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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2023
Candidate questionnaires
Winder City Council - Ward 4
David Arnold
David Arnold
1. What qualifies you to serve on
the city council/mayor in Winder?
Having served in the military for 23
years I have shown a commitment to
my country’s service. Being a resident
in the city I now feel I focus a more di
rect form of service to my community.
2. What impact do you think the
Planned Unit Development (PUD)
zoning district has had on the city?
This type zoning has destroyed our
small community feel. It has allowed a
city government that seems to be more
worried about collecting more dollars
than they are on true representation
of the populace, to shoehorn more
and more developments into our once
quaint town.
3. Are there specific areas of the
budget where you believe resources
should be increased or decreased?
One thing in our budget I feel needs
to be cut ASAP, is the medical insur
ance plans offered to the mayor and
council members. There is absolutely
no reason for taxpayers to be footing
the bill on medical insurance for PUB
LIC SERVANTS. We also could make
some cuts in the code enforcement area
of the city budget. This department, to
me, seems to be a bit to authoritative
in our small town. I mean, why should
you have to ask the city for permission
to have a yard sale? I know this may
seem trivial but it’s just a small exam
ple. An area that could be expanded is
road improvement. We need to create a
better plan of getting our roads back in
shape. I do plan on picking the budget
with a fine comb with the assistance of
other members of council if I am elect
ed to reign in the spending.
4. What would you do to improve
the city’s relationship with the coun
ty?
This is something I have already
taken a step towards and that’s having
honest and open conversations with
the county officials. I have had sev
eral talks with different members of
the county and I tend to believe these
are positive relationships. The county
wants to end litigation, however, the
city keeps appealing cases they have
lost multiple times. This city keeps
wasting money on lawsuits with the
county all in the name of power in
stead cooperation. In just the past two
years, the city has spent more than
$300k to just one law firm for lawsuits
against the county, not including other
lawfirms or other lawsuits.
5. How would you promote eco
nomic development in the city to
help diversify the tax base and bring
jobs into the city?
We need to quit nickle and diming
the local businesses to death with ab
surd fees. We need to truly become a
city that invites new business here by
making it as easy as possible to start a
business. We can do this by lowering
initial entry fees, giving tax credits for
businesses who reinvest back into the
city, and stop slow rolling the process
for business to get answers. I spoke
with several businesses who all have
similar complaints and say this city
makes it hard for them to want to stay
here. Take for example the cost for a
permit to host a block party or event.
The price for this permit in just three
years has went from $50 to almost
$800. This price doesn’t even include
the cost for the off duty police to cover
the event
Travis Singley
Travis Singley
1. What qualifies you to serve on the
Winder City Council?
My family moved to Barrow County
when I was in elementary school, and
I graduated from Winder Barrow High
School. After graduating from Geor
gia College with a degree in business,
I came right back home to Winder, be
cause I couldn’t imagine living any
where else. My wife and I have raised
our daughter here, and I was proud to
watch her walk across the same 50-yard
line to get her diploma that I did so many
years ago. This spring I will be proud to
sit in Sanford Stadium and watch her re
ceive her master’s degree from the Uni
versity of Georgia. I have been a small
business owner in Winder for close to
20 years and have been a member of the
Barrow County Chamber of Commerce
for almost that long. My wife and I are
members of the Rotary Club of Winder,
and I attend Bethlehem Church. I be
lieve strongly in serving my community,
and giving back to the city that has had
such an impact on my life.
I have been honored to serve on the
Winder City Council for the past 12
years. I served as the Public Safety chair
for 8 years and have served as the Mayor
Pro-Tem for the last 2 years, a position
that I was chosen for by my fellow coun
cil members.
Being a good city council person is
more than just reading your agenda,
showing up at meetings and raising your
hand to vote. It’s about researching ev
ery vote, looking at every vote from all
perspectives, and making the decision
that will positively impact the greatest
number of Winder citizens. As a city
councilman you must be eager to learn
as much as you can, and then learn just a
little bit more.
I have taken over 100 hours of classes
on topics that cover all areas of city gov
ernment, from budgeting to zoning and
economic development, just to name a
few. I have fostered relationships with
other elected officials from across the
state and have talked with them about
programs that have worked and haven’t
worked in their cities, and how they
implemented them. I have toured cities
across Georgia so that I could bring back
ideas for Winder.
