Brent Addington, 54, is running as a Republican for the City of Lawrence Common Council’s District 3 seat.
Addington moved to Lawrence 15 years ago and works as a contractor for Medicare call centers specializing in computer/telephony integration. He has served on the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals and volunteers with Meals on Wheels.
Q — What can you offer to the citizens of Lawrence as an elected official?
A — My educational background and career are in engineering and computer science. Both lend themselves to a methodical approach to problem solving. In addition, I’ve worked as an IT consultant for the past 25 years, which involves understanding the requirements of the customer and looking for practical solutions.
Q — How will you ensure that all residents of Lawrence feel welcome, included and heard by their elected officials?
A — The city has done a good job reaching out to the community through newsletters and programs. One thing I would like to change is to require citizen comments in each city council meeting. Everyone should have their chance to be heard. I also believe one of the responsibilities of a councilman is to act as an ombudsman to help citizens understand and work with the the city.
Q — How do you envision future cooperation between the mayor and common council?
A — Some degree of conflict is expected. However, behaving professionally and treating each other with respect is the only way to keep lines of communication open. Each issue needs to be approached with a clean slate. There’s no place for grudges in government.
Q — What do you consider the most important issue facing the City of Lawrence in the next four years and how will you address it?
A — Economic development. We need the revenue to support our emergency services for safety, maintain our roads and sidewalks, and create a community that draws more business as well as residents. To accomplish this, we’ll need to draw businesses to Lawrence that provide good paying jobs, improve city infrastructure that secure our property values, and ensure public safety.
The general election is Nov. 7.
