Two vie for mayor of New Madrid in Tuesday’s election

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Residents of New Madrid will choose a new mayor on Tuesday. Seeking the office are two men both with experience in city government, Donnie Brown, who formerly served as New Madrid’s mayor, and Nick White, a longtime member of the New Madrid City Council.

Due to scheduling conflicts, the New Madrid Chamber of Commerce was unable to host a in-person debate. The following are their responses to questions submitted by the Chamber.

__Why you are running for mayor of New Madrid and what qualifies you for this position?__

__Brown:__ “The answer is very simple, I love my hometown. I was mayor from 2005 to 2016, so I have a record that the citizens can look at and decide if they believe I am qualified. I am a registered professional engineer and have a strong knowledge in what it takes to build and maintain a city. New Madrid has so much potential and we have to continue to develop that potential.”

__White:__ “I am running for mayor to help our town and its citizens succeed as much as I can. As a current member of the Board of Alderman for the last 11 years, I have been diligently involved with helping with the growth of New Madrid and the improvement of its infrastructure. Under the current administration, we have accomplished a multitude of different things, which I want to continue to build. I want to help New Madrid continue to grow and prosper and achieve enormous success. I am very well versed on the current projects and issues facing our town and I feel as if I can help to continue to lead our town down a path of success which will benefit us all.”

__What will you do to ensure New Madrid continues to move forward in regards to bringing new business and industry to our town?__

__White:__ “Over the last several years, New Madrid has developed a great relationship with the Missouri Partnership, which is a public/private economic development partnership to help diverse types of businesses and industries expand. I want to continue to build on that relationship as well as try to re-establish a local economic development board consisting of individuals from within the city. New Madrid has a distinct advantage as we are located next to Interstate 55 with two different access points with the north and south exits, as well as being located on the Mississippi River which is one of the busiest shipping routes in the United States. That being said, we need to continue to be aggressive in recruitment of business to our town as this is vital for our tax base and the continuation of New Madrid.”

__Brown:__ “In 2007, we organized the New Madrid County Mayor’s Association. This association brought together all 15 incorporated cities in the county for the purpose of bringing economic development to our county. I have served as the executive director of this group since its inception. For the last six years I have been responsible for submitting responses to all the economic development inquiries for the county. I have enjoyed working with Mayor Bodi, Richard McGill, Ronnie Simmons, Timmie Lynn Hunter and Angie Kellams, and we have had some amazing successes, including some of the recent announcements in New Madrid. I will continue this work because good paying jobs are vital to the success of our region.”

__With both of you having full time jobs, how will you balance work, family and your position as mayor and how accessible will you be to the citizens off New Madrid?__

__Brown:__ “The position of mayor, if done correctly, is a very demanding one. I did not run for mayor in 2016 because of my family. My daughter was a junior in high school and my son was in junior high school. They were both very active in school and activities and needed my time and my attention more than the city of New Madrid did. Six years later my situation is very different. We lost our precious Annemarie to a heart condition in 2017, Donnie Ray is finishing his freshman year of college, and Amy and I have a little more time on our hands now. My faith and my family are the most important things in my life and I am so grateful I made them my priority over the past six years. As far as accessibility, I will always be available to the citizens of New Madrid. I work in town, I obviously live in town, I carry my cellphone with me at all times and I would say most people in town already have the number, if not they will be welcome to it. I always had an open door policy when I was mayor and will continue that if elected again.”

__White:__ “Over the last 11 years of serving as a member of the Board of Alderman, I have always made it a priority to make myself available to the citizens of New Madrid 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When I am elected to a public office, it is my obligation to listen to the people and be there for them at any time. Since I am running for mayor only, being available to the citizens of New Madrid will be a top priority.

I have also done my absolute best to keep the citizens informed as to what is going on in the city. Rather it be via social media, phone calls, text messages or word of mouth. I believe that the citizens should be kept informed and updated as much as possible, as I believe in an open government.”

