Nick Gosnell (00:00):
Our city council candidate interviews continue as Southwest District candidate Brock Wells is joining us. It's important to note that Brock and Greg Fast are both running for this. Greg will be on later this morning, Cheryl Thompson will also be on your ballot. However, she is focusing on the school board race that she'd filed for both, and they wouldn't let her take her name off for the Southwest side. So don't get confused, I guess by the fact that she has been running ads for her school board campaign. Just want to clarify prior to both interviews that it is a two-person race, at least as far as Cheryl is concerned between Brock and Greg in this regard. Good morning Brock. How are you?
Brock Wells (00:39):
Good morning. Thank you. I'm doing very well and I just want to say thank you very much for having us on here. I know you're giving us some valuable airtime and this is, you know, in my opinion, probably the most important city election that we've had in the city of Hutchinson. So I just appreciate the time.
Nick Gosnell (00:51):
Well, and thank you so much for being here. Everybody has an issue. That's the reason they're running. So, what issue was it that made you go, okay. I need to pay attention to city council and then ultimately I need to run.
Brock Wells (01:04):
Yeah. So this is kind of a two point issue for me. You know, I live right on West Avenue B in Southwest Bricktown neighborhood. And when my wife and I moved back seven years ago, we got involved in that neighborhood and the Woodie Seat Freeway issue is probably one of the main reasons that we got involved with that. Our neighborhood had been kind of chirping in my ear a little bit for two or three years about wanting me to run for city council. And I never took them seriously, but what sealed the deal and started making me really think about that was the next issue. You know, what made me think to say, okay, well, Jesus, okay, I'm going to do this is, right now our, our nation, our constitutional republic is under attack. The people of our nation are under attack, small businesses, the family unit, you know that issue and the way the things are looking in the next couple of years, um, you know, life could get more difficult in the next couple years. And so the decisions that the city makes coming up are really going to guide us through that. I want to be there for the people. I want to put the people first and make sure that we can get through this as best as possible. And I'm optimistic that we will, because I, like I say in my commercials, you know, I do, I believe in the people of Hutchinson.
Nick Gosnell (02:37):
So do you currently owe any obligations to any taxing entities for any years prior to this one?
Brock Wells (02:43):
No.
Nick Gosnell (02:44):
All right. Did you vote in the last city council election in Hutchinson?
Brock Wells (02:48):
I consider myself a traditional voter and I voted in every election since 2014, except for 2019 when we did not make it to the polls before they closed, because I was taking care of patients at my practice.
Nick Gosnell (02:59):
So what can be done to reduce regulation on businesses coming to Hutchinson?
Brock Wells (03:05):
Well, this actually should be a relatively easy thing to address. And what I mean by that is it's just it's rules and regulations. And I'm of the opinion, you know, I know the city and I know the planning commission is taking steps in the right direction, but I would really like to do a complete, full audit of our regulations and building codes. And if we have to completely put in a new set of regulations and codes, I think that might actually be the easiest way to go about this and the quickest way to take that red tape off of small businesses, take the red tape off of residents who are just trying to do things to improve their buildings or improve...the residents that aren't allowed in, in the regulations right now that don't make a whole lot of sense.
Nick Gosnell (03:55):
So with that said, what do you think should be the debt policy for Hutchinson? The way I framed this question to other candidates is what's a proper level of bonding for a city Hutchinson's size. Maybe that's not quite fair for those that haven't actually served on the city council. But ultimately, how do you decide what is worthy of being part of a city's debts and where you need to save before you do a project?
Brock Wells (04:26):
No, I, I think it's a good question and I kind of do agree with you. I mean, I don't have a percentage there. The city of Hutchinson does have a good bond rating. Now, with that being said there are areas where the city has core services like infrastructure that are not being funded properly. So I really, really think that we need to make sure that we get this. This is a time that we can kind of refocus and recalibrate and really make sure that the city of Hutch has some sort of direction and vision. And that really needs to come down to funding infrastructure and first responders first and getting efficient in government operations. As an example, are there services that the city provides, programs and services the city provides that the private sector could do better? That's something, you know, I think we need to take a good look at before we get into any more bonding or those situations, which, you know, is inevitable in the city operations.
