Danville City Council Forum – American Legion Forum (Part #1)

Hey, the gang’s all back for another Danville City Council candidates forum. Well, mostly. You people enjoyed the scoring system last time, so I’ll do it again. there were a lot of questions asked so we’ll spread this out over multiple articles. Lets make it happen…

Modeled after the “Around The Horn” scoring system, here’s how it will work. Good answers get two points, while a great answer gets three. I’ll use the MUTE button to take away points for worthless answers. Since I’m the judge, I’ll add or subtract points whenever I please. Don’t like it? Get your own website!

Let’s introduce the panel on stage tonight from left to right…

• James Buckner (challenger) – OUT for the night due to his father’s death. Perfectly understandable.
• John Gilstrap (incumbent)
• Joyce Glaise (challenger)
• Alonzo Jones (incumbent)
• Gary Miller (incumbent)
• Thomas Motley (challenger)
• Madison Whittle – OUT – no specified reason (we’ll find out in a few)
• Dawn Witter – (challenger)

Remember folks, four of these people are going to be on council. Now, Madison Whittle was sick for the first forum and out for Tuesday night. Wednesday afternoon, we learned that he is withdrawing from the race. It will be a pleasure to MUTE Madison Whittle, take away 479 points for wasting everybody’s time, and let’s deduct another 370 points for his houses he owns in Danville Estates that don’t quite look up to Shiny Happy Neighborhood status. Whittle is currently sitting at -850 points so let’s just go ahead and eliminate him from our political memories.

I’m being awfully mean tonight, aren’t I? Good. In the first part of this forum, Robert Benson (editor of the Register & Bee) & Chuck Vipperman (news director for WBTM/WAKG) will ask questions. Candidates have 90 seconds to respond. We have pretty colored lights to tell the candidates if they’re running out of time. Tiffany Hughes from the Register & Bee is reporting this tonight and she takes a photo for the newspaper which clearly shows my balding spot. Even though she’s not being scored, she loses 10 points for that as well as a MUTE.

Let’s get it started. The candidates are introduced by the moderators.

Question #1: What would you cut from the city budget?

• John Gilstrap: Would cut from Capital Improvement budget (+2) and would examine all departments for waste (+3), not necessarily in favor of more cuts (+3 for the bold statement).
• Joyce Glaise: “We must prevent hazardous spending of funds” (What? MUTE), nothing specific because she doesn’t know the budget well as of now (good honest answer and +3)
• Alonzo Jones: Already have cut the parks study (+2), additional meetings with department heads (+2) and Danville has existing buildings for a new police station (+3)
• Gary Miller:  He’s not in favor of consultants (+2), also recommends existing building for new police station (+2)
• Thomas Motley: Can’t say because the budget is undecipherable to most citizens (again, honest answer and a +3), then something about empowering the city manager to spend (What? MUTE)
• Dawn Witter: Would like three sets of budgets from each department. A top shelf budget, a comfortable one, and a bare bones one. It’s a beautiful idea on paper (+3) but would be very hard to get three budgets in the short time frame. I don’t see it working, so a MUTE. Also says no real answer to the question without her talking to department heads (+3).

Question #2:  Although City Council can’t tell the School Board how to spend the allocated money, they can have influence. How should city council influence school system spending?

• Joyce Glaise: Joint sessions with the school board, not tell them directly what to do with the money (+2)
• Alonzo Jones: Create a limited member joint board like RIFA for conferences (+3 and a bonus +2 for the new idea). “we should all be ambassadors for education” (no duh, but no point loss for that)
• Gary Miller: In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need that but we have to do a better job (+2)
• Thomas Motley: talks about his classroom and mentor experience and says both the city council and the school board need each other (+3)
• Dawn Witter:  We need “globally educated children” (not an answer, so a MUTE)
• John Gilstrap: We already meet with the school board and tour the facilities, education is a high priority for all (+3)

Question #3: What city services would you be open to consider for privatization?

• Alonzo Jones:  talks about the usefulness of adult detention and dropping the recidivism rate (MUTE for the non-answer)
• Gary Miller: briefly touches on adult detention then moves to great ideas like blighted housing demolition (+2) and school bus transportation, even mentioning Roanoke that has done it (+3 and a +2 for great researched ideas).
• Thomas Motley: Overcrowding at the city jail and prison farm. (MUTE) , he works with repeat offenders (MUTE) . Ugh, non-answers.
• Dawn Witter: Outsourcing blight elimination demolition (+2).
• John Gilstrap: Clarifies the question and then doesn’t answer it (MUTE).
• Joyce Glaise: Talks about education and that the police need more help (MUTE).

