Hartwell Mayoral Candidates Present Platforms at Chamber Lunch
Members of the Hart County Chamber of Commerce and others now have a better idea of where each of the candidates running for the Hartwell Mayor seat stand.
On Thursday, candidates in the Hartwell mayoral race took time to discuss their platforms and answer questions from the audience at a special Chamber-sponsored Lunch and Learn. All four candidates focused on growing the town economically, one way or another.
Candidate David Little, who resigned his Hartwell City Council seat to run for mayor, said if elected, he would work to help make Hartwell a destination community for tourists.
“In all of the time I’ve spent thinking about this issue, I have to agree with Nicki at the Chamber who said we have to make Hartwell a destination,” Little told the audience. “No longer is I-85 the main thoroughfare. We have to make people come here.”
Little said he is also in favor of raising the hotel/motel tax as a way to increase revenue for the town.
Candidate Mike Gordon, a former Hartwell city councilman, said creating a viable workforce via programs at the high school funded by eSPLOST would help attract new businesses. E-SPLOST is on the November ballot in the form of a referendum. If approved, the Hart County School System hopes to raise another $18-million with the penny sales tax extension.
“An educated community, is a work ready community,” Gordon said. “These businesses want folks that will come out of the CTAE, out of STEM programs. They can find people to stock their shelves and unload trucks. What they need is people coming out of our high schools that they can nurture into management so that they can expand.”
Gordon also said Hartwell needs to continue to work on promoting tourism.
Incumbent mayor Jennifer Scott said in the four years she’s been in office, she has seen people come together in every area to improve the city.
However, she said the real workers who get the job done are the volunteers.
“The people that you’re sitting with are probably the hardest working group of people I have ever met,” Scott said. “And that’s the volunteers. It’s the volunteers that throw together the Mayor’s Monster Mash. That’s the volunteers that do the Scarecrows. That’s the volunteers that have effectively kept open some area of activity in our community for twelve solid months.”
Scott said citizens should focus on the positive work they’ve done and not on the negative.
Finally, former Hart County commissioner Brandon Johnson said there needs to be more concrete planning for economic growth.
“We need a, put-down-on-paper plan for manufacturing, retail, commercial, and tourism growth,” he
said. “We need to put a plan together that we can look at, follow, and everybody get behind so that we don’t have so much of these people want this and this group wants that. We need to be all together. I think that’s first and foremost.”
Johnson also said, if elected, he would also ask the city council to form a pro-business task force to promote the town.
The Hartwell City council and mayoral election is November 5th. Early voting continues at the Hart County Registrar’s office Monday – Friday 8a – 5p through November 1.