Nick Gosnell (05:37):
What length should the city's street maintenance program be? They're supposed to be going through it now. I think it's every eight years. Does that seem right? How often should an individual street or an individual area of town get worked on?
Brock Wells (05:53):
Yeah, I think, you know, I think eight years, based on, you know, the life expectancy of asphalt and all that, is good. Now, the issue is, you know, we aren't funding the infrastructure to do that properly. And, you know, the city did create a program where you can report potholes, which has been fantastic. The city crew, does a good job getting out there and doing that. But you know, that it does come down to a funding issue, in my opinion.
Nick Gosnell (06:27):
You addressed this kind of a little bit in your first answer, but I want to give you a chance to expand on it. Are you for or against taking the money from the federal government to put roundabouts in at the Woodie Seat Freeway? I think everybody knows where you stand, but, I want to give you a chance to tell people.
Brock Wells (06:43):
I appreciate that. The narrative is about the roundabouts right now in our neighborhood, in the Southwest Bricktown neighborhood. When the city came to us several, several years ago and told us they're going to do this, we told them that we didn't want to do that. And that is because they're going to be cutting off B Street. That's the main issue of the neighborhood. You're gonna be cutting off the street with taking out that bridge and bringing it down to a roundabout, you're going to be putting, you're going to be dividing...you know, you're going to be dividing families. The Southwest Bricktown district is a, you know, very heavily Hispanic district. And you have generational families that live on either side of that bridge down there. They are literally going to be cut off from one another. You have kids come from the Avenue A school, they'll walk over during the summer to walk over to the splash pad park there at Avenue A. On the designs, I'm very confused on how those kids are going to safely get over there. So these are some of the issues that the neighborhood really is about. And I understand the narrative of the roundabouts, but that's really not the neighborhood's issue. The roundabouts are, they are safer. I mean that the data is clear on that. Now people don't like them and it's going to be odd now, as far as taking the grant money, the grant money comes with restrictions. It comes with a very narrow set of purview that you can use that money for. We asked, you know, hey, is there anything else we can do besides taking out that bridge? And they said no, because it had to be innovative and whatever else their terminology was. That really is the issue there. It comes down to, you know, like we've said before, we've underfunded infrastructure, $1 million per year for the last 10 years. That would pay for fixing Woodie Seat Freeway without having to do grant money. And as an example of this, I'm not just talk here, you know? So, I'm a chiropractor and, and in May of 2020, we got a lump sum in our bank account from Medicare without any warning. They did finally send us some of the regulations or the rules for taking that money. I read through those and did not agree with them at all, and so I returned that money as fast as I could. They've been offering us like three or four more lump sums, and I have not taken any more of that money. So, you know, there are times to take grants and there are times not to.
Nick Gosnell (09:32):
So, how do we fix the storm water infrastructure? The storm water utility fee has been a big issue for some other candidates in this campaign, some of whom we'll still be talking to between now and the end of our week.
Brock Wells (09:48):
Yeah. This, you know, this is a very complicated topic. The storm water utility fee has been blamed for driving businesses out of Hutchinson. Okay. But there's also, there's also an issue. Now I know that we have to work with the railroads and stuff on this, which is not an easy process. There's not an easy, not an easy answer for this, but I am not, you know, I'm not in favor of having a fee like that if it is really driving businesses out of Hutchinson.
Nick Gosnell (10:31):
So how do you plan to build consensus with the other members of the council? You're going to have at least two new members of the council, potentially three, depending on how other races go. How do you work together?
Brock Wells (10:45):
Well, this, this comes down to relationships, right? My, my wife and I run our chiropractic practice. And we have survived the last six years. And, you know, if anybody started a business, you know how difficult that can be, but what it comes down to is, you know, you have to side on the side of truth. And then, you have to be honest with one another and you have to understand your personal responsibility and things you can control and things you can't control. And I think if you present that and also, you know, just showing up, right, and just being constantly being there, constantly putting in the work, constantly doing that effort, hopefully you should build consistent consensus. And if it, if it doesn't, you know, that's on the other council members, but I'm very confident that we can do that.
Nick Gosnell (11:39):
Brock Wells is running for the Southwest district here in Hutchinson. Our thanks to Brock for his time. You're listening to KWBW Hutchinson.