Seymour commissioner, constables and candidates attend Community Meeting April 23rd hosted by CCI. “Our goal was to give the candidates a chance to meet the voters and talk about any issues they wanted to discuss”, stated Moe Greenwood, host and CCI member. The organization sent 26 invitations to candidates in the Seymour 6th, 9th, and 10th district. Some candidates had scheduling conflicts, but 16 ignored the invitations, he said.
Each candidate had a six-minute time limit in which they were to respond to questions from the audience. Most candidates did not use up the six minutes.
In response to a zoning question, both Steve Brenner, 10th district county commission candidate and Daryl Kerley, 6th district county commission candidate were pro zoning in a responsible way.
Kerley also stated that zoning is already in place, in a sense, because developers designate certain areas residential or commercial when listing or selling a property.
Bill Oakes, district 6 incumbent commissioner, said he has a four-legged platform. Dependability, accountability, prudent with money, and waste in government. He says he has been dependable. “I’ve taken issues to the commission and voted the way people wanted me to,” he said.
A question was asked about the state’s budget shortfall and how it will affect Sevier County schools, Oakes said the school system is set for this year’s budget if the state continues with payments as projected. “If the state cuts back, we may have a problem the start of next year,” said Oakes, who is also on the education committee.
Responding to a question about why Seymour students don’t have access to a vocational school, Oakes said the numbers don’t support sending busloads of students to Sevier County High School, where there is a vocational school. He said we need to hear from parents interested in promoting the issue.
10th district Commissioner candidate Bobby Atchley Jr., said he is running to “get more involved in the community and come up with ways of making Seymour a better place to live.” He said he’d like to see an ambulance in the Whites and Dupont communities and a fire hall in the Whites community and.
A few audience questions were left unanswered.
CCI stands for Citizens for Community Involvement. We are a NON-PARTISIAN group made up primarily of residents and business people of the 6th, 9th, and 10th voting districts—the SEYMOUR AREA. Our primary goal is to seek out input from the community on issues affecting the Seymour area and to provide a way to publicize those issues, which affect the SEYMOUR AREA. We believe that if we act only as individuals, others may decide that “we can’t make a difference – but speaking with unity and with knowledge, perhaps we can make a difference”.
CCI meets at 7 p.m. on the 2nd Tuesday evening of each month, here at Seymour High School. ALL are welcome to attend and to bring up and express themselves on any subject which relates to the Seymour area.

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