Red Bank Commissioner Rick Causer said he did not attend a recent candidate forum because of a scheduling conflict.
Commissioner Causer already has a term on the commission, but is also running against Mayor John Roberts for an at-large seat in the Nov. 4 election.
Commissioner Causer, in a written response to forum questions, claimed that Mayor Roberts, Roberts, Ed LeCompte, and Terry Pope are being divisive.
He said he campaigned for Mayor Roberts four years ago, "then I quickly learned that he will tell you one thing to your face and do the opposite when the time comes. Now that we sit on the same board, I have learned that he does not do his research to completely understand the items up for discussion. As long as he has his three votes, it doesn’t matter if there are any unintended consequences to the people. He sticks to the script with his talking points and that is it."
Commissioner Causer said Mayor Roberts "possesses an ideology that frankly concerns me and should at the least give reservations to the rest of our citizens in Red Bank."
Here are Commissioner Causer's answers to the questions:
What are your priorities and actions you plan to take to enhance life for the citizens of Red Bank?
The priority for the City of Red Bank has to be looked at on many different levels. First, we must continue to make improvements to our infrastructure. Second, continue to seek out developers who are willing to bring capital into our city to develop areas that are available. Third, seek out businesses that are willing to bring their capital into our city to establish business either by coordination with developers or by retrofitting an existing structure which will bring jobs to local residents. Fourth, seek out businesses that are willing to make a business decision by filling existing vacant building spaces which will provide jobs to local residents. Fifth, promote existing local businesses and request our residents to buy from local businesses, and to frequent local food establishments to keep them in our city. Sixth, encourage existing local business to invest in their building with upgrades and beautification to enhance the overall appearance of our city. Seventh, continue to hire well trained city employees and to keep the fleet of vehicles in top operating condition. Eighth, provide up to date equipment for the city employees, as needed, so they may perform their duties with accuracy and efficiency. Ninth, keep the property taxes as low as possible, but still meet the budgetary requirements to operate the Local Government.
What is your vision for Red Bank in one, five and 10 years?
My vision for Red Bank in the short term is to encourage business owners, elected officials and residents to support our city by being willing to assist others who need help in the preservation and promotion of their properties. I practice this in my own life.
My long term vision is to have Red Bank operating as a booming city full of active individuals who work together with pride. We can be a role model for other cities to follow. My vision involves regaining territory that once belonged to the city of Red Bank. Not annexation, not taking land by force, but allowing the people to decide if they want to be a part of our city again and pay lower taxes.
Do you ever wonder why the Red Bank Pet Placement Center is not within our city limits, but still holds our name? It used to be. I shared my vision with Mayor Roberts some time ago and he told me he agreed with it, but nothing has happened in getting it off the ground, even though I provided our city manager with the initial database that was needed to get started. All I can do at this point is provide information. Only the mayor can push something through or squash it. Did it get put aside because it wasn’t his idea? I don’t know the answer.
Is Red Bank trending away from home ownership and toward Section 8 rentals? What are your ideas to correct this trend?
I don’t know that there is hard evidence that home ownership is trending towards Section 8 rentals. I do know that a citizen made the false charge to me that Mr. Lester Barnett and Vice Mayor Pierce only rent to Section 8. I know that is not true, but once that misinformation is out there, it’s hard to prove otherwise. However, I believe that all individuals should be given due respect whether they are currently employed or find themselves in hard times, especially in today’s economy. I certainly don’t believe that we should characterize a group of people who find themselves jobless and needing assistance as less than the next person who has been fortunate to keep their job/home.
One problem that I see is the process of some landlords not doing their due diligence in vetting people before they sign contracts to rent a property. Another problem is that the laws to terminate rental contracts with people who cause problems in our neighborhoods are not conducive for the landlords. One more problem would be the laws dealing with evictions.
It is irrelevant to say that everything hinges on whether or not a new zoning plan is passed. This insistence of passing a new zoning ordinance just illuminates the obsession of these three candidates (Mayor Roberts, Mr. LeCompte, and Mr. Pope) and how they feel about messing with people’s lives, property and dreams. After all, the ordinance is not the only issue facing Red Bank.
What assurances can you give that property that has been down-zoned or rezoned to non conforming use by the new ordinances will not be designated blight?
There is no guarantee that the property that has been rezoned and is now considered nonconforming use will be protected from gaining the blight condition in the proposed Zoning Ordinance. There is no guarantee in the current Zoning Ordinance either.
The other three candidates have forgotten another process that was initially omitted from the proposed zoning ordinance. I made sure that an appeal process was added. This allows for property owners who were rezoned and put into a nonconforming use status exceeding the 100 day provision, to provide information of mitigating circumstances before an appeals board that would warrant the consideration of the continued grandfathered status to the property.
The planning commission spent over a year to develop the new zoning plan. Did you attend any of the meetings?
If I remember correctly, I attended three or four meetings. I was extremely interested in what was in the proposed Zoning Ordinance and was seeking out answers for why the changes were being requested and what the result would be if implemented. It still needs work. Zoning Maps, Design Standards, Land Use Plan and the Design Review Process have not been received to date. Mr. Barry Bennett has stated before, and stated again at the meeting on September 25th , that these items are crucial in understanding the ordinance. The estimated date given for the completion of the Zoning Maps is Oct 17, 2014 and the remaining documents are estimated to be available to us months after that.
