2020 Cullman Municipal Election Debates: Gwen Parker, Cullman City Council, place 3

0:11 and we are back with our municipal election debates in this case for city council place three public works

0:25 we have had due to a difference in schedule we were able to have incumbent johnny

0:31 cook here at one time and win parker at a separate time so we are

0:36 with ms parker now and we will be making mr cook's video question and answer

0:46 available immediately following this so miss parker please introduce yourself and tell us why you're running for city council

0:56 i'm quinn parker candidate for coleman city council place three i am a graduate of athens state college

1:03 and the alabama banking school i received my teacher's certificate in 1977 and went into banking then

1:10 instead of teaching i'm very interested in government politics when it comes to coleman city

1:19 government because i'm very active in the community here and i want to see coleman continue to grow

1:25 i'm currently employed with people's bank of alabama where i've been over 40 years

1:29 i'm over the retail division of the bank where i supervise 27 branches in seven

1:35 counties i also write the policies and procedures by which they operate i'm over facilities management and

1:43 actually have been a project manager over a lot of the construction projects as well as the

1:49 renovations i'm also over bank security and what that means is i supervise or control

1:57 the vaults the cash the alarms surveillance and dual control i'm a sticker a stickler when it comes to honesty and

2:07 all dealings that i hold myself and others highly accountable uh to the highest

2:12 levels of accountability transparency is the utmost importance to me i'm excited about the possibility of

2:19 serving on the coleman city council and anyone that knows me knows that i've

2:23 always been very active in the community i'm on the board of the victim services

2:29 the pilot club saving forgotten warriors the elks and the veterans day program committee i

2:36 previously served on the city's planning commission the executive committee the republican party the agricultural trade center

2:43 the kiwanis club and i'm also past chairman of the morgan and coleman county better business bureau

2:50 i am chairman of the alabama elks trust where i oversee a two and a half million

2:55 dollar portfolio and i'm used to creating and working within budgets working to find savings and cutting out

3:03 waste i am a team player and my involvement experience in all aspects of my life

3:09 shows that i work towards a common goal with partners towards in effectiveness and efficiency get into our questions

3:19 now the first question here under public works roads are a huge concern for citizens of

3:30 coleman do you think that the city does a good job maintaining its roadways

3:35 or how do you think things could be improved well i definitely think things

3:39 can be improved i'm glad to learn that the city has invested in some paving equipment um

3:48 i think there's lots of improvements that need to be made on our roads and

3:51 with that i would like to see those prioritized i see some roads being paved right now

3:56 that has very little traffic on them like knight street for example that didn't have any potholes in it then

4:02 you have other roads such as east hansville road that has a one-mile stretch there that has over 240 houses

4:10 on it soon to be over 300. that road is in terrible shape as is the bridge that's

4:15 on it so i think prioritizing is is of most importance but anytime you're doing something

4:22 yourself versus farming it out to somebody i think you're going to save money so

4:26 i am for that investment and and the next question was related to that paving has

4:33 ramped up around coleman this summer lots of folks claim that it is because it's an election year

4:38 but the city has said it's because of their their new paving equipment making it

4:42 easier and more affordable do you feel that that equipment was a good investment

4:48 i do think that that equipment was a good investment however just having that equipment

4:55 doesn't make it good your your people have to be adequately trained to use it properly because if they're

5:02 not trained properly using that equipment could cause a problem that has to come

5:07 back and be fixed later okay a major complaint and it has it has come to all levels of

5:20 city government in the last few years the concrete dividers along u.s highway 278 in downtown coleman

5:30 while we know that this is a roadway maintained by the alabama department of transportation

5:35 aldot and that al dot itself installed the dividers do you think that the city

5:40 could have done anything about it or if not then is there something that

5:46 the city can do now or in the future well that is a al

5:51 dot issue and they're i actually called al dot when they started putting those

5:55 up because the one they put up across from one of my branches on

5:59 at north coleman for example it prevented our customers from turning left into our parking lot they

