Six Brighton city council candidates vying for three seats

BRIGHTON — The small town of 600 people in Washington County’s southwest corner has one of its most competitive municipal elections this year, with six candidates vying for three seats on the city council.

The Union reached out to all six candidates to get their pitch to voters. Here’s what they had to say:

Who are they?

Cathy Rich is seeking re-election this year. Originally from Washington, she’s raised four kids in Brighton with her husband, and has already served one term on the city council. She’s also been on the Washington school board and Riverboat Foundation board. By day, she has an income tax and accounting business in town.

Mary Smith is the other incumbent on the ballot Nov. 7, seeking a second term in office as well. She’s lived in Brighton for 44 years and remains there now, in retirement.

Chuck Emry is not an incumbent per se, but was a city council member of 12 consecutive years before his resignation in December of 2021 amid some health issues. With those now resolved, the Brighton native said he was ready to get back in the game.

Dick Green is a Richland native, but moved from Cedar Rapids to Brighton in the summer of 2017, where he’s now an at-home Pentecostal pastor. He was also an outspoken critic of the volunteer firefighters’ negotiation tactics during monthslong funding dispute between them and the city council last winter.

Andrew Boone is relatively young, as far as city council candidates go. He’s a 38-year-old who moved to town in April from Wayland, but has other family in Brighton with more long-established roots.

David Pratt is originally from Batavia, but moved to Brighton in June, where he and his wife hope to settle down. He said the move was motivated by a house his wife “absolutely loved.”

Why they decided to run:

Rich: “My job on the council is to represent the people. If I choose not to run, I’m not giving them a choice. There’s six people running for three seats, and I think it’s important to give the public a chance to speak at the ballot box … I believe in the community, I raised my family there, we’ve been there 48 years. We’ve seen lots of changes.”

Smith: “There’s a lot of learning curve to being a council member. And I feel I have the background to continue on another four years with the city.”

Emry: “I’ve been asked by many, many people in the city to run again, so I threw my hat in the ring and away we’re going to go, and hope the people vote for me … I’m proud to put my name in the hat again and proud to run again, whether I win or lose.”

Green: “I think the fire department — the firemen's association — got completely out of hand … I also think there’s some properties in town that need to be cleaned up. Either that or tore down, something. Because it brings the value of everyone else’s homes down when places are not taken care of … there’s just lots of things that need to be done here in town, and I didn’t see many people stepping up to do the job.”

Boone: “I talked to some other people in the city limits, and they were telling me it’d be nice to get the younger generation on the council, and get the younger generation more involved. So, I decided I’d go ahead and try it.”

Pratt: “It don’t seem like the council’s doing to much, or have the know-how, but there are a lot of people in Brighton turning their yards into junkyards. It’s against the city ordinance and I’d like to get in there to help push to make this ordinance stick a little bit better.”

What they see as the city’s top priority right now:

Rich: “The top concern for me is finances. Our population is decreased, and that population is going to result in fewer dollars coming from road use taxes or local-option sales taxes. Those dollars are what allow us to keep the city running … the HF 718 bill is going to reduce the taxes that we can levy for. That’s fewer dollars. And yet, the services that the public has come to expect and to want … those expenses are going to continue to rise.”

Smith: “We have to be ever-mindful of the city’s budget, and that is the council’s responsibility, spending the tax dollars wisely and investing money so our interest increases to help stabilize our general fund … last year, we had $14 that we hadn’t allocated, so as you can see, it’s a tight budget.”

Emry: “The top need in any town is revenue … You need people to move to town to pay taxes, you need to bring businesses to town to bring tax revenue to town. We were successful in the drive to get the dollar general store. Hopefully we can get another drive going and bring in something else.”

Green: “One of the biggest problems, I honestly do believe, still at this time, is reconciliation between the fire department, the firemen’s association, and the city. That and cleaning up the town … to try to find some way to draw businesses to town.”

Boone: “I feel that we need to try to get more funding for the city and try to get more money raised for the city. What I’ve been told is, the city’s broke, so I’m trying to find out how we can raise money and get it to where we’re able to rely more on the people in the city area.”

Pratt: “The biggest thing I’d like to see as a city priority right now is cut back the increase on city sewer, what they’re charging. Because I understand they put in a brand-new (sewer,) and I’ve been talking to neighbors around me and everything because I about fell over when I saw my sewer cost for the month compared to what I was using for water … I’d like to see the prices come down at least a little bit. Let’s put a cap on it for at least five or 10 years and see how it budgets out.”

Why you should vote for them:

Rich: “I hope people will vote for me because I represent them. I am open to their comments, their questions, their concerns, and if I don’t hear from them, I’m still thinking about taxpayers when I make decisions. I hope they will vote for me because I’m honest, and I have put the effort in to obtain training that helps me to make good decisions. I hope they will vote for me because I work well with the other council members, I respect their opinions and enjoy conversations with them as we work through the tough decisions.”

Smith: “I feel my experience as an incumbent would continue to improve this city. Also, I feel there are very many projects in the works … and I’ve sat in on many meetings with contractors for these projects. I’m familiar with the processes for each one and the budget to cover these expenses.”

Emry: “You have to have common sense to govern and rule over people. And the one thing that’s always on my mind is, the taxpayers own this town. Not me. All I do is serve as a leader and satisfy all the patrons that vote for me, and even those that don’t vote for me … it’s not about a left issue or a right issue with me, it’s about the issue that needs to have the right answer … I spend a lot of time visiting with voters and listening to them, and I kind of know where a lot of people stand.”

Green: “I would come at this from a biblical standpoint. Before I voted on what I knew was going to be happening, if what they’re doing lines up with what I believe is needed and what God wants for our town of Brighton, I think it makes a lot of sense to be that way … maybe I could look at this a little bit of a different way, maybe give a different perspective about things instead of doing it the same old way we’ve been doing it forever, and come at it from a standpoint of, ‘Is this morally right and ethically right?’”

Boone: “Getting the younger generation involved with the council and with the city, I think it would pull more of the younger generation into the area … The older generation, they might have more knowledge of stuff, but they also are kind of set in their ways.”

Pratt: “I’m going to be one of those council members that you’ll be able to stop at my house if you have a concern, or you have a question, and I’ll be free to sit down, talk to you, and come up with a resolution … let’s figure out how to solve the problems in town instead of just letting them get worse.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com