I have spent the past twelve years
working to improve the quality of life in
Winder. Our downtown area has under
gone a complete revitalization, we ren
ovated Jug Tavern Park and have added
new parks and trails, our fire department
has an ISO rating of 2, which places
them in the top 4% of fire departments in
the nation, our police department is one
of only 17 law enforcement agencies
in Georgia that is a Gold Level Award
Recipient, and our First Friday Events
are award winning and fun for the entire
family. Winder is an amazing place to
call home, and I am completely commit
ted to making Winder the best it can be.
2. What impact do you think the
Planned Unit Development (PUD)
zoning district has had on the city?
I think that PUD zoning is very misun
derstood by a lot of our citizens. Some
think that PUD zoning means high den
sity housing, but it simply means that
regular zoning is suspended, and the
developer must present an entire plan
to the city to be approved. Because the
entire plan must be approved by the city,
the city has more control over the devel
opment than they do in regular zoning.
Growth is coming to Winder, and PUDs,
when used correctly, give us control over
exactly what that growth looks like. The
city can require that a certain percentage
of the property be left natural, a certain
amount of greenspace, amenities such as
playgrounds, pools, pavilions, and walk
ing trails, HOA’s that limit the number
of rental homes, and more. These are
things that we can’t require in regular
residential or commercial zoning. When
a PUD comes before the council, I want
to see that the development contains all
these things and that the development
“matches” the properties around them.
If it doesn’t, I vote no.
3. Are there specific areas of the
budget where you believe resources
should be increased or decreased?
Working on and approving the budget
is one of the hardest things that we do
as council members. I can tell you that
every year there are expenditures that I
disagree with, and there are things that
I wish we had spent more on. I’m sure
that if you ask any other member of the
council, they will tell you the same.
When we receive the initial budget
proposal, it is much larger than the final
approved budget. We spend a lot of time
going through the entire budget and ask
ing questions of our department heads.
Then we work together to determine
what expenditures are wants vs needs
and make the necessary cuts. There are
7 elected officials that are responsible
for the budget. We all have different
perspectives and represent a different
segment of our citizens, so to achieve a
balanced budget, each of us must work
together.
From year to year the needs of the
city change, so the budget reflects that
change. What I think should be increased
or decreased changes every year as well.
Generally, every year, I would like to
see more money spent on roads. I also
believe that the Police Department and
Fire Department are budget areas that
we need to make sure are fully funded.
4. What would you do to improve
the city’s relationship with the coun
ty?
I don’t believe that any of the elect
ed officials, city or county, are wrong in
fighting for what they believe to be in
the best interest of their citizens, but I
would love for the lawsuits to end. How
do we bridge the gap? We keep talking
to each other. We go back to negotiating.
We stop playing the blame game and
calling the lawyers. We remember that
we are neighbors and that we all want
Winder and Barrow County to prosper. I
talk to some of the county commission
ers on a regular basis, and we have good
relationships, and talk about the issues.
In January, Winder will have a new may
or, and whether it is Shannon Hammond
or Jimmy Terrell, we will have a com
pletely different dynamic. I’m hopeful
that will change things in a positive way.
5. How would you promote eco
nomic development in the city to help
diversify the tax base and bring jobs
into the city?
We look at how Winder looks today,
and the stores and restaurants that we are
fortunate to have in our city, and it is easy
to forget what Winder (and its business
climate) looked like 12 years ago. Much
of downtown Winder was in disrepair
and was slowly dying. Across Winder
we had empty commercial buildings,
half full strip centers, and The Gateway
was just a street. Today, we have a thriv
ing business community, with over 1500
businesses - and more are on the way!
We have worked hard to make Winder
a place where businesses want to come.
I think we need to continue to do what
we’ve been doing. We need to work with
existing businesses to target their needs
and wants. We need to work with local
commercial real estate agents to target
prospective businesses.
Our First Friday events are a great
tool for attracting new businesses. We
advertise them widely to bring people
into Winder, and new businesses see that
Winder has an active community.
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