Basin PBS hosts debate for District Four Midland City Council candidates

MIDLAND, Texas (KOSA) - Monday night was the debate for Midland City Council District Four, hosted by Basin PBS. The two candidates for the seat are Jim Gerety and Amy Stretcher-Burkes. During the debate, the two were able to make their pitch on why they deserve a seat on City Council.

At the debate, both candidates answered questions ranging from utilizing federal funds for critical infrastructure, the hiring and retention of first responders in Midland, their vision for downtown, and more.

Gerety and Stretcher-Burkes were each asked what qualities they possess that would make them an effective council member.

Here’s how each of them answered.

Amy Stretcher-Burkes: “I might be young… I’m actually older than the average Midlander… but my leadership style is first and foremost I wanna listen… I have been criticized for listening but I think that’s why I’m gonna be elected. I want to serve and I wanna be District Four’s voice on City Council and it’s essential to be able to work with it’s existing City Council members as well and I can do that, we can work together. I’m not afraid to take a stand for my district and I believe in being prepared, I wanna know the issues. If we get an agenda packet I’m gonna read through it my pledge is to know and learn as much as I can about the budget before I approve it, but I believe that being a leader I wanna be out in the community, I want you to see me, I’m going to be approachable, I want you to ask me questions, if I don’t know it I’ll go find it and get back to you.”

Jim Gerety: “I think that when election time comes, the voters are saying, we wanna hire you, and if you wish to hire me I wanna gonna go in and do the job. And I think the single biggest issue right now is leadership, I think we need to look at the culture and the government, we need to figure out, why isn’t the City of Midland the best place to go to work. Why is it that we have these staffing shortages? We can argue it’s money, but a lot of times it’s not. It’s not money, it has to do with what are we doing. I hear it all the time, ‘yeah but, or we can’t, and I have heard this numerous times from government officials and the truth is I’ve always looked at those kinds of answers and said: but let’s find a way to.”

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