Incumbent, councilman square off for Scott City mayor

Candidates for Scott City mayor are both concerned about city spending, but their viewpoints on how and where money should be spent differ.

Tim Porch has served as mayor since 2000.

"We finally struggled through the tough years, got the money in the bank, and we feel comfortable starting to do some of the improvements," he said.

"We have plans," Porch added. "That's kind of why I want to stick around another four years."

Porch has an opponent in the mayoral race: Ron Cummins, who is concerned about the city's spending and worries it soon will be taking on more than what it can handle.

Ron Cummins

"We've got a lot of issues on the table that aren't getting any attention, and it just seems like we're getting confused between our wants and our needs," Cummins said.

Porch has lived in Scott City for more than 40 years. He's the owner of Interior Plus, a commercial contracting company in Scott City. He served on city council briefly before becoming mayor. This is the first time Porch has been opposed since 2008.

Cummins sits on the city council of Scott City. He has been a resident of Scott City for more than 30 years and owns Cummins Pools in Scott City.

Sewers

The sewers in Scott City are a concern for both candidates. Some of the projects Porch plans for Scott City are mandated, such as an upgrade to the city's lagoon system.

"We've got to reduce the amount of ammonia that's released out with our affluent water, so it's going to require some changes to our sewer system," Porch said.

But other sewer projects are needed to accommodate the considerable rainfall Southeast Missouri has experienced in recent years.

"We get a big, bad rap on the sewers. But we might have one or two big backups for the year in the whole town," Porch said. "We've lived through about nine 500-year rains since I've been mayor."

Porch said the city will focus on some of the issues plaguing the sewers and will work with the public to eliminate some of the infiltration.

"That will help immensely, plus it will save a lot of utilities as far as our lift system pumping that water through our sewer station to the lagoon," Porch said.

Cummins also believes the city should focus on flooding issues.

"We need to have some ditch projects, some cleanouts, so we can get the water out of our city," Cummins said.

He also believes the streets have been paved over so many times, it's closing \the storm sewers and exasperating the flooding problems.

Utility charges

Another water-related issue Cummins voiced concerns about is utility charges.

Cummins spoke of residents coming into the city-council meetings and complaining of fluctuating water bills.

"Our public works [department] did not read the meters. They were estimating, which reflected back on our citizens," he said.

The city has been considering installing auto-read water meters on all Scott City homes. This, Cummins said, is not the right solution to the problem.

"Who's going to pay for those? It's going to be paid for by the citizens of Scott City," he said.

Porch said the auto-read meter plan is an expensive one, costing up to $1 million to replace 2,000 to 2,500 meters throughout the city. But Porch says the expected savings brought my the meters -- reduced man-hours, fewer errors -- ultimately would pay for them. The issues that caused the fluctuating bills were human error, Porch said, and this would reduce chances of it happening again.

Porch also said some of the meters in use were installed in the 1930s, and he said it's time to upgrade.

Amphitheater

The candidates also spoke of the amphitheater planned for Scott City Park. Porch said the theater will be magnificent and a great addition to the park. He said the cost to build the amphitheater will come to around $350,000.

"It started out a bit expensive, so we had it redesigned," Porch said.

Cummins said the amphitheater is costing more than expected. Unlike Porch, Cummins estimates the cost at over $600,000.

"I'm all for something smaller setting there so our Summer Fest can use it. When you're a small community, there's room for things like this, but not that kind of money," Cummins said.

City manager Ron Eskew said the amphitheater costs, as well as the designs, are not final.

"The mayor has been working on a few different designs," Eskew said.

Other projects Porch would like to focus on if he is re-elected is an extended sidewalk to Scott City schools on the west side of Interstate 55, building walking trails and the creation of a community center with a tornado room, with the assistance of FEMA grants.

Porch also would like to focus on bringing more businesses to the area.

"Everything in Scott City is in the enterprise zone, so anybody coming in with industry or retail could possibly qualify for tax credits," he said.

Among other projects, Cummins would like to focus on sidewalk repair throughout the city and bringing more recreational activities to town.

"We've seen activities for our children declining. Our kids are going off to other towns to play different sports. We just need more activity for our community. We need to up our services for our residents," Cummins said.

Cummins said Scott City is a great community, full of potential. But he said the community distrusts the city government.

"I would like to see more people attend our city council meetings. We need to be held accountable for our spendings," Cummins said. "We just have to be focused on our needs as of right now. We'll have time for the wants down the road."

"We've got a very strong financial base," Porch said. "We have a good reserve in the bank. We're attracted several new businesses. We've budgeted in the black every year. We've never been in a deficit on the budget. But the revenue increase, as far as I'm concerned, has been attributed to the city council and myself, striving to attract businesses and being frugal with our money."

Ward races

There are two contested city council seats in Scott City's April 5 election.

In Ward 1, councilman Bill Schwartz faces a challenge from Darren Raines.

In Ward 3, there is a three-way race between former councilman Robert Tyler, Bobby Bollinger II and Matthew Koehler to replace retiring councilman Pete Wadlington.

Tyler chose to run for the position when he saw no one had yet applied for the position.

"I decided to go ahead and run, and see if I could serve my city again for another term," Tyler said.

Since then, two other candidates took on the challenge. Bollinger sees it as an opportunity to give back to his community. He'd like to focus on public safety, and helping the city play to its strengths.

"Scott City has so much potential. We have a major interstate, a major railway, a major port. We've even got a local airport," Bollinger said. "We really need to focus on these strengths that we have, this potential that we have."

The Southeast Missourian reached out to Bill Schwartz and Darren Raines last week. They were unavailable for comment. Matthew Koehler did not respond to messages left with him Monday.

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630