Bagley sets Council run

Andrew Bagley has declared his candidacy for the Ward 2 Position 1 seat on the DeWitt City Council. The seat is currently held by James Vernor.

In a written statement, Bagley said, “I teach my students that they have a responsibility to become involved in the world around them. I teach them that they have a moral obligation to try and do the greatest good for the greatest number. I believe that one of the noblest forms of community service is to serve in government. With that in mind, I want to do my part to see DeWitt among the best communities in southeast Arkansas in all areas. I believe the city has immense potential, and I want to do my part to serve this community.”

Bagley named several things on which he would like the city government to focus. “Above all things, we need to develop a can-do attitude of developing ways to solve problems instead of finding ways to avoid dealing with difficult issues. In these days of tight budgets for local governments, nothing is ever easy, but that is not an excuse. Government has a responsibility to lead, think outside the box, offer vision and provide citizens with quality services. I believe I can contribute to a development of that kind of mindset within municipal government. We should never have a situation where we go through lengthy meetings on the same subject for several months without reaching a decision.”

Bagley sees street repair as the city’s greatest infrastructure need. “A quality infrastructure is going to be necessary, if we are going to put ourselves in the best position for economic development. Infrastructure is also expensive. We need to spend a significant amount of time planning exactly what our street priorities need to be, educate the public about the costs after that evaluation is completed, ask the voters to renew the sales tax currently devoted to the sewer bonds when those pay off and issue a new bond to have a significant street repair program. This will take time to develop, but we need to have a plan in place so that we can submit the question to the voters as the expiration of the sewer tax nears.”

Bagley also would like to see additional recreation opportunities and police officers, if funds can be found. “I will be very anxious to see if state government increases aid to local governments in the next session. Obviously, we need to lobby our legislators to work on making sure that DeWitt gets its fair share of the pie out of Little Rock. However, we can only control what we do. We need to offer leadership on developing our own tax base. We need to set an example by shopping at home. We need to make sure that city government uses all its legal authority to foster economic development. In short, government needs to offer leadership and set the tone. The Downtown Network project shows that there is a thirst in this community for leadership and vision. If the voters will give me a chance, I pledge to work hard, do my best, and make decisions based on what I think does the greatest good for the greatest number of people.”

Bagley, who works at Phillips Community College, holds a master of arts degree in political science from Baylor University and a bachelor of arts degree in political science and history from Ouachita Baptist University. He has completed additional graduate work from Louisiana State University and Harding University. He is a member of the faculty senate at PCC and has served on numerous boards in Phillips County. Bagley attends the First Christian Church. Bagley’s campaign web page is http://abagley75.googlepages.com/bagleyfordewittcitycouncil.

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Bagley sets Council run

Andrew Bagley has declared his candidacy for the Ward 2 Position 1 seat on the DeWitt City Council. The seat is currently held by James Vernor.

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