Candidate Comparison: Edmond Mayor and City Council

The Edmond general election is set for April 6, and several offices will be on the ballot.

Mayor, Ward 3 and Ward 4 councilmembers are up for election. After the primary elections narrowed the field, two candidates for each office remain.

To help voters decide for which candidate to vote, the Edmond Way Editorial Board reached out to each candidate for a brief interview. Each candidate for a City Council seat was asked the same questions.

Current mayor Dan O’Neil is not seeking re-election. Nathan Walters and current Ward 3 Councilmember Darrell Davis are the candidates.

With Davis running for mayor, the Ward 3 candidates are Christin Mugg and Sheryl Janis. The Ward 4 candidates are David Miller and Stacie Peterson.

Davis is the only current councilmember running for a seat. Miller is not a current councilmember but served on the council from 2001 to 2012.

Currently, Edmond is steadily increasing water rates to pay for upgrades to the infrastructure. There has been talk of temporarily pausing those increases to aid residents during the pandemic. However, if these increases are paused, the city would have to find other means to pay for the upgrades.

Both mayoral candidates said they would not agree with pausing the increases, and both pointed out Edmond’s infrastructure fared much better than many other places during the most recent winter storm. Davis said the increases have already been paused once, and Walters said the stress on Edmond’s infrastructure will only increase as the city continues to grow, so Edmond must stay ahead of it and be prepared.

In Ward 3, Janis said she would like to see a pause to look for other ways to pay for the upgrades.

“I don’t know what those other ways could be, but I think there’s other people besides just City Council people, city employees that might have some suggestions,” Janis said. “I don’t think it’s out of the realm to maybe ask other people what they think we could do.”

Mugg, her opponent, disagreed. She, like the mayoral candidates, said Edmond’s infrastructure held up during the storm.

“They’re in place, they’re planned,” Mugg said. “The structure is planned with the long and short term debt. I think we move forward with the plan that’s in place.”

For Ward 4, Peterson said the current utility rates have become a hardship for some residents. She said if there is any way to temporarily halt the increases, she would support it. In order to still pay the city’s debt for the upgrades, she would take cuts across the board in the city’s funding.

Her opponent, Miller, is against pausing the increases. He said the city needs the money to upgrade infrastructure that was built in the 1970s. He said delaying the rate increases would also delay growth and improvement, which would be felt for several years.

Several key city positions are expected to open in the next year and a half as the current employees retire. Candidates were asked how to handle the process of replacing them.

All council candidates said it is important to begin the searches as soon as possible.

Davis, who has been a part of such searches before, said it is important to get the replacements before the current employees leave. He also said he has already spoken to two of the employees in question.

“I said, ‘I know that you’re going to retire this year,’” Davis said. “Please, can we negotiate a time that we can start this process to fill your positions long before your seat goes cold. I’ve already been on bended knee with them, because they haven’t set a firm date, but I know how long sometimes the process takes, and I want to use as much time as possible.”

While Davis said a nationwide search is needed, his mayoral opponent, Walters, said he would rely on the other city staff members to identify candidates they know.

“Some of our hiring on the private side have been through working with certain trades that have had really great employees that were looking to take a step up,” Walters said. “They always treated our customers well and we had a working relationship… So, I’d want to start there.”

In Ward 3, Janis said she would start the search by looking within Edmond.

“I know that we’ve hired from outside of Edmond before,” Janis said. “I just think it’s better for morale if you look at people within your city, within your structure of whatever business you have.”

Mugg said if the searches aren’t already underway, the need to be.

“One thing I do think is important, if at all possible, starting the search for the city manager and hiring the city manager before we hire an assistant city manager I think is incredibly important,” Mugg said. “Because I think the city manager needs to be involved in the search for the assistant city manager.”

From Ward 4, Peterson said she would want the current employees’ help in finding their replacements.

“I would start searching through other municipalities,” Peterson said. “Seeing if we can’t interview folks from other municipalities and entice them to come to Edmond.”

She also said she was not opposed to hiring from within.

Miller already has some names in mind, including city managers from other cities. He would also look for other candidates that haven’t worked in Edmond before and would hire a search firm.

If neither Miller nor Davis are elected, no one on the council will have more than two years’ experience. Miller said that could make the search difficult because some candidates may interview better but not necessarily be the best candidate.

“I think it’s going to be extremely difficult for an inexperienced council to do this,” Miller said. “I think it’s going to be very difficult for them to set the parameters and not become enamored with flash. I think it’s going to be more substance, pay attention to the substance.”