Mayoral candidates discuss vision for Chelsea at forum

Chelsea residents will once again go to the polls to vote for a new mayor, and at Chelsea High School on Thursday night, they were able to hear from the candidates a final time. At the Sept. 29 candidate forum sponsored by the Greater and South Shelby chambers of commerce and the Chelsea Business Alliance, Dale Neuendorf and Tony Picklesimer addressed questions on their qualifications and vision for Chelsea.

Both candidates answered the same eight questions, with three minutes to respond. The candidates also had three minutes for a closing statement at the conclusion of the forum. Questions were composed by the Governmental Affairs Work Group for the Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce, and neither candidates was aware of the questions prior to the forum, said Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kirk Mancer.

When asked what they believed the priorities and responsibilities of a mayor are, both candidates emphasized and importance of service and promoting the city.

Picklesimer, who answered the question first, said a mayor has similar priorities and responsibilities as the manager or owner of a business.

“The city of Chelsea is a business. The difference is in a business, where you would have a CEO, in the city of Chelsea, you have a CSO,” Picklesimer said. “The mayor of Chelsea should be the Chief Servant Officer of a city. You’ve got to be servant in charge if you’re going to be mayor of a city.”

As a “CSO,” the mayor is responsible for overlooking the city’s fire and rescue department as well as city amenities such as Chelsea’s community center, he said. While it is important to keep track of those departments in the city, Picklesimer said he would not be a hovering manager.

Other mayoral responsibilities include forming relationships and opening dialogue with ALDOT and Shelby County Schools Superintendent Randy Fuller, as well as selling the city to potential businesses.

“The big benefits of that is my selling skills — I’m out there working on them every day,” he said. “And that’s what Chelsea needs. We need a salesman. We need someone with a vision who can pick it up and take it where it’s at.”

The city is not in a bad place, Picklesimer added, but has room for growth.

When addressing the same question on priorities and responsibilities, Neuendorf emphasized the importance of safety.

“The primary responsibility of the city’s mayor is to make sure we have a safe city with emergency services that provide that safety to all of us, not only from a fire and rescue standpoint, but also a law enforcement standpoint,” he said.

Close behind that objective is a desire for amenities, facilities and programs that citizens desire, no matter their age. Neuendorf said one of the biggest responsibilities he feels is to grow the city’s business district, and he would hire a business recruiting firm within his first 100 days.

“I want to make it a city that has everything Chelsea wants it to have, so that none of us have to go over the mountain and spend our money there, unless it’s something really unique,” he said.

Bringing in new businesses was a theme that continued throughout the forum, and Mancer asked both candidates how they would describe Chelsea to an individual considering moving their business to the city.

Neuendorf answered the question first, noting there were some challenges to overcome in the city, but emphasizing the fact that the city has plenty to offer to potential businesses.

While the city is business friendly, the sewer system presents a challenge to both businesses and residents, Neuendorf said. He hopes to bring the private sewer company that manages the sewer system under the public service commission, he said, to help combat those issues.

The city of Chelsea has many other aspects to attract businesses, he said, including places to eat, shop and send kids to schools — areas employees often look at, he said, so that they can live and work without worrying about traffic issues.

“We’ve got a lot to offer businesses, and there’s a lot of great reasons they should move to Chelsea,” he said.

Picklesimer said if he was working to describe the city, he would not discuss the negatives. Rather, he said the city’s demographics of the city almost sell themselves.

“What I would talk to the potential business owner about is the median income, which is almost $83,000 a year,” he said. “What a group, with a population of 12,500 and a median income of $83,000 — Lordy I would have loved to have that when I walked into my first business in 1992.”

The city’s family atmosphere and community feel, which leads citizens to want to spend their money in Chelsea when possible, were also positive selling points. While Neuendorf has proposed building a business park in the city, Picklesimer said he would lean more toward a light industrial park, something he said would not have to compete with big corporations over the mountain.

Another area the candidates differed in response was in regard to working with the future city council. Neuendorf has said he would like to create citizen advisory committees to allow for greater communication, which Picklesimer said he believed was not necessary.

“In my opinion, the city of Chelsea on Aug. 23 elected my committee,” he said. “Our structure of government is that we have one mayor and five council members.”

Those six people make up a committee that the citizens have already chosen, he said, and he discusses the strengths of each elected council member.

“We have such a team put together. I’m asking you for the opportunity to lead them and work together,” he said.

Neundorf, who answered the question second, said with four new council members and a new mayor, they will take a little while to learn which items the city should focus on. Creating citizen advisory committees in areas ranging from parks and recreation to schools to traffic allow the citizens to voice their opinions, and for the city to follow the citizens’ desires, he said.

“Ultimately we have the responsibility for making the final decision,” he said. “Someone has to do that, and that’s what we’ve been elected to do, but I want to hear from the people and make it wide-open for them to have an opportunity to communicate.”

One matter both candidates agreed upon was the need to establish a relationship with ALDOT to address challenges along U.S. 280. While 280 presents positive to the community, including bringing people into and through Chelsea on a regular basis, it also has a fair share of traffic issues, which both candidates have previously addressed. Working with ALDOT to address needed traffic lights and intersection changes is a goal both candidates said they have.

Another matter the candidates agreed upon was a desire to serve the city. When asked they he was running for mayor, Neuendorf said it came from a desire to fulfill a vision for the city — one that helps it grow while maintaining the rural qualities citizens love.

“I want to serve the people, that’s the main reason I’m running for mayor,” he said. “I have a lot of interest in so many things that Chelsea does and what the citizens are asking us to do. I think I have the leadership and experience to do that.”

Picklesimer said a love for the city is also why he chose to run for mayor, something which has also fueled his time on the city council. Seeing his family grow up along U.S. 280 and his work with the city, including helping televise Chelsea football games, helped fuel that love, he said.

“But all of that is outside of the fact that in my first opportunity as a city council person, it lit a fire in me,” he said. “And five years ago, I made the decision that I wanted to serve this city as its mayor, and I have been preparing myself for that position for five years.”

The full forum will be rebroadcast on Kool 96.9 FM on Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m.

An article on the first candidate forum can be found here.

Run-off elections are set for Oct. 4 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The only polling place is Chelsea City Hall.