Lawton City Council Ward 2 candidate preview

Ward 2 residents in Lawton will be taking to the polls on August 25 to decide who they want to be their next representative.

The seat is currently held by incumbent Taron Epps. Epps was appointed by the council after the previous member vacated the seat. This election decides who will fill the seat for the remainder of the term, which has around a year remaining.

Those that will appear on the ballot include: Epps, and opponents Jena Smith and Jason Kunkel. The candidates were sent the same questions and given the same amount of time to respond. Epps did not respond to our request for comment. Provided answers from Kunkel and Smith have been published as given.

What is your main reason for wanting to run for city council?

Kunkel: "My decision to run was to fulfill a promise I made to my daughters. While driving around town we were discussing how much the town has changed in their lifetime and why things are the way they are. Without satisfactory answers for them, the conversation shifted to how decisions are made, who makes them, and our responsibility to the process. I began to see many parallels between city government and my experience in organized labor and organizational/maintenance reliability (balancing competing
interests, solving problems and accountability for outcomes) that would be helpful as a steward of Ward 2. Coincidentally, the first ballot that my oldest daughter will ever cast has her last name on it. The result of the election will not stop work I intend to explore."

Smith: “I am running for City Council for a couple reasons. I feel so many of our Lawtonins are being forgotten. Our neighborhoods are suffering from the neglect while they keep building.”

Homelessness has been a hot topic for several months now. How do you feel the city has been handling the unhoused population? And how do you plan to get involved, if at all, in addressing the situation?

Smith: “I truly wish the City would honor the 60 days given to Brenda, the right minds could be of great impact, but I am more worried about the 90,000 people in this town who are struggling just as bad.”

Kunkel: “The first thing that must be acknowledged is that homelessness did not become a problem in Lawton over the last several months. What has changed is the amount of attention we’re paying to it because of who is now inconvenienced by it. Obviously, the public-safety concerns are legitimate, but the plan to treat the human component to homelessness remains unresolved and can’t be enforced away. I would focus on identifying the root causes and how to measure the difference in helping to reduce homelessness, not making it less visible."

How will you balance constituent requests with city staff recommendations when they conflict? For example, if residents request traffic-calming measures but city staff recommend "no action" based on technical data, how will you evaluate and respond?

Kunkel: "This is probably where my background in reliability would show. In my profession, when data says everything is fine but the people closest to the equipment (issue) are telling me something is wrong, I don’t tell them that the spreadsheet says they’re mistaken. I investigate why the two don’t agree. I would approach city issues the same way. Staff recommendations and constituent experience are valuable inputs, but neither should automatically outweigh the other. Understanding the problem, verifying the data, identifying what might be missing would be key to making decisions based on the best information available. I will always advocate strongly for the constituent position when the information supports them and have the courage to inform them when it doesn’t."

Smith: “Where is the "data" coming from? Ward 2 has been neglected so long, where is our data? While everyone is patting them selves on the back for roads, they approved Ft.Sill blvd 10, yes 10 years ago. I need to see what has been approved and just sitting there. I am not a Yes person, I take everything into consideration but will listen and fight for the people who care about our town. Lawton Proud People have some amazing thoughts.”

Beyond existing municipal programs, what specific initiatives or partnerships will you champion to reduce litter and illegal dumping in your ward?

Smith: “PUT COMMUNITY SERVICE to work. Press charges on those who are caught.”

Kunkel: "The response would be to clean it up today while we look into the reason why we could likely expect to be back cleaning it up again tomorrow. The goal should be to identify the areas where there is an issue with reoccurrence, address what we can prevent, and hold people accountable for unsecured loads, illegal dumping, or something else when appropriate to do so."

When dealing with dilapidated or dangerous structures, what is your strategy for balancing individual property rights against the need to revitalize neighborhood properties?

Kunkel: "Protecting property rights and addressing unsafe structures aren’t mutually exclusive results. I would expect that the city currently has clear and consistent rules that are applied to a homeowner, an investor or developer. If they are not applying the same standard, that would be an extremely easy data set to trend. That data could then be compared with other information regarding aggressive code enforcement to determine the existence of a bigger issue. City beautification/revitalization should not come at the expense of due process or an excuse for targeted enforcement."

Smith: “A couple years ago my husband and myself were on the list as owners of a dilapidated list, for a house that was NOT ours, they can't even seem to do their jobs. Every homeowner can tell you where these properties are. By the way, the house we didn't own is still sitting there, no roof or windows.”

Evaluating the City Manager is a core council duty. What key performance metrics and leadership qualities will you prioritize during performance evaluations?

Smith: “That one will take some looking into, I can't judge performance without seeing the contract, I will hold them responsible to the contract and make changes in any future contracts.”

Kunkel: "I would focus on measurable outcomes, not activity. Are we doing what we said we would do? Are projects on schedule, on budget? Is the city able to hire and retain good employees? Is the city taking proactive steps to address issues before they become critical? I would expect that the City Manager would be humble and transparent enough to acknowledge when something isn’t working and present a clear corrective path forward."

If elected, what specific project or initiative do you aim to launch or champion within your ward?

Kunkel: "I would like to establish a process I’ve successfully used in my work in labor. It would be built on regular engagement with constituents of Ward 2 to establish their priorities and what successful resolution would look like. We would discuss the issues together, explore second and third order impacts, identify what should be measured, and what the expected outcome is. Continuous follow ups would take place to see whether conditions or perceptions have actually changed. When it is appropriate other wards would be asked to participate if/when an issue crosses ward boundaries. All results would be made public. The intent of this process is to create an environment where the constituents drive the direction we move in. They identify what success is and whether we are achieving it."

Smith: “I have been in this ward on and off (military) my whole life, I want this town cleaned up before another dollar is "borrowed " for new builds that are crippling this town, I believe in People First.”

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on August 25.