Although Ward II incumbent Neal Sawyer and candidate Mike Kemmling do not represent voters from the Mill Valley High School area, I still felt it important to cover the candidates in an attempt to inform any curious community member about the candidates in their Ward. This week, I interviewed Sawyer over the phone and Kemmling in person about their campaigns. Below is a condensed version of the interviews:

Neal Sawyer

How old are you?

67.

How long have you been a city council member for?

2001.

Why did you first want to run for city council?

Because I wanted to help the people of Shawnee. … I was on the planning commission prior to that and enjoyed working through processes to help make the citizens happy. …

What did you want to change or maintain in the city when you were first elected?

I wanted to get people involved so they knew what was going on. … And maybe they were involved but sometimes people have a tendency to say, “Hey, this is what’s happening,” … [I also wanted to try to make the residents happy] which is a very difficult task. There’s always somebody who’s happy and somebody that’s not.

Have you achieved those goals?

Most of the time. One of the very first things I got involved in on city council was the redeveloping of the city downtown. … I met with Sen. [Nick] Jordan, he helped us come up with statistics so we could come up with a revitalization area and work with [property] owners downtown. …

Why are you choosing to run again?

Because I feel there’s still somethings that have to be finished. We need to look at expanding the revitalization area to include some other areas. Some other areas [I want to focus on] are small businesses opening to maintain what they have and to try to get some new ones.

How have you been campaigning?

Just knocking on doors, talking to people I know, just like I do all the time.

How much do you expect to spend on your campaign?

My campaign will be frugal like it always is.

What is your platform for this year’s election?

To work on the economic growth in the community. I’m not one that likes to put that on the backs of the people. I’m one of two council members who voted against the CID [Community Improvement District] on the Quivira Plaza Shopping Center. … I’m not against the developer. I’m against levying an extra sales tax to help the developer. …

What do your critics say about you?

I’ve seen a lot of stuff in print. … They say that I’m a tax spending democrat and I am not, never have been a Democrat in my whole life and I find that offensive.

What makes you a better candidate than your challenger?

I don’t know that I can answer that because I know nothing about my challenger. I know what I have done to make decisions in Shawnee in the past. … I’ve worked to get some storm water developments in the past. … 75 percent of that fund comes from the county. That helps citizens out and keeps their home from flooding.

What makes you a strong candidate?

I think the people know what I’ve done and what I stand for. I’m one who casts force. I’m very much in favor [of citizen input and bringing people together]. When we did that downtown area we got a group to hash out what could be done, what should be done and we did that with the trash issue. … Another thing back in 2006, there was a lady who brought up [the idea of] a transportation program. … We started that program after we got a group of citizens together and they researched what was being done in other cities. … That’s been a very successful program for the citizens to get to the doctor’s, for shopping and things like that. And it was successful enough we put $40,000 a year to this to help make this work. I enjoy getting people together to help solve problems. …

Is there anything else you would like to add?

… I’ve voted more in one year than my opponent has voted in his entire life.

Mike Kemmling

What is your day time profession?

Dentist.

How old are you?

30.

How have you been promoting your campaign?

Mainly just by going out and meeting the people in my Ward.

How much do you expect to spend on your campaign?

How much I spend is dependent on how much I bring in. … I would imagine we would spend at least $1,500, but the total number is going to depend on contributions. … The good thing about a campaign at our level is you can scale it. … You kind of work with what you get.

How difficult do you expect it will be to beat the incumbent?

It’s definitely gonna be an uphill battle. He’s won his last two elections by large margins. One was 70-30 [percent] and the other was 60-40 [percent]. … He’s had some pretty large victories in the past.

What made you want to run for city council?

Essentially, I opened a business here and I ran into some regulations and ordinances that I believed made it difficult to operate. … I felt like they were unnecessary road blocks for businesses in Shawnee. When I experienced them, I realized them. … Why are there roadblocks for something benefiting Shawnee? Second is we’ve seen our taxes increases, we’ve seen our property and utility taxes [increase]. … We’ve just seen the cost of living in Shawnee go up.

What concerns do you have about the city government?

I feel like they’re starting to invade on some of our liberties, personal liberties, and I feel like they’re raising our taxes instead of cutting expenses.

What would you do differently than the incumbent?

He voted to raise the property tax, I would have voted against that. He voted to raise utility taxes, I would have voted against that. He voted for the new trash regulations, I would have voted against that. I also wouldn’t have voted to remove the council minutes from the website. I feel like it’s hurting transparency if they’re making it harder for me to find out what’s discussed at meetings. … In my opinion they made government less transparent. … If they’re proud of their record, I believe they should have it in a place for the public that’s easily accessible.

Has the incumbent done a good job in their position?

Ultimately, from what I’ve read in the minutes and from the incumbent’s voting record, [I f eel] I have a different mindset when it comes to solving some of the city problems. … [I’m interested in] keeping taxes down, keeping regulations down so Shawnee is more business friendly, keeping people’s individual freedoms and protecting those.

What is the city doing well?

I guess whenever we’re trying to change something, we’re always trying to talk about aspects of the city we don’t like. … The city has done a decent job [with crime], we have a below average crime rate. The city has grown, I see that as mainly a positive.

What are three things you would like to see changed?

Ultimately I’d like to see them highly modify or eliminate the trash law they’re put into place. … The problem is I’d like to change that, but if the county triumphs that, that point might be null. I’d like to see the city lower the tax rates and I’d like to see the city become more friendly to businesses. … [For example] my sign [outside of my dentist practice] was supposed to have a blue color on it, but the city said that violated the ordinance. … There are certain businesses that will say, ‘It’s not worth it.’ … The city makes a law, the local guy pays for it.

The incumbent states that you have a low voting record, what would be your response to this?

… The volume of vote has nothing to do with the knowledge of the vote of the intelligence of the vote. I’ll take someone who voted once properly than someone who voted 10 times improperly. … That’s one of the most irrelevant things you could bring up.

What do your critics say about you?

Obviously, there’s an age difference between my opponent and I. Some people like that, some people don’t. Some people are really excited to get the new in and some people say, ‘how old are you?’ …

Photos used with permission.