Jul. 19—The five candidates campaigning to become the next District 4 City Council member say the district needs stronger representation.
Sarah French, Jamie Handley, Jason Putman, Angie Thom and Pam Werstler are running to represent the district.
District 4 sits mainly between Beltline Road Southwest and the railroad tracks that run through the heart of the city. Portions of the district reach west of Beltline Road to include Decatur Mall, Decatur Morgan Hospital’s Parkway Campus and the surrounding business district. Wilson Morgan Park is the district’s biggest attraction.
Yet, despite the number of candidates, they all agree that this council district needs better representation. Incumbent Hunter Pepper, the youngest-ever councilman, chose not to run again after one term.
Handley said he’s running “because I’m unhappy with the current representation.” In fact, he’s not happy with the way the city is doing. He rattled off a list of issues he sees like the city not growing; issues with roads, parks and playgrounds; and a lack of restaurants.
“There’s just a lot of issues and I think it’s time to get involved,” Handley said.
Putman said District 4 “needs proper representation” at City Hall.
“We just don’t get the attention I think we deserve,” Putman said. “I want to make sure District 4 gets proper representation whenever things are being decided.”
For example, Putman said the city is preparing to start the Sixth Avenue streetscape project, which he called the “million-dollar mile,” and he would like to see District 4 get the same treatment.
He said he would like to see the city beautify the 14th Street overpass that runs between districts 3 and 4.
“The money just stops flowing there,” Putman said. “There have been no cosmetic improvements in this area, and there are power lines running everywhere. It appears to me that our district doesn’t get the attention that the rest of the city gets.”
Thom grew up in District 4, as did Putman and Handley. She said she’s running because “I see a lot of room for improvement in our neighborhoods.”
Thom said the city has made a lot of bad zoning decisions in this Southwest Decatur district like allowing apartments near several residential areas. She said she also wants the city to start better maintaining its properties.
French has been involved in the protests against the city over its handling of the Steve Perkins case. A Decatur Police officer shot and killed Perkins at his home on Sept. 29, 2023. The officer is facing a murder trial that’s scheduled for September.
“I saw the injustice of the city because of Steve Perkins’ death,” French said. “And, during that time, I became very aware of other city issues and concerns. I realized that I needed to run to try and change Decatur’s path moving forward.”
Werstler said she’s running because she sees that “the city needs help right now” as the Perkins controversy lingers.
“We’re kind of in a crisis mode,” Werstler said. “I’m self-employed and I just felt like it was a time in my life where I could help.”
French said things seem to have changed with the the Police Department since Chief Torry Mack took over in June.
“Our officers are now motivated and pleasant. They’re interacting with the community like we haven’t seen in the last two years,” she said.
French said they need to look at the speed limits on some main thoroughfare streets in District 4 like Westmead, Betty and Carridale streets.
“The speed people are traveling is causing numerous accidents,” French said.
Handley is concerned about the condition of the city’s streets, particularly in District 4, as Decatur Utilities works on its $165 million upgrade to the sanitary sewer system. Handley said DU is patching over where it digs to reach the sewer mains, but that still leaves the roads bumpy.
“I don’t feel they’ve done an adequate job, at least their contractor has not, of repairing the roads,” Handley said. “I believe the utilities need to take a better look at what they’re doing, maybe hold their contractor a little bit more responsible for their actions.”
Handley added that the city also “needs to take some responsibility budgetary wise in terms of making sure all this paving is done.”
Werstler said she appreciates that the city recently appropriated an additional $1.5 million to pave 18 roads.
“That’s a good thing, but we’re going to have to put a whole lot more money toward roads just to get back to par (following the DU project),” Werstler said.
French said there are some streets in District 4 “that have not been repaved in a million years.”
Wilson Morgan Park is in District 4, and the candidates are excited about the new recreation center that’s under construction there. French said she would like residents to have more input into what’s going into the new center.
The city also has a new master plan for Wilson Morgan to go along with the recreation center. French said the new Adventure Park playground appears to be too small.
“The planned children park so tiny,” French said. “It needs to be revamped so our children have a bigger play area with possibly a splash pad.”
The loss of the dog park to the construction of the new recreation center has been a controversy in the district. A lot of District 4 residents are unhappy they rebuilt the dog park off Point Mallard Drive Southeast.
Thom said the loss of the dog park is a big issue in this district because a lot of its residents live in apartments and town homes with nowhere to let their dogs loose to run and play.
Werstler and Thom said they want to make sure to build another dog park in District 4. Thom said the new dog park is inconvenient to Southwest Decatur residents.
“I’d like to at least get a temporary dog park in District 4 until the rec center is finished,” Thom said. “And then I hope the new dog park at Wilson Morgan is bigger and better.”
Werstler said she thinks the city can leave the other dog park in District 2.
“I don’t think it’s all that costly to build a dog park, so we can have more than one,” Werstler said.
Handley said he sees a falloff in services by the city, especially the area of communications. For example, he said there was no communication that this year’s Spirit of America Festival would only be a fireworks show.
“That used to be a longstanding tradition in Decatur,” Handley said. “I would just like to see a lot of things go back to the way they were when I was young. I know you can’t go back, you can’t go home again on a lot of things, but there are some things that could be done to make things more like they were.”
On citywide issues, Thom said she wants the city to focus on responsible growth by making sure the infrastructure is available.
“I’d like to see a focus on high-paying jobs,” Thom said.
She said she would also like to see the city have better access to the Tennessee River. She said the city needs to find ways to solve problems, such as the number of stray animals and the number of homeless people.
“The homeless issue is a real problem that has been largely ignored,” Thom said.
French said there’s too much unnecessary spending in the city’s $92 million budget. She said she would like to see the council do a more in-depth review of the proposed budget.
“The current City Council only met for about an hour’s worth of time to do a $92 million budget, which blows my mind,” French said. “It needs to go back to the way previous councils did it. They actually spent time all together going line by line, looking at every single item and discussing it rather than just everybody voting yes and just letting it go through.”
— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432