By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph voters will choose a new mayor during Tuesday’s General Municipal Election as two candidates vie for the position being vacated by Mayor Bill McMurray who has chosen not to run for re-election.
John Josendale is running for mayor after retiring from Wireco where he worked for 48 years. He says he has learned a lot campaigning for the office.
“One of the things that’s been really exciting and interesting to me about running for office is you get to meet a lot of people,” Josendale tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “You get to talk to a lot of people, but you also get to learn a lot about how the city operates, how the different organizations operate.”
Josendale has worked with various St. Joseph organizations, such as United Way and Family Guidance.
Josendale says City Hall must become more consumer friendly for residents.
“Instead of making it difficult, we need to have a process, in my opinion, where it’s easier, we’re more user friendly,” according to Josendale. “And an idea for that might be that you have one individual that you talk to that inside City Hall goes to the different departments for you.”
Josendale came out on top of a crowded primary election in February, receiving 2,998 votes; 38.46% of the vote. Coming in second was former Deputy Mayor and three-term city council member Gary Wilkinson, who received 2,686 votes in the primary; 21.89% of the vote. Wilkinson edged Whitney Lanning to advance to the General Municipal Election.
Wilkinson says the city needs to get at the root cause of an increase in crime.
“I think much of the crime is driven by drug abuse and mental health issues,” Wilkinson tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “I’d like to develop a proposal to address substance abuse issues with funds from the recently settled opioid litigation.”
Wilkinson returned to St. Joseph after serving as Superintendent of Streets for University City, where he said he learned a lot about the operations of city government.
Wilkinson says, if elected, he wants to update city zoning ordinances that he says are outdated.
“Our zoning creates haphazard development and that’s something we don’t need as a city,” according to Wilkinson. “We’re talking about issues of city appearance and that plays into that.”
St. Joseph voters choose a new mayor, decide on three at-large city council seats, and two city council district races.