Good god, did anybody hear the question except Miller & Witter? I’m yelling to myself that none of these people were able to find the easy answer of privatizing garbage collection. GRRRR! MUTE to the entire stage for missing that softball.

Three questions down, so let’s take a look at the scoreboard so far. Gary Miller’s in the lead at +12, Alonzo Jones has +10, John Gilstrap sits at +7, Dawn Witter with +5 and Thomas Motley & Joyce Glaise have +2. Madison Whittle is waiting until 2016’s election with -850.

Question 4: What is your opinion on retirees asking for increases in their pensions and how about city employees’ current pay?

• Gary Miller: The pension fund is in good shape now and needs to stay that way (+3), and city employees are now transitioning to a pay-for-performance system for raises (+2).
• Thomas Motley: We must not renege on promises made to retirees (COLA’s were never promised, Thomas. MUTE), funding the retirement system is a priority, and “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” (If the money ain’t there, there’s no way. MUTE)
• Dawn Witter: relatively vague answer, but sounded like she was in favor of giving the retirees bonuses (MUTE)
• John Gilstrap: As a city retiree, he’s out on this topic due to a conflict of interest (+2)
• Joyce Glaise: City retirees need an increase. (No explanation where that money comes from, of course. MUTE)
• Alonzo Jones: Would be in favor of a raise but the money isn’t there. “We have to deal with the facts”. (+3)

I’ve looked at the entire pension system and the city’s budget. There’s no way possible for raises or a bonus payout. The days of guaranteed pension are over and the city retirees need to realize that they’re lucky as hell that Danville has been able to perfectly manage the pension fund so it’s still there. the newcomers don’t know this and are writing checks with their promises that they won’t be able to keep. (-2) points for Motley, Witter and Glaise for that as I scream at them.

Question #5: What will you do to protect Danville’s drinking water supply from further threats?

• Thomas Motley: Duke Energy caused a similar spill in Tennessee (WRONG! MUTE), they must be held accountable for what they did, thinks we will end up paying for it (Ridiculous MUTE & irresponsible speculation MUTE), walks away saying he is a strong believer in the EPA.
• Dawn Witter: Work with agencies to continuously monitor water quality (that’s already happens), Get total reimbursement from Duke (+2), Reach out to other areas with similar spills (+3), wants to tour the water treatment plant (+2). (Nice analytical reply and Witter really impressed me by not going environmentally hysterical)
• John Gilstrap: Clarifies the question then then says the river must be safe. (no points, no real answer)
• Joyce Glaise: In favor of current RFP out to get further studies on the river and hazards (+2), if we need lawyers, then get lawyers (Sigh. We’ve got a City Attorney handling it competently now. MUTE)
• Alonzo Jones: Use the study to find all potential threats(+2), become proactive instead of reactive (+3).
• Gary Miller: Duke Energy should pay for this RFP (that’s never gonna happen MUTE), Duke should pay for “pain and suffering” (Ugh. MUTE), we are losing real estate sales due to the spill (blame the hysteria, not the spill), Danville needs more than a 2-day reserve water supply (+3) and (+2) more for being the only one to say it.

Question #6: Opinions on a joint economic developer shared between Danville and Pittsylvania County?

• Dawn Witter: No. Who gets the tax base? (+3)
• John Gilstrap: The idea merits consideration. (vague, so no points)
• Joyce Glaise: Collaboration is key to economic development (MUTE – no real answer)
• Alonzo Jones: Not really a good idea due to “who do they report to?” (+3)
• Gary Miller: Hey, we’ve already got the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance for a collaborative economic development group (+3), lots of obstacles to make one for the city & county too (+2)
• Thomas Motley: We have to have a positive attitude from us & our neighbors, we could learn from areas like Greensboro. (I’m being generous and not hitting that mute button for no real answer to the question).

That’s the last question from Robert Benson & Chuck Vipperman, so it’s halftime. Let’s take a look at the scoreboard before we go to audience questions. We’ve got Gary Miller in the lead at an amazing +25 with Alonzo Jones not far behind with a +21. Dawn Witter is pleasantly surprising me at a +12 and John Gilstrap has a +9. Sad to say, Joyce Glaise has a -1 and Thomas Motley has sunk to a -5 after the MUTE extravaganza.

Coming up, we’ll score the second half of this forum and take a final look at what happened.