CULLMAN – This Tuesday, April 12, Cullman voters will go to the polls to elect the next Cullman County Commission Chairman. Incumbent Kenneth Walker and his challenger, Darrell Hicks, fended off Eric L. Parker in the March 1 primary, but neither had a big enough percentage to claim victory. The runoff on Tuesday will determine the winner, as there will be no Democratic candidate on the ticket in November’s general election.
CullmanSense took to Facebook to see what our readers had to say about Walker and Hicks. Here’s what we found out.
April 12 Runoff Election- Tell Us Your Thoughts!Who has your vote? What would you like to know before voting? We'll…
Posted by CullmanSense on Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Of the 20 people who were willing to publicly state whom they prefer, six said they are voting for Hicks, 12 for Walker and two liked neither of the candidates.
“Tell me which one will put their hand on the Bible and will swear to resign if they don't come out and pave County Road 34. The last three road commissioners responsible for the west side have lied to me over the last 18+ years since it was originally paved. All we have are patched holes ever since,” said one particularly disgruntled community member.
“Walker!” exclaimed another reader.
“I'm voting Darrell Hicks. He is honest, fair, experienced and proven. I know him very well and he is the person for our county,” said another.
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s runoff, our reporter Amy Leonard sat down with both men.
Hicks, who previously held the position of Cullman County Commissioner, Place 1, has based his campaign on three basic platforms: county roads, senior centers and the completion of a public gun range in Bremen.
“I want the (Highway) 157 overpass to get done,” Hicks told Leonard. “I went with the mayor of Cullman and met with ALDOT when I was on the commission. We asked what the delay was on the bridges and they said the railroads required more insurance than the state is allowed to pay. We asked how much money, and he said $3,000. I told the mayor that the county had $1,500 if the city had $1,500. We sent that $3,000 check and nothing has been done on the work. But, I don’t know if there’s been a concerted effort to put pressure on ALDOT to complete the project. To me, the bridges are there and the utilities have already been moved. The county, the city and our legislative delegation need to be on the same page. What’s the response time at certain times of the day to the hospital now with the traffic?
“I think we need more money put into our farm-to-market roads and secondary roads. I’m in favor of this gasoline tax if they can divert a big portion of that to farm-to-market roads and not send it to ALDOT. The legislators tell me they’re for the tax, too, so maybe they’ll fight for it. We have the second most secondary roads in the state of Alabama, but we’re 15th in funding because the funding is based on population and not the miles of road. Morgan County gets about $8,000 a mile to maintain their roads and Cullman County gets only about $2,000 per mile. It’s kind of an unfair formula.”
Hicks sees a need for renovations in many of the county’s senior and community centers, especially in the smaller communities, to make them a source of local pride for the citizens.
“We’ve got a lot of old community centers out in the county that need repair. Instead of being an eyesore they need to be something the community is proud of. I feel more of an obligation to help these unincorporated areas that have community centers that don’t have a tax base to support these centers. Places like Simcoe, Brushy Pond, Walter and Crane Hill. The community needs something more than just a place for the seniors to meet. I helped build the Cold Springs community center while I was in office and they rent that place out for family reunions, wedding receptions and other events. The community needed that building space and that center really adds to the community.”
In addition to roads and senior centers, Hicks wants to move forward and complete the public gun range in Bremen.
“Gun sales are at an all-time high. I have a farm so I can take my grandson down in the pasture and I can teach him gun safety and we can shoot, but how many people have a house on a lot and nowhere to shoot? Where are they going to shoot? There was a shooting range started down at Bremen, and after we went out of office, it’s just been sitting there. We got most of the work done. Sheds are up. Tables are up. Restrooms. Berms are built. A place for rifles. Sidewalks poured for handicap accessibility. The gravel is even there for the parking lot. They put up a sign that says ‘closed to the public’ since then and that’s it. The only thing that has been done is the sign put up telling people to keep out when all it needs is a septic tank.
“It just wasn’t the present administration’s idea so it’s sat there,” Hicks continued. “They’ve come up with several excuses saying it’s at the old county dump. But, where this thing is built there was never any garbage put there. The man that was there when the first dirt was pushed said it was just strip-mined land and they build houses on strip mines now. I want to see that finally finished.”
Walker told Leonard that his goals for his next term, if re-elected, are simple: “To keep the county running as smooth as it’s running and to make it as safe as it can be and looking for funding for roads and looking to improve our roadways. Short and sweet.”
Citing a need for new leadership as the reason he chose to run during his initial campaign, Walker says he wasn’t surprised by the demands of the position. “You know, we got employee troubles and road problems, but we’re always going to have road problems. Yeah, it’s about what I was expecting.”
Walker’s goals mirror the projects initiated by the current commission, which are “resurfacing County Roads 747 and 703.”
Roads are a big concern to county residents, and the Alabama Highway 157 “bridge to nowhere” still stands as an eyesore and reminder of unfinished work. Additionally, as the preferred path to Cullman Regional Medical Center, patient care is potentially compromised due to traffic issues on the two-lane bridge.
“The state, ALDOT, had that project in the 2016 bid lettings and they backed it up until being bid in 2018 or 2019. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the city or county. That’s a state road. The city can’t do nothing. We’re waiting on ALDOT. They’re looking at 2018.”
When asked if the 6-cent gas tax increase, which was approved by an Alabama House of Representatives committee on March 17, would help the funding of those projects, Walker responded, “I’m sure it would. I try to stick to county business and try to stay out of that.”
Sonny Brasfield, Association of County Commissions of Alabama executive director, has come out in strong support of the bill, as has ALDOT, noting the thousand-plus bridges that school buses cannot cross every morning throughout Alabama counties, including Cullman.
With a $1 million-dollar sales tax surplus from last year, the county looks to pave even more roads this year. “I think this year we’re going to pave about 40 miles of road instead of the usual 20. I hope sales tax stays about like it is right now. If it continues to stay stable, we’ll have an extra million to put in the road budget every year.
“I’m proud to come in and finally get a 90-day reserve,” Walker continued. “Before I took office we didn’t have but a 45- or 60-day reserve. Now, we’ve got a 90-day reserve.”
Both candidates have three things in common: They love Cullman County, they want to do what’s best for Cullman County residents and they’ve both been working tirelessly over the course of this campaign.
Please get out and exercise your right to vote on Tuesday! Every vote matters.
Read: http://cullmansense.com/articles/2016/03/28/cup-coffee-darrell-hicks
Read: http://www.cullmansense.com/articles/2016/04/06/chat-kenneth-walker
April 12 SAMPLE BALLOT: http://www.cullmancourts.org/assets/probatecourt/PDFs/sampleBallot.PDF
