An attempted boycott of the inaugural Smithville Review candidate forum amid rumors of question-fixing fell flat this past week with numerous candidates, including all three men vying for the county mayor nomination, sharing their ideas with voters at the forum.

“We appreciate this time to get to speak directly to the voters,” said Sheriff Patrick Ray, incumbent and Republican nominee for the office, who attended the forum held Thursday at the County Complex.

The forum, held in front of an audience of about 40 people, included county mayor Democratic hopefuls Tim Stribling, Bradley Hendrix and Mike Foster, along with Democratic commission hopefuls Joe Johnson, Beth Pafford and Independent William Rutherford, Sheriff Ray and aldermen Gayla Hendrix and Josh Miller, the latter who is seeking the office of Smithville mayor.

The event happened despite a call by Democratic Party Chairman Jordan Wilkins, on the eve of the forum, for candidates not to show up for the forum amid rumors that the list of questions to be asked candidates had leaked out.

“There is a rumor going around that someone has seen the questions,” Wilkins maintained, defending his mass text calling for the boycott.
While told during his conversation with the Review that the questions could not have leaked because the questions had not been created by that point, Wilkins held to the advice he sent to the party faithful, warning them not to participate. The questions asked at the event included “why did you decide to run for office and what area needs more funding in the county?”

Wilkins also wondered why he had not been consulted about the forum. The forum was an independent forum held by the Review with no input from either party or any candidates since it was to be an impartial event.

During the main event of the forum which featured the three county mayoral candidates, current county commissioner and mayoral hopeful Bradley Hendrix said he is concerned about the shape of DeKalb County schools and the low pay of county employees.

“We do need a new elementary school, big time,” Hendrix told the audience, noting he is for a wheel tax if that would help DeKalb County schools catch up to surrounding systems. “I am for a wheel tax but that should be through a referendum.”

Hendrix said the athletic facilities here are in need of upgrading and that he would like to see a sports facility all based on one campus.

Mike Foster, who served multiple terms as county mayor before being defeated by Mayor Tim Stribling last election, pointed to the successes he had as mayor.

“We upgraded pretty much everything,” Foster pointed out, touting great successes when it came to improvements of bridges and roads. “You think the roads are bad now, you should have seen them years ago.”

Foster added that during his administration the county debt went down and the bond rating improved to A+. He also noted that he enacted the process whereby county commissioners are educated on the items they are voting for before they show up to vote for measurers in general assembly.

Stribling noted that DeKalb has one of the lowest tax rates in the state yet has a $4 million fund balance.

“We have good commerce and a good tax rate,” he said, noting the county has taken advantage of numerous grants during his term. “It’s been a very fast four years.”

Stribling said the school building program will be high on the agenda during the next four years as will keep county salaries competitive.
“I think we are on the right track,” Stribling said of county salaries.