Brown kicks off mayoral campaign
PRESCOTT – Rena Brown kicked off her campaign for mayor by sponsoring a dinner meeting to make the announcement of her candidacy Tuesday, Jan. 23, at a local restaurant.
Brown kicked off her campaign, though the filing period hasn’t begun. The filing period will be the last week in Feb. and first week in March. This year, all city and county offices are up for election.
More than 30 people attended and heard Brown talk about how she and her husband, Jim, own the Hwy. 67 Flea Market and chose Prescott as their home 32 years ago. She told how they raised their three sons in Prescott, saying school was important while raising their children. She told those gathered she was one of eight children in a migrant family that traveled to different states picking what crops were in season.
Getting to the point of the meeting, Brown said she’s running for mayor because it’s time for change in Prescott. “I love Prescott,” she told the audience, adding she’s seen the town in a steady decline over the years and wants to make a difference.
“My focus will be on City Hall,” she said. “I’ll challenge the budget and work to save money. Animal control is important, but I’d like to bring it to Prescott instead of paying another community $26,000 a year to do it. I want people to be able to come to me with their concerns. I’ll have an open door policy.”
Brown said not only will she, as mayor, be accessible, but she’d make sure all department heads are accessible to the public as well. She promised to work with businesses to help them get on line, adding she’d go as far as teaching computer classes to help. She noted the electricity issue is a big one adding it will be hard to fix, if it’s not corrected by election time. Brown pointed out Prescott spent $200,000 in legal fees on the electric issue last year and has budgeted a like amount this year.
“I want to involve the community,” she said. “There’s a lot of work to be done on the budget. I want the Prescott Police Department to have all the equipment they need at their disposal. I have a brother who’s a policeman with the Hope Police Department.
“I’ll work hard as mayor and be out and about. I won’t be sitting at my desk all day every day. I’m not afraid of hard work and I’ll do the best job I can do. I’ll work to get business here and will focus on new businesses as well as industry, not just existing businesses. I’ll also look into real estate development (to improve the housing market). I hope I have your support. I’ll do all I can to make Prescott be a great place to live.”
Brown, if elected, also plans to have regular town hall meetings which will include department heads to help the public understand what’s being done in the city as well as getting input from local residents on changes they’d like to see made. She said there will be no favoritism if she’s elected and everyone will have to pay their utility bills.
We had an awesome turnout and our next step will be more public! Stay tuned for great things coming to Prescott! Go vote RENA BROWN for Mayor, lets see your lil’ City grow and inspire others to want to move in… and grow with Prescott.
The priorities for the next mayor should be:
Electrical rates. Even if it means selling the electrical lines and getting out that business then so be it, citizens need cheaper electricity. Prescott isn’t going to recruit any new businesses or industry until this is done. And look at all the $$ the current mayor has wasted in this deal making process. It’s all a tactic to the current mayor to say, WE ARE WORKING ON IT. Action speaks louder than words
Industry and business recruitment: It’s not gonna happen until you get cheaper electrical rates and a NEW economic development director. A small business can’t afford high utility rates
Infrastructure/services improvements: Yes that means road work..water sewer..police..and fire.etc.
Animal control: always will be a problem though…until you can control this aspect yourself it won;t get any better
Taking control of the budget: And yes this means that 1 cent “hospital tax” that the EDO just uses as it pleases… with no results seen.
And the real solution would be go to a city manager type government. Therefore the mayor can’t grant special favors for his buddies.
Hi Sam,
I agree it’s hard for small or new businesses to come to Prescott and pay these rates. I know because I am a business owner (Hwy 67 Flea Market) and every month the light bill takes a big chunk out of our already small profit. It hurts! I intend if at all possible to offer new businesses electric at cost for the first 3 to 5 years and for current businesses, we could at least get the same rate as residential rates. Our rates are higher than residential and I find that’s not fair because without our businesses where would our town be. We shouldn’t be penalized for having a business. So, rest assured IF elected I’ll be all over the electric rates. And I’m totally against favoritism, if I have to pay my bill so does everyone else. I visited with Mr. Jones and I do believe he has the billing in control and is collecting the unpaid back debts. That is a good thing ;).
As for animal control, I already have a plan in place and ready to implement when elected and it will benefit Prescott not Nashville.
The budget, I will be actively looking for ways to save the city funds. I’ve already seen many ways to save hundreds of thousands.
As for city government, I’m not opposed to it but will have to do my research on the matter.
As for our EDO…I plan to work closely with our director and maybe with my help we can begin to see and make a difference. We shall see. I do believe our EDO is an important part of Prescott, no industry will even consider us if we don’t have an EDO to guide and direct them. Unfortunately we haven’t seen a lot of results and that needs to change.
I’m not going in to this for the money, it doesn’t pay much. I love Prescott and I’m tired of sitting on the sideline watching it go down. I may fail at some things but I’ll always give it 100% and I will always be thinking of what’s best for the citizens.
I’ll be asking for the citizen’s patience, Rome wasn’t built in a day and I know I can’t fix everything all at once but rest assured I will be working on it and I intend to be transparent with the public so you will know what is going on in the city of Prescott, good or bad…
Thanks for your comment, it’s always good to hear the concerns and I for one appreciate your candor.
Take care, Rena Brown for Mayor