Five Fouke, Ark., residents have registered as candidates to become the next mayor of Fouke, Ark., in the Nov. 6 general election.
"I've never seen this many running for mayor," said Frank McFerrin of Fouke, who is a volunteer in the community and retired school administer.
Fouke has a population of 826 and about 400 registered voters and five candidates for mayor.
The mayor is paid $2,000 a month.
The candidates made the following brief statements:
Incumbent Mayor Terry Purvis:
"I'm proud of the accomplishments in the past 12 years. Fouke has come a long way. We've got $2 million in grants for the community center. We got an industry which employs about 30 people making good wages between $9 to $17 dollars an hour. When I ran in 2006 for mayor, I had four people running against me."
Robert Neely:
"In my opinion everybody is ready for a change. I'm not saying anything is wrong. After 12 years, it's time to have a new mayor for awhile."
Lance Norman:
"I feel like people are ready for a change in Fouke. That's why more people are running. People want to move forward in a different direction. That's my opinion and that's what I'm hearing out on the streets and knocking on doors. People are ready for a change."
Phyllis Allison:
"For me it started last year when I noticed a church had a water leak and the water was running across the road for a month. The water was brown and the city didn't call for a boil order. Water was standing and it caused a problem with mosquitoes. Why not address the problems. I had concerns about the overgrown streets and can't see the stop sign on some streets."
Charles Cooper: Did not return telephone calls
McFerrin describes himself as a professional volunteer. He retired after 16 years with the Genoa School District and 22 years with the Fouke School District.
McFerrin is a community observer.
"Fouke has continued to grow with an industry that refurbishes ambulances. And there have been changes in the town in the past few years. It is a pretty good employer in town. The company restores ambulances and moved into the city limits and hired about 30 people," McFerrin said.
"The Dollar Store wants to build a bigger facility to sell more stock," McFerrin said.
"There is a lot going on," he said. "Everybody is not going to agree with him (the mayor)."
The mayor's salary has gone from $1,200 a month to $2,000 a month, he said.
"No matter who is elected mayor, people are not going to agree with him or her as mayor," McFerrin said. "It's going to be interesting. There are 400 registered voters in the city limits. If 200 come out in the mayor's race to vote, I will be surprised.
"City government will have typical complaints. Dogs and cats are loose. Pot holes exist. Complaints will always be here," he said. "They're not going to take sides. That's why we have secret ballots.
"A lot of small towns are drying up. But this town is busy. The interstate (I-49) hasn't hurt this town," he said.
Fouke could be considered as "uptown and country."
"Look at the parking lots at 7 a.m. They're busy," McFerrin said. "I've rambled on, but the basic thing is that people like to stay here. It's a good place too live."
The volunteers have restored an old historic home changed a house into a library, created a town square, a veteran's park and still have good fishing, McFerrin said.
Outside the city limits, the country side still has cattle, chicken farms and chicken brooding houses.
"Fouke has needy people, but the churches make sure no one goes hungry," McFerrin said.