QUORUM COURT DISTRICT 13 : Contested Quorum Court race pits incumbent against a newcomer
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/65038/
One of the contested Washington County Quorum Court races in the Republican Party features an incumbent going for his fourth term and a newcomer to politics.
Stacy Cavender, 36, of the Spring Valley area east of Springdale, is challenging incumbent Justice of the Peace Joe Patterson, 70, Springdale, for the District 13 seat on the Quorum Court. This race will be decided on the May 20 primary because no Democrats are vying for the seat.
District 13 covers the northeast corner of the county.
Patterson was elected to the Quorum Court in 2002, and has been chairman of the Public Works Committee for the past two terms.
He said he is running for re-election to address several issues that need to be resolved, including courthouse space and a parking deck with possible structural damage.
“ I think my experience is needed at this time, ” he said, when asked why he is a better candidate than his opponent.
With an impending county judge change and some people going off of the Quorum Court, he said, experience is needed.
Cavender said he is not running for the seat to “ unseat Joe. ”
“ I think Joe’s done a proper and adequate job, ” he said. “ This is politics and this is something I’ve had to struggle with internally, the political thing. ”
But, he said, people elected to office should understand that in the future there is a chance somebody will run for their office.
With all the technological changes, he said, “ I believe I’d be able to represent that a little better than Joe would. ”
While he has no political experience, Cavender cited his experience with the Future Business Leaders of America while an accounting student at Northwest Technical Institute in Springdale. He was elected local chapter vice president and president and, in the meantime, was elected as state technical school representative for the Arkansas State Chapter.
“ I learned how to work as a team member, learned a lot about sitting on councils and committees, learned a lot about the electoral process, too, ” he said. “ If it hadn’t been for my experience at that state level, I don’t think I would have had the courage or the skills needed to run for an office like this. ”
He also said his accounting education helped him learn how to understand spread sheets, budgets and bank statements. He said his present occupation gives also gives him construction expertise. Cavender is an alarm technician / fire and security systems integrator for Simplex-Grinnell in Springdale. A single parent, he has a 12-year-old son. “ I believe I have a good blend of book smarts and common sense, ” he said. Patterson cited his Quorum Court and business experience, which includes banking, and he and his wife, Norma, have owned Eagle Company Inc. of Springdale, for 40 years. The company makes truck bodies and trailers. They are members of First Baptist Church in Springdale and have four children and six grandchildren.
Key issues A year ago last January, Patterson said the Quorum Court “ didn’t really have anything on our plate that we needed to deal with. ”
Now, he added, there are a lot of issues to look at, including adding a pod to the Washington County Detention Center.
He said the parking deck needs to be repaired or replaced, and space is needed in the county buildings, particularly for the Public Defender’s Office, which occupies an old house on North College Avenue south of the Washington County Courthouse.
Patterson said county officials need to be careful about how to spend money available for such projects.
“ I’m not for any new taxes, ” he said.
Cavender said keeping the county budget on track would be his number one issue.
“ I’m against any form of new taxes, ” he added.
“ There’s been a big discussion about whether to build a new courthouse and where to build it, ” he said.
Having attended Public Works Committee meetings and “ just looking around, ” he said, “ I don’t think we need to build any more court buildings. ”
“ If anything, I think there’s plenty of buildings available for purchase or lease in the downtown area near the courthouse that would work just fine and be much cheaper, ” he said.
“ One thing that’s always going to be a priority on my list — I don’t have an exact plan of what and how we’re going to do it — we need to keep an eye on the environment whenever we are considering any zoning laws or development, ” Cavender said. “ In every decision, I’ll have that in the back of my mind. ”
Asked why he would continue to make a good JP, Patterson said, “ I’ve got a lot of experience. I’m for property rights. I’m for less government. The government has to do some things, but we have to be real careful and not try to do too much. ”
Asked the same question, Cavender said, “ I’m honest. I’m not looking to make any personal gains or anything like that. I’m not looking in any form to profit from being elected to the office, whether it be more limelight, financially. ”
He said he just wants to do his part for the community. Regional Mobility
Authority Patterson was one of two people on the Quorum Court to vote against joining the Northwest Arkansas Regional Mobility Authority — a joint effort with Benton County to prioritize highway projects not funded by the government. Sales taxes or tolls for these projects would have to be approved by voters. He noted that the Quorum Court voted to join the authority in March a month before it had to be passed on its final reading. “ There was no hurry on that, ” Patterson said. “ I like to think about things. There’s a lot of issues with that regional transportation deal. ” Cavender said he likes the idea of the authority working together. “ It’s always best to work as a group than as individuals. It seems to me that it’s more efficient that way, ” he said. “ We’re not the small towns of Northwest Arkansas. We’re pretty much a big community now, as far as the 540 corridor goes. ” He said he would be in favor of tolls over sales taxes, saying tolls would allow people using the roads to help pay for them.
Zoning Patterson voted no on countywide zoning. “ The people in the rural area of my district, they tell me they don’t want zoning, ” said Patterson, who added that he has heard from only one constituent who wants it.
Patterson said he has no particular plan to get the zoning ordinance repealed and will take a “ wait-andsee” approach.
“ Now that we have it, let’s see what people say after the election, ” he said.
If people come to him and say they do not like it and want something done about it, he said, “ I guess it’s our duty to do something about it. ”
He said he believes onehalf acre is sufficient for homes and people shouldn’t be required to purchase one acre for a home in the county.
Cavender said he is happy with the zoning laws that have been passed as far as the high-density subdivisions and restrictions on future commercial development, “ but I think that’s about as far as it needs to go. ”