KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

This is part two of a two-part series covering the candidate political forum that took place at Tullahoma High School on Wednesday, July 10. The panels featuring both aldermanic candidates and candidates for the Tullahoma City Mayor can be found on our website at tullahomanews.com.

Tullahoma’s five aldermen candidates had a chance to give citizens a view of their plans for the future and to ask for their vote in a political forum moderated by Lucky Knott of 93.9 The Duck in collaboration with The News.

Candidates Matthew Bird, Franklin Cammack, Busch Thoma, John Santana and Sernobia McGee were asked a variety of questions regarding their plans for the city, what they would like to see done differently and what they have heard from voters since they announced their plans for candidacy.

After each of the candidates gave their opening statements, the first question they were asked was what made them want to run for aldermen and what makes them stand out among their fellow candidates. McGee was first and she said she had since missed working with people she had met during her time on BoMA when she was first appointed to fill a seat in 2022, and wanted to make a difference.

“I want to make a difference and bring a little bit of calmness and maturity to the board,” she said.

Santana said he was running because he wanted to raise his daughter in a pro-family, economic town. As for what made him stand out, he said his job in working in cyber security and working with clients have helped him with the skills he would need to be alderman. Thoma said his reason to run was to give back to the community that has given so much to him in his life, and believed he can give that experience to the board. Cammack said a big reason for him running was he believed he can help fix something he had complained about, and what made him stand out was his experience in teaching students. Bird said his son drove him to run as he wanted to give him a place to come back to, and what set him apart is being a natural mediator and bringing people together.

The next question asked to the candidates was what they think the city could do with affordable housing. All the candidates shared the sentiment that it came down to properly define what affordable housing in Tullahoma, bringing in different industries to the city and to build housing options for all economic classes.

“I think finding the right people to help develop Tullahoma to make housing affordable is the best approach for that,” Bird said.

The candidates were then asked for what is the biggest threat to Tullahoma’s future. The candidates said growth could be a threat as growing too fast or staying stagnant can have a negative impact on the city. Thoma said he tries to see the positives and for him the negative that he has seen is the attitude of the community from viewing the conduct of the current Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Yet, he added as leaders they can work through their differences and focus on the positives to help Tullahoma’s future.

“Let’s grow towards the positives and I think the negatives will take care of themselves,” Thoma said.

McGee agreed with Thoma and added all the candidates have held joint meet and greets together and have proven that they can work together, even if they have disagreements. Santana said it was important for the board to work together to fix Tullahoma’s reputation, otherwise businesses and jobs will go elsewhere.

Sticking to jobs, the candidates were asked what the city could do in recruiting manufacturing jobs to Tullahoma. Santana said an important aspect Tullahoma should do is marketing Tullahoma’s strengths so people who live in cities will move to Tullahoma to work remotely. Thoma said most manufacturing jobs require large lots and added not only Tullahoma should have an infrastructure to support different types of jobs and opportunities, but he prefers quality over quantity, stating he would rather have ten sets of 100 employee jobs than one 1,000 employee job. Cammack said it was important to understand why certain jobs left Tullahoma, and try to see how they can bring those jobs back.

“We can try to reestablish ourselves at some of these manufacturing spots, bring them back and I like the focus of other places around us,” Cammack said.

Bird agreed with Thoma and Santana that with Tullahoma having a low cost, high speed fiber optic network they could market that to encourage those who work remotely to come live in the city.

One of the last questions that was asked to the candidates was what their plan was in handling a heated situation during a board meeting. Bird said his choice would be not to respond as he did not want to degrade himself to that level as anyone in a leadership position should be held to a higher standard. McGee agreed with Bird and added it was important for city officials to be mindful how they carry themselves at meetings or out in town as that will build trust with them and citizens. Santana said he personally would brush off any personal attacks and would try to resolve any disagreements privately. 

“If we have a serious disagreement on something and it devolves into a personal attack I’ll brush it off and I’ll invite that person out to lunch or dinner and we can talk about the issue with a whiskey and cigar like we used to do it,” Santana said.

Thoma said conducting oneself as an adult is mandatory, and integrity was vital for both the candidate and the community. He went on to say if everyone has respect for one another then there will be no worry about getting into personal arguments. Cammack said given his teaching career he has been called every name in the book, so he would be able to brush off any personal attacks. He added his one campaign promise was to be civil and he will not personally attack anyone on the board or on social media.

All five candidates finished with their respective closing statements. Starting with McGee, she said she cared about the future of Tullahoma, has served on several boards for the city and wants to make a difference in the lives of citizens. Santana reiterated his campaign points of repairing Tullahoma’s reputation, steady growth and sensible spending for his closing statement. Thoma said he was running as a pure independent candidate and he was financing his own campaign as he wants to have a voice for all the people. He also encouraged everyone to go vote. Cammack said he is just a citizen who lives, works and spends his money in Tullahoma and wants to see Tullahoma grow in the right and responsible way. Bird challenged the voters to set a new record for voter turnout for municipal elections, and reiterated he was running for the community.

Knott, who moderated both forums, praised all the candidates for not only running in their respective races, but for also being respectful to one another, as well as attendees.

Early voting for the August State and Federal Primary and County General elections began July 12 and will run through July 27. Tullahoma residents voting early will go to C.D. Stamps Community Center at 810 South Jackson St., while the Coffee County Administrative Plaza at 1329 McArthur St, Suite 6 is the place to go for Manchester residents. For C.D. Stamps the hours for voting are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Saturday is from 9 a.m. to noon. For the Plaza hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday.