City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello and welcome to the beautiful Bailey Center auditorium on the grounds of Wallis State College in Hsville. Thank you to our gracious hosts Wallis State College and Dr. Vicky Cardawix. The 2025 Tribune debate series and question and answer forums continue today with the municipal elections, more specifically the Coleman City Council. These events are designed to give the public more unfiltered answers without the questions ahead of time, direct comparisons, and meaningful conversations. Today we will continue with city council place one, place three, place four, and place five. Well, hold on. One, two, three, and five. My apologies. And we will start with uh our first candidates for place one. We're focusing on Brad Smith and Chuck Shackle. And we would like to thank them both for filming today. And with that being said, we'll go to our rules for the candidates. No electronic devices permitted. If you have a smart watch, please go ahead and turn it off. Uh questions will alternate, so no candidate answers first or last more than the other. Your opening statement is limited to 60 seconds and may be prepared. Time allotted for each question will be two minutes. A closing statement is limited to 90 state 90 seconds and may be spoken without notes. One rebuttal, one rebuttal per question, but only if a candidate calls out the other and it is set for a 45 second rebuttal. Facts only, no accusations without proof. This will allocate additional time to your opponent. Voters deserve substance over slogans. So, let's begin. We will start with opening statements with Brad Smith.

Good afternoon. My name is Brad Smith, uh, city council place one. Uh, I was born and raised in the city of Coleman, graduated from Coleman High School. Uh, my wife Cheryl and I have been married for 23 years. Uh, she was born and raised in Coleman as well. I have two boys. Uh, one that's a senior and one that's an eighth grader, also in uh, Coleman City Schools. Both of my parents are from uh, Coleman, born and raised. Uh my dad worked in the trucking industry for many many years and uh my mom worked for the city of Coleman for 30 plus years and uh I came on council in 2022 and went straight to work with other city council members and my public safety administrators. I'm very proud of my accomplishments in my short time on the council. I look forward to the discussion today and thank you to the Tribune and Wallace State for hosting us. Thank you, sir, for your opening statement. And Chuck Shackle, same thing. Uh 60 seconds for your opening statement, sir. My name is Chuck Shel. I'm running for city council place one with the exception of my 5-year military career uh as a military policeman in the United States Army. I've lived my entire life in the city of Coleman. I'm a retired police officer with 25 years experience. 21 of those years have been at the city of Coleman. Throughout the course of my career as a police officer, I've had an opportunity to work in pretty much every uh area that the police department has. Whether it's uh started my career as a motor officer, uh worked as an investigator, I've been a shift supervisor. The last two years were spent uh supervising our SRO program and our park police program. I think that my experience working within uh the public safety division, working alongside our firefighters and working with our uh telecommunication specialists give me a really uh unique, and I hate to use word perspective, it's been one of my campaign things, but a

unique perspective on what these guys need uh and and what we can do as a council to help them succeed. Thank you. Thank you, sir, for your response. Uh Brad, we're not allowed to have any other statements. Sorry. Thank you, sir.

All right. Well, we will get started with this debate. Uh Brad, uh we're going to go by first names from the rest of the debate if that's fine with you both. And Brad, we'll start with you on leadership style. How do you define leadership? And can you give one example of a time when you led through conflict or challenge? Yeah. Um my leadership style can be uh can be somewhat aggressive but uh driven with facts and uh so uh we obviously when I came on in 2022 uh knew some of the council members well some didn't but uh meeting with our administrators and the needs that they that they had uh they came to me and I went work straight to work to uh to work with other council members to get the things that they need whether it be fire trucks. Obviously pay has been been a huge step uh in in helping recruitment and retention uh within our whole city departments as well as first responders. Um conflicts obviously we've worked with through some of those. I go to bat hard for my guys and always have. The results that uh that I've given have proven that and um so you know I've been very effective in in the short time of being on there and uh explaining to our other council members why we needed these upgrades coming with facts and very proud of those accomplishments so far.

Thank you sir for your response. And Chuck, same question on leadership style. How do you define leadership and can you give one example of a time when you led through conflict or a challenge?

