Ellisville Council Candidate Mick Cahill 'Disappointed,' Says 'It's Time for a Change'

Patch sent all local candidates for office identical questionnaires to compile candidate profiles prior to the April election. Each candidate who returned the survey will be featured on the site in order of his or her response.

Mick Cahill, Ellisville City Council District 2 Candidate

Age: 51
Address: 42 Covert Lane
Occupation: Supervising Manager
Education: 
Family: Carri (Wife), Courtney, Erin, Emily
Years lived in Ellisville: 21

Reasons for Running

To adequately represent the Citizens of Ellisville. In District Two we don't have adequate representation for the citizens. Isn't the Council's job to be the voice of the people? The existing Council has stopped doing that and is just addressing their own agenda. I love Ellisville; I have lived here for over 20 years. There is a great sense of community here in Ellisvile. This is evident when the citizen turnout is so great at City Hall. Yet the current council doesn't listen. It's time for a change.

Questions

What excites you about living in Ellisville? What do you want to change?

Ellisville has many things to offer: a great park system, triple A-rated schools, location, sense of community, mixture of old and new neighborhoods. What do I want to change: Attract new business and allow the voices of our citizens to be heard. 

What are your views on the past year's recall efforts, mayor impeachment discussion and Walmart development proceedings?

My views of the recall efforts: Personally, I am very disappointed with the standing council to get rid of the elected mayor for some type of personal vendetta. If the charges were valid, why now right before an election and the second phase of TIF is going to be addressed? Would they do this if there wasn't some type of hidden agenda? 

Walmart: I don't have an issue with Walmart coming to Ellisville; however, I disagree with offering them a TIF. I also disagree with displacing hundreds of citizens out of their dwellings when there is plenty of vacant land to build.

Are you pro-TIF, anti-TIF or believe there are situational uses of TIF in Ellisville?

I am anti-TIF.  I believe it's unfair to the existing small businesses that have helped create Ellisville to allow a large corporation the opportunity to expand in our community on the taxpayers' dime. It makes it an unfair playing field, in my opinion.

What do you view as Ellisville's greatest accomplishment(s) in the past five years?

Dog park

Assume you win the election. What single thing do you want to accomplish during your term?

An open forum where the citizens can speak and their voices are actually heard. The current council has lost the ability to listen to what the citizens want in their community. It's obviously time for a change. I want to grow business. Ellisville is not small business friendly. The last five years have not been good to our city. We need to bring in businesses to fill the vacant storefronts that exist. We can't continue to go down this road and we need to become more small business friendly and stay away from the large corporations that ask for TIF to build in our great community.

If you have additional questions or concerns, please join us on Thursday, March 21 at 7 p.m. at West County Lanes.

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