With weeks left until Martinsville’s 2024 municipal race draws to a close, the five candidates for the city council’s three available seats talked housing, homelessness and other issues at a Cardinal News candidate forum.
The Thursday evening event brought together voters and candidates John Wilson, LaNita Herlem, Julian Mei, Rayshaun Gravely and Kathy Lawson, the sole incumbent on the November ballot.
“I want to know what they stand for,” said Brenda Williams, a voter who said she came to the forum in the hopes of learning more about the candidates.
Thursday’s event was the first of six Cardinal News candidate forums across the region, with upcoming forums scheduled for Danville, Roanoke, Salem and Lynchburg. Registration information for future forums is online.
“Local elections are where we can see the most direct impact of our democratic tradition,” said Cardinal News Executive Editor Jeff Schwaner, who introduced moderator Terry Young, dean of academic success and college transfer at Patrick and Henry Community College.
Candidates were given 2 minutes to answer each question, then 2 minutes for their closing arguments.
Housing emerged as one of the key concerns, with each of the candidates agreeing that the city has a housing shortage.
“We need more housing that is readily accessible to everyone in the city,” Wilson said, echoing the sentiment among all the candidates.
This election marks Wilson’s first foray into politics. Concerns for housing moved the North Carolina native, 70, to run for office.
“I’m a professional,” said Wilson, who said he ran business operations in places including Martinsville and Florida for decades. “I have the experience to do what needs to be done in Martinsville. I can bring new eyes and ears to Martinsville.”
Lawson, 70, emphasized the importance of housing affordability to bring more people to the city.
“To attract more people to the area, we need housing,” she said. “Without housing, you can’t bring people. When you bring people, you bring revenue.”
Martinsville residents first elected Lawson to the city council in 2006. She was the city’s first female mayor in 2008 and then was mayor again in 2019 and 2021.
“Serving our citizens and our community is part of my life,” Lawson said. “Serving our citizens has been the most rewarding part of serving on council. … If given the opportunity on Nov. 5, I will serve with honestly and integrity the people of this city.”
This segued into candidates addressing the city’s shrinking population and ways to reverse the decline. Martinsville’s population has trended downward every 10 years the U.S. Census has been taken, from 18,149 in 1980 to 13,485 in 2020.
Mei pushed back against the idea of a shrinking Martinsville while reiterating the importance of housing. He cited more recent census numbers that show a population uptick from 13,360 in 2023 to 13,485 as of March of this year.
“People are moving here constantly and within the limits of what we regard as housing,” Mei said before revisiting the housing question. “Until you build housing, affordable housing especially, it’s hard to have substantial population growth.”
Mei, 43, is a Realtor with Martinsville-based Berry-Elliot Realtors. He currently serves on several local boards and committees, including the Virginia Museum of Natural History Foundation. He recently was elected the board vice president of the Martinsville Henry and Patrick County Association of Realtors.
“I am thrilled that Martinsville is enjoying something of a renaissance,” said Mei. “It’s happening, you can feel it, you can see it, you can sense it.”
Candidates also touched on the issue of homelessness. The region that includes Martinsville, Henry County and Franklin County has an unhoused population of 135, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Candidates emphasized the programs that are available while acknowledging that the city does not have a dedicated shelter.
“We have a lot of great resources,” Gravely said, noting the importance of supporting agencies like the United Way and the Warming Center.
Gravely, 25, is the youngest of the candidates. “My ultimate goal is to … serve the people of the city,” he said, adding, “I want to do my part.”
Wilson said the city can only help those who want to be helped.
“It’s a two-way street,” he said. “We can do several things, but we have to have those people that are homeless willing to help themselves.”
Herlem said every unhoused person is an individual with their own story.
“You have to ask them why they are there, and you can’t help them unless you know their story,” Herlem said.
Candidates addressed recent electric rate changes enacted at the start of the current fiscal year. The consensus among candidates was that while electric prices were largely out of their control, they could be worse.
“This is the cheapest place I’ve lived for power,” Herlem said. “The grass is not always greener outside of Martinsville. I personally can’t complain because I’ve been to places that are a lot worse.”
Herlem, 56, is a Bassett native and a political first-timer. She cited infrastructure as one of the major hurdles facing the city.
“I knew that if I did move back here I was going to get involved,” she said, later adding, “I’m on team Martinsville. That is the only team I plan to be on.”
Candidates were also asked about the relationship between Martinsville and Henry County and what they would do to preserve a good working rapport. Gravely said maintaining a partnership is key to Martinsville’s future.
“I think we should have a great relationship with Henry but not so much we need to depend on the county,” Gravely said, saying it’s important to maintain a balance between independence and partnership.
Lawson, the incumbent, said she has always maintained a good working relationship with county staff and officials.
“I always chuckle when people say we have bad relations. It’s all in the eyes of the beholder,” Lawson said.
Herlem disagreed, saying, “The county did get mad at us over reversion.” Citing family and friends in the county, she said, “I don’t know about the board of supervisors, but the people of Henry County still hold it against us.”
She said it’s important for the city council to reconcile with the county, which is something she hopes to do if elected.
Elyn Frieser, an undecided voter, said the forum offered a better understanding on where the candidates stand and on the city as a whole. Frieser recently moved to Martinsville from New York and said the forum opened her eyes to issues she didn’t know about in the city.
“I’m new here,” she said. “This is really good because you want to know what’s going on. You can go to a fundraiser … but here you get to hear everything. Like I didn’t know there was a homeless problem here — I literally did not know. You don’t see it, depending on where you are, so this is really good to know.”
___________________________________
Correction, 10 p.m. Sept. 27: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Rayshaun Gravely’s occupation. He was a deputy with the Henry County Sheriff’s Office but was fired in 2022. The earlier version of this story also included a discussion of city-county relationships, including the issue of reversion, that has been replaced with a candidate’s own words on the issue, and it misstated part of John Wilson’s business background. These errors have been corrected.