Uh I think my leadership style is is I I believe in leadership by by service. Uh I think my throughout my career I have I have strived with anybody that was uh a subordinate to me. I've always focused on um making sure that they've had every tool that they've had available to them so they so that they could so so they could advance. I look at uh the last night shift that I ran. I think everybody off that shift uh has gotten promoted to sergeant or or better, including the uh uh the now chief and the assistant chief. Not that I'm taking credit for that. They did that on their own. But I have always been I've always been a servant leader. I have always focused on betterment of the people. uh that work well they don't I don't like to say they work for me but they work they work with me and uh and and I've been able been fortunate to lead a lot of great uh people both in the civilian law enforcement side and uh in the military uh as far as conflict in leadership uh gosh there's there's so many whether it was uh when I was on the tack team or a shift supervisor uh probably briefly uh the last the last uh conflict that we had to deal with when I was a a leader uh was an armed it was an armed uh domestic violence suspect that had taken shots at his wife and had her restrained to a bed. And I was able to coordinate all of our guys in a manner that we could uh effectively deal with this situation without any uh without any loss of life and without any injuries to any of the officers which are uh important but most important without any injuries to the to the victim and without any injuries to the subject. Thank you sir for your answer and uh Chuck will stay with you for question number two and this involves growth versus preservation. Coleman is growing quickly. How do you balance new development with protecting

the city's small town identity? So I think that's been one of the uh that's been one of the hot topic uh points on the campaign trail. I've been going door todo um as much as as much as I can throughout this process and that really has been the number one topic is growth and and how uh how can the city manage it and I think uh I think that that when it comes to how our city is growing and how we're we're we're dealing with uh with that with that growth as far as where the new developments are coming in and things of that nature. I think that uh I think that we could do a better job um directing directing that growth and trying to uh and trying to to to focus it. You know, infrastructure is important and and I think that we our city has grown and our infrastructure hasn't grown with it. And I think that that's going to be an important factor as the city continues to grow, both roads, sewer, water, uh and our public safety uh infrastructure as well.

Thank you, sir, for your answer. And Brad, we'll move to you. Same question. Growth versus preservation. Coleman is growing quickly. How do you balance new development with protecting the city's small town identity?

Well, we are growing and that is a testament to uh to the people that came before me that made this city what it is. Uh it is a safe town. It is popular. You know, lots of people are looking forward to moving here. That wasn't always the case and like I said that that is a testament to the people have come before me and we've helped nurture that. The great thing position we are in now is that we get to choose kind of what housing developments we want here, what industries we want to recruit, what retail developments we want to accept or turn down. And we've turned down many because we're in a great spot now to to embrace the ideas and the retail developments and even industry we want. And uh that's a great place to be. Uh, as far as our infrastructure, I would disagree some uh with Mr. Shackle on that. Uh, I'm well aware that our public safety uh is in a great department to uh to lead into the future. We've set it up that way. Uh, also, you know, our roads, that probably be the biggest thing. We're doing paving obviously all the time. Um, we have our sanitation. It's a great part. We secured our trash for the next 100 years. We secured our water for the next 100 years. Um, so I would disagree on that. uh our infrastructure is in a good place and we're in a spot now where we can continue to pick and choose the things the developments that are right for Coleman.

Thank you sir for your response and we will move on to question number three regarding public safety. What specific policies or resources would you support to strengthen police, fire, and EMS services as as the city expands?

Well, uh like I said, Mr. Shackle is a is ex is a retired policeman and u I'm not. The great part about that is is that we have great administrators in all of our departments, especially in our public safety division. Uh we had a uh longtime chief, Chief Bradberry, that retired. We brought him on as the public uh safety director because we brought in a had a longtime chief and chief called Kenny Co Pepper that retired, had a new chief coming in, had a new fire chief coming in. So, we brought that in to help help that gap with the learning experience um that that those two didn't have. Um we brought that forward with new facilities. We brought that forward with new better pay for recruitment. We brought that better with better leadership. uh we we do not want mediocrity in our public safety division and I think that has been proven uh leadership we're going to hold people accountable uh hasn't always been popular uh but that is what we are after and so if you do not want to be the best if you do not want to live up to the standard that that we are setting in the public safety division then then maybe it's not the best place for you but we've had a great buyin from the people if you're willing to do the training if you're willing to take on the education that we offer and not just sit back. We're willing to take care of you with pay. And so, you know, throughout the state, we're recruiting some of the best, you know, from lateral divisions, um, from other uh, agencies. And, uh, I'm very proud of that. You know, it used when I first came on, it it was it was tough to find, uh, police, fire, and now, you know, we we put up an ad the other day for a policeman uh, hiring a patrol division. In three hours we had 21 applications. I mean that's strong. That's far far away from where we used to be. And so I'm very proud of those accomplishments and the next four years, you know, I think we get a whole lot more done. So I'm looking forward to it.

