League of Women Voters of Blount County 2006 Candidate Survey
Name Mike Lewis Phone 984-0413
Candidate for
Please
write your answers in the space provided or use a separate sheet, and return
your survey in the enclosed stamped envelope. It is very important that you
write legibly. Please consider e-mailing your completed survey by
requesting an electronic survey at rderycke@bellsouth.net
The
League of Women Voters will acknowledge receipt of your completed survey.
I. Qualifications and experience:
A. Please list your diplomas
and degrees, along with the areas of study.
Bachelor of Science – 1979,
Diploma –
B. What relevant experience do
you have, including previous public offices held?
Twenty five years working with individuals and
businesses with their finances; dealing with budgets, both large and small;
working with and on business plans implementation; communicating at all levels
to ensure cooperation for budget accomplishment.
C. Please list local service
and civic groups in which you have participated, including when and for how
long.
United Way
2006 Campaign Chair 2004
Vice Chair – Governmental Chair
Board of Director – Three years Board of
Director – Three years
2004 Golf Tournament Fundraising Chair
Allocations Panel
Commissioner – 2003 through February
2006 2006 Chair – Board of Directors
2005
- 2006 Fund Raising Co-Chair
2004
– 2005 Fund Raising Chair
Board
of Directors – 2003 – Present
Johnson
Group Home Boys
Group Home
Previous Advisory Board Previous
Advisory Board
D. Please indicate any business
activities that could constitute a conflict of interest in the event you are
elected.
None
E.
Name three
leadership skills that you practice.
1. Communication
2. Listening
3. Analyze/Organize
F. What
unique qualities, besides the above leadership skills, do you have to
contribute to this office?
A vast knowledge and experience in finance and
budgeting. A strong will to vote the opinions of the voters in my district and
a strong belief that it is the obligation of a Commissioner to collect these
opinions. Previous work with budgets at various levels and a strong belief to
do what is the best and the right thing for the citizens of
II. Questions about your understanding of the office you
are seeking:
- What do you see as the
three most important functions of this office?
1. Gathering
opinions from the district in order to accurately vote the will of those in the
district I represent
2. Be
a good steward of the tax dollars and prioritize spending accordingly
3. Support and pursue a growth strategy that is most
beneficial to the County in terms of good land use and attract businesses that
will enhance this effort.
- What would you identify
as the three
most important issues facing
1. Growth
2. Revenue
generation and expense control
3. Air quality
- What can you do in this
office to impact these three most important issues?
Bring a continued sense of cooperation to the
Commission and a good financial background. Help look at other areas for
revenue generation and expense control. Explore non property tax revenue areas
for broader based income alternatives. Continue to support efforts to solicit
and attract low and non pollutant industry and service companies to the area.
III. Positions on specific issues of importance in
- Means
for insuring the fair and respectful treatment of all
There
is no room in this, or any other county, for racism, bigotry or any other form
of bias. We should have no tolerance of it. Where there are issues to address,
we should do so in a positive and clear manner. We are a County of diversity
and we should celebrate in that fact. It is what makes us what we are and we
should be proud in it.
- Promotion of greater
diversity in our hired and appointed government officials and employees
We
should start with our youth and promote the positives aspects of public service
in the school systems. This is not a light switch that can be turned on and off
at will. It is a way of life that starts with the very young and continues with
our senior citizens. Constant and consistent messaging and encouragement at all
ages is critical to the success of this endeavor.
- Reconciling the
potentially competing interests of growth/development and adequate
infrastructure in our county, including the application of the Hunter
Growth Strategy
We
have to decide as a county what direction we want to take. This is in part
decided for us through environmental standards and what the State and County
will tolerate in air quality. Growth with no planning rarely makes for a
successful outcome. We must know where we want to go and what industries we
would like to drive us there. Inadequate planning for the infrastructure to
accommodate growth will lead to new and more complex problems. These should go
hand in hand in any expansion plan. We need a strategy to get us there and be
able to be flexible should the landscape, regulations and environmental
standards change.
- The environmental
impact of development and/or non-attainment status with the EPA
As
stated above, we have seen the impact of non-attainment. Having the ability to
plan for such a contingency is critical and absolute. Having a good mix of
business and industry is crucial. We can not, as a County, have all of our eggs
in one basket. Our ability for sustained growth hinges on our ability to have
varied business lines and the ability to expand in many areas and directions.
