Good Hope Mayoral debate

2:54 We're good. Hello and welcome to the beautiful Bailey Center auditorium on the grounds

3:04 of Wall State College in Ansville. Thank you to our gracious host to Wallace

3:09 State College and Dr. Vicky Carowicks. The 2025 Tribune debate series and question and answer forums continues

3:16 today with the municipal elections, more specifically the Good Hope and Bmont municipal elections. These events are

3:24 designed to give the public more unfiltered answers without the questions ahead of time, direct comparisons, and

3:31 meaningful conversation. Now we shift our focus to the candidates running for mayor of Good Hope. Both Jerry Bartlett

3:38 and Larry Krill are present today to answer questions voters and residents would like to know. The church works

3:46 hard uh to reach all candidates and we are glad that both have joined us today.

3:52 With all that being said, let's get to the rules. No electronic devices permitted. Questions will alternate so

4:01 no candidate will answer first or last more than the other. Opening statement is limited to 60 seconds and may be

4:09 prepared. Time allotted per question will be 2 minutes. Closing statement is limited limited to 90 seconds and must

4:18 be spoken without notes. One rebuttal per question but only if the candidate calls out the other and it is set for 45

4:27 seconds. Facts only. No accusations without proof. This will allocate additional time to your opponent. Voters deserve

4:36 substance over slogans. Talking points aren't enough. So, let's begin. Mr. Krill, would you like to give your

4:45 opening statement? >> Good afternoon. I'm Larry Krill, candidate for mayor of Good Hope. My

4:54 wife Janet and I live here along with our two daughters, son-in-law, two grandchildren.

5:00 I bring over 40 years of experience in water, roads, wastewater design, construction, inspection, and

5:05 maintenance. I've managed $6 million budgets and overseen 247 operations for 21 municipalities and counties, working

5:13 on projects funded by agencies like EPA, ADAM, ADCA, and CDBG. I entered this race to give the citizens

5:22 a stronger voice, maintain steady growth, and preserve our small town family atmosphere. As mayor, I'll focus on improving

5:30 infrastructure, maintaining what we have, and ensuring transparency in local government. Good Hope is a great place

5:38 to live, and together we can make it even greater. I humbly ask for your vote

5:43 on Tuesday, August 26th. Thank you to Wallace State for hosting, the Cullman Tribune for organizing, and

5:50 all of you for being here, and those watching online. >> Thank you, sir.

5:55 >> Mr. Would you like to give your one second? >> Yeah. Thank you, Noah. My name is Mayor

6:00 Jerry Bartlett and I'm with the city of Good Hope. I have been living in Good

6:05 Hope for 33 years. Uh, I started teaching at Good Hope when I was 23

6:12 years old and I taught there for 28 years. I taught a little bit of

6:16 everything. Good Hope was a 2A school back then and we had to do a little

6:21 everything from coaching every sport to announcing the football games. Me and Johnny Thornton used to announce the

6:27 football games. Um, when I retired from that, u I got I I did a lot of other

6:36 things. But then when I decided to get into city government, uh I ran for a

6:42 spot which was place four which is community service. And that was about 17

6:50 years ago. And we during that years, the first years that I was there in

6:54 community service place four, we started several community projects which are all still going to this day. the back to

7:05 school bash. We give tons and tons of prizes to the teachers and the students. It cost our

7:12 It cost our uh time. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Sorry. Once it goes a few seconds over,

7:18 I won't call time. >> All right. Uh Mr. Krill, we're going to start with you on question and answers.

7:25 >> I thought we had two minutes. Oh, one minute. >> Okay. Yes. One minute. Uh, Mr. Krill, first

7:39 question, vision and priorities. If elected, what are the top three priorities you would pursue in your

7:46 first year as mayor? >> I think we need more familyoriented uh businesses to Good Hope. Um,

7:58 I think we have a a little bit of a shortage in a restaurants. Um,

8:05 uh, I know that we need a a grocery store, maybe a small grocery store or

8:09 something like that. I would like to see that brought to Good Hope. And, and one

8:14 thing that I've I've been my mind's been wandering on um, is Good Hope has been

8:21 here for what since 1962 as far as incorporated. Um, we still don't have a public library

8:29 and I think that's something that that we need to look at. >> All right. Thank you, sir. And uh, Mr.

