Bellville City Council Mayoral Candidate Interviews [VIDEO]

We began our interview process by putting out a call to the citizens of Austin County via the Austin County News Online.com Facebook Page for citizens of Sealy and Bellville to submit any questions they would like asked of the candidates for their respective town.  We didn’t forget Wallis but, when we contacted the city they informed us that there were no candidates running.    If you have not gone and “LIKED” our Facebook page, we encourage you to do that.  We received several excellent questions submitted from the citizens of Sealy but none from Bellville.  Unfortunately, we also received quite a few more but, they were sent to us after the deadline of April 12th.  We were unable to utilize them because we had already sent out the list of questions to the candidates and started video interviews.

The questions that were asked were in two categories:  questions submitted by the citizens of Sealy/Bellville and questions that we formulated.  Since Bellville did not submit any we move straight on to the questions we had.  We premised our questions on the general principles of limited government.  The candidates were asked to keep these concepts in mind while answering our questions. These principles are:

Principles of Limited Government – Most residents believe that city activities should be based on the same philosophy of limited government and respect for individual rights that animated the American Founders. The Founders believed that by keeping government constrained, individuals could pursue their hopes and dreams and the country would prosper. That principle is no less true for city government than the federal government.

Stick to the Core Mission – Responsible city leaders ensure that the cities’ essential services, such as fire and police protection, transportation, water, sewer and solid waste, are delivered in the most cost effective ways. Outside of public safety, that includes keeping costs low and service levels high by using competitive bidding and contracts with the private sector. City leaders should also work to keep their cities from getting far afield of their core mission and into expensive private-sector activities such as providing or subsidizing golf courses, restaurants, convention centers, etc.

Limit Taxes – A low tax burden is a hallmark of limited government. Governments that stay within their bounds don’t burden their citizens with excessive taxation. These constraints must be provided by city leaders who choose not to grow city budgets beyond their core missions nor allow inefficiencies to fester. Such leaders respect the importance of allowing individuals the freedom to follow their dreams, understand the awesome power of taxation, and are mindful not to abuse it.

Respect the Rule of Law – Responsible city leaders are also mindful of the unseen costs imposed by arbitrary zoning and land-use regulations and how they confound economic progress. A key element of limited government is the rule of law rather than rule by unpredictable, capricious whim. The Declaration of Independence charged King George III with 27 acts of arbitrary rule. City zoning and land-use regulations can be equally arbitrary and capricious. They can treat individuals with similar property very differently, depending on how the land is zoned or based on the arbitrary recommendations of an unelected planning board or city planners.

Protect Citizens’ Rights to the Fruits of Their Labor – In the Declaration, the Founders recognized that citizens have certain God-given unalienable rights “that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The authors of the Texas Constitution went further and added that individuals have the unalienable right to “the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor.” Individuals form governments to protect these rights. Owning a home or business is a primary exercise of those foundational rights, but it is imperiled by the governmental power of eminent domain. The Fifth Amendment protects property owners by stipulating that private property cannot “be taken for public use without just compensation.” Traditionally, that has meant that if a city needs to take private property for a public use such as a fire station, it would have to compensate the owner. Recently, however, cities have broadened “public use” to justify many different kinds of takings, again sliding into arbitrary rule depending upon officials’ inclinations of the day. City leaders who are respectful of individual rights adhere to the traditional use of eminent domain.

Keep the Charge – Keeping city government within narrow bounds is difficult. Numerous special interests lobby city council members to expand or adopt their pet projects. Federal and state money is offered to start or expand programs, each supported by special interests at those levels. City council members are under constant pressure from these powerful special interests and city bureaucrats who have vested interests in maintaining and expanding the activities under their purview. Responsible city leaders recognize and resist these pressures. Council members must constantly rededicate themselves to serving the public interest by limiting government activities and respecting individual rights.

We would like to thank the candidates who were willing to sit in front of the camera and be interviewed.  It can be unnerving being filmed knowing that you will be up for scrutiny by the public at large.  These candidates showed great courage in participating and we wish them luck in their future government endeavors.

A Note:  The list of questions below are accompanied by a time stamp of the corresponding video.  The time stamp shows from what two points in the video the candidate answered that particular question.  We took this extra step to allow our viewers the ability to go directly to what question interested them most without having to sit through the entire video.  However, we encourage everyone to watch the videos in their entirety so as to get the best feel for all the candidates before making your decision.

The video time stamp is in the following format:  hours : minutes : seconds

 

Questions From Austin County News Online.com

1. Discuss your interest in serving on the City Council. Discuss your prior experience working with civic, community or governmental organizations.

Ellen Remmert’s Answer:  00:00:17 – 00:04:13 of her video
Wayne Browning’s Answer:  00:00:17 – 00:00:59 of his video
Joe Ed Lynn’s Answer:  00:00:22 – 00:01:50 of his video

2. What do you perceive as the three most important concerns facing Bellville?

Ellen Remmert’s Answer:  00:04:13 – 00:06:46 of her video
Wayne Browning’s Answer:  00:00:59 – 00:01:12 of his video
Joe Ed Lynn’s Answer:  00:01:50 – 00:02:40 of his video

3. What are your thoughts related to the City of Bellville’s relationship with Sealy?

Ellen Remmert’s Answer:  00:06:46 – 00:08:11 of her video
Wayne Browning’s Answer:  00:01:12 – 00:01:31 of his video
Joe Ed Lynn’s Answer:  00:02:40 – 00:03:54 of his video

4. What do you think is the most important issue facing the city in the next two years?

Ellen Remmert’s Answer:  00:08:11 – 00:9:13 of her video
Wayne Browning’s Answer:  00:01:31 – 00:01:59 of his video
Joe Ed Lynn’s Answer:  00:03:54 – 00:04:21 of his video

5. How do you differ from the other candidates in the race?

Ellen Remmert’s Answer:  00:09:13 – 00:11:18 of her video
Wayne Browning’s Answer:  00:01:59 – 00:02:31 of his video
Joe Ed Lynn’s Answer:  During our interview and discussion/visit with Joe, we completely missed asking this question of him and we apologize.  We called Joe to see if he would like to have this answer videoed and he declined.  He simply wanted the citizens of Bellville to know that he is running for the position of mayor because he feels that he is the best qualified for the job and if he didn’t feel this way he would not be running.

6. If elected, what would be YOUR primary goal for the next year?

Ellen Remmert’s Answer:  00:11:18 – 00:12:38 of her video
Wayne Browning’s Answer:  00:02:31 – 00:02:51 of his video
Joe Ed Lynn’s Answer:  00:04:21 – 00:05:52 of his video

7. Is Bellville prepared for a major disaster? Answering as specifically as possible, how could the city be better prepared?

Ellen Remmert’s Answer:  00:12:38 – 00:14:11 of her video
Wayne Browning’s Answer:  00:02:51 – 00:03:30 of his video
Joe Ed Lynn’s Answer:  00:05:52 – 00:07:15 of his video

8. What do you propose we do to attract business to Bellville?

Ellen Remmert’s Answer:  00:14:11 – 00:15:28 of her video
Wayne Browning’s Answer:  00:03:30 – 00:04:06 of his video
Joe Ed Lynn’s Answer:  00:07:15 – 00:10:27 of his video

Closing Comments

Ellen Remmert’s Answer:  00:15:28 – 00:16:40 of her video
Wayne Browning’s Answer:  00:04:06 – 00:04:43 of his video
Joe Ed Lynn’s Answer:  Joe stated that he couldn’t think of anything he wanted to say and if anyone had any questions they should feel free to contact him.