THE CITIZEN ENDORSEMENTS

Incumbent Bob Hunter has played a major role in this dysfunctional city council. Hunter seems to take great pleasure in playing Mayor Tim Lattimore's adversary, and has spent much of the past year targeting the mayor's economic development group (A-CDC), his phone bills, and the order in which the council votes. While Hunter has wrapped himself up tight in partisan politics, he has initiated little in the last year to improve the city or its quality of life.

In fact, Hunter voted to move the times of council meetings to 9 a.m. this summer, making it nearly impossible for anyone who works for a living to attend the meetings. Hunter also supports the council's current meeting time of 5 p.m., which is convenient for city employees, but not the citizens of this community who pay their salaries.

If Hunter will be remembered for anything this past year -besides his attacks on the mayor - it may be that he voted for three tax increases in a six-month span. In December, Hunter voted to raise water rates 15 percent and, in June, he voted to raise sewer rates 19 percent and approved a city tax increase of 3.8 percent.