I received the proposed Zoning Ordinance on Aug 6, 2014 and have been asked, on multiple occasions, to pass the proposed Zoning Ordinance, as is, even prior to that date. During the Agenda Meetings, I brought up some concerns on multiple issues. At my request, the Board of Commissioners met at a work session to discuss items that needed to be changed or removed from the proposed Zoning Ordinance. The only two Commissioners who fully participated in the work session were myself and Vice Mayor Floy Pierce. This covered only a portion of the proposed Zoning Ordinance. My opponent, Mayor John Roberts, only moaned and tried to rush the discussion without participating in the process. He was content to simply pass the proposed Zoning Ordinance as is and that was all he appeared to care about. Key items were removed from it and corrections in the wording are still being found.
I also met with the Director of Public Works, Tim Thornbury, and spent an additional 3 hours looking at mistakes and analyzing the unintended consequences that would occur to our personal property rights if the changes took place. I came to the conclusion that without removing more items from or rewording the proposed Zoning Ordinance, there could be some difficulty in the future for many of our citizens.
I feel that the other three candidates are taking advantage of individuals by stirring up emotions for the sole purpose of this election. I hope that the citizens of Red Bank will see that these three candidates, including Mayor John Roberts, Ed LeCompte, and Terry Pope (a current member of the Planning Board), are conducting themselves in a manner that is divisive. This is the type of action that gets a municipality into serious trouble and could create many problems for its citizens.
I would ask Mayor Roberts how he came to the conclusion that the Ordinance was ready to be passed when so many mistakes and items had to be corrected or removed. Why did he feel he needed to bring it up for a vote before we have received all of the material that would be required to come to an educated decision? I remember another situation in our recent history where these same tactics were used in the same way. How many times did we hear Congresswoman Pelosi tell us that we have to pass the Affordable Care Act Bill so we can see what’s in it?
Are you aware that some candidates do not own property in Red Bank and are you a property owner?
I disagree with the three candidates that feel property ownership is a prerequisite for holding an elected seat in the City of Red Bank. I am a proud Red Bank resident. Not every Red Bank resident is a Red Bank property owner. I will always fight for property owner’s rights as well as non-property owner’s rights. Thanks to the residents of the City of Red Bank, I was humbled and honored to be elected to the commission and to represent them to the best of my ability and without any reservations. I don’t expect the outcome of the election will be decided on whether or not a candidate owns property in Red Bank. Our voters are smarter than that.
Why are you running since you are already a commissioner with an unexpired term? It seems like a waste of time because you could be solving issues instead.
As I was quoted by the Chattanoogan in the Breaking News section on August 18, 2014 in the article “Red Bank Commissioner Rick Causer, Though He Has 2 Years Left On Term, To Challenge Mayor John Roberts In At-Large Race” (author unknown), “ Commissioner Causer said, ‘I don't like his leadership. It seems to me he is too compulsive and doesn't think things through. He makes poor choices.’". The reporter misheard when I said Mayor Roberts was impulsive, instead of compulsive.
I campaigned for and went door to door to get Mayor Roberts elected 4 years ago. So the real question is why am I running against him when I campaigned for him during the last election? I learned within the first week after he got elected that he was not going to make good on a promise he had made to another sitting commissioner prior to the election, if he helped him get elected. So, he’s not a man of his word. I quickly learned that he will tell you one thing to your face and do the opposite when the time comes. Now that we sit on the same board, I have learned that he does not do his research to completely understand the items up for discussion. As long as he has his three votes, it doesn’t matter if there are any unintended consequences to the people. He sticks to the script with his talking points and that is it.
He possesses an ideology that frankly concerns me and should at the least give reservations to the rest of our citizens in Red Bank. One example is He wants to close Bank St and Tacoma Ave where they intersect with Ashland Terrace because he feels people turning left onto Tacoma Ave coming West off of Ashland Terrace holds him up in traffic. He also wants to prohibit all off street parking because we had issues with three streets. Another example is when I requested that our city manager give us briefings on what’s going on with the city. I wanted our city manager to take his time and evaluate each department and brief us on the good, bad and ugly as well. Mayor Roberts didn’t see the value in either one of my requests. Another issue came up when Mayor Roberts was unwilling to work on finding a better solution to the trash billing issue. He thought it was easier for our citizens pay Hamilton County to do the billing through their tax dollars. This decision has become a hardship on many of our citizens on a limited income. The impact of that decision on our people and his unwillingness to discuss it concerns me.
In addition, I also believe that the citizens have the right to choose between at least two candidates instead of letting all three who initially qualified just walk right into office without any competition.
I don’t see the difference in my running at the same time I hold office and Mayor Roberts’ running at the same time he holds office. I have been and will continue to fulfill the responsibilities of my office. In the mean time, I will continue to look at the proposed Zoning Ordinance for corrections and after I receive the remainder of the material, will do more research to determine if it is something that would be beneficial to the City of Red Bank. There are parts of it that I agree with. I just want to make sure that we take the time to analyze any unintended consequences that would hurt our citizens.
What is your view of Agenda 21?
The Board of Commissioners were briefed by Gregg Juster and past Hamilton County Commission Chairman Larry Henry on Agenda 21, International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (I.C.L.E.I.) and regionalization during a Commissioner’s Agenda Meeting this past year. Mayor Roberts produced an application for membership to the I.C.L.E.I. during that meeting. My view pertaining to Agenda 21 is that I stand in full support with the Tennessee House Joint Resolution 587.