8:38 Bartlett, same question. If elected, what are the top three priorities you would pursue in your first year as

8:46 mayor? >> Okay, the first one, and we're already pursuing it, is the bridge at 304. Uh,

8:53 we have been doing engineering. We've been doing road studies. Um we've been doing traffic counts. We're going to the

9:01 fly in in Montgomery I mean in excuse me to Washington uh September the 15th with

9:07 the Cullman uh delegation and we want to try to tell Senator uh Turbil and Congressman Adhalt we're

9:20 trying to get money from them so that we can find out how much that we're going

9:25 to have to put in to get that bridge redone and get the own and off-ramps

9:30 redone. It's been a priority of ours for a long time. So, when we find out what

9:35 the federal is willing to help us with, then we're going to go to Montgomery and

9:40 we're going to see how much they will put in and then we're going to try to

9:43 figure out what kind of bond or whatever we have to do to get it to get it done.

9:48 Um, that's been a priority of ours for a long time. And the other one is we don't

9:54 have any place to have um industrial. So, we've got one industrial park and

10:00 that's uh a core. Uh we have annexed in the last couple of sessions that

10:07 we've had, we have annexed 220 acres and that's going to be there's going to be a 100 acres of it that's

10:16 over on 490 that's going to be just for an industrial park. We're going to have

10:22 a 100 plus acres this right on interstate that's going to be visible to

10:26 everybody. We did not spot annex that. We did it. Uh we touched and we jumped

10:33 the interstate right there by the rest area. So, we're excited about that. We

10:38 need to have some industry that when our kids go to school and come back, you

10:43 know, we got a place for them to work. We want to, you know, supply them a

10:47 place to live. That's another one of our priorities, uh is to have housing. And

10:53 we've got a couple of subdivisions started. We've got a project where we're going to have 53 uh apartment buildings.

11:00 Uh that's uh going to supply uh a lot of need that we have for housing.

11:12 >> All right, we move to our second question. Mr. Bartlett, we will start

11:16 with you. This is on leadership leadership style. How would you best describe your leadership approach and

11:25 how would it differ from another from a current administration or a new administration?

11:33 Well, Good Hope has a strong city council and the way we govern, we don't

11:40 fuss and fight and we get stuff done. You know, we talk about it. We don't

11:46 always agree, but in the end, we want to move Good Hope forward. So, we talk

11:54 about things. We listen to everybody. Everybody has a say. So, and then somebody says, "Let's vote on it." And

12:00 we vote on it. And that's the way we do. I lead by listening and our council

12:07 listens and they uh react and we bring stuff to them. People come to us, they

12:13 want to bring something in, they want to bring a business in, they want to do,

12:16 they want to do something, and they tell us, we tell the council, and the council

12:20 helps make the decision. This is not a mayor runs a city of Good Hope deal. I

12:26 promise you that. This takes a whole team. I have a great team in office. Our

12:31 our city clerks, I think, do a fantastic job. I think our workers on the street,

12:36 I I love them. I think they're great because people tell me they are. and we

12:41 have a guy picking up trash every day in Good Hope and and people tell me we

12:47 notice that. So we keep it clean and we work with each other and we try to make

12:53 Good Hope better. >> Thank you sir for that response. Mr. Krill, same question. How would you

13:00 describe your leadership approach and how would it differ from the current administration? I think that um

13:13 we myself, the council and all, we need to listen to the people of Good Hope.

13:20 Um we need to hear what they're saying. Uh we need to engage them, bring their

13:26 ideas to the table, and we need to talk about those. Um I think right now

13:31 they're not getting responded to, they're not being listened to like they should. Um, I've talked to a lot of

13:38 people in Good Hope and they feel like they've lost their voice in Good Hope.

13:45 So, um, my style would be to to listen to those people and, uh, bring their ideas to the

13:54 table. All right. Thank you, sir, for that answer. All right, Mr. Curl will stay with you

14:08 on this next question is budget and fiscal responsibility. The mayor sets the tone for the city's

14:16 financial priorities. How would you balance the need for growth with keeping taxes and spending under control?

14:27 >> Um, a city needs to grow. Um, but you have to balance that with other needs. Uh,

14:36 the needs of the people. Um, bringing businesses in, that's great. Um, as long

14:44 I mean, family oriented businesses, that's what I'd like to see. I think that's what the people of Good Hope

14:49 would like to see. And um as far as uh uh spending um we could keep that that spending to a a

15:02 uh a smaller scale u while we're building our budget. Uh it would be great.

