A U.S. Navy veteran who lives on Signal Mountain and works as a captain for a major airline has formally announced his candidacy for the District 2 seat on the County Commission currently held by Richard Casavant.
If elected, David Cantrell said his number one priority will be working to ensure that taxes paid by Hamilton County residents are spent wisely and prudently.
Toward that end, he noted, he is looking into the possibility of setting up a Waste, Fraud and Abuse Hotline.
“Tax revenues are down,” he said. “We can't afford to waste money. Without wise oversight of taxes and spending the commissioners either have less money for education, infrastructure, and economic development – or they have to raise taxes.
“We’ve already seen enough of that,” Mr. Cantrell said.
He said he believes taxpayers themselves should be able to monitor how the county spends the hard-earned dollars they have contributed through property taxes, fees and other mandatory payments.
“All pertinent information relating to revenues and expenditures should be easily accessible via the Internet,” he said.
Other major priorities, Mr. Cantrell said, include:
* Small business advocacy – “Small businesses can get lost in the shuffle. They are the economic lifeblood of the community (because profits) made by local businesses generally stay local.”
* Informed long-range planning for economic development – “To grow effectively, we must be informed as the best practices (or) risk waking up one day and realizing that we’ve repeated all the mistakes made in Atlanta.”
* Strong public schools – “It’s way past time to get serious . . . Public education is absolutely critical. I intend to do everything within my power to ensure that our children . . . (are) given the tools (needed) to compete for jobs, both locally and globally.”
* Equal representation for all – “I would like to raise the bar for the County Commission and work to eliminate petty politics which ultimately result in lost time and wasted dollars.”
Mr. Cantrell and his wife, Missy, have been married for 32 years. Their son is a student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.