Thank you, sir, for your response. And Chuck, we'll move to you. Same question. Regarding public safety, what specific policies or resources would you support to strengthen police, fire, and EMS services as the city expands?

So, I think what's important um and and I I will I will compliment our council. They they did do a lot uh to increase our starting pay from a recruitment standpoint. Um I think the most important portion moving forward is retention. Um, I think uh I agree with with Mr. Smith that we need to be hiring the best police officers, firefighters, uh, communication specialists. We need to train these guys to the best standard. And most importantly is we need to we need to figure out a way to to work on retention. We've had some retention issues in some of these uh some of these areas and I've I've spoken with um uh public safety director Bradberry and I know that that they're working on plans to to to fix it. Um, I would like to see I would like to see the school resource officer uh stuff expanded a little bit to to entice some of our uh soon to be retired officers to step into that role. Uh, it would obviously involve bumping them up to the to the state maximum pay for uh retirees, which is pretty common uh amongst other agencies around our area. Uh but I do think that that would help. I think that would help uh motivate some of these guys in the upper echelons uh to make that next step towards retirement and it would open up promotional opportunities. Um I've had an opportunity to speak to firefighters and and police officers and a lot of those guys feel trapped. They they feel like there's not a lot of upward mobility. I know from the police department standpoint, um, a lot of the positions that used to be promotable are now appointed positions and some of these guys feel like they that there's no more uh there's there's not as many avenues uh to advance. So, I think that's something that the council could could uh work on and change. Um, and and I think uh one thing that I mentioned before and and I've actually spoken to him about it. Uh, it's something that that has come up. we've been hearing it uh from the time I hired in 2004 is retirey insurance. You know, I think if

we had retirees insurance, I think that would be a very very nice uh retention tool. Uh and it would also motivate guys that whenever it comes time, it would motivate those guys to to go ahead and step out. All right. Uh we're going to give you 45 seconds to respond to the um council specific. Yeah.

Okay. Yes, on that the retention part u national average for you know retention within fire and police is of 15% uh with combined we sit around seven and uh so you know I I really think that's great um you know I understand Chuck hasn't had any experience in the executive leadership level but when we raise our starting pay we in turn raise our top out pay so our guys that are in in positions above that had the availability to make more money as they And you know, I understand as he met with the, you know, director Brad Barry and I don't think, you know, he was able to clear it up, but uh it it's really pretty simple. When we raise the starting pay, the top pay goes up. That's been great with the retention. Obviously, as I just stated before, 3 hours, we have 21 applications. We just put out one for the fire as well, the same response. So, um you know, I disagree on the retention. We did discuss um retirey insurance before he ran and um that is something we're looking into for this budget and uh we're very pleased to hopefully be able to offer that in the near future and we'll keep going forward.

Thank you for your response. Chuck, we'll go back to you on budget discipline. When funds are limited, which programs or services would you cut or reduce first and why? All right, one more time. I'm sorry. I didn't hear the very first part of that. When funds are limited, which programs or services would you cut or reduce first and why?

Well, I think obviously uh from a public safety perspective, um I would steer clear of cutting public safety uh services. Um I know that our uh street department is they're they're operating very efficiently. Our sanitation is operating very efficiently. Uh I think u the easy answer would probably be uh recreational services whether it's park and wreck or or whatever. And I think that I think the reason um don't misunderstand I'm not advocating for cutting park and wreck but if we have limited funds and we have uh we have you know money that we have to spend in certain places. I think that that's the common sense answer is uh is to to cut cut those from parking wreck. Thank you sir for your response. Brad, same question. Bud budget discipline. When funds are limited, which programs or services would you cut or reduce first and why?

Yes. Uh fortunately, we're in a great spot, but uh I don't see any time in the near future we will have to cut funds. Um I agree with with Chuck on public safety is not something I think that would ever be done. Uh infrastructure is infrastructure. We have to take care of it. if there were a need for something possibly in recreation that we had to cut my might might even agree it would be there. Uh the flip coin to that is um our park and wreck and those tourism services. They are bringing in these monies and we have a lot of cities and a lot of counties in the state of Alabama that are running flat. Some are close to bankrupt. We're well above that number and it's something we should all be proud of. Our citizens included. Now, I know sometimes, you know, our citizens get upset maybe about the traffic during festivals. We're bringing in outside money to fund your roads, to fund your public safety, all those things. That's why going forward, I don't see that issue. I appreciate the question, but moving forward, we are in a great great spot to embrace all this. So, um, you know, it's a it is I understand it's a question you've got to ask, but I, you know, outside of another 2008, uh, something like that, um, even the council then, you know, they they had to cut some things. They didn't cut anybody's job and and we're in a spot that's much better than that right now. So, we'll continue to to embrace and support our tourism because that's what's driving a lot of the improvements that you see in our city.