15:11 Um but I think that um you know sometimes sometimes we get into uh spending money

15:23 uh just because we've got money. I don't believe in that. I think I think there's

15:28 a time to spend um of course safety first. You want to prioritize that

15:36 um and then everything else would fall under that. But uh that's >> all right. Thank you, sir, for that

15:46 response. >> Would you repeat that question? >> Yes, sir. Um budget and fiscal

15:52 responsibility. The mayor sets the tone for the city's financial priorities. How would you balance the need for growth

15:59 with keeping taxes and spending under control? >> Well, there's people in our city that

16:05 they don't want another house to go up in ever. They want it to be like it was

16:10 in 1962 when they were incorporated. They don't want people around them. They don't want businesses around them. But

16:16 overall, we have to grow. Our our schools are graduating kids by the hundreds. Now,

16:26 they go off to college or they go to trade school or whatever, but eventually

16:31 they're going to go to work and they want to raise a family. If you don't

16:35 supply them somewhere to work and if you don't supply them somewhere to live,

16:38 then they got to go to Birmingham, they got to go to Huntsville, they got to

16:41 move off. So, as we are able to put industry here and housing, we can have a

16:49 place for them to work and have a place for them to live and have them a place

16:53 to come back and raise their kids in Good Hope just like they were raised.

16:56 And that's what we're trying to accomplish. And it's a juggling act because you can't make everybody happy.

17:02 So what you have to do is just try to control the growth, control what comes

17:08 in. And that becomes a council problem too. You know, we have to listen, have

17:12 public hearings, and people tell us what they don't like and do like, but in the

17:18 end, we're going to grow, and it's it's going to bring problems, and we just

17:23 have to deal with them as we go. >> Thank you, sir, for that reply. Uh that

17:29 kind of actually leads us to our next question. Uh we'll stay with you, Mr.

17:33 Bartlett. Uh it involves economic development. What is your plan to attract new businesses and jobs to Good Hope while

17:42 supporting the ones you already have? >> Well, we we don't want another uh place that

17:51 sells boots to compete against Jack's Western Wear because, you know, they do a great job. So, we we would like to

17:57 balance what we have. We don't want to try to hurt the businesses that we have.

18:02 But, you know, a lot of this we don't control. If if a a business finds a

18:07 piece of land and it's zoned for business that uh is it's okay, it fits

18:13 the zoning and they come in and they purchase it, you know, then we have to

18:18 make the best of uh the situation. You can't have total control and say, "No,

18:24 we don't want you." Yeah, but I've already bought my land. So a lot of

18:28 these when you see stuff on Facebook, why didn't you get you got this but why

18:32 didn't you get that? A lot of we things like that we do not have control over.

18:37 So we just have to kind of make the best of it as we go.

18:41 >> Thank you sir for that reply. Mr. Krill, the same question with economic

18:45 development. What is your plan to attract new businesses and jobs to Good Hope while supporting the ones who are

18:52 already there? Um there again I uh when people come to you and they want to

19:02 bring a business in um I don't think we need to kick them to the curb um as such if it's

19:11 in a good location um that's not going to affect another business um that's doing the same type

19:19 of business uh I think we ought to allow that um you know if it if it fits the style

19:26 where um where we can um but uh we just have to go out and try to

19:37 attract those businesses um to come in to Good Hope. I think Good Hope is a good place to

19:47 uh live, work, play and and do business. So, the uh businesses want to come here

19:55 and I think we ought to look at each one of them and not just kick them to the

19:59 curb uh because they they have a something that you don't want or maybe the cash register doesn't

20:07 ring 24/7. Um that's it. >> All right. Thank you, sir, for that answer and we'll stay with you, Mr.

20:19 Krill that that kind of leads into our next question which is quality of life.

20:24 What steps would you take to make Good Hope a more attractive place for

20:30 families to live, work, and stay long term? >> Well, we have a good school system.

20:38 People will come here want to go to school, bring their kids to school here.

