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Mayor’s Race in Hazelwood Pits Carr vs. Robinson
BY CAROL ARNETT
The Hazelwood Mayor’s race pits incumbent T. R. Carr against Councilman Matt Robinson. Carr was elected in 2000 and has been mayor for nine years.
“I have the experience and the ability to put together an effective team to address the issues facing the city,” Carr said when asked why he should be re-elected.
Carr said that in his career as a professor at Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville he trains individuals for careers in city government. “Many city managers in the area are former students,” he said.
“I understand the issues that Hazelwood faces,” Carr said. “We are a major employing suburb. We have to deal with international companies, and we need someone who knows and understands how to relate and how to deal with them.”
Carr said his accomplishments as mayor include his leadership with the Ford plant. “We were able to retain Ford for four more years,” he said. “This allowed the city to diversify the tax base; we had no layoffs and no cuts in city services.” Also, Carr said, “we were able to get Ford to agree to sell the building and clean the site.”
Carr said that the city faces three main challenges in the next few years. First, he said, “we need to recruit and retain our business base. Our city taxes are very low because of our businesses.” Second, Carr said, the city must continue to attract new home construction to attract new residents. And the third challenge is keeping the city in the forefront.
Matt Robinson has been Ward 1 councilman for the past 15 years. A union member, he is chairman of the St. Louis County Democratic Committee. “I’m a lifelong resident of the city, and I think I can do a good job of building a team with the council and staff, ” Robinson said.
Robinson points to the aquatic center as one of the things he is most proud of accomplishing as a councilman. “I grew up in the city, enjoying the pool and parks, and to see a new pool was great,” he said. Robinson said he worked on getting streets and sidewalks repaired and maintaining services such as leaf and limb pick-up.
Robinson said the city’s budget will be a challenge in the next few years. “With the projected revenue, we need to work to maintain the quality of service the city offers and avoid cuts in services or personnel.”
Florissant Council Races
In Florissant’s Ward 1, incumbent Tim Lee will face Glenn Lindemann. In Ward 5, incumbent Keith Schildroth faces challenges by Ken Katke and Gregory Heise, and in Ward 9, incumbent Ben Hernandez is running against former Councilwoman Nancy Lubiewski. In Ward 3, Incumbent Tom Schneider is running unopposed, and In Ward 7, incumbent Karen McKay is running unopposed.