Thank you, sir, for your answer. I know that's kind of an odd question uh as far as dealing with a budget shortage, but you never know when something can happen or you know they decide to do another COVID mandate or whatever. So, all right. So, we'll move on. Brad, we'll stay with you. Uh on transparency, do you support live streaming and publishing all council meetings and workshops? Why or why not?

Uh yes. I mean, our our council meetings are already live streamed. Um the media is obviously available during our work sessions. Um so that's that's something that's obviously already in place. Uh I guess if they needed to be the work sessions themselves needed to be live stream. Uh obviously we need to check with the attorneys and the people like that. I don't I don't know the rules that far. Um but the media is always welcome to any of our work sessions. So that is pretty much in place. Thank you sir for your response. Chuck, same question on transparency. Do you support live streaming and publishing all council meetings and workshops? Why or why not? I

wholeheartedly support live streaming on uh council meetings, which like uh Mr. Smith said, we're already doing. And uh I certainly support that on our workshops as well. Uh throughout my time campaigning, uh transparency seems to be one of the hot topic items for a lot of the people that I talked to. A lot of our citizens are concerned that they're not getting the whole story. Whether it's uh whether that's true or not, I'm not sure. But, uh, I think that that would alleviate a lot of those concerns if those meetings were livereamed. Thank you, sir, for your response. And Chuck will stay with you on motivation and independence. Many voters wonder why candidates choose to run.

Was your decision shaped by personal conviction, community encouragement, or alliances with other candidates? So, the reason that I chose to to run um was really based on my career. I've had an opportunity to see how mayoral and council decisions affect uh the line level and the line level supervisor uh positions. And I've always believed that if we had somebody with public safety experience, whether it was a police officer, a firefighter, or a telecommunication specialist, somebody that had worked in that industry, somebody that had had seen how these decisions impact both positively and negatively, uh, that they could that they could really make a difference um, in elected position on the council.

Thank you, sir, for your response. Brad, same question. Motivation and independence. Many voters wonder why candidates choose to run. Was your decision shaped by personal conviction, community encouragement, or alliances with other candidates?

Um, my decision was based on uh you know, obviously had had some people that ask me to to continue to run uh and u my personal conviction. Um my my parents uh my mom especially worked in public service for for many years and and I saw exactly the opportunity she was able to create for the city of Coleman and I just wanted to be a small small part of that. Uh and I hope I made her proud in some aspects. Um but it has been it has been a great experience. Um we're not perfect. None of us are. And you know some of us we've made mistakes along the way but I think the good far outweighs the bad. And uh I know the people that are with me and I think you know most of their challengers uh they care about Coleman. Um some may have agendas that would be unfortunate uh cuz I really wouldn't want anyone to do it without just caring for our community. Um so I I really do care uh wholeheartedly and I'm proud of the results that we've all achieved. Um look forward to continuing that. Um yeah, that's all I got.

Thank you sir for your response. And we will stay with you, Brad, on infrastructure. Where do you see the city's most urgent infrastructure needs? Roads, water, sewer, internet, and how would you prioritize them? What were the the choices? Roads, water, sewer, internet.

Uh roads. Uh yeah, roads are always uh top of the list. I don't I don't think you go go around that. Uh the way the roads were handled uh back in the day when you're just paving, overpaving, overpaving. Uh you get a lot of buildup and um nothing's really getting done. If you don't take care of what's underneath um you know, you're just kind of putting a band-aid on it. What I believe this council has been great at is sometimes it takes a little longer, but if we've searched for a lot of grants, we've gotten a lot of grants where we're able to strip that down to bare bones. we're able to repair the sewer, water underneath that before we come back and pave. Uh just being good stewards of money with the grants that uh have been available. The next thing in my opinion um would be internet. Highsp speeded internet. We we do have some decent internet here. Sprout is on the way uh for the city. I believe we're last on the list. That's okay. It'll be here. If there's another service that's available, we would gladly look at it as well. Um and then water and sewer which I as I stated earlier are in a great place. Um we've secured you know that infrastructure for the next hundred years and uh so I guess 100 years later they're have to look at uh some different options but for the next century or so we've got that squared away for quite a while.

