HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – Markeeta Wilkerson is the Democratic candidate for Mayor of Hopkinsville in the upcoming Nov. 3 General Election. In order to allow residents to make an informed decision about their vote, the Hopkinsville League of Women Voters held a public forum on Oct. 1, where each candidate was able to answer questions about key issues.

Wilkerson is currently up against Republican candidate Russ Guffey and Independent candidate Desaepa Vansauwa. During the forum, all three of them were given two minutes for opening and closing remarks, three minutes to answer each question, and one minute for rebuttals. Questions were not given to the candidates beforehand.

Below is a summary of how Wilkerson responded during the forum. A full live stream is available on the City of Hopkinsville YouTube channel.

Topics discussed:

Opening statement

“I am running because sometimes you should be the change you want to see in your community, and you can only do that by work and dedication, and that is what I aim to do as mayor if elected. I am a public servant, I have always been a public servant in this community,” said Wilkerson.

She added that her campaign is focused around her belief on affordable housing, economic growth for large and small businesses, collaboration between other municipal bodies, functional infrastructure, transparency, improved quality of life and youth initiatives to make a community that is thriving together.

Top priorities

The candidates were asked the following question: In three words or less, what would be your top priority as mayor?

“Safety, accountably and transparency,” said Wilkerson in response.

How to fund mayoral priorites

The candidates were asked the following question: Name one specific city program or expenditure you would be willing to reduce or eliminate to fund one of your priorities.

Wilkerson said this was a bit of a “loaded question” because does not feel that cutting existing programs would benefit constituents, and some of them may be in need of an increase in funding as it is.

“If anything, I would find ways to get more money, probably to look at how we can switch money around because sometimes we have money that is kind of just floating around that could easily be allocated to services like the Boys & Girls Club, like the public library which are dear to my heart,” she said.

What would you do differently as mayor

The candidates were asked the following question: What is one problem in our city that previous leadership has failed to address, and what specifically will you do differently?

Wilkerson believes that an epidemic that has been overlooked by past leadership is the unhoused population in the city. She said her plan to solve this crisis is providing wraparound services to aid them and disenfranchised community members, which includes mental health support.

“So, making sure as a city we wrap our arms around those people and help them to know that they are a part of this community, and they are worthy to have more than what they have. We have areas of the city where we have people who live in tents, so if they are going to live in a tent, we should help them have steppingstones,” she said.

New fire station and upgrades

The candidates were asked the following question: A feasibility study for the Hopkinsville Fire Department recommended a sixth fire station to be located in the Commerce Park area and also identified significant upgrades or replacement for three others. What would your plans be to address these important findings.

“The fire department is one of our major expenditures in the city,” said Wilkerson. “We know that there is wear and tear on the trucks…we also know that at that sixth location there are fires in the commerce area”

For Wilkerson, building up the fire department is a major priority, especially in that specific area in order to increase safety and reduce the risk of fatalities. She brought up the idea of the stations rotating equipment between among each other and utilizing grants to cover costs.

After Guffey answered the same question and said it was impractical to rotate equipment, she responded by saying that some stations have an abundance of items as compared to others, and items like PPE could be reallocated. Guffey additionally responded saying that PPE is specific to each individual and cannot realistically be shared.

Data centers

The candidates were asked the following question: What is your position on locating data centers in Hopkinsville-Christian County?

Her main stance on data centers in the city is centered around questions about why they are often proposed in lower income or inner-city locations in the city. Wilkerson also questioned how letting in data centers is beneficial to the residents and the city and brought up that no one knows what the long-term effects look like. She brought up that establishing a large data center may impact other industries from coming in due to a strain on infrastructure.

Also, with the proposed creation of a new substation, she continued to question what would happen if the data center developers were to decide to leave and what impact that would have. She questioned why the current crypto mining facility was placed where it is in a residential area, “Whose decision was that? It wasn’t the constituent’s decision because the constituents didn’t know anything about that.”

Flock cameras

The candidates were asked the following question: What is your position on the use of Flock cameras?

“If you look at the studies in some of the cities with Flock cameras, the police have gotten a little lax and they have been dependent on those cameras instead of working as hard,” said Wilkerson.

She continued to claim that officers use the technology not just for license plates, and they are often placed in more disenfranchised areas which targets certain populations. Wilkerson also expressed concerns about electricity allocations to the cameras and the efficacy of the solar panels that power them. She also brought up that there are other resources the city could invest in to help police that are not flock cameras.

Closing statement

To wrap up the evening, she stressed the importance of having transparency, accountability and citizen empowerment/engagement.

“As the next city mayor that is what I aim to do, to empower our citizen to feel like they do have a true voice and their voice is heard. And, not only that, but that we have a huge and great collaboration between our city, our county, our school system, our large and small businesses and our citizens as a whole,” she said.

Find out more about Wilkerson’s campaign here.

More from the other candidates: