'I don't appreciate my tax money being wasted.' Defiant words from Mike Chastain, businessman and former president of Country Club of Arkansas POA, running for Steve Mosley's seat on city council.
Traffic jams on Maumelle Boulevard, financial accountability at city hall, and economic development that profits Maumelle are top issues for the candidate competing for the Ward 1 position.
By Jay C. Grelen, Moniteur de l’Arkansas
Mike Chastain, who has lived in Maumelle for more than twenty years, will make his first run for public office as a candidate to represent Ward 1 on Maumelle City Council. Steve Mosley, longtime member of the council, has announced he won’t seek re-election.
“I feel like the city can be run more efficiently, financially,” says Mr. Chastain, a fiscal and political conservative. “I feel like we are wasting money, and Park on the River is prima facie evidence. I don’t appreciate my tax money being wasted.”
Mr. Chastain was referring to the city’s decision to allow a local business woman, Gloria Timmons, off the hook for $38,000 she owed the city in back rent for her exclusive no-bid lease of Park on the River, the city’s million-dollar event center. She held the lease for nearly two decades, but quit paying rent in the spring of 2019.
Council Member Christine Gronwald discovered the $68,000 deficiency in December 2022. No one in city government could could explain why the city failed to collect the rent for nearly four years: Not the mayor; not Tina Timmons, who is the elected city clerk/ treasurer and also Gloria Timmons’ daughter-in-law; and not former Finance Director Liz Mathis. Mayor Norris pushed the city council to reduce the debt. At the request of the mayor, City Attorney Andrew Thornton calculated a total that Gloria Timmons agreed to pay. The council approved the amount. Mrs. Timmons finally paid about $32,000 of the $68,000 in June 2024.
Mr. Chastain is a familiar face at City Hall. When he was president of the Country Club of Arkansas POA and as a board member, he often interacted with city leaders. During the public comment time at the November 6, 2023, council meeting, Mr. Chastain grilled council members about late audits as well as the Park on the River issue.
In that meeting, Mr. Chastain offered a glimpse of his knowledge of finances as he posed several hard questions to the council and then awaited their answer, which led to some protracted awkward silence.
Mayor Norris eventually cut Mr. Chastain short, admonishing him that the time allotted to speak was for offering comments, not asking questions. “Thank you, Mr Chastain,” Mayor Norris said. “This is an opportunity for you to, uh, present comments to the city council. Uh, if you if you have any questions, you're welcome to leave it on the floor, and they can be addressed when we get to it. Thank you.”
Mr. Chastain earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and pursued a master’s degree in metallurgy at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
As the owner of four businesses, Mr. Chastain has years of experience in project management, cost estimation, and financial analysis. He has negotiated government contracts, completed grant requests, facilitated seminars, and implemented programs with USDA, GSA, the Area Agencies on Aging, municipalities, and churches.
Mr. Chastain, whose motto is Maumelle Matters to Mike, wants the job for the same reason that most folks who run for public office want to serve.
“I’m at a point in my life I want to give more back to the community,” he says, “and this is my way of doing it.”
The slow-moving morning and afternoon commute on Maumelle Boulevard is the complaint he has heard most often from residents.
“I’ve already contacted Metroplan about traffic congestion,” he says. “It’s a complex problem that requires a team effort.”
The third exit from Maumelle and experiments with traffic lights haven’t sufficiently improved traffic flow, he says.
“The only real solution is to increase job opportunities inside the city so people don’t have to leave Maumelle to go to work,” he says. “What will make our city more attractive? Businesses that will hire people.”
Attracting those businesses and creating those job opportunities is a task for economic developers, he says.
When he was a board member of the Country Club of Arkansas’ POA and when he served as its president, homeowners had plenty of good ideas, but finding people to execute them was a different matter. He calls that “ideas without elbow grease.”
Maumelle’s small-town character is the city’s best selling point, he says, because it’s authentic. “This morning (Wednesday) at 6:15, four families were out walking before it got hot. They stopped at the corner by my house to talk. They all had a dog. We are living life as neighbors and friends, warts and all. That’s what community looks like.”
Also running for Steve Mosley’s seat
LJ Wesley, who grew up in Arkadelphia and has lived in Maumelle with her husband and their two sons for 18 years, has announced her intention to run for the District 1 seat. In 2005, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She worked as a registered nurse for 14 years, according to her website, then in 2019 transitioned to help her husband with the family business, Secure Financial Solutions, an independent financial services firm.
When does the mayor and city clerks term run? I don’t recall if the city attorney is an appointed or elected position but if the three of them were the main characters in this failure to collect rent deal, they all need to go.
It seems Mosley tried to do the right thing but was out numbered.