Mayoral candidate John Segale was eliminated from the race on Tuesday, Feb. 28 after receiving 11 percent of the votes.
Believing that he is creative enough to approach the city’s problems from a different angle, Segale decided to run for mayor when he discovered that he was unsatisfied with the other candidates. “I didn’t like the direction that the current mayor has been taking the city in and then when Mr. Jenkins filed, I sent him an email asking him what he wanted to accomplish. I wasn’t really satisfied with his answers so I decided to run,” Segale said.
Segale previously ran for mayor in 2004 and was prompted to run again by the new tax on residential utilities, such as gas and electric bills.
“The people who live in the community are really the strength,” Segale said. “How I would see that expressed is I would get rid of the 5 percent tax on our gas and electric utilities and where that money will come from is the landfill fund.”
The city recently renewed its contract with Deffenbaugh Industries, receiving $3 million a year.
“They decided to take the $3 million they were going to receive and rather than use it to fix up our streets, fix our ditch streets, things that really affect the people that live in the community directly. Decided to give a $1.5 million of that to business interest,” Segale said. “To me that was not focusing on the people who live here.”
According to Segale, along with fixing Shawnee’s infrastructure and lower taxes, communicating with residents would be a major priority for him if elected.
“In my 11 years I have always been straight with people. I have never tried to scare them. I have been straight when it comes to saying we need money to do these things and asking them do to those things,” Segale said.
The 11 years Segale refers to are his years in office. While working at the Cerner Corporation, Segale served as Johnson County Commissioner for four years and on the city council for seven years. Segale hopes that he would use that experience to be more forceful in advocating for the people of Shawnee.
“I have spoken up, going back two or three years, on what the city has been doing in terms of taxing and spending. I have had the time in office to demonstrate what my priorities have been,” Segale said.
Segale believes that having had the chance to demonstrate his priorities will serve him well in the election.
“I think that over time people can reflect on the decisions I made,” Segale said. “I think I have demonstrated that I am not just a windbag politician, but I do the right thing.”
