As a pastor Daren Davis drives quite a bit. He travels between his church’s campuses in Eclectic, Millbrook and Rockford.
Along the way Davis has seen a few things that might be able to help Eclectic and wants to use that knowledge if elected to Eclectic Town Council Place 2.
“One of the reasons I'm wanting to run is I see some things that we can improve on,” Davis said. “There are several things that we can improve on such as roads and the water system. I think we can improve on transparency about what's being done and what's not being done. I'm certainly not running to complain.”
Davis believes leading a church puts him in a position to hear lots of things, especially what residents want from their town and town council.
“Our community isn't asking for a whole lot,” Davis said. “They're really great people. It seems that clean and consistent water, water main repairs that are completed, filling of the potholes, striping of paved roads and regularly necessary upkeep of our community is really all they're asking for. To be honest, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.”
Davis believes for the council to be successful, they have to work together. They all have to have knowledge to make decisions. Since deciding to run for council he has sat down with town employees with other candidates to learn more about the inner workings of Eclectic.
“One of the things that I noticed is fiscally, we're sound,” Davis said. “Now that's just based on the documents that I got to see in front of me. We're not a town that's bankrupt. Our current administration has done an excellent job of ensuring that we're operating with money in the bank. To me, that is tremendous.”
Davis believes current city employees are stressed because of workloads and wants to dig deeper into the matter to figure out a solution.
Davis sees the new homes under construction in new subdivisions in the area. He knows there are concerns about infrastructure.
“It looks like we're home right now to just over 1,100 residents,” Davis said. “I think in no time we will be at 1,500 residents, pushing 2,000 residents.”
Davis said the current administration and staff has done a good job at getting grants to help with wastewater treatment. He believes more needs to be done for the sewer lines that carry the sewage to the treatment facility. He also believes a plan needs to be developed to address the water issues where pipes are decades old and bursting.
“One thing that I am very strong in is I do not want to see our police force defunded,” Davis said. “I don't want to see them reduced in any way.”
Davis sees Eclectic growing, not just in homes being constructed and new residents moving in. He sees new businesses and current businesses growing in town. Davis understands that the growth needs to be measured. Growing too fast is an experience he is trying to prevent in his church.
“I'm pastoring three campuses, and I know that if any one of those campuses grows too rapidly, we don't have the infrastructure to support it,” Davis said. “We need to have slow, steady, consistent growth as we boost safety, as we deliver essentials. It's going to have to be incremental. I don't think we're going to be able to stop it. People love this community like I do, and they're coming this way, and I'm thankful for it.”
