Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Oct. 25, 2024 –Mayoral candidates Tom Elwood and L.J. Bryant addressed the Kiwanis of Greater Jonesboro on Wednesday as the club hosted the second of two mayoral forums.

Although each candidate had limited time to speak, both made time for a few questions from club members.

Elwood was up first as he began with some of his background, speaking about the loss of his little brother to cancer in 1967 and how it brought him closer to God. He added that after his father died, God told him that he would run for mayor, which he did. This is his third run at the office.

Elwood also spoke about his knowledge of trees and the natural environment.

During the question portion of his time, members asked questions about the Citizens Bank building and his opinion on making the mayoral race partisan. For the Citizens Bank building, he stated that the mayor has to think about the future and the problem had been a long time coming.

“The Citizens Bank problem did not sneak up on us. It has been 20 years coming,” Elwood said. “Now there is a problem… They made a land deal where they rented the land, and the building was separated from the land. It was a business deal that a lawyer would understand, they are still collecting the money for rent but don’t have the legal responsibility for taking care of the building. It was pretty clever. The law is flexible but they’re hiding behind the law because there is asbestos in the building and the contractor doesn’t want to pay for it.”

“But the city is going to have to deal with the asbestos problem, whether you tear it don’t or remodel it,” somebody has to pay for it,” he said.

Elwood said that he felt that there was no need to block the street because he didn’t think it was going to collapse, suggesting dumpsters placed below the bulging exterior. He also noted the building’s basement and what kind of issues it could cause if the building was completely torn down.

“Completely removing it is not an option,” Elwood said, adding that he felt it would just have to be remodel and the part of top floors removed. “Remove the elevator shaft first and then take it one floor at a time back down to the original.”

After moving on to the question of making the mayor race partisan, Elwood said he felt that was a bad idea for many reasons, one being that he believed in a smaller government and another that he felt the mayor’s office was the lowest branch of government and political parties had no place it.

Bryant was up next, quickly noting his background as well, including his seven years on the Jonesboro City Council and his attempt at running for state representative.

Bryant then noted his 10-point plan for the city, which included at the top of the list public safety, mosquito reduction, quality of life, making it easier to do business in Jonesboro and promise to only be serving one term as mayor.

“This is my last race in politics forever,” Bryant said, noting that he felt it was time to retire from politics after this race.

He also added that he likes to set goals and accomplish them; he likes to be approachable, and he likes to win.

Then he turned it over to the audience to ask him their questions and, with more time left over at the end of his speech than Elwood had left, the audience asked more questions.

The first of which was about partisan verses non-partisan mayoral race, to which Bryant stated that he too was opposed to partisanship in the mayor’s office.

“When the legislature has considered the proposal, I have opposed it,” he stated. “City Council works quite well. All 11 people that I served with are super smart and super great people. All 12 [of us] try to do the right thing and, in a city government I don’t think you need a group of people telling you what to do.”

He spoke about disfunction between the mayor and City Council, recalling a recent press conference by council members. He added that the mayor needed to realize that the City Council makes decisions for the city, as the mayor doesn’t vote unless it is to break a tie.

“City Council runs the city. City Council sets the budget for the city. City Council sets the policy for the city,” he said. “There has been a lot of disfunction between the City Council and the mayor in the last few ears and we have to get that fixed.”

He added that improving communication between the mayor and council members would fix the issue.

He was also asked about several other issues, such as the Citizens Bank building, the Mayor’s Youth Advancement Council, why he was running for mayor, city manager verses city mayor, excessive spending, and more.

Watch the full forum here.