LAWTON — Four candidates for the Ward 2 seat on the Lawton City Council made their case to voters last Friday.
Candidates Shelli Fox, Justin Hackney, Kelly Harris and Mark Malone introduced themselves to voters during a Zoom forum, which was hosted by the Lawton League of Women Voters and the Lawton-Fort Sill Interdenominational Alliance. A fifth candidate, Richard Strickland, did not attend the event.
The candidates fielded questions on a variety of topics, including public safety and communication with constituents.
Fox said she was focusing on public safety – and the Lawton Police Department in particular – for this election.
“I believe our police department is better funded than it was, but we still need more police officers,” she said. “I have some very personal reasons for thinking that we have a drug problem in Lawton – we have a homicide problem in Lawton – and I think we need more police officers to address them.”
Hackney said he agreed that Lawton needs more police officers on the street, but he said he also thought the city should do more to prevent juvenile crime.
“We need more juvenile programs the officers can utilize to get juvenile offenders off the streets, rather than just cutting them to mom and dad with a summons,” Hackney said.
One of the questions concerned what steps the candidates would take to communicate with their constituents apart from texts, phone calls and emails.
Harris said the city should explore ways to make it easier for Lawtonians to get answers to their questions, such as hosting more public events.
“To get people excited, we have to think of an out-of-the-box solution that will allow them to approach their elected officials,” he said. “And maybe that’s just us encouraging them more, so that maybe they’re not intimidated by us and that they would feel that we are approachable.”
Malone said if he is elected, he will push the city to have council meetings in the evening instead of mid-afternoon. The council typically meets at 2 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month.
“No one can attend the 2 o’clock session because we’re all at work,” he said. “So, I believe it absolutely needs to go back to the evening session, where people can participate.”
Last Friday’s event was originally supposed to include a forum for mayoral candidates Stan Booker, Palmer Moore and Sherene Williams. However, that forum has been rescheduled for Sept. 8.