20:44 Um, and we do have parks. got the new park there, the red park. Uh

20:51 that's a nice attraction now. Uh we need to finish that. Um and maybe add some

20:56 other things to it. Um, I think that good probably uh I think the people would probably want to look

21:04 at maybe putting a municipal pool in um in addition to u Miss Eller spoke about the u

21:14 adding the water feature, but I think we need to look at uh probably something in

21:19 the u putting in a municipal pool that would be attractive. Um, and um, yeah, like I mentioned before, I

21:32 think a library, I think we we probably need to look at that. We support the

21:37 schools and stuff. Um, so that would just complement that uh, supporting the schools. Um, I really believe we need

21:45 one here in Good Hope. >> Thank you, sir, for that response. Mr. Bartlett, same question. quality of

21:54 life. What steps would you take to make Good Hope a more attractive place for

21:59 families to live, work, and stay long term? >> Okay, we we just did that a year or two

22:06 back. We bought 33 acres that joins our municipal park now, and we've been

22:14 putting money in it as we can. And we've uh we've added pickle ball. We've added

22:21 basketball. We've added a playground, a very nice playground. I have people telling me that that they come from um

22:31 way over out of the county. They come from way over around Jones Chapel. They

22:36 come here just for our park. So with subdivisions that we have that are

22:42 building up in Good Hope, we want to have one of the nicest parks that we can

22:48 have in Cullman County. Uh we do want a splash pad. We don't want a municipal

22:53 pool because uh Hansville's trying to get rid of theirs. Cullman's got rid of

22:58 theirs. you know, they're now they did they hadn't got rid of their inside pool at the aquatic center,

23:06 but having a pool, there's a lot to it. We've we've talked with the council and uh we've decided

23:13 that we would like to have a very very nice splash pad. You know, we we've just

23:19 added a bunch of trails. Uh we're going to kind of pull the mountain down and uh

23:25 add more trails that we can run cross country on. We've just added the golf

23:31 disc golf. So we want to make this a very very good park and we're going to

23:38 we're going to put every nickel we can into it. What we've done is we have not

23:44 earmarked, but we've kind of set aside that if we get a hotel, then we get the

23:50 4% lodging tax and we're going to take that 4% and we're going to put it into

23:56 our park, which if we got a couple of hotels, man, we could really make our

24:01 parks really shine sooner than later. So, that that's kind of what we're looking at. We need some hotels. And uh

24:09 we also uh would love to have restaurants and they go hand in hand.

24:14 When you have hotels and you have people staying in hotels, they're going to need

24:18 people restaurants in order for those people that stay there to go. So once

24:24 you get one, you know, you get one hotel, you're probably going to have two

24:29 or three uh restaurants, nice restaurants that are going to spring up. and we're working, we're putting the

24:36 word out and and we're going after hotels. >> Thank you, sir, for that response. And

24:42 Mr. Bartlett will stay with you. This is on intergovernmental relations. As mayor, how would you work with

24:52 Cullman County officials, neighboring municipalities, and state liter state leaders to benefit Good Hope? Well, just

25:04 like we we go federally, we go to we go last time we went to uh DC, we brought

25:10 back a grant from Mr. Adhalt for just under a million dollars to light 304,

25:17 I'm sorry, 305. And we also got a grant for $1.3 million to build a storm

25:25 shelter slash uh community event center. Tomorrow at 10 o'clock, we're having our construction pre-construction meeting to

25:35 build that senior community center 300 person storm shelter. So, it's been a long time coming, hasn't it, Greg? But

25:44 we're going to get it started tomorrow. So, going and asking, all they can say

25:50 is no. So, we brought back 1.3 and we brought back right under a million

25:55 dollars. And now we're going back up there and we've got we've spent a lot of

26:00 money with all the details to show them what we need, the traffic studies,

26:05 everything so we can get this bridge done. We've worked with Cullman City. Uh

26:11 we had a project where a core is on the right, their subdivisions on the left.

26:17 So we split the cost of paving the road. So that's working with each other and

26:23 and uh we've got a good track record with working with Woody and he's helped

26:27 us and we've helped him and we appreciate all they help us do. Thank you sir for that response. Mr.

