Bullying, Taco Bell hot topics at candidate forum

Navasota residents and Navasota ISD taxpayers got a feel for the temperament and position of those vying for their vote at the Wednesday, April 19, candidate forum. The forum was sponsored by the Navasota Examiner, moderated by Pastor Mac Vaughn and held in Navasota city council chambers.

The two-hour event provided a platform for city council Position 5 candidates James Harris and Patty Tokoly and NISD school board Position 5 candidates Mark Gremillion and Amy Jarvis (incumbent) to introduce themselves, discuss their accomplishments and respond to questions submitted by the public before the forum. Candidates responded to more than two dozen questions, with some addressed to all candidates and others position specific.

Commenting on the Examiner’s first solo forum sponsorship, publisher Ana Cosino opened the event saying, “We apologize in advance because we’re not pros at this but we’re hosting this forum as a service to the community.”

Elections Administrator Rachel Walker was present with a reminder about early and Election Day voting locations, dates and times.

Introductions

During his three-minute introduction, city council candidate, Navasota native and small-business owner James Harris described how his community service activities began at age 7 and his desire to be part of moving Navasota forward.

A 15-year resident, Patty Tokoly discussed her contribution to revitalizing downtown through her small business ownership.

NISD school board candidate Mark Gremillion is the father of four currently enrolled in NISD and husband of a teacher. Gremillion spoke of his concern about a “serious” teacher crisis and his desire to address the challenges of teacher recruitment and retention. Navasota High School graduate, former educator and incumbent, Amy Jarvis, shared her commitment to attracting and keeping teachers and the difficulty of making decisions while the legislature is in session.

NISD highlights

*As to the biggest problem facing NISD, Gremillion cited teacher retention. He said, “Being realistic about the problem that’s coming our way with the teacher shortage, having worked in government before, it’s always been ‘We can find more policeman, or firemen or teachers to fill these spots.’ That works until it doesn’t and I’m afraid right now, it’s not going to work. We have to be the ones to solve that problem because the problem is here.”

In addition to teacher retention, Jarvis said, “One thing we’re fighting is charter schools wanting public school funds. When they do that it takes away from us and what we can do for our kids and our teachers. The State puts mandates on us and our teachers but many of those are unfunded mandates, and locally, we have to pick up that tab.”

*Regarding the discipline of bullies and consequences for ‘school officials who don’t do their job,’ Gremillion said, “We should allow and enable the teachers and administrators to have the leeway to handle situations like that. And within their own professional training and within the guidelines of the district, we should rely on them to make those decisions. At the end of the day, a well-documented case of bullying where a teacher or administrator has repeated failures to act on the safety of a child, then yes, there should be consequences.”

*Related to NISD’s elimination of the Local Option Homestead Exemption, Jarvis said, “We removed the LOHE because the State upped theirs… raised it 40%, at that point putting ours on top of that, you’re cutting into our tax base. We had to remove that. We were the only district in this whole area who still had that. We needed that income. It was costing this district almost $2 million per year not having those taxes come in and now the State is talking about raising theirs again. Every time they do that, it cuts into our funding.”

*When asked if the salary structure for instructional aides, cafeteria workers and secretaries needed to be reevaluated, Gremillion replied a simple, “Yes.”

Jarvis referred to adjustments made for hourly workers following the board approved calendar which gives extra weeks. She said, “They will get that time off but they will still come out with the same amount at the end of the year that they would otherwise. And if we can give them a raise, we’ll give them a raise.”

Council candidates

*On the question of casino gambling in Navasota, Harris pointed to the number of Texas license plates at Louisiana gambling casinos and said, “I would be in favor of having it here because it will bring jobs to our community. I’m a big advocate on jobs. When kids have something to do…that will keep them from breaking into our homes…I know some of you may not like that but my opinion is bring it on to Grimes County.”

Tokoly said, “We’re here to raise our children in this community and having a gambling casino…I’d really have to see a lot of information to make a good judgment call on that, and I don’t feel comfortable with that sort of entertainment.”

*Responding to a question about the continued reelection of council members who voted favorably to allow Taco Bell on Washington Avenue, Harris said, “My opponent did not get reappointed (to P&Z) when her time came up. She’s using this Taco Bell to frighten some of the voters. That’s a dead issue. If it were a big issue, it would have come up in the first election and the second election.”

Tokoly called Taco Bell, a “major decision.” She said that according to former city councilman Geoff Horn, “The idea was to go next door to Burger King and take the house across the corner and make that into a Taco Bell. Then, you’d have commercial creep which would be a great idea for taxes because then they could just take out the next house, the next house, all the way to the library, all the grounds, all the trees, all the houses and across the street, and voila! We’d have all fast food to the library, lots of tax money but shortsighted. That would have hurt all the investment we made in the downtown area.”

* Tokoly closed saying, “Every vote affects every person within a seven-minute radius, north, south, east or west. When you drive to one end of our town to the other in seven minutes, I guarantee you every vote that city council takes is going to affect you…It affects me and don’t think it doesn’t.”

In his closing, Harris said, “Keep in mind that in order for a councilman to be effective, that councilman must sell two other people on the council his idea to vote on. You can’t do anything by yourself. When you use the word I, I, I, it will never happen. It’s a team of six. Whatever happens, it happens as a team.”

Top 3 priorities

After the forum, The Examiner reached out to all four candidates and asked, “If elected, what are your top 3 priorities?” Here is what they said, in the order they responded: Amy Jarvis:

1. Find the funds to provide a salary increase for all staff members.

2. Find ways to improve teacher retention.

3. Help keep NISD moving forward in academics and extracurricular activities.

Mark Gremillion:

“As a resident of Grimes County, husband to a teacher and father of four Navasota ISD students, my top three priorities are to increase teacher retention, improve the student experience and plan for expected growth in the county.”

Patty Tokoly:

1. Support our most valued FIRST RESPONDERS and EDUCATORS 2. MANAGE GROWTH and FIGHT BAD DECISIONS 3. ENFORCE CODES.

James Harris:

1. Better quality of life for the city.

2. Better communication/ feedback.

3. A large city park that all citizens can have access to with family.

View the candidate forum at https://www.facebook. com/NavasotaExaminer/videos/ 1587850308350946.