Age: 39

Current Occupation: Executive Director-Barry County E9-1-1

Past Experience: 20 Years in Public Safety with 13 years in an executive leadership role, current North Alderman

Education: ENP (Emergency Numbering Professional) with numerous coursework and CEU’s in budgets, leadership, scheduling, employee management and government regulations/legislation

1. What will be your approach to economic development and growth of the city?

Growth is always something any city needs to look for if they want to continue to be in existence. That being said, we need to make sure it is a good fit for our city and something we can support with city services, etc. This is a question, that I and other council members have brought up recently, resulting in more data for council to review to ensure we are spending dollars in the right area and to measure the success we have with our current plan on economic development. This has been an eye opener with the new reports and data we have received so far. I continue to look forward to this and evaluate it with our current needs and the future.

2. How can Cassville increase its sales tax revenues through tourism?

We are fortunate to live where we do having the most visited state park- Roaring River, and Table Rock Lake in our backyard! This is a great opportunity for us to connect those resources and our great city together. The city provides most services through sales tax, so it is critical that we capitalize on the traffic and visitors to our area as well as meeting our existing citizen’s needs. The Chamber of Cassville and its members do a great job with this and I am happy that the city of Cassville has a great partnership with them. I would like to continue to strengthen this and find new ways to increase points of contact with those tourism dollars and our businesses to promote our town and in return increase our sales citywide!

3. CPD recently became fully staffed. What areas of law enforcement do you see as most important with a fully-staffed department?

I am excited for this and look forward to working with our Chief and officers. The areas that are important and I have already spoken with our Chief on is training and drugs. It is important that we support our law enforcement and find ways to help them with this stressful occupation. CPD Chief is already taken steps in this direction and I plan on following up on these points. Drugs are always a concern and it is my belief if we can properly offer training in this area as well as enforcement, this will help aid our officers in enforcement. The other thing that is important is finding ways to streamline the processes to make jobs easier with technology. I continue to support measures that streamline functions and duties, from paperwork, reports etc.

4. What (if any) capital projects would you like to pursue if elected?

I was supportive of our recent improvements in our park system, in particular the basketball court resurfacing, new rims, playgrounds and our bathrooms. Even though some may view these as small improvements, it makes a big difference with our kids and I have seen a lot of joy from local kids with these improvements and our great new pickleball courts! Based on budget approval, I would like to see continued improvement in our parks, trails and having funds available to expand water and sewer to new areas, helping to grow our city and meet our local business needs etc.

5. How can Cassville increase its benefit to industries and create more jobs in the area?

If we can continue to have funds earmarked/accessible to expand services, then we will be positioned to help in this area when those needs arise and in return have growth opportunities and with new jobs etc. Also, if there are opportunities to increase relationships with our business partners through the chamber or directly with the city, I would welcome that too! I think communication is important and lets us know what the requests and needs are, so we can see if we have an option to consider or help with resources that may already exist.