Thank you sir for your response. And Chuck, same question on infrastructure. Where do you see the city's most urgent infrastructure needs, roads, water, sewer, or internet? And how would you prioritize them?

So, I think for a lot of people, uh, roads are the the easy uh answer, you know, but I I think that the city's limited in what we can do with the the current road situation. You know, I look at Highway 31, uh, and Highway 278, and I know that there's plans to widen 278. We've uh the city's done a good job with with the uh resources that they've had. Uh but but I would probably say sewer and not necessarily from the perspective that Mr. Smith's coming from. What I see in a lot of neighborhoods, my neighborhood included, u is our sewer, and I'm assuming it's sewer, they they come in and they cut out big sections of road and then they replace certain things within the sewer system, then they come out and patch it, which is which is fine, but it leaves some of those roads very very patchwork. So, um, so when I when I say sewer, I'm not talking about the treatment facility. I'm talking about like our, uh, sewage lines, the the the things that are that are running under our streets. I I would like to see those whenever a road's paved. I would like to see those. We did it once on um I believe it was Katherine Street where they came up, they completely stripped it down, pulled all of the uh the sewer lines, and replaced it. I'm not sure if I've seen that in any other areas where they've done an entire section like that. But I think in the future whenever we look at at our infrastructure, I think that that's going to be a key a key thing. You know, we can pave our streets and it's great. They've done a great job on paving the streets. Uh we're limited on how wide we can make our roads. Um um I don't want to to to quote Mr. Willoughby, but I'm not a fan of uh of all of the the flower flower beds and the beautifification stuff that stick out so far in the roads whenever we do these. They look phenomenal. Uh, a couple of my best friends are they're both over 80. One of them's well over 90. Uh, and they've hit them on multiple occasions. But, uh, but I would say I would say sewer would be the the the sewer lines themselves would be uh what I would prioritize.

Thank you, sir, for your response. And Chuck, we're going to stay with you. on community engagement. How would you actively involve citizens in decision makingaking beyond just attending council meetings? Well, I think uh having having council members that are accessible to the community and that are available and willing to to to speak is extremely important. Um, again going door todoor talking with people uh that's that is something that that they have a frustration that they have uh put up in front of me is is that they don't believe that our council members are necessarily accessible. Uh they don't know u really how to get in contact with them and I think if we had better engagement uh with our citizens I think that they would be more likely to attend our council meetings and have their voice be heard. I also think go back to the question regarding um um live streaming or televising our work sessions. I think that that would go a long way uh toward it as well. I think if they're if they're informed about what's going on, if our citizens are informed, I think that they're going to be more active and they'll engage with the council much better.

Thank you, sir, for your response. And Brad, same question on community engagement. How would you actively involve citizens in decision making beyond just attending council meetings?

Uh well, citizens, I don't know if it's just me, but citizens are very engaged with me. Uh I'm not hard to get a hold of at all. Uh our email is is on our website. It's on our Facebook page. Our phone numbers are on there. Uh we're not hard to get a hold of. uh don't really have many as many people at council meetings maybe in the past because we are live streaming and uh so it doesn't have the need for people to leave their house to come to those meetings but uh you know I get sometimes it takes two hours to get through Walmart or the grocery store because people want to talk to you and guess what that's what we signed up for and I'm happy to do it uh you know my wife can tell you sometimes you get trapped on the phone till 10:00 at night um but you know even if you can't I mean I had one this week you You know, the guy asked me on during all this campaigning what my agenda was and u kind of explained it and he asked me what I was going to fix on County Road 1223 and uh unfortunately uh we don't reach that far and uh but you get a lot of those questions and it's okay. I mean it's good to inform people and let them know some people just don't and I'm happy to speak with them anytime. I don't think we're hard to get a hold of them. Um, we're very accessible and happy to happy to talk to anyone at any time.

Thank you, sir, for your response. And we'll stay with you, Brad, on economic development. What type of businesses or industries should Coleman recruit and which would you oppose?