26:35 Krill, we'll move to you. Same question. Intergovernmental relations as mayor. How would you work with Cullman County

26:43 officials, neighboring municipalities, and state leaders to benefit Good Hope? Well, I I agree with Jerry on the fact

26:52 that um we need to go after all the grant money you can. Grant money is

26:56 good. Um bond money not so so good. But um I I would uh

27:05 I would go meet with them. um talk about projects, uh try to uh

27:13 um you know uh join in where I could with them and uh uh where it would benefit the people of

27:21 Good Hope. Um and uh it just be on a project by project basis. Uh

27:29 but um I don't have a problem with working with other municipalities or governments.

27:37 Thank you sir for that response. Mr. Krill will stay with you. Uh this goes

27:42 to public safety and emergency preparedness. What specific measures would you take to ensure the safety of Good Hope residents

27:51 as the city grows? Well, you'd have to work closely with the uh uh EMA and um

28:02 uh fire departments um and such as that u u meet with them on a regular basis um

28:11 and talk about things uh that uh would affect all the people of Good Hope. Um, we want our citizens to

28:21 come first and um, I would work with those those agencies to do that.

28:29 Thank you, sir, for that response. Mr. Bartlett, same question. Public safety and emergency preparedness. What

28:36 specific measures would you take to ensure the safety of Good Hope residents as the city grows? the the two main

28:44 problems that we have in Good Hope. One one of the main problems is we're low

28:48 and tons of water comes through Good Hope. So, we have water problems. We

28:53 have flash flood problems. We also have tornado problems. The council has uh got

29:00 uh this is going to be the third uh storm shelter that we've got. So, we are

29:06 constantly trying to upgrade our storm shelters. Tomorrow, we're building one. This going to be nobody's going to have

29:13 one like this. This is going to be our senior center. We're just putting a a

29:18 little kitchenet in there and a place for them to meet. But when a storm

29:22 comes, we have to turn that thing into a 300 person storm shelter and everything

29:28 else. We can have meetings in it. We can have anything, but it turns into a storm

29:33 shelter. So, another problem we have is these dead gum uh sirens. We spend money

29:43 on these sirens and and they go out and and I think we spent6 or $7,000 and they

29:50 lasted two years. Well, we've got some people coming in the next few days and

29:54 we've got a meeting with them and they say they've got a new state-of-the-art

29:58 type siren that's going to cost us maybe $25,000. Well, when you start spending six or

30:06 $7,000 and it lasts two years, you might it might be time to look at something a

30:10 little bit different. So, hopefully they've come up with something as people have got it patented in Louisiana and

30:16 they're going to come and show us what we can add. So, we're always thinking

30:21 about safety and you know, I know we could do it on our phone, but our senior

30:27 citizens, they expect to hear that siren. So, we're going to we're going to

30:32 try to come up with something that's not so costly and so much to maintain.

30:38 >> Thank you, sir, for that response. >> And we will stay with you.

30:48 Is that correct? >> Yes. Yes. I'm sorry, I lost track of where I was. Uh, Mr. Bartlett,

30:56 transparency and accountability. How will you keep citizens informed and what systems would you implement to make city

31:03 government more transparent? >> Well, laws make it where you you have to do

31:12 things. Uh we have to have public hearings on certain situations. Uh after we have a council meeting, we our our

31:22 clerks, they post it on our Facebook page. uh we uh if we if we was to have an annexation or a

31:33 change of a zone, we have to send certified letters to everybody that it

31:39 affects. So, we cannot go out and get them by the hand and bring them to the

31:44 council meeting, but we try to leave the council meetings open and inviting and

31:50 write down and put it on Facebook what's going on and hopefully make them, you

31:55 know, aware of what's going on. But, um, we don't try to hide anything. We keep

32:01 everything on the table. They're welcome. We have work sessions and, uh, they're welcome to come in. We even have

32:07 food and we offer it to them when they come in. >> Thank you, sir, for that response. Mr.

32:14 Krill, same question. Transparency and accountability. How will you keep citizens informed and what systems would

32:22 you implement to make city government more transparent? I think we need to uh uh put more on the

32:33 uh city's website uh posted and such. Um but we've got a lot of citizens uh in

32:44 Good Hope that they don't do the internet. They're older older than me. Um

32:51 and I I don't know. They they still they still read print newspapers. Uh so it

32:58 might be that we need to start a uh probably a newsletter or something put

33:04 out uh with the things that have transpired maybe after every couple of once a month

33:12 um every couple of council meetings uh so they can be informed uh because a

33:17 lot of people just they don't know what's going on um the way after it happens and I think

33:25 that would be a good idea is to start a newsletter at some interval.

