Bill Harkins, known by many as “Billy Jak,” is running for the Ward Four seat in the 2019 Pella City Council election against Dave Hopkins.

Full interview:

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Written Responses from the PACE Alliance City Council Candidate Forum:
1. What is the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity for the City of Pella? What unique experience would you personally bring as a City Councilor to help address the challenge and opportunity that you identified?

“Bringing in new businesses and new families to the community is the challenge and the biggest opportunity we have is to lower property taxes , take a look at some of the ordinances and regulations that are currently in place and start looking at rental prices for store space uptown and rental prices for houses and apartments, it’s those things that could be preventing businesses and people from coming in and so we as an united council, need to either eliminate some of these issues or find a way to change/correct them to make Pella more attractive.”
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2. Whether earned or unearned, Pella has a reputation for not always being business friendly (e.g., difficult to open or expand a business, restrictive regulations, lengthy approval process, etc.). What role should the City Council play in helping the community overcome that perception? As a City Councilor what is your vision for encouraging our existing businesses and corporations to expand in or attracting new businesses to Pella?

“As a former business owner, I would have to agree that Pella is not always business friendly. My vision would be for the city council to lower property taxes to give an incentive for current businesses to expand, or for new businesses to consider Pella as a viable option with lower taxes, that will also make Pella more attractive for people wanting to build new homes, but we need to stop giving away incentives to one and not another.”
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3. In thinking about your role as a City Councilor, how can the business and corporate community support you in your role on the City Council?

“My role is to be the voice of the people and to support what the majority is wanting, and do it with honesty and integrity. The local businesses and corporations should support the people that live in the community and work for the goals they envision and not go against them on issues. So they should all be on board when I request something, on behalf of the people.”
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4. Generally speaking, do you view population growth as a good thing for Pella? As a City Councilor, how would you work to support efforts to grow Pella’s population?

“I support population growth as a great thing for Pella. It brings in more revenue for local business, so stimulates our overall economy, and would be a great opportunity to create more jobs. Once again, I would support efforts for growth by working to LOWER TAXES and stop any wasteful spending there might be of the taxpayers money.”
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5. Workforce Availability is the biggest challenge for our business and corporate community should the City Council play in attracting new workers and retaining them once they are here?

“The only role the city council should have is lowering taxes for the businesses or corporations, as it the businesses/corporations responsibility to attract the workers not the city councils job, and, whether they do it with competitive pay, health insurance options or in some cases perhaps reviewing the people in the supervisory roles and asking themselves why these people are having such a large turnover. I’ve asked and been told by some of the local voters, it’s not necessarily a lack of available workers, but it’s workers that do not want to work for a company they feel doesn’t have any respect for them. You can be a boss, or you can be a leader, the choice is yours.”
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6. Think specifically about the recruitment and retention of young professionals (e.g. Millennials and GenZ). Research indicates that young professionals are choosing communities they want to live in based on affordability and quality-of-life factors such as recreation, robust restaurant and social or cultural attractions. As a City Councilor, how will you work to support the efforts of the City and the business and corporate community to attract and retain young professionals?

“Current property taxes and rent prices are pricing us out of the affordability part, so I feel we need to look into that as quickly as possible, so we do not lose out on opportunities. I feel we need to be expanding on summer and winter sports activities for all adults in the area. We need to attract more upper scale affordable restaurants (olive garden, red lobster, etc.), as the young professionals are going to frequent those types of places more than a fast food place, however, a very good fit for Pella and it’s Christian heritage and values would be a chick-o-fil. A good way to do that is to consider making changes to current ordinances and policies. I will support what the voters feel is the right and correct thing to do, to attract the younger professionals.”
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7. One issue of importance to young professionals with children is having access to quality and affordable childcare. The Marion County Childcare Needs Analysis released in March 2019 found that 61% of parents in the community had difficulty finding childcare. Given the results of the Analysis, what role would you play as a City Councilor in assisting the City with the need for childcare capacity for the community?

“Having spoken to some of the parents affected by this, they have advised that it’s not so much an issue of finding childcare, it’s a matter of it being priced too high, as they do not feel it is worth working a full time job all week, just to pay for the childcare, they can’t get ahead. I believe the city itself should consider looking into opening, and operating affordable daycare or offer incentives to businesses or corporations for startup. There are a couple of city owned buildings that could be used for such an offering. Either the city supplying the building for a business (or several businesses going in together) or a corporation, or the city itself, to use for a daycare opportunity. Lost cost city operated daycare is a great incentive for younger people to consider moving here.”

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