Which would I oppose? Well, uh, grew up in economic development. As I stated, my my mom Peggy was economic development director here, uh, for 30 plus years. Um, most of the people in this room, a lot of people at home, uh, they probably know somebody that works at a at one of the industries or companies that she recruited here. Thousands upon thousands of jobs. And we're proud of those. Most of those are here. They've expanded numerous times and we're very proud to support those. Uh although our economic development has changed quite a bit. We've we've ran out of of land to an extent. Uh but we're very fortunate to be able to look up and look look north and look south. Uh we're leaning more into research and development. Um bringing you know few more white collar jobs. Um, a lot of STEM programs obviously work within the schools to support those and um, a lot of those opportunities are looking our way and we're looking to to take care of them. As far as being opposed, um, I I'm not sure of any I would be necessarily opposed to, maybe, you know, nuclear plant, anything that might be harmful to our community or or our state. Um, you know, they, like I said, they've done a great job in economic development. got a great team now and we'll continue to have a great team going forward. Uh so I I have the utmost respect and the utmost confidence in our economic development team. We would certainly I would certainly never try to micromanage them because they know much more about it. We just support them.

Thank you sir for your response. And Chuck, same question. Economic development, what type of businesses or industries should Coleman recruit and which would you oppose? Well, I think one of the uh the the the the stuff that I'm hearing from people whenever I'm talking is obviously you have people that are wanting more uh service-based industries, whether it's uh maybe hotels, maybe restaurants, things of that nature. I think that that's for a lot of people. I think that that's important to them. Um not sure what that generates as far as revenue compared to some of the industrial bases we have. You know, I think Coleman's in a you know, I was having a conversation with somebody. I said, Coleman's in a very unique and advantageous position when it comes to to industry. Given the number of uh federal highways that we have in this city, uh the interstate that we have and the state highways that we have, I think Coleman can attract just about any industry that we want just based on our location in the state and the access to uh to things that that you know to interstates and roads. So, um I think that the industries that a lot of people are looking for that they want to see from people that I'm talking they really are talking to. really want to see some more service-based things. Uh, as far as stuff that's that's that's that I would oppose, I think I would not to not to copy him, but I think until you're presented with something, I think it's hard to make a a decision to say, "Yes, I'm for this or I'm against it." Obviously, things that are harmful to the community, things that are that that could potentially be dangerous, uh, hazardous would be something that I would pose. But I guess that's about it. I have just like yes brought up our retail and I apologize forgot to mention it. Uh retail development has as has really segueed into our economic development. Uh you know we have the opportunity now and it's it's great. We used to beg we used to go you know send people to Vegas to these shows to beg people to come

look into Coleman and what it has to offer. Now we have people coming in begging to come here and we have the opportunity to look at these, you know, we don't want to look like Decatur, we don't want to look like Garden. We have the opportunity to pick and choose from those developments and that isn't a great place to be. We're kind of, as I've said before, in the cat bird seat on that. And uh we want to make uh bring the retailers and industries here that complement Coleman, not to cannibalize any of our local businesses and things like that. And we're proud of that and we're going to stick to it. And since that was just a continuation, Chuck, I'm going to give you 45 seconds if you want to add anything to your statement.

Oh, well, I mean, I don't really have anything to add. I think that um first two first two weeks of my campaign, I really did focus on a lot of our small businesses. I think that our uh small business area downtown are I think it's special. I think that a lot of people in Coleman, whenever they think of Coleman, they think of the small business that we have. And and I know from from those guys they they have a they have a perception that uh sometimes interest of the larger uh retail stores uh are outweigh or outweighing them in the process. And I think that that's something that uh the council needs to correct.

All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you both for uh kind of a little more explanation on the question. Chuck will stay with you on accountability. If the council passes something you strongly oppose, how will you hold your how will you hold yourself accountable to your constituents while still working with your colleagues?

Well, I think that that it's important to be open with the people that uh that you serve, the people that that have put their faith in you um and have voted for you. I think it's it's well, not just them. I think it's important to be open with everybody and if there's something that comes along that you don't agree with, I think that you should have the the ability to to disagree. And if it's a no vote, it's a no vote. And and I'm I would hope that the council um that they're that they recognize uh that they recognize that that we each have our own um interest whenever we make a decision. We have our own reasons for uh the choices that we make. And and I would assume I would assume all these councilmen are professional. So, I would assume that they would understand that and that wouldn't be uh problematic for for these councilmen or myself.

Thank you, sir, for your response. And Brad, same question on accountability if the council passes something you strongly oppose. How will you hold yourself accountable to your constituents while working with your colleagues?

