CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Mayoral candidate Mark Riggins spoke before the Clarksville Kiwanis Club this week, touting his experience as a problem-solver, consensus-builder and expert on making local government work for local residents.
He said the City of Clarksville “needs to strengthen our relationship with the county because it benefits everyone when our local governments are working together and moving in the same direction.”
“I would ensure that we always remember who we work for. The needs of the city are why our city departments exist, and with me as your mayor, we will never lose sight of who we serve,” Riggins said in the presentation on Tuesday.
Currently general manager of Clarksville Gas and Water and a former Montgomery County commissioner, Riggins is running for the seat to replace Mayor Joe Pitts, who is not running for re-election. The only other candidate to officially announce so far is City Council member and teacher Brian Zacharias.
Working with developers to solve growth problems
In his presentation and his responses to questions, Riggins repeatedly returned to the theme of working with others on the front end to get things done.
The impact of growth from new developments has been a complaint for years, particularly the inability for road and utility infrastructure to keep up with that growth. But Riggins said the two can go hand-in-hand, with developers solving some of the infrastructure problems as they go, and that’s what he’s been doing for years at Gas & Water.
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He cited an example of a developer wanting to build in a neighborhood off of Crossland Avenue where the existing water lines were inadequate to support the development, but they were also already inadequate for the surrounding existing neighborhood. A previous administration had told the developer they would have to pay to replace all of the water lines. When Riggins came in, he sat down with the developer, knowing Gas & Water would need to address the problem at some point. They worked out an arrangement for Gas & Water to supply the pipe and for the developer to supply the labor and other supplies, solving the water pressure problem for the existing neighborhood along the way.
“It was a win-win,” Riggins said. “I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t do that. We can do the same thing on these developments with intersections, lights, road widenings, sidewalks and things like that.”
Homelessness issue needs community solution
Riggins advocated for more mixed-use development to revitalize downtown, with people living above retail businesses. “The key to ongoing success of downtown and other areas like that is to have people living there, walking, shopping and working there.”
He said another key issue for downtown is to address the homelessness problem, and that will mean developing a homeless services center in a location that doesn’t negatively affect surrounding businesses and residential areas. He said that will take public planning and discussion, handled differently than the recent attempt to create one on Union Street – an attempt that failed amid public outcry.
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“The first public meeting concerning the city’s initiative to assist our homeless population … was just before the council meeting. It was a great (public) meeting,” he said. “But that should have been the very first meeting that we had, not at the very end right before the council went to a vote.”
He said the best comment at that public meeting came from Frank Lott, who said the city used to organize task forces to address community problems such as this. “What a novel idea that is,” Riggins said. “These are the moments in which we must be bringing representation from all sides of an issue within our community together toward the resolution, not shoving one down their throats.”
What went wrong with Mason Rudolph course
Similarly, Riggins said, in response to a question, that the public outcry over the proposal to close the Mason Rudolph Golf Course could have been avoided with a public discussion at the start of the process.
“I will never understand trying to shut anything down without asking the community what they want,” Riggins said. “Why wouldn’t you ask the public ahead of time? … They could have tried that on the front end and probably avoided a lot of trouble.”
He said there are probably a variety of solutions that could keep the golf course while also adding public park facilities on the grounds nearby. There have also been discussions of a third party becoming involved to help honor the legacy of Mason Rudolph both with the course and perhaps other nearby facilities, he said.
Riggins emphasized, though, that a common misunderstanding is that the park system, including golf courses, should somehow make money for the city. He said the park system isn’t there to make money but to provide for the public good. “It’s cheaper for a reason,” he said, because it provides a public amenity that improves the community.
The election for city mayor and half the City Council seats will be Nov. 3.
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