__How do you plan to strengthen relationships with other organizations including our schools; city, county and state officials; current and future business owners; and your constituency?__

__White:__ “My relationships, I believe, are strong with our local, county, and state officials, but there is always room for them to become stronger. Our schools are the backbone of our community. They educate our children to help them to become successful in life, which is vital. We must support all of our schools, whether it be New Madrid County R-1, Immaculate Conception Catholic School or DAEOC Head Start, as they are all vital to our community.

As mayor, I would personally reach out to all the above listed, to help form an open line of communication for each of us to communicate freely. My phone number is 573-521-7445. I openly welcome any of my constituents to contact me with any questions or concerns they may have day or night as I want to be available to them 24/7.”

__Brown:__ “Relationships are so important in getting things done. When we formed the Mayor’s Association in 2007, it was an effort to bring our region together. I think if you ask people who are involved they will tell you our region is working together better now than it ever has. We have to continue to build on this. We are beginning to bring in jobs, now we are going to rely on our schools and technical skills programs to build us a qualified workforce to fill these jobs. When our young people fill these jobs, we are going to need help from our state and federal officials to help us bring in good affordable housing, so our young people can live in our communities as good productive citizens. These good productive citizens will raise children which will in turn strengthen our school system and the process will begin again. This is the type of sustainable community we are striving for and these relationships between everyone are key to producing it.” 

__What is your priority as mayor for the city of New Madrid?__

__Brown:__ My priority is to be a servant to the citizens of New Madrid. So many elected officials in our country have lost sight of this. Elected offices were never meant to be careers or positions of great power to be filled with arrogant people. The mayor, or any elected official for that matter, should serve the citizens humbly and make decisions that are best for the city as a whole. The position should never be used to get special favors for certain people or to Lord over people as if you are some how better than others. I truly loved serving the citizens for 11 years as your mayor and I hope you will have the confidence in me to allow me to serve again.”” 

__White:__ “My number one priority as mayor is the citizens. That is the number one priority without question and will always be my number one priority. My next priority is that I want to clean up our town. With the approval of the Board of Alderman, I want to strengthen our ordinances to help clean up the dilapidated homes that have roofs collapsing, windows boarded up and have been sitting vacant for years. The lots these homes sit on could be cleaned up and new homes could be built to help our population grow, which in return helps our local businesses and economy, as many are struggling to find individuals to work. We have new businesses coming to New Madrid as well as New Madrid County.The city of New Madrid could and should capitalize on the hundreds of jobs that are going to be created within the area by helping to establish lots, a subdivision, and incentives for individuals or entrepreneurs to build housing. As many of the citizens in New Madrid have noticed, we have a major need for housing in our town. As soon as a house is listed, it is sold or under contract in a matter of days. The city has been working with a group to help form a plan of action to help with this issue. I also want to continue actively pursuing new business to establish in New Madrid. It is vital for the continued growth and prosperity of our city.”

__Along with industry comes the demand for workers, what would you do to help with the demand for skilled workers housing and training needs?__

__White:__ “As I stated in my answer above, by cleaning up the dilapidated homes to create more opportunities for new homes to be built in a variety of places around our town as well as try to incentivize and draw individuals to move to New Madrid. Regarding training, I would reach out to our local Technical Skills Center located at New Madrid County R-1, as well as the School Board and Administration to see if we could help to create a training program to develop a skilled workforce to work with the new business. In conclusion, I would like to thank the New Madrid Chamber of Commerce for asking these questions and providing our responses to the citizens of New Madrid. I look forward to serving New Madrid as its next mayor and I humbly ask everyone for their vote and support on Tuesday, April 5th. I am here for the people of New Madrid and will always be here for the people.”

__Brown:__ “This is a great question. To build a sustainable community, we will have to partner with our schools and our technical programs (high school and community college) to train our own workforce. We can not simply rely on moving workers into our community, the shortage of skilled labor is a nationwide problem right now. When we build our workforce from our own community, we then have to help them find good affordable housing in our community. A good paying job and home ownership can give our young people a sense of pride and will encourage them to get involved and give back to our community. For many years now, the majority of our kids have had to leave the area to find good paying jobs and careers. We have an excellent opportunity to turn this around and begin to turn around the population decline we have seen over the last 50+ years.”