believe in servant leadership. And I believe in politics today. We don't see enough of that. I want you to know you're going to have a servant leader in me. Someone who's willing to listen. Someone who's willing to market. And someone who's willing to advocate on your behalf. It's good to walk in humility. And I can assure you I'll do better than that. But when it's time to step up and advocate for Weakley County, I can promise you I'll do that. Because why? Because I want to serve you. Because I love this county. And this county deserves the very best. And I hope and I pray that I bring that to you every day that I get a chance to walk in that courthouse.
Powers:
Well, it all kind of started when I went to the Republican Party one night, when I was down there serving food, I thought I'd just drop in and make a donation myself. And I went over and got me a piece of cake, and halfway through this cake-eating thing, there was so much uproar, I decided I would just leave. And I got to questioning the people of the county, and I and I got to talking to a bunch of people. I said, somebody needs to step up and run. I'm not going to back down on nothing. People know me. I'm senior. I don't care. I'm not going to back down. I'm what's best for Weakley County. I'm going to support Weakley County. Somebody may lay down and nod their head, and I'm going to go along, but I'm not going to nod my head. I want to find out what's wrong. Let's solve the problem. Like I said, we can work together. We can solve anything. We don't even have to solve it. But you can't go in there with an attitude like, well, I'm right. I'm a construction worker. I told my employees before, I said, hey, that's not right. You're doing it wrong. Let's go try it this way. I said, wait a minute. You're right. I was wrong. You've got to work together. And if you have a challenge like that, you will. But like I said, you've got to do it the way we can and could. And you know, that's just the way it is. It's not going to be any job for the labor. I mean, because you're going to have bumps in the road. It's going to be hit. I mean, talk about a tax increase this time. Well, maybe not. Well, it could be. Well, we'll see. We all know it's going to be a tax increase, and we're going to spend more money. You've got to have money. You can't keep giving money away to different programs. You need to be adjusting and asking questions. You can't go along with everything. You have to ask questions.
Question 10: If there was one thing you do as county mayor and not have to worry about the cost, what would it be?
Hutcherson:
I'd make sure that Weakley County Schools are able to do more with more. We have seen what we can do with less. Weakley has some very special people out of each and every community school that we have. There's no place like Weakley County. Weakley County Schools, our public school system here, is uniquely situated. We have uniquely great educators. We have uniquely great administrators. We have uniquely great students and parents. So once we fund that, if I had all the money in the world, we would see this community thrive. Not only today, but for generations to come. That's what I want to do.
Powers:
Probably the first thing I'm going to try to do is for all the people out in the county, I'd like to see some kind of sirens up there for tornadoes. We have them in the cities, why can't we have them in the county? People in the county pay taxes. People ask me about this. We've got to have sirens in the county for tornadoes. We're sitting out there in the dark. If I just take that money and put it out there for this. Like I keep saying, safety is the most important thing you can get. People don't understand that. Safety is first. Police, the fire, and the ambulance, you've got to have them. You've got to have them. That's got to come first. Public safety is number one. If you've got a safe neighborhood, you've got to have them. If you've got a safe county, people will come. Don't worry about that. They'll be here. And we've got a good sheriff's department, ambulances, police department. Everything we've got here is great. Everything's great. Fire departments. We're running a little short on the volunteer fire departments out there. So that's what I'm going to do. I'll take my money and give it to them.
Freeman:
I’m going to agree with Mr. Hutcherson here. The number one economic driving force in any county is education. Our school system has done a marvelous job with less and less. If I was able to fully fund something and not worry about the cost-it’s a no brainer-it goes to education. We’ve seen what they can do on a shoestring budget-lets see how great it is for our students if we can give them everything.
Closing Statements:
Powers:
I am a senior citizen, and I have the knowledge of all the businesses that I've been in, and farming, and a lot of people here. I want to see Weakley County grow. I can make it grow, and talk to people, and, like I said, navigate through it. And it's the work of the county commissioners. Like I said, the knowledge of the county commissioners, each and every one of them. We can work this thing out. We don't have to go in there and say, yeah, okay, we're going to vote for this, and we're going to vote for that. The mayor of Weakley County only has a certain limited that he can do. The county commissioners are going to call the patrols, and all you people out here that are voting, remember, vote for your county commissioners if you want in there. And we've got some good county commissioners. Not bad amount of nobody. But we've got to work through this thing, and I think that I can make Weakley County strong.
Freeman:
As a county commissioner, and excuse me, as an employer, I run a business. I understand that the most important thing is as an employer, your decisions don't just affect your family. They affect the family of everybody that works for you. As county mayor, we have to have that same mentality, that the decisions we make don't just affect ourselves and our families. But also affect families of everybody that works in the county government, and everybody in the county. Now, I was once told, if you feel you're the smartest man in the room, you're in the wrong room. I never claimed to be an expert on everything. But luckily, I have learned through years of experience, to know that I have to reach out, and I have to find the experts. I have to find that smartest person in the next room and ask or look for that solution. If y'all vote for me as your next county mayor, you're not alone. You’re going to get somebody who's willing to stand up for everybody in this county, but it's also willing to understand that I don't know everything. But I will go with you and find that person who knows that answer, and together we'll learn something new.
Hutcherson:
In the early part of my career, as an attorney, I had the chance to live everywhere from Los Angeles to New York, and a few places in between. I learned a lot. But I'm going to tell you something. The greatest takeaway I had from that experience was how much I appreciated this place. I will never take Weakley County for granted. Weakley County deserves the absolute best. I talked earlier about being a servant leader. And the best type of leadership is exhibited through the faith that I have in a Christian. It's someone who is a servant leader. You will absolutely have that in me. I've mentioned it before and you're going to hear it until I'm blue in the face. I seek to serve you. I believe in the Constitution as our framers wrote it. Anyone and everyone that serves in the public office, including this public office, is to serve at the consent of the government, not the other way around. I'm here to be your marketer. I'm here to be your resource. And I'm here to be your advocate.
