Seven of the nine candidates vying for five seats on the Danville City Council discussed housing, casino spending, growth, collective bargaining and a recent animal shelter controversy at a Cardinal News candidate forum Thursday.
Around 30 people attended the forum at Danville Community College’s Temple Hall to listen to Maureen Belko, Lawrence Campbell Jr., Petrina Carter, Barry Mayo, Felice McWilliams, Sherman Saunders and Lee Vogler. Shakeva Frazier and Madison Whittle did not attend.
“The people you elect will decide many things that will affect your quality of life here in Danville, so it’s important that you know where each of these candidates stand on things that are important to you,” said Jeff Schwaner, Cardinal News executive editor.
Of the four challengers, Belko and Carter ran in 2022. This year, they are joined on the ballot by Frazier and McWilliams, as well as incumbents Campbell, Mayo, Saunders, Vogler and Whittle.
The event was the second of six Cardinal candidate forums across its coverage area, following a Martinsville forum last week. Registration for upcoming events in Roanoke, Salem and Lynchburg is open online.
Schwaner introduced moderator Slade Lellock, assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at Averett University. Candidates were each given 90 seconds to answer each question and an additional 90 seconds to make their closing remarks.
How should Danville address its housing deficit?
The first question addressed Danville’s housing shortage. A 2022 study on housing in Danville showed that the city had an existing deficit of about 600 homes, a shortage that was expected to increase as the area’s growth continued.
Candidates agreed that housing availability is an issue in the city, with several mentioning affordability as well.
“Right now, I think the highest priority is middle-income housing,” Belko said. “We can feel the pressure on lower-income housing because there isn’t enough middle-income housing, and it’s displacing our citizens and increasing homelessness.”
Campbell and Mayo, two incumbents, pointed out that the housing crisis is nationwide, not just in Danville.
Carter discussed her experience addressing housing needs in the region. She is president and CEO of the Tri-County Community Action Agency, a nonprofit that works to reduce the effects of poverty in Halifax, Mecklenburg and Charlotte counties.
“[The city] will need to have public and private partnerships in order to put a dent in the housing crisis,” Carter said, adding that the city must ensure that housing that is built is affordable.
This will be especially important as the city continues to attract new residents and visitors when the casino resort opens later this year, candidates said.
Where should the casino money go as Danville continues to grow?
The Danville Casino, a temporary casino facility that has been operational since May 2023, has already brought in millions of dollars in gaming tax revenue for the city. This revenue will increase when the permanent Caesars Virginia casino resort opens.
Before the temporary casino opened, the city established a group called the Investing In Danville Committee, to guide the city on how to spend gaming revenue. It is composed of residents, stakeholders and community leaders.
Belko said her biggest goal if elected is to reprioritize spending. Some residents are skeptical about the casino, she said, and the city needs to make sure that foundations are in place to ensure that the resort is beneficial to the community.
Casino revenue should be spent on improving infrastructure and city services instead of on ribbon cuttings and splash pads, she said.
Vogler, who has been on the city council for 12 years, also mentioned improving infrastructure and utilities with casino funds.
Part of the casino money should go “back into neighborhoods, into economic development and into recreational uses for our citizens, making Danville a better place to live,” he said. But portions should also be spent to allow for lower taxes and utility bills.
“We have to take care of our citizens,” Vogler said. “If folks don’t believe that they’re sharing in the prosperity of this casino, they’re going to turn on it really quick, and they should.”
Carter said some casino funds should be spent to help lower the 22.4% poverty rate in Danville.
“A place to have fun is fantastic, but we have families who can’t eat,” she said. “We’ve got to start to lower utility bills, not just by reducing the tax rate, but funding weatherization projects and giving landlords incentives to fix up their properties.”
Campbell said that he’s been “highly disappointed” in the casino’s presence in Danville so far.
“I have been deceived,” he said, adding that he wanted to see prosperity from the casino shared in all areas of the community, particularly minority communities. “That has not happened.”
Infrastructure and quality of life cropped up again when Lellock asked candidates how Danville should continue to welcome the ongoing growth, which isn’t expected to slow down in the region.
Mayo added that education and job creation should also be priorities, saying that the city needs to listen to its residents about what’s most important to them.
Danville is not going to stop growing, he said, “and we have to tap into how we can help our citizens grow with it.”
Should collective bargaining be allowed?
The city council previously voted to ban city employees from engaging in collective bargaining.
Most candidates said that city employees have a right to fight for fair wages, though Campbell added that he has “mixed feelings” about collective bargaining.
Employees should be paid fairly, he said, but he doesn’t want to see city employee pay get “out of proportion.”
“I do feel that a study needs to be done so that we have more information to make a wise decision and the best decision for our community,” he said.
Saunders said that blue-collar workers need to be valued and treated the same as white-collar workers. He has worked in both sectors, he said.
And Mayo said that the cost of living is only going to continue to increase.
“Every cost that you can name goes up,” he said. “When someone wants to do collective bargaining, they want to get the best deal for the best work.”
Vogler said that “a city is only as good as its employees,” and mentioned a series of improvements to quality of life that the city has managed to enact without collective bargaining, including paid family leave, early retirement for firefighters and the creation of an employee health clinic.
What should Danville do about its animal shelter save rate?
The Danville Area Humane Society, the only animal shelter in the city, had an 83% euthanasia rate in 2023, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which oversees animal shelters in the state.
Best Friends, a national animal welfare nonprofit, is funding a local campaign called Danville Deserves Better to call for changes at the shelter. Tensions have been running high for months between the shelter and the campaign, with Best Friends backing it.
McWilliams, a first-time candidate for council, said that more residents would be pet owners if the upfront costs of owning a pet weren’t so high.
Perhaps some of the casino revenue could be used to create a first-time pet owners program to alleviate the cost of adoption, spay and neuter surgery, and vaccines, she said.
The city is working hard to address this issue, which is close to the hearts of residents, said Mayo and Saunders.
The shelter is in compliance with state regulations, said former mayor Saunders, who has served on the city council for 26 years.
“However, concerns do exist, and I’ve been told that our city manager is working on this matter, trying to bring about an agreement of all the parties,” he said.
Campbell, Mayo and Vogler said that a conversation should be held with all parties involved to come up with solutions on how to improve the animal shelter.
But Belko said that the conversation is too heated to bring all parties together for a discussion.
Instead, the executive director of the shelter needs a long-term plan, a full-time fundraiser and a full-time marketing staff member, she said.
Gathering and analyzing data, as well as digitizing records for the shelter, would be helpful, Belko said, adding that her background is in data and analytics and that she is used to using numbers to solve problems.
“Both sides want things to be better, but there’s just too much butting heads right now,” she said.
The forum concluded with 90 seconds of closing remarks from each candidate.
Incumbents mentioned the cooperation between the current city council, city manager and city staff, who they said all get along well. And challengers asked for a chance to serve the city.
“I ask for your vote on November 5th. You have five, I only want one,” Saunders said.