33:30 >> Thank you, sir, for that response. And now we'll stay with you, Mr. Krill,

33:40 on growth and identity. Some residents fear rapid growth could change the character of Good Hope. How

33:48 would you balance development pressures with preserving the city's small town? Um, rapid growth can be bad sometimes if

34:00 the infrastructure is not there and you try to do the infrastructure last. Um,

34:07 I I don't I think we need to do our infrastructure first and and then come

34:13 with the growth. Uh, if we don't, we've got major problems. Somebody's going to

34:18 have to take care of it. Uh, whether it be your roads, sewers, or or whatever.

34:23 Um, and I think some of that is beginning to show up and it may be

34:28 because we've we've got a lot of growth around us, you know, from Huntsville, uh, Decar

34:35 and stuff is bleeding down this way, uh, space and rocket center, stuff going on

34:40 up there, the space force and stuff. Uh, people are looking for places to live

34:45 and um, but we don't want to get too fast for ourselves. Um, I think we need to look at the

34:54 infrastructure more. >> Thank you, sir, for that response. Mr. Bartlett, same question. Growth and

35:02 identity. Some residents fear rapid growth could change the character of hope. How would you balance development

35:09 pressures with preserving the city's small town? Well, we annexed uh some land on 490 which uh in order to

35:19 have industrial park and now that gives us three exits that we can be accessed.

35:28 So, by having three different access areas, it's going to allow more people to be able to use use that and

35:40 and exit there. But when you have property that has three exits, you're going to have people wanting to

35:50 come and live there because it's convenient. We're 50 miles from Huntsville, 50 miles from Birmingham,

35:58 you know, 35, 40 miles from Madison, you know, and there's lots and lots of jobs

36:04 there. And so these people don't want to live in all that rat race, so they want

36:08 to come here. But growth, our school, you know, when I started teaching was a

36:14 2A. Now we're, you know, a 5A and and we may before long be a 6A. We're 4 A or

36:21 5A. It's I think we're right at a 5A. So, it's a problem that we're going to

36:29 have to continue to deal with. you know, whether you don't want growth or you do

36:35 want growth, you're going to get growth because we where we are. Thank you, sir, for that response.

36:45 And Mr. Barlet, we'll stay with you on this next question. It's a legacy

36:49 question. If you were to serve as fullterm as mayor, what one achievement would you most want to be remembered

36:58 for? getting the 304 interchange fixed where we got three lanes that go across there and people that are turning

37:11 left to go south on the interstate wouldn't have to sit the traffic going

37:16 to the Good Hope School wouldn't have to sit there and wait and wait and wait. I

37:20 just think it would be a great accomplishment. That old bridge shaking every time somebody goes across it, you

37:26 know, it's been that way forever. It's a bottleneck when school lets out, when Dayar Church lets out, it's it

37:34 creates a bottleneck. And we've been talking about it for 20 years. You know,

37:40 20 years ago, it would cost uh we might could have got it done for 15, you know,

37:46 15 million or so. Now, we're talking $30 million to get this thing fixed. So, the

37:51 longer we go, projects keep getting put ahead of it. And if we don't go to the

37:58 federal level and start talking about it and get on the agenda and put it out

38:03 there every year, then we're probably never going to get it. So, we keep

38:08 thinking, oh, they're going to widen the interstate and it's going to be three

38:12 lanes all the way to Tennessee and three lanes back. And when that happens,

38:17 they're going to have to do something to our bridge. Well, we've been thinking

38:20 that for 20 years. So we can sit on our hands and keep hoping that the state

38:25 will come do it for us, but we got to be proactive and that's what we're going to

38:29 try and try and try to do and that's that's what I'd love to be known for.

38:36 Bartlett got this bridge done. >> Thank you, sir, for that response. Mr. Krill, the same question. If you were to

38:44 serve a full term as mayor, what one achievement would you most want to be

38:50 remembered for? I guess I'd like to u be the guy that that the citizens of Good Hope

39:01 remembered as uh keeping the small town atmosphere going uh bringing in businesses that uh were

39:10 familyfriendly, family oriented. Um and I agree on that bridge. All my life it's been like that. Uh

39:22 but u that would be great to finish that as as well. I I don't want to don't want to

39:30 copy what he's saying but uh that is a bad sticking point. >> Thank you sir for your response. We only

39:38 have two questions left. We have one from the audience. Mr. Krill will go

39:43 with you first. Has either candidate ever faced a felony charge?

