Connie Barrett and city councilman Todd Kana are each in the running for the office of Mayor of the City of Magnolia in next month’s election after current Mayor Jimmy Thornton announced his intentions not to seek re-election.

In interviews with the Tribune, the two answered questions regarding the city’s finances, construction projects and the future of the city.

Along with the candidates for the open city council positions, both Kana and Barrett agreed that the city will need to “tighten their belts” and trim the budget to get the city out of its current deficit.

“We’ve still just made immediate kind of ‘cover the wound’ items, but we still are going to have to go through the budget with a finer comb and do more trimming,” said Kana.

He added that the city should “keep a better eye” on revenue projections and check them more than just once a year.

“I think a lot of our problems were created by over projections of revenue,” he said.

Barrett said sacrifices will have to be made for the city to get back in shape.

“They’re going to have to tighten their belts, there’s no doubt about it,” she said. “I believe there’s a position that can be done away with, significantly making a dent in reducing the deficit yearly and that’s the city administrator position.

“It will put more of a burden of functioning the city on a weekly basis, but it’s something that has to be done. The department heads will answer directly to the mayor and council instead of a city administrator.”

Kana said he hopes the Stroll will attract businesses and encourage those already there to freshen up their properties.

“I would like to see the 4A committee continue to cover the maintenance on that,” he said of the Stroll. “I don’t see that much has changed, it should be easier to patrol now.”

As for Unity Park, he said he thinks it will “bring the community together and bring people from outside the community to spend money.”

“I don’t see the city being able to contribute heavily or possibly at all in the near future to that project, but hopefully 4A or 4B will be,” Kana said.

Barrett said she thinks the Stroll “could be a very nice thing,” as long as it is maintained properly.

“As long as the 4B committee takes care of the Stroll, maintains it, pays the light bill and it is not turned over to the city,” she said.

She added that she’s not sure how the location of the Stroll will bring in businesses.

“I sincerely hope they (the Stroll and Unity Park) have a positive effect,” she said. “I have some concerns. I hope the financial burden is not placed on the city, because at this point, the city cannot stand any more financial burdens added.”

If elected Mayor, Kana said he would take a more proactive role in city business.

“I am going to be more involved in the day-to-day operations than the mayor has been in the recent past,” he said. “I would definitely be more involved in spending more time there.”

Financially, we will be making more cuts. That doesn’t mean more personnel, we’re still going to look at that. There’s no need to carry a deficit any longer than we have to.”

The current city councilman said his business experience is what qualifies him for the position.

“I’ve run a business for the past 10 years,” he said. “I think the fact that I’ve run a business will benefit the city because the city needs to be run more like a business. I think that will come into play, especially working on the situations we are in right now.”

Barrett said if elected, she would be committed to serving the people who elected her.

“I have no political philosophies. I hate politics. I would consider myself an elected official that can be voted out in the next election if I do not fulfill the duties assigned to me,” she said. “An elected official is truly a servant of the people, a watchdog over the taxpayers monies, more so than their own. They should dedicate themselves to that.”

She said qualities she would bring to office would include “honesty, professionalism and dedication.”

“I feel qualified having owned a business of my own, knowing the responsibilities of a business, placing the money back into it and not spending everything you have,” she said. “You have to put money back into your business or it will not survive and the same goes for a city.”

She added that she has sat on several boards and committees in her years spent working for school districts.

Both candidates agreed that there should be transparency and city actions should be as visible as possible to residents.

“I have no problem with it. I’ve never hidden anything,” Kana said. I’ve answered every question I’ve had asked of myself. It seems I don’t hear about problems people have until they’re so frustrated. We’re as open as we can be.”

He said he would like the city to provide more resources to residents regarding city council proceedings.

“I wouldn’t even be against making documents and audio more readily available on the city’s Web site. If that was easily obtained, I would like to see audio and documents readily available,” he said.

Barrett said she “absolutely” believes in transparency.

“I know that there are times that city council meets that they have to have executive sessions,” she said. “The law provides for that for lawyer-client relationship. But, as a general rule yes, I believe that.”

Kana is a lifelong resident of Magnolia. He has owned and operated a roofing and sheet metal company for the past 10 years. He is married and has one son.

Barrett has lived in Magnolia since the 1970s. She has worked for Tomball ISD and currently works for Magnolia ISD. She has two sons.

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