Brewer, Phillips Vie For Council Seat

Incumbent Finis Brewer will face challenger Orven Phillips in the upcoming city council election for Ward 1.

Finis Brewer
Brewer said he is running for re-election to serve the community. Brewer has served as a minister for more than 30 years and is pastor at School Avenue Church of Christ.

He has two daughters, and his wife teaches math at Mountain View High School.

Brewer said he brings needed experience to the job. “In the past few years, experience has paid dividends,” he said, citing grants for the pool, sidewalks and having an understanding of relevant laws and ordinances.

Brewer said that it is his job to represent the citizens of Ward 1.

"I balance that with what I believe God would want me to do and prayerfully serve and lead,” he said.

Brewer volunteers as the head of the Salvation Army Ministerial Alliance Benevolence Fund, serves as vice president of the Stone County Ministerial Alliance, and serves on the Officer Santa/Shop with a Cop board.

He said, “For the past several years, I have aided in the organization and participation of the September 11 Memorial for Stone County, and the Red Ribbon Week campaigns at all three local school districts.”

Flock cameras
Brewer said as he has campaigned, “So far, there have been exactly three people who have spoken to me, who are against the Flock cameras in Ward 1, and many more who are for the technology,” he said.

Brewer cites several instances in Mountain View, as well as other cities, where the cameras were used to apprehend criminals. He said he has contacted other cities to get input and has spoken to the Arkansas Municipal League Attorneys.

Brewer said, “There are some things happening that I am not comfortable with concerning these cameras, but there has to be information weighed and balanced between the good and bad.”

Currently, he said, he is for keeping the cameras in Mountain View, with privacy protections in place. He said that only one person at the police department is certified and is allowed to search the system.

Brewer said, “Because of this, officers can not make mistakes that others have made in other cities.”

Brewer said, “We were asked if we were willing to place the continuation of flock cameras on the ballot. Please know that we are not capable of doing so.”

He said, “The only way for it to be placed on the ballot for all of the city residents to vote would be by a citizen led petition, and ballot measure.” He said he fully support the right to a citizen-led petition, and would even sign the petition.

Brewer said that it was 20 months after the council approved purchase of the cameras that people began to voice objections.

“We simply can not place every single decision over a purchase on a ballot,” he said.

He said he is following not only what he understands to be the will of the majority of his constituents, but also following the law. “If the attorney general’s office gives guidance contrary to what we have received so far, I would be for taking them down,” he said.

City budget
Brewer said, “How you use your funding can determine whether there is a problem, or not.” He said he believes the city currently uses its resources wisely.

He said, “If we can find other industry to fit our area with regards to skilled labor, resources, and infrastructure then we can, once more, offer a favored tax status for a period of time to help in implementation of the business. To be prepared for these possibilities, infrastructure is being improved in order to meet the needs of potential growth.”

Brewer cites the ongoing sewer projects, updates to the water treatment plant, and new lights and sidewalks as being among those improvements.

Growth
Brewer said that more economic development is needed in the area. He cites the growing availability of career training programs at Ozarka College.

Having folks be able to train in a area for a stable career is vital,” he said.

Brewer said, “We have already helped with the tax status at the boat factory in Mountain View in order to aid in the purchase of a plasma cutter, and training, hiring of additional employees.”

Brewer cites the lack of a transportation corridor as a barrier to growth. He said, “Many companies will not bring their facilities to an area like ours because the lack of transportation options ... This is something that we hope our state representatives and officials will help us with in the future.”

Brewer said, “We are also attempting to bring notice to our hiking, biking, fishing, camping, boating, hunting in our beautiful area as well.”

Brewer said, “I would love for us to be able to hire someone who is trained as an economic development director to work on bringing more jobs to Mountain View.” He said that city council members are limited by the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act in what they can discuss with companies looking to locate in Mountain View, but an economic development director would be free to have those discussions.

Alcohol sales
Brewer said that he recognizes that tourism is a big revenue driver in Stone County, and that often the sale of alcohol in the county is brought up in reference to tourism. He said, “I am against the sales of alcohol in Mountain View for many reasons.”

Brewer said, “The value of additional revenue weighed against the costs of additional police, detention, addictions, recoveries, violence and crimes is not a benefit at all. And morally, I believe it best to not have it for sale in every market, and restaurant, and corner store in our town.”

