Two Sullivan commissioner hopefuls give Kiwanis Club their visions if elected

KINGSPORT — Two independents vying for one of three District 11 seats on the Sullivan County Commission assured the Kiwanis Club of Kingsport members they will watch out for the best interests of Kingsport during a Friday forum. Six hopefuls, three Republicans and three independents, are on the Aug. 6 general election ballot. Early voting started Friday and runs through Aug. 1. The district, which is inside the city limits, currently is represented by Republicans John Gardner, Hunter Locke and Archie Pierce. However, the Republican primary winners were Gardner, Locke and newcomer Phillip Marshall, a Kingsport school board member. Independents Joshua French and Zac Thomas attended the forum and are on the ballot, along with fellow independent Travis Sampson. Gardner, Locke, Marshall and Sampson did not attend the mid-day forum. French and Thomas made opening statements, answered 12 questions presented to them and made closing statements, as moderated by former Kiwanis Club President Mary Lee Davis. French, a social studies teacher at Dobyns-Bennett High School for 19 years and native of Southwest Virginia, said he planned to pursue a career as a lawyer until during summer work at a YMCA discovered he wanted to be an educator. He said he is saddened many of his students want to graduate and move to Johnson City or Knoxville. Thomas is manager at Rick Hill Imports and serves on the CASA or Court-Appointed Special Advocates board, pledging to donate his commission pay of more than $800 a month to CASA. He emphasized his campaign slogan of "people over politics" and said "people are tired of politics." QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS In answering a question about ideas and concerns of District 11 and Kingsport, Thomas emphasized the district is in Kingsport but "it seems like so often the city of Kingsport is forgotten" by the 24-member commission, although 14 of the commissioners have at least a part of the city in their district. He said he would represent the whole of the county but also take care of District 11. French said that more than 60% of revenues collected by the county come from the city and the "divisive city-county split is kind of getting old." As for the three or four biggest challenges Sullivan County faces now and in the near future, French said it was the potential for a "huge" property tax increase because of a Budget Committee recommendation not to increase the 2026-27 tax rate. "The county commission is using its rainy day fund like the school system" proposed. He said the other two issues were a lack of transparency and local funding of education. Thomas cited a need to attract new citizens and retain the aging population and a lack of accountability for the commission. Another question cited a lack of the kind of research, data and analysis for budget matters the cities of Kingsport and Bristol have. "Absolutely," Thomas said of wanting and seeking that kind of guidance. "I'm only as good as the people I surround myself with," Thomas said. "Half of our commissioners don't even know what's in the budget." French said, "I think the county Finance Department needs more help," adding that he thinks the private act giving more school budget authority to the commission took away accountability and transparency. He said commissioners have said Leslie will find it. "We'll make it happen," referring to assistant Director of Finance Leslie Bonner in the office of Director Larry Bailey. As for reducing the number of commissioners, once approved by a commission vote to go from 24 to 18 but an idea rejected by a later commission, both expressed support for that idea. "To try to get 24 people to come to a consensus on anything... is almost impossible," French said, saying commissioners losing their "jobs" is not the way to think about it. "This is not a job. It is about public service," Thomas said. Neighboring Washington County has 15 commissioners, while others with smaller commissions include the metropolitan governments of Shelby County with 13 and Knox and Hamilton counties with 11. The question also lamented that districts are not uniform, having one, two or three commissioners per district. On other matters, French said the county commission and county school board must work together on education, in contrast to an impasse over the 2026-27 school budget plan the commission recently rejected, meaning the budget goes back to almost 2025-26 levels, affecting Kingsport and Bristol schools funding, too. Thomas said, "Our children just aren't our future. They are out right now." Both agreed the county should help fund the Petworks animal shelter operated by Kingsport and lamented the county leaving a joint Kingsport, Bristol and county shelter in the past. They also agreed that the county needs a long-term transportation plan done in cooperation with Kingsport and Bristol and also should work with the cities to expand water and sewer service to non-city areas as the county did in the late 1990s with $10 million to those cities. "The county doesn't seem to get along with the cities of Kingsport" and other cities in the county, Thomas said. "You need fighters in your corner," French said, summing up that he would support first responders, protect local education funding and be a fiscal conservative with transparent finances. Thomas said, "We're going to make some things happen." He said accountability, supporting education, growth and less politics, would be his focus.