By Mindy Ragan Wood
Staff Writer
Piedmont residents will have three candidates to select from as the city’s next mayor, Canadian County Election Board records showed Wednesday afternoon.
Acting Mayor Bobby Williamson, Kurt Mayabb, and former mayor and city councilman John Bickerstaff are seeking the office.
As of press time Wednesday, Kevan Blasdel was unopposed for city council Ward 1. The municipal elections will be held April 2, 2019.
Williamson was unavailable for comment and Mayabb did not return a call for an interview.
However, Bickerstaff told the Piedmont-Surrey Gazette he believed his leadership skills and experience could benefit the city.
“In my mind, one person cannot solve all of this,” Bickerstaff said. “I think I have leadership ability and I think I can get the council to be a little more cohesive. I believe if the six of us are working as one then we can decide what is best for the city, and the direction they (citizens) want to go.”
Bickerstaff entered local city government in 1988 on the planning commission before serving on the city council in 1993. He was then appointed as mayor in 1996 for a four year term. Bickerstaff was first appointed as mayor by the city council because at the time the charter did not call for an election for the position. He won the first at-large election in 2000 for a four-year term.
He said some of his former accomplishments included updating the city’s ordinances and zoning laws “which were greatly outdated,” and working successfully with fellow council members and county commissioners. He recalled the benefits of having a Comprehensive Improvement Plan (CIP) while he was in office. The city no longer has a CIP but Councilman John Brown has said the city should develop a new one.
Bickerstaff recalled that before the budget was determined by the city manager, council members met to discuss the CIP’s goals for improvements in the event that funds would be available for that fiscal year.
“We had a comprehensive plan that if we have the money this is what we want to work on, and not just roads but infrastructure,” he said.
Roads and infrastructure, particularly water, is on his list of items to address if elected.
“The road problem itself is a very, very expensive process,” Bickerstaff said. “The city at this point in time does not have the kind of money it needs to upgrade the roads to where they’re fully asphalt, however if you develop some kind of an out-year plan where you’re looking for that and budget for it…you can have a probability of getting there.”
Water studies, championed by Brown and Blasdel, have shown that Piedmont’s water system will have to be upgraded to keep up with the projected population growth. The study points to the Garber-Wellington Aquifer as a reliable water source and details a plan to install wells, water lines and pumps adequate to meet demand.
Bickerstaff said Piedmont has a lot of decisions to make. He pointed to fees on the water bill, which residents have told him should not be increased to pay for roads. A fee for ambulance services has been proposed by council members to help pay for in-house EMS services.
“What’s more important?” he asked. “The ambulance services, which is absolutely needed, but they (council members) had the briefing on the final water master plan report and the water system needs a lot of attention. The sewer system needs some attention.”