39:58 Uh that's an amazing question you got. Um yes, I have um faced it live living with it right

40:07 now. Um I don't have enough time allotted to answer that completely. Uh, but I'm

40:16 gonna answer it truthfully. Yes, I have. And um uh I it was a federal felony charge.

40:26 Um and I had to plead guilty uh to shake myself loose from a lot of

40:35 people that were involved in things that I had no knowledge of. And um I plead guilty to that. Um, it

40:44 was a $500 anniversary present that was given to me by a superintendent from a

40:50 construction company we' done business with. Um, when I worked for Jefferson County Environmental Services.

40:59 Um, so that that's been a punching bag here since I've started uh running. Now,

41:04 I could have sat quietly by after I moved to Good Hope and um probably

41:10 nobody would have ever known that. But I got to dealing with uh things in good

41:15 hope and uh looking at what was needed in Good Hope. And it would have been

41:20 really selfish of me to stay back in the shadows and not step forward. I knew

41:25 this was going to come up, but if anybody would like to ask me about it

41:29 oneonone, I'm going to run out of time here, but I'd be happy to answer it in

41:33 full. Um but yes, um I did have that charge and um I paid for it. um paid a heavy price

41:44 for it in my opinion. Um there were people involved uh above me and such that did eight eight plus

41:53 years in prison. Um and I I had uh 12 months probation, $3,500 fine

42:02 and such as that. Um uh I was the only one out of that whole

42:08 group um that uh did not lose the ability to uh work with the federal government, state

42:18 government and such as far as funding and things. Um I never lost that

42:23 ability. I didn't lose my job. Uh so yes um uh that's my answer to it. It was

42:34 specifically for me. Uh I'm not so sure about Mr. Bartlett, but uh uh if I had it to do over again, if I

42:45 could go back and change it, yes, I would. Um I didn't feel like I'd done

42:50 anything wrong uh when I accepted that gift. And uh I know in the state uh the they will tell

42:58 you, oh, you can uh accept $25 a day. Uh that may be so under state law, but not

43:04 federal law. And you they do not have to prove that you gave anything in return.

43:11 So if you've ever used any federal money and you've had anybody to ever work on

43:15 your place or give you something, a golf club, a rod and reel, it doesn't matter.

43:21 Uh it's called things of value. and if you accept it, you can be prosecuted for

43:26 it. I was not aware of that. Um and and did get caught up in it. Uh that was my

43:33 in a 30-year career. Um the feds came in and dug into that my whole life and

43:43 that's all they found. And they thought that I had information on other people,

43:47 which I did not. And they knew that in the end. Thank you sir for being open

43:52 and honest and transparent with your answer. Um again that was a audience question.

44:00 >> Um Mr. Barlet >> same question. >> No >> no Mr. Barlet will stay with you. Are

44:10 you happy with the Cullman County Sheriff's Office's services? And what is the amount paid to the Cullman County

44:17 Sheriff's Office for patrol and housing of inmates yearly for Good Hope? We don't pay for housing of inmates. Um,

44:30 if I'm not mistaken now, Christie and them uh we all sign a contract every

44:35 year with um with Cullman County Sheriff's Department and the last time I remember looking at it,

44:46 it was somewhere around uh4 to $50,000. We have one deputy and um they supply

44:55 the car. uh we may pay the insurance on it. And since we went wet, you know, our DUIs

45:06 haven't went up. Uh nothing has really changed. We haven't had to have an

45:12 extra. But we might um as statistics change and if we need uh another deputy, you know,

45:22 on down the line as we grow, I'm sure we're probably going to have to. And uh

45:26 right now they kind of work back and forth with Dodge City. If Dodge City is

45:30 off, they talk to our deputy and and uh they fill in for each other. We're so

45:35 close to Cullman County anyway. We have lots of access to officers within just a

45:42 matter of minutes anyway. So we've had no problem. We've not We didn't want to

45:49 have to have a judge. We didn't want to have to have a prosecutor. We didn't

45:54 want to have to have jail. We didn't want to have uh multiple cars. It almost

45:59 bankrupt uh Good Hope several years ago when we had all that. So, we're very

46:05 happy with Cullman County and uh we'll continue with Cullman County and worst case scenario, we'll add a deputy or two

46:15 on top of what we have. >> Thank you, sir, for that answer. Mr.

