Four candidates will appear on the ballot for Fulton mayor after current mayor, Deana Michaels, chose not to seek reelection.
For Marissa Hanlon, who is running on the Republican line, aesthetics, communication, development and quality of life are the four pillars to focus on.
“It’s not just about development, people are concerned,” Hanlon said. “Do they have sidewalks that are functional? Is there a lack of a sidewalk leading up to our schools? What do our streets look like? These are real legitimate reasons why people do or don’t stay in a location and look to leave or choose to come to a city.”
She said bringing more transparency to city government will lead to more trust, investment and development. Hanlon will also appear on the Fulton Ignited for Change third-party line.
James Rice, who will appear on the Democrat and third-party Common Ground lines, said revenues are what need to be tackled to help Fulton grow.
“Currently, Fulton is going one day at a time because there is no infusion of new revenue to be able sustain what we have and what we are trying to carry, to provide the necessary, needed services,” Rice said. “There’s no room within our revenues to foster any type of growth.”
He said codes and quality of life issues are also important to address, but without proper funding, they will be hard to improve.
Third-party candidate David Phares, will appear on the Red Hat party line. He said infrastructure, housing and government transparency would be the focus moving forward. Phares said infrastructure and housing improvements can be done responsibly to attract more people to Fulton.
“First of all, I’m a saver and not a spender,” Phares said. “I don’t plan on raising taxes but from my experience with budgeting and financial planning and operations, I believe I can find better ways to use our money and to move it over towards improving our infrastructure. So it will not be business as usual going forward.”
Tom Kenyon, who will appear on the Conservative and third-party Experience Working for the People lines, declined to comment.
