Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Editor’s note: The Salem Times-Register has reached out to the three candidates who were either elected or reelected to the Salem City Council during the Nov. 5 General Election in an effort to hear what their priorities will be for their upcoming terms. Based on participation, the responses will appear in this issue, along with the following two issues of the paper. To start, Mayor Renée Turk’s responses can be found below.
Q: What are your top priorities for Salem over the next term, and how do you plan to address them?
A: Find and put into action a solid renovation solution for the Salem Civic Center, increase revenue streams with the many Championships Salem hosts through the addition of a full-service hotel, consolidate city departments under one roof in order to reduce costs and to sell various properties for re-entry into revenue/tax producing properties through new ownership, continued economic development support with staff and incentives to expand or locate a business in Salem, continue the repair of our infrastructure (water and sewer line replacement, fire stations renovations, paving our roads). In addition, keeping our salaries and benefits competitive, our departments well-staffed, and our city fiscally sound.
Q: How will you engage with and address concerns from Salem residents, especially on issues like housing, public safety, and economic development?
A: As I have over the past 4 years: continue to meet with citizens one-on-one or in groups, attend as many community functions as possible to make myself available, and discuss the issues with other Council members and city staff. Then do the research, ask the questions, take the time to look at everything involved, and research to find possible solutions for the issues brought to my attention. In the end, I make no decision lightly, nor do I allow personal wants to overtake what I believe is the best decision for the majority of the citizens of Salem.
Though some people may deny it, Salem has a housing shortage, as does the rest of the country and with the many natural disasters—hurricanes, wildfires, etc.-that this country has experienced over the past couple of years, destruction has been heavy. Many of the raw materials needed for construction have been destroyed, as have homes and factories producing building materials so the demand will far exceed the supplies for quite a while, making the building of affordable housing almost impossible any time in the near future. We will need to be creative and think outside the box—renovate or repurpose instead of tearing down.
With public safety, we need to pay and offer benefits competitive with surrounding localities to fill the vacancies we have to keep our police, fire and EMS departments fully staffed. We must keep the staff necessary to protect and serve our citizens.
Q: What steps will you take to support and grow local businesses, and are there specific initiatives you hope to introduce?
A: With a business degree from Roanoke College and with my interest in business beginning at an early age, I understand the “formula” needed to be successful. I am empathetic to the needs of businesses since I have always been so heavily involved in them, first as a Salem High business teacher and then at a management level with a wide variety of businesses and organizations in the area. I have a vested interest in Salem’s businesses not only because my son and nephew are involved in Olde Salem Brewing, but because the much-desired growth and revitalization needed in our area is directly related to the ability to increase the number and variety of businesses here.
Working through the steps to becoming a “Main Street” Community is an initiative that Tommy Miller (Economic Director) and his staff began working on over a year ago and will continue. I have great faith in Tommy and staff and Salem’s EDA to determine what entices businesses to settle here, explore what we can do better, create incentives, and determine what it is that businesses need to stay and expand in our area—they have successfully done that over the past 2+ years and will continue to do so. In addition, our schools have been working hard to provide the foundation for training a workforce ready community for a variety of businesses.
If there are roadblocks or hoops to jump through, we should do what we can to make the process easier.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like city residents to be aware of as you start your new term on the council?
A: I am thankful to the citizens of Salem for their overwhelming support in being re-elected to serve another four years on City Council. Even though things don’t move as quickly as we would like, we have accomplished a lot over the past 4 years and there is much more to be done in the years to come. As I have demonstrated up through now, I will continue to be committed to Salem, committed to you. And as we finish out 2024, let’s do what we can to help those in need and please remember to support our local Salem businesses first as we prepare for the holidays.