Well, you know, I've always stood on my convictions. uh you know, the people that uh encouraged me to run, uh the people that vote for me, uh I think they know what they're voting for. Um do we always agree? Absolutely not. Um you know, that's why there's five of us and sometimes it becomes three to two and you know, sometimes it's four to one. It it's just depend. I mean, people have their reasonings or whatever for for believing the way they do. That's what makes us a special place. What I'm proud of is when we come out, I mean, you can handle this in a work session, whether it's live streamed or not, but when we come out, we come out unified. And I think that's important as a city. You come out, we don't want to be embarrassing. We don't want to, you know, look like a, you know, a Terran city hall with people throwing things across the room against each other. We we come out unified, even if we don't always agree. So, u, but I I will always stand with my convictions. I may not, you know, I may be the the one with four voting against me, but you know, that's just the way I live.

Thank you, sir, for your response. Thank you, gentlemen, u both for coming out and agreeing to this debate today and kind of kicking us off as far as the uh council is concerned. So, now we will go to closing statements. Uh, Chuck, since we let Brad go first on opening statements, you're welcome to go first on closing statements.

Well, like I say, I'm running for city council place one. It's the uh public safety chair. I hope that that my experience um I hope that my leadership that I've that I've exhibited both in the military and in the uh police department, I hope that that that shows to the voters that that that I'm valuable. I hope that that they understand that um I have a servant's heart. I want to make sure that that our public safety sector uh is taken care of uh from now on. Uh and I think that if if I'm given the opportunity to do that, I think that I will uh think that I will do that job and I will do it extremely well. I think that the relationships that I forged in the fire department, I think with the relationships that I forged with my fellow police officers when I before I retired and with the telecommunication specialist, uh, I think that that they would trust that I have their best interests at heart and and that I would have the best interest of the citizens of this city at heart. And I look forward to the election Tuesday and I hope that uh that you that you consider me and vote for me for city council place one. Thank you sir for your closing remarks and uh Brad closing statements.

Thank you. Obviously Coleman was founded uh on hard work and a lot of pride. There a lot of people that came before us the the Roy Drinkers the Chester Freeman's folks like that that created this town with a lot of hard work. We were talking about leadership style. I appreciate Mr. shockless service in the military and to our police department. Although, you know, is striving towards wanting to be a better leader, you know, he only made it to sergeant and we're looking for people that want to better ourselves above this. And so saying effective leadership, you know, that's great. Done a lot of things. We've done a lot of things to promote all all of our folks and that goes from the chief of police down to here. So, we want people that want to be a part of this. And we're not going to award people for just being on for 20 years or 22 years. We want people that are actively going to participate. We want people that are going to get educated and go through the training. We we're happy to pay you. We don't have an issue in the world with doing that. If you want to learn, you want to be a better part of this community and any service that we have, we're happy to do that. But I think it would be irresponsible, you know, for someone to say, "Hey, we're going to we've got a Porsche here. and we're going to turn it over to a 16-year-old. I don't think that's good. So, I mean, we have an obligation to do our due diligence and I think the citizens have an obligation to do their due diligence to look at the people you're voting for. It's easy to say, "Well, we want all these people out. We want all these people in." Do your research, do your study, make sure that you're being responsible as we're trying to be for you. And I appreciate your vote on August 26th.

Thank you, sir. And Chuck, you're going to get 45 second rebuttal uh regarding the sergeant. Well, you know, again, he is correct. Uh I did just make it to sergeant. Uh that's that's indisputable. Uh but I did make it to sergeant in the police department. And during the course of that my career as a sergeant, I've led many many police officers in that position. Um so I don't take that as as as a negative at all. I think that that working your way through the police department, whether it's just a sergeant or uh just a patrolman, I think it has uh as much value when it comes to experience um as as anything. Uh that that's really about it.

Thank you, sir. And thank you both for coming out. Um again, um this was for place one with Brad Smith and Chuck Shackle. they will be up for election this Tuesday. So remember to get out and vote. Uh we want to thank everyone in the audience who came. We want to thank everyone who is at home watching. And again we want to thank Dr. Carlos and Wallace State for hosting uh and allowing us to be here for these debates. And as far as that's concerned, the place one is done and we will return in 15 minutes for place two. Thank you all. [Applause] Appreciate it, man.

Thank you. Oh, yep. Oh my god.