In Arkansas, Brewer said, alcohol taxes are distributed among all counties, so Stone County already gets a portion of alcohol sales in other counties. He said, “The benefit would be negligible in my opinion.”

Other issues
Brewer said that employee pay, education and training need to continue to rise to keep qualified employees. He also said more activities for kids and families are needed.

Orven Phillips
When asked what perspective he brings, that he feels the city needs, Orven Phillips replies, simply, “Common sense.”

Phillips grew up in Drasco, and he is a graduate of Concord High School. He worked for Bridges Electric in Heber Springs for 25 years, in shipping and receiving. He then worked for the Cleburne County road department until his retirement. After retirement, he and his wife moved into Mountain View. He has been married for 45 years to Georgia, known as “Gigi.”

Flock cameras
Phillips said that he didn’t know what Flock camera were until he started getting asked about them. He said that when he did learn about them, “I said, I wouldn’t have wasted the taxpayers’ money on them. We had too many other things that we need to spend money on. 
We’ve got streets that need to be repaved and stuff like that.”

Phillips said, “The more I’ve learned about them, the less I like about them, but I’m not fighting to take them down. I am not fighting to keep them up.”

“I think the citizens should have been able to vote on an issue like that,” Phillips said. “If they want them gone, I’ll help them get them on the ballot to where they can be voted on.”

Phillips said that he thinks the majority should rule. He said that a number of people have brought up the issue while he was campaigning.

Growth
Phillips said, “I have always thought this city needed industry. It needs jobs, so our young people can stay here and work, and 
they don’t have to move off. A town is just like a church. If you don’t have young people, you’re dying.”

Phillips said, “I wanted to stay here and work, but there was no job, so I had to go back south to where the work was.” He knows that keeping every young person working nearby is not possible, but said, “It would be nice to keep the young people here working, and it would bring money year round into this town.”

“I have a son, he is in Oklahoma. 
And I have two grandchildren, and one of them is working in Connecticut now, and the other one lives in Searcy. I’d like to have jobs here, so my children and grandchildren could be closer, like a lot of families would.”

Phillips said, “I love this town, I love the tourism, but the tourism dollar does not support everybody.”

Phillips said he would like to see small assembly plants in Mountain View, like the shirt factory that was once here, or like the lawn mower assembly plant in Batesville. “No AI centers,” he said. “No way. No data centers. That takes too much water, too much electricity, and I don’t know if they’re going to employ that many folks or not anyway.”

Phillips, like Brewer, cited transportation as a barrier to development in Mountain View. He said, “The big thing that I hear, why we can’t get industry, is the cost of shipping in and out is too high. They say Allison has got a railroad spur down here that doesn’t get used. Can we not get Allison to open that spur to where we could bring our products from there?”

Alcohol sales
Like Brewer, Phillips does not see any value in Stone County becoming a “wet” county.

“I just like a dry county,” Phillips said. “I don’t see that we get a lot of money out of the revenue for local sales. You look at towns that are wet, and they’ve got bars … they just don’t seem to be clean and wholesome like these little towns we’ve grown up in. It’s just a better atmosphere. 
I think a lot of people move here, and they want to get away from that.”

Work experience
Phillips said he would bring his experience working for the Cleburne County road department, as well as in shipping and receiving, to the job of city council member.

He also said he would be careful to budget city money where it needs to be spent. “I don’t want to waste our money on things that don’t need to be wasted on. The water, the sewer, the police, the fire — you’ve got to keep that going.” Phillips said he is against raising taxes, and would like to see what can be done to bring new industry, and to expand tourism, including exploring ways to draw bigger crowds for the Folk Festival.

Other issues
• “A lot of people are wanting places for their kids to ride bikes, to skateboard, and maybe have a splash pad, and I told them I would put that to the council.” Phillips said.

• Phillips also said that, though some white supremacist organizations have associated themselves with the issue of Flock cameras, he is not associated with any such organization. He said, “I do not belong to any organization of any kind besides the Baptist organization. 
I am a member of the General Baptist Organization, and I’m proud of it. I am not racist, by any means, manner, of any kind. I’ll take their vote. Like I told my opponent, I’m quite sure some atheists probably voted for him, and he’s a church of Christ preacher. I said, ‘Am I telling everybody, you’re an atheist?’”

Early voting starts Oct. 19. Election Day is Nov. 3.