LAWTON - With just a few weeks before the election, three candidates for Lawton’s recently made their pitches to voters.
Mayor Stan Booker joined two of his challengers, Ron Ballew and Jacobi Crowley, for a mayoral forum Aug. 11 at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5263 in Lawton. Candidates Cindy Edgar and Matina Davis-Abney did not attend the event, hosted by the Comanche County Veterans Council.
A former business owner, Booker is seeking his third term in the mayor’s seat. Ballew is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a retired civil servant, and Crowley is the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Lawton.
The three candidates outlined their positions on a variety of issues facing the Lawton City Council, including ways to address homelessness.
Crowley, who is the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Lawton, said many people who struggle with mental illness or substance abuse are experiencing chronic homelessness. He said those people are frequently unwilling to seek assistance from a homeless shelter, some of which require people to present an ID or pass a drug test.
“We have to have a realistic conversation about the 21st-century approach toward homelessness,” Crowley said. “We also have to have a realistic conversation off of the funding that is directly out there toward these organizations that are providing these particular initiatives within our community itself, and then we have to continue to lift up their hands and make sure that these organizations are really strong.”
He said city officials must aggressively pursue opportunities to secure additional funding for agencies that help homeless people, so those agencies can succeed.
Ballew said he thought the city should provide at least one meal a day to everyone in Lawton, including homeless people and housebound seniors who aren’t served by Meals on Wheels.
“I think if we took all the money we’re spending for homeless people, we could put them all in apartments,” he said. “However, if we took care of every homeless person in Lawton today, it would just attract more homeless people from all over the state and the country to come to Lawton, where you get free room and board. So, we can’t do that.”
Booker said the city will take a more balanced approach to the problem going forward, which would address business’ concerns while helping people who are experiencing homelessness.
“What we have to do is work to restore to them their dignity and get them back on their feet, as well as try to prevent homelessness,” he said. “We have the Continuum of Care, which is a federally funded program that does just that - works to keep people from getting homeless.”
Lawton’s communications and marketing manager, Caitlin Gatlin, told Southwest Ledger that the city attorney’s office is drafting an ordinance that aims to provide a humanitarian response to homelessness while preventing criminal activity.
Hiring more police officers
The candidates also touched on law enforcement issues, as someone in the audience asked them to discuss whether the city plans hire more police officers.
Ballew said the city has tried to bolster its police force several times in the past, but hiring new officers is proving difficult.
“The primary problem that we’re having right now is recruiting officers,” he said. “A lot of people sign up, but most of them don’t pass the physical test. I didn’t mention the other tests, but probably there’s a mental test and capabilities of handling their weapons and stuff like that also.”
Booker said the budget authorizes funding for more police officers than the city is able to hire. He also said if potential officers can pass a series of tests - including a drug test - the city will hire them and given an opportunity to graduate from the police academy.
“We cannot lower our standards,” Booker said. “I don’t think anybody wants us to lower our standards.”
He said the city’s new capital improvement plan, known as PROPEL 2040, would provide additional funding for police officers’ and firefighters’ salaries.
Crowley said when he served on the Lawton Police Department’s hiring committee, he saw the candidates who were applying for jobs with the department.
“A lot of these individuals that are applying for these positions are not from our community, and a lot of them are still not qualified,” Crowley said. “And so, we have to look at another approach directly toward retraining and actually bringing in individuals as well as getting some of these individuals who are best.”
Police salaries
Another member of the audience wanted to know why the PROPEL 2040 CIP includes wages for police officers, firefighters and 911 dispatchers. That person also wanted to know why those items aren’t included in the city’s regular budget.
Booker said cities used to include those items in their budgets, but communities are using revenues from a public safety sales tax to boost wages for emergency personnel. He said Lawton voters approved a similar tax in 2016, which generated about $2.68 million for the budget - but the city failed to take inflation into account.
Three years later, voters authorized the city to make the public safety tax permanent as part of the PROPEL 2019 capital improvement plan. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and inflation rose, city officials realized that $2.68 million did not go as far as it used to.
“What we did in PROPEL 2040 was add $1,000 and then add an inflation factor where if inflation goes up 3%, provided income goes up 3%, then we could raise that 3% on the police and fire public safety sales tax,” Booker said. “If inflation goes up 3% but income only went up 1 (percent), well, then it would go up to l°/o.”
Crowley said Lawton is losing police officers and firefighters to other cities because other communities are offering the same rate of pay with less stress. He said the city must do a better job of letting people in those positions know their jobs are safe and the city will do its best to move forward.
“But then also, bring in new initiatives and opportunities for us to do that when it comes directly toward our funding itself,” he said. “And then, explain it to the community.”
Ballew said the CIP should not include funding for city workers’ salaries.
“All city wages should be in the annual budget,” he said. “Police, fire, water, sewer, utilities. Everything should be in the city budget instead of putting wage increases in a CIP that’s going to expire.”