46:19 Krill, same question. Are you happy with the Cullman County Sheriff's Office services? And what is the amount paid to

46:28 Cullman County Sheriff's Office for patrol and housing of Good Hope inmates yearly? >> Um, the last part of your question, I

46:37 have no idea how much they pay, but yes, I'm happy with the Koma County Sheriff

46:42 taking, you know, charge of Good Hope. U, I don't I don't see a problem with

46:48 that. All right. Well, that ends our debate for today. I would like to thank you both for coming

46:59 and speaking. We're going to get to your closing statements now. Mr. Bartlett will let you go first and Mr. Krill will

47:06 let you close. >> I appreciate everybody being here and I appreciate Dr. Carowick's um inviting us

47:14 here and letting us use the auditorium. No, I appreciate y'all. appreciate the tribune. Um, thank y'all for what you

47:21 do. A lot of people work and wouldn't be able to do this, but they can go back

47:25 and look online and they can find it and listen to it. Um, when I took over as being mayor there,

47:36 the budget was like 960,000. Today, our budget is 3.4 million. So, we if if you look around Good Hope,

47:46 obviously you can see that we must be doing something right. We're growing and

47:52 I hopefully I I hope we're growing right. We're growing our parks. We're supplying places for people to play. Uh

48:01 we're keeping our roads I mean when you got 33 acres of I'm sorry 33 miles of

48:07 roadway. You know there's going to be years where one road's not going to be

48:12 up to snuff with the other roads. But we try to do you know four or five miles of

48:17 roads each year so that we just don't get behind. And in some of our

48:21 subdivisions, you know, they go a little bit longer because they're building out the back of the subdivision and you

48:27 don't want to, you know, put the final coat of of uh asphalt, you know, to just

48:33 to be torn up. So, uh, I've been here. I've watched it grow. We support our schools. If we give

48:42 uh $44,000 worth of uh money to the schools from 14,000 to the high school and all the

48:50 other schools get 5,000 each. Um we we put 12,000 uh I'm sorry, we put $15,000

49:00 of money in a pot and and this has worked so good. We have a uh board made

49:08 up of two council members and two of the principles and our uh school board

49:18 member Carrie neighbors and they have to write out an application and say what

49:25 they want to use this this is a teacher grant program. Some of them use

49:30 furniture in their school. They use >> all kind of stuff. Thank you for your answer, sir. Mr.

49:37 Krill, you'll have two minutes and 20 seconds. Same as Mr. >> I came to Good Hope um when I retired,

49:48 brought my wife, both daughters here. I built three houses for us. Um because

49:57 I like Good Hope. Um, I visited my uncle often here as a child. Um, later on in my teenage years,

50:08 I worked me and my dad hauling fertilizer and stuff up here to the

50:12 farmers. Um, Good Oak's always been a good place. Um, I would like to make it better. Um, and

50:24 if given that opportunity, if y'all see fit, uh, a week from today, um, I'll be able to do that.

50:34 Um, you haven't voted for a mayor in a long time. Um, and now you have opportunity to

50:43 choose. So, um, with that said, I humbly ask for your vote next Tuesday

50:54 so that together me, the council, and all the citizens of Good Hope can make this a better place.

51:03 Um, I appreciate Wall State for holding this and uh, Cullman Tribune. And, uh, Tuesday,

51:14 please go out and vote and vote for me. Uh, Wednesday is when Jerry's running.

51:25 >> It's the other way around. >> Thank you for your Thank you for that

51:30 joke at the end. I like that. Uh I would like to thank uh Mr. Krill and Mr.

51:35 Bartlett both for showing up. Um it's kind of hard to get up on the stage and

51:39 answer questions especially in a debate format. Uh we would also like to thank

51:44 our audience uh here at Wall State. We'd also like to thank our audience watching

51:48 at home and we are finished with the mayor oral debate for Good Hope and in just a few

51:56 minutes we will begin the vinemont question and answer with Charlie Arnett but for then we are done for now. So

52:06 thank you both and thank you all for coming.