BRENHAM CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES DEBATE AT FORUM

  

Transparency, affordable housing, and the cost of living in Brenham were just a few of the topics addressed by candidates for the Brenham City Council at Wednesday’s Candidates Forum at Brenham National Bank, hosted by KWHI.

Leah Cook

Each of the six candidates in the contested city council races were in attendance to answer questions submitted by the public, though members of the general public were not in attendance due to COVID-19.

One of the questions faced by candidates was what their opinion was on the outsourcing of city sanitation services to Brannon Industrial Group, and whether the city would ever consider taking services back.  Leah Cook, candidate for At-Large Position 6 on the council, said she is in support of the current system, but would consider reevaluating it.

 

 

Keith Herring

Candidates were also asked if they agreed with recent comments from City Manager James Fisher saying that the Brenham Fire Department is struggling to transition to a full-time paid department.  Ward 1 incumbent Keith Herring said the city has had difficulty keeping a strong force of volunteer firefighters.

 

 

Shannan Canales

When candidates were asked about their current relationship with Brenham ISD and how the council can help the school district, Ward 1 challenger Shannan Canales said she has a strong personal connection with the district, and that it is vital for the city to support local schools however it can.

 

 

Albert Buchanan

Another question for candidates was what they will do to grow the median wage in Brenham.  At-Large Position 6 candidate Albert Buchanan said the city needs to find ways to incentivize and offer options to incoming businesses.

 

 

Clint Kolby

The topic of affordable housing was frequently addressed at the forum.  At-Large Position 5 incumbent Clint Kolby said there is a great need for affordable housing, and noted he was the lone vote in favor of the recently proposed Sandy Point Housing, Ltd. project on Pecan Street.

 

 

Allan Colvin

At-Large Position 5 challenger Allan Colvin said the term “affordable housing” is not a bad word, and work needs to be done to ensure that more people can be homeowners.

 

 

Also in attendance at the forum was Atwood Kenjura, although he did not take questions as he is running unopposed for the Ward 3 council position.

KWHI will host a second Candidates Forum on Wednesday, April 14th for the candidates in the Brenham School Board race.  That forum will be held at 5:30 p.m., also at Brenham National Bank.

Early voting begins April 19th, and Election Day is May 1st.

The full forum can be watched on KWHI's Facebook page.

Opening Comments:

What’s your Reaction?
+1
0
+1
0
+1
0

8 Comments

  1. Afforable housing is extremely important. Citizens of Brenham rail against it and that really bothers me. College educated citizens don’t all make 6 figures. We shouldn’t have to pay 400+ thousand dollars for a home for our families. This is an issue of Brenham elites controlling the livelihoods of the citizens and it’s not right. I was so disappointed in the canceling of the last affordable housing contract. How could this community be so callous?

    1. Traffic on Pecan Street is already an issue with 18 wheelers speeders race car drivers walkers and parked cars. There would have been too many low income houses next to 350,000 homes. I agree the price of homes in Washington county is amazing other counties you can buy twice the home for less. If you want low income homes build in another area than Pecan St

    2. The prices of homes being inflated above the market value is due to a combination of people coming in from larger municipalities (Houston, Austin to name a few) willing to pay the inflated prices (due to competing buyers outbidding one another, especially investors who have the money), and then of course investors buying up the older homes to “flip” for an inflated price or turn it into rental property. It is happening all over Texas, not just in Brenham. The repercussion is boxing-in young/beginning families with moderate incomes trying to purchase a moderate-sized home.

  2. Will KWHI be releasing the full recording of the candidate forum? Thank you for releasing the clips they are appreciated, but it would be nice to be able to listen to the forum in full.

      1. Thank you, Mr. Whitehead! We greatly appreciate all the hard work and reporting that KWHI does to keep the citizens informed!

  3. They ALL say what we want to Hear until they are voted in then Its a different story. I will not vote for anyone currently in any of these positions they had their time to make “Change” for Brenham and did not

    1. Ken, please feel free to contact me with any concerns or changes you would like City Council to address. As I mentioned in my statement I am not afraid to ask questions and dig in to the areas that people are wanting to know more about. I am transparent and honest. Please let me know if I can help Shannan4Brenham@gmail.com

Back to top button