6:04 have to go down and do a u to come back in so i called out dot to complain and

6:10 that's something that they did because of safety issues because of so many wrecks from people turning

6:17 turning left i don't think the city could have done anything about it because that is an al dot issue

6:24 okay another project that has gotten a lot of attention recently the widening of alabama highway

6:35 157 from highway 31 east past coleman regional while we know that's also a roadway

6:43 maintained by aldot and subject to funding availability from the state do you think that the city has handled

6:50 its end of that project well working with the local legislative delegation to move things along do you think

6:59 anything could or should be done differently well it's hard to even remember how long ago

7:06 that project started it's been so many years i'm sure that more could have been done

7:14 now what those issues are that was before my time so i really i really don't know

7:20 but um anytime you're working with legislators i know that they can put a fire under somebody sometimes to

7:26 get things done but it it appears that somebody dropped the ball along the way

7:33 okay there are or have been reported drainage issues in some of the new subdivisions around

7:43 the coleman area how would you suggest would be the best way for the city to

7:50 deal with these issues well i think they definitely need to be addressed when i've been going

7:56 door-to-door campaigning i've met a lot of people who have actually shown me the pictures of the training issues that

8:03 they're facing and when a developer comes in and builds a subdivision those plans are looked at by the city

8:12 planning commission all that drainage is supposed to be handled to their specifications from the very beginning so as the end

8:19 result when those drainage issues were not handled properly there should be recourse there to go

8:24 back to those developers and make those drainage issues go away okay now public works funds a lot of

8:36 construction so that's something that you would be working with the but stepping away from something specific to

8:48 public works the city schools five year plan includes a major construction project in

8:57 the next few years what should the city's role be in such a project with the school board

9:07 well i think the city's um place in that is to work as a partner with the school

9:12 board to work with the school board on developing a plan to to finance that project their

9:19 uh of course their budget for the city of coleman has grown by several million

9:24 dollars over the last five years and i'm sure the school board's budget has grown too but with all the growth

9:31 coming to town with the additional tax revenue the additional property tax revenue we

9:36 should be able to find some money somewhere to partner with them to help get that

9:40 school bill okay and then that was the last of our of our regular questions but

9:50 please take a few minutes now to tell the citizens of coleman anything else that

9:56 you would like to share the floor is open okay again i'm gwen parker candidate for

10:01 place 3 the coleman city council i'm confident there's no candidate that's any more involved in the

10:07 community than i am and i feel that my experience in branch and financial management

10:13 facilities management security will lend me a lot of assistance and help moving into city council and city

10:19 government coleman is an excellent place to live work and raise a family and if elected

10:25 i would be happy to address any inefficiencies and encourage any any encourage transparency

10:33 any dealings with with our city government just because you may be satisfied with

10:38 my current opponents performance does not mean that it can't be better new prospect perspectives and new ideas

10:46 can bring a positive change to our city it's time for new ideas on how to

10:51 improve our current situations caused by their rapid growth growth is good to the point but when you

10:57 grow too fast it causes other issues such as overcrowded schools and run down

11:02 roads i want to represent a city government that is more proactive rather than reactive

11:11 excuse me refer to my notes we also have a great park and rec

11:20 department in coleman and i'd like to see that continue to grow i'm very aware of the

11:25 rv park that they have that has been built it's still being finished on the

11:30 borough property in the county although i haven't heard how the logistics of that is going to work

11:35 but my vision would be to see the park and rec enhancement the next project be a amphitheater for

11:42 our city a venue of this nature would bring additional tourism to the city

11:47 and would bring income to our small businesses in town while also giving our coleman city

11:53 residents another entertainment choice so i have a vision for coleman and that is to move

11:59 coleman forward in a progressive way to accept the daily challenges that we face and turn those into opportunities

12:07 i believe that i have the leadership qualities to do the job and transparency and accountability are

12:13 top priority with me i'm gwen parker candidate for coleman city council and i ask for your vote on august 25th

12:23 parker thank you