In Pittsburg, Kansas, three city commissioners are running for re-election on November 4. KRPS Rachel Schnelle spoke with one of them, Stu Hite about his past term, his accomplishments and what he wants voters to know.
This interview is part of a weekly series leading up to the Pittsburg, Kansas November 4th municipal election.
SCHNELLE: So why did you decide to run for City Commissioner?
HITE: Well, I gave it a lot of thought with my family and my trusted colleagues that all of 'em encouraged me to do it again. You know, I think there's still work to be done. The reason I did it four years ago was to serve the community. I've been in public service for 37 years now as a law enforcement officer, and I just thought this would be a different way of giving back to the community and serving as a commissioner and making, you know, some of the decisions to benefit all of Pittsburgh.
SCHNELLE: What are your campaign goals?
HITE: Really, essentially the same thing I had going into this four years ago. I don't have an ax to grind. I don't have an agenda that I really want to accomplish. I just wanna listen to the people. One of the things I heard a lot about four years ago was childcare and affordable housing. And there's work to be done in both those arenas, but we've made great strides, um, in that area.
SCHNELLE: What are the things that you're hoping to fix?
HITE: Affordable housing? It's a difficult equation. It's not something you can just wave a magic wand at and have the city fix it. Costs are up on everything, and construction is certainly no stranger to that. It's one of the hardest hits. I think in some ways the average cost of a house is way over $200,000 now. I mean, that's for a first home. That's, you know, that's just not attainable for many people, for, for most people. And that are working class citizens. You know, trying to not only make your mortgage payment, but your taxes, insurance, you know, there's ways that we can incentivize new construction, and we've done that and we've started that process of trying to make it more appealing to builders, developers to come in and create those affordable houses, if you will, so everyone can, uh, realize that dream of, of owning your own home.
SCHNELLE: Is there anything that you are particularly proud of as your term as a commissioner?
HITE: Not just myself, but I think the commissioner as a whole. I look back at the economic development that we've had over the last, well, really just three years. I, we've had somewhere around $95 million in this community alone in the city of Pittsburgh in new business, new economic development that wasn't there before. And that came at the cost of, uh, again, going to incentives and using the revolving loan fund, which is paid for with a half cent sales tax. That cost us about $3 million over that three, not quite four year period. I think that's a pretty good return on your investment for a community to be able to invest 3 million for a $95 million return. So I'm, I'm proud of that. And my fellow commissioners and I have voted to support those types of measures. I'm really proud of working with the volunteer boards. Um, the EDAC, the Economic Development committee, the advisory committee that really vets a lot of these projects, all these projects, and, and then they vote on it and, and they, they really do the lion's share of the work.
SCHNELLE: Is there anything you want voters to know about you?
HITE: I just want voters to know that, um, I really, uh, a dedicated public servant, family man, you know, my wife and I have made this commitment to make Pittsburgh our home. We have two adult children now. My wife works for Pitt State. We have very strong ties to the area. I'm a lifelong resident here, and I just really want people to know that I'm not here for any particular reason. I don't own a business in the city of Pittsburgh. I don't, uh, have any, uh, and I'm, I'm not saying that that's not a reason to be a city commissioner, certainly is, but as far as me profiting from this or any personal gain, that's not why I did this. Again, I did it to serve and, and I hope that people that know me know that's exactly why I did it, and I'll continue to do it if the voters, you know, choose to reelect me. And on November 4th.
