Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a multipart series looking at contested local races in the May 22 primary. Each installment, running Sundays until the primary, will look at a different race in Union County or El Dorado. Remember to check News-Times editions throughout May for more information on the primary elections and what voters can expect to see on their ballots!
By Tia Lyons
Staff Writer
When El Dorado Alderman Kensel Spivey made it known earlier this year that she will not seek re-election for her Ward 3, Position 2, council seat, it did not take long before two candidates leapt at the chance to succeed her, saying they would like the opportunity to serve the city’s largest ward.
Democratic candidates Andre Rucks and Tony Henry will face each other in the May 22 primary.
If he wins, Henry will be no stranger to the El Dorado City Council or to the seat for which he is running.
Henry previously served in the position for nearly six years after winning a special election in July 2009. Ward 3 voters selected Henry to succeed late Alderman Jimmy Reed, who passed away while in office.
Henry would go on to win two successive terms before deciding to vacate his alderman’s seat for a run at mayor.
Following an unsuccessful bid for the city’s top elected office in 2014 (Henry lost to incumbent Mayor Frank Hash), Henry was poised for a third mayoral run when Spivey, the first African American woman to serve on the city council, announced that she would not seek re-election this year because she is moving to another ward.
City council members must live in the ward they represent.
Upon hearing of Spivey’s plans, Henry said he rethought his position and after careful consideration, he decided to withdraw from the mayoral race and take a shot at returning to a familiar spot.
“In (Spivey’s) time served, she helped to change the culture and the attitude of the people here in Ward 3 in a positive way,” he wrote in an email to the News-Times at the time. “She will always be in the hearts and souls of the people in Ward 3. We wish her well.”
Henry explained that serving another term as alderman will afford the opportunity to not only continue and build on Spivey’s accomplishments as a voice for Ward 3, but also for him to pick up where he left off when he vacated the seat in 2014.
He said many of the issues that he worked to address then still need attention.
Of the challenges that are facing the community in general and Ward Three in particular, Henry said he felt the most pressing are beautification; decent, affordable housing; and business/economic growth and opportunities.
For his part in helping to beautify the city, Henry was instrumental in forming Keep El Dorado Beautiful in 2012.
He introduced the idea of KEB to other city officials after adapting it from KEB’s parent organization, Keep Arkansas Beautiful, an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful.
Henry reiterated that KEB is not a cleanup crew for the city, but rather a tool and community resource to raise awareness about litter, beautification and recycling.
“The main thing is to educate people on keeping your community clean. Also, Ward 3 has teamed up with Clean Harbors, my former employer, in doing a Ward 3 cleanup every year, which has been a great success,” Henry said.
The 2018 community cleanup was planned for Saturday, having been postponed from April 14 due to severe storms that swept through the area that weekend.
Another component to beautifying El Dorado is tackling neighborhood blight and tapping into opportunities that can help provide decent, affordable housing for existing Ward 3 residents and potential Ward 3 residents, Henry said.
“Now that we have all these vacant lots in Ward 3, we are looking to rebuild, making houses affordable for people to buy and or move back here to stay,” he said.
Henry said he will also look for business/economic development opportunities to better serve the citizens of Ward 3, which covers the area south of Main Street and east of Washington Avenue.
“For years we have been trying to get a grocery store on this side of town and we will continue to do so,” Henry said.
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The May 22 primary will not be first time Rucks and Henry have faced each other in an election for an El Dorado city office.
In 2014, the two squared off in a three-way race with Hash for El Dorado mayor.
Rucks, an entrepreneur and community organizer/activist, has said he feels the number one issue facing the community is poverty and has called upon city officials to focus on “real concerns.”
“If we don’t address real concerns in the community, it’s going to come back and bite us,” he told city council members last December. “I respect those seats …, but those seats don’t represent you. They represent the people in the community, the constituents who put you there.”
He previously said he would also like to see a more cohesive city government and unity between city officials and the citizens they serve.
Rucks has also led long-running efforts to find another egress into the Murmil Heights subdivision. The Marilynn Street/U.S. 167 access into the neighborhood was closed when the Arkansas Department of Transportation four-laned the highway in 2011.
Lorene Avenue is now the only entry point into Murmil Heights, where Rucks lives.
(Andre Rucks declined to participate in this candidate profile and story)
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.