Our County and Chamber of Commerce has done a very nice job in recruitment of
these business types. We should continue to look at and pursue these
opportunities.
- Identifying and
resolving conflicts of interest of public officials
Public
officials are held to a high standard and should be. County officials should
always be above board in disclosure of possible conflicts. Most all
Commissioners have other jobs and sources of income. Where possible conflicts
occur, they should be dealt with up front with full disclosure and resolved in
a fair and unbiased manner.
F. The consolidation of:
1. city and county schools
This
is an interesting concept. It is one I have no knowledge of but my opinion
would be to look at best practices of other Counties our size and see if and
where it has been successful. We should explore any possibilities that may
exist even if we choose not to go forward. To ignore potential possibilities is
not in the best interest of the tax payers of
2. city and county
government
Being
this new to the process, it is hard to form an opinion on this issue. It would
seem to merit at least some consideration in the larger scheme of things. The
various areas of impact in spending and the cost of consolidation have to be
considered in any deliberations in this area. Again, not to give consideration
to all options at our disposal, at least at some point in time, would not be
prudent to the tax payers of
3. or
a feasibility study on consolidation
A study of this possibility may be of interest, if not now, at some point in the future.
G Health
care -
A real dilemma. It seems like an idea with the best of intentions beset by qualification standards that are not stringent enough and a screening process that has many loop holes. There is a real need out there. We must find a way to get it to those truly in need while encouraging those who can get traditional health coverage to do so.
IV. Questions for
CANDIDATES FOR
A.
How can you communicate
effectively with your constituents?
There
is nothing like face to face communication and I would like to do this as much
as possible by getting out and talking to my constituents. However, this is a
large county and district. I would also like to explore the idea of having a
separate phone line installed at my home to collect calls from the voters in
District 2 so that I am as informed as possible when it comes to voting on the
issues. Obviously, e-mail is an additional tool as well. I would hope that
these would help collect the most opinions of voters in an efficient way and add
to the face to face contact that is so
valuable.
- Which recommendations
of the Hunter Growth Strategy do you support, and why?
As I understand and read the Hunter Growth strategy,
they have, in essence, taken the five “Guiding Policies” that were established
in 1999 and have made recommendations basically for a second phase, or
furtherance in how to take these policies to the next level. This was a
comprehensive plan in 1999 by the consulting team, Blount County Officials,
many community leaders and the public at large. The Hunter Group basically
suggests some specific ways to go forward in these five policies. I would be in
favor of moving to the next phase with the plan of accomplishing these five
most important guidelines. This 260 page report is full of great information
and I am afraid much too detailed to try to do it justice more than I have
here. I hope this addresses the issue as you meant it to be.
- How do you propose to
fund infrastructure growth and improvements?
- A wheel tax
- An adequate facilities
tax
- Other____________________________________________
First
and foremost by working with the commission in a cooperative and productive
manner. It is apparent that we can not continue to grow as our County has
without the proper infrastructure. Drive around this community in the early
morning hours, at
We
should explore all traditional revenue sources for this type of funding,
however, we need to be good stewards of the existing funds and be sure we are
spending based on the priorities that the County has chosen. As I have said
before, we should look for non traditional areas of revenue growth that spread
the cost of growth over the most even population base as possible and not just
the property tax payer.
- How can the county
address the needs of the senior population?
We
must first have a way and a method to identify what these issues are. Once this
has been done, it would seem that one of our best resources is Counties who are
ahead of us in terms of having had to deal with these needs. We should always
be in communication with other Counties and establish ways to consider their
best practices. There is an ever growing population of seniors already in this
area of the country and more are finding the lure of
E. What is your position on hiring a county law director vs. the current practice of retaining an attorney for the Mayor?
I
would be in favor of exploring this alternative. We should compare the benefits
of having this position in terms of added representation and overall benefit to
the County versus the cost of this position and the administrative cost
associated with it. We should never be hesitant to look at new and different
ways of doing things. It is what makes a good community better and will keep us
on the forefront of change.
- Concisely describe your vision for
I
see