Lundy, Witt face off in county’s only contested race

Election Day arrives Nov. 7

MOORESVILLE — Regardless of what happens in the upcoming Nov. 7 municipal election, Mooresville will have a new face on its town council in 2024. Incumbent Shane Williams, who was elected to his Ward 2 seat in 2019, was defeated in his run for a second term on the council in the May primary election. As a result, Libertarian Danny Lundy will face Republican Kirk Witt in Morgan County’s only contested general election race.

The two candidates were both were raised in Mooresville and are graduates of Mooresville High School, with Lundy being a member of the Class of 1993 and Witt being a member of the Class of 1982. Both Lundy and Witt have also been appointed to various government roles during their time in Mooresville. Lundy has served on the Mooresville Board of Zoning Appeals, Mooresville Police Commission and currently sits on Mooresville Parks Board. Witt has served as a member of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Merit Board for more than 20 years during four different sheriff administrations.

Lundy said some of his interests include watching many movies and TV shows.“I’m kind of a nerd,” Lundy said. “I like Star Wars, Marvel – all that stuff.”He also said he likes to work on his 1970 Pontiac Lemans.

Witt currently lives on the same street he was raised on as a child, and likes to collect sports memorabilia. “I support the local athletic teams,” Witt said. Witt said he also still owns his high school car, which he never plans to get rid of.

Lundy is currently the Head of Energy Analytics at Comfort Systems USA while Witt is an insurance agent with the Nichols Insurance Agency. Lundy also spent time working in the automotive industry before getting into his current line of work. Witt has been in his current job for 20 years. Before that, he worked for a travel agency after graduating high school for about 20 years.

Some of Lundy’s priorities if he wins include bringing more efficiency to Mooresville government, developing a functioning employee handbook and hiring a town manager to run the day-to-day operations of the town. For Witt, some of his priorities include promoting conservative spending, participating in the annual budget process and promoting the needs of all first responders in the town of Mooresville.

When asked his favorite aspect of Mooresville, Lundy said it’s the close knit feel of the community. “I love that Mooresville is still the kind of place that I can let my kids play outside until the streetlights come on,” Lundy said. When asked what his favorite part of Mooresville is, Witt said it’s the relationships with locals that he enjoys.“ I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” Witt said. “The small-town feel, the relationships I have with the people in the community.

Q&A with Lundy and Witt

What qualifies you to serve on the Mooresville Town Council?

Lundy: I think what qualifies me to be on the council is a desire to serve my community and make Mooresville a little better tomorrow, than it was yesterday. I have spent my life in customer service, and I think the government can and should function with a customer service attitude. Taxpayers, after all, are the ones paying the bills, and they are the recipients of government services. I have served on the Mooresville Police Commission and I now serve on the Mooresville Parks Board.

Witt: I have been a resident of Mooresville all my life. I work in the community. I have been a member of the Morgan County Sheriff Department Merit board since 1999 presently serve as the vice president. I have been appointed under four different sheriff administrations. I have worked in custom service for 40 years in my present job and prior job. I have always had an open-door policy. I feel what qualifies me is why I am running — I care about the town the people and the employees and I will try to do my best for everyone.

What are the top three policy priorities of your campaign and why?

Lundy: 1. An employee handbook was paid for by the town to bring our town up to modern HR standards. That project was dropped and never adopted. I’d like to revisit it.

2. A compensation study needs done to better understand the full value of our employment package to make more informed decisions in the future.

3. Find ways to cut costs while also increasing our efficiency. Read more about these topics and ideas at LundyForMooresville.com.

Witt: 1. Taxes I will treat every dollar of the towns budget as though they were my own. We need to keep taxes as low as possible

2. Employees I have a lot of respect for our town employees and I don’t like the personnel turn over that has been going on over the years.

3. Spending I have had serval people discuss some of the spending and what it cost the town.

Why are you running for town council?

Lundy: I grew up in Mooresville. I’ve lived here nearly my whole life. My kids are now grown, and I’d like to give back to the community that has given me and my family so much over the years. I have an aptitude for thinking outside the box and finding faster, better, cheaper, more efficient ways to do things. I’ve helped review, revise and refine many processes at many jobs over the years to help my fellow employees serve our customers better. It is this skill set I’d like to utilize on behalf of Mooresville residents.

Witt: There are many reasons I am running for the town council. Mainly, I love this town. I care about the people in this town and the employees. I have lived on the same street all but one year of my life. I think what information I have learned on the merit board will be beneficial. I want the people to know I will do my very best. I know some people won’t like my decisions. Hopefully, they understand why I vote the way I do, and I will have an open-door policy to contact me anytime.

In your view, what is the primary role of town council?

Lundy: To provide quality necessary services to the residents of Mooresville with the least amount of impact on their daily lives and best possible value for their tax dollar.

Witt: The role of the town council is to do the budgets, listen to the citizens concerns, take care of employees and keep taxes as low as possible and be available to department heads. Be seen and heard in the community.

In your view, what principles or characteristics are most important for a council member? (25 words)

Lundy: Approaching the job as true Public Servant. That means being a good neighbor, listening to their concerns, and being a good steward of their money.

Witt: I think being open and available to the public, department heads, and employees.  Be open minded when making decisions.

In your view, what are the top three challenges confronting the town of Mooresville, and how do you plan to address those challenges?

Lundy: Growth, Technology, Workforce Management

Will we be an active participant in managing growth in Mooresville, or allow our neighbors to dictate that to us? We have to anticipate, plan and actively participate in that growth.

My background and degree is in IT. There is room for improvement in our IT services. Government tends to fall behind in these areas, and I’d like to use my knowledge and experience to make sure we’re keeping up with private sector standards.

Managing our workforce, in public at least, seems to always focus on pay alone. We need a broader approach. A compensation study, so we can make better informed decisions about compensation. Finish the Employee Handbook that was started four years ago. Increased communication with our staff to better understand the challenges they face. I believe if our employees have what they need, they will be better able to deliver services to you.

Witt: 1. Crime is something I feel is getting worse everyday with all the car break-ins recently, and our officers can’t be everywhere all the time. We, as citizens, have to contact the police department. If we see something, say something. I think possibly having neighborhood crime watch groups would be a good idea as I feel the crime is going to get worse.

2. Fire department merger — this has been an ongoing discussion for many years. I have briefly spoken to several people involved in the fire departments. I have spoken to former fire chiefs and briefly spoken with present fire chiefs. I think we need to look at this merger.

3. Town employees — I feel the turnover the last serval years has been high. I personally think, as a council member, we let the department heads deal with their departments. If it’s something they can’t deal with, then bring that to the council.

If you could change one thing in the town’s zoning code, what would it be and why?

Lundy: Getting a variance is complicated, expensive, and time-consuming. While larger businesses can plan for these obstacles, it’s a burden to homeowners and small businesses. I’d like to find a way to streamline the process for homeowners looking to make improvements to their primary residence. Getting permission from the town to improve your home, making it more valuable and useful to your family, shouldn’t cause a delay of four to eight months and be so costly.

Witt: There are a lot of town zoning codes that I am not familiar with, and that’s something that I will have to look at all of them and give my opinion on them to the other members. I just want to be a fair, open-door, caring town board member.

If you received a $1 million grant to spend in Mooresville any way you wished, what would you do with it and why?

Lundy: My first thought is to pay off the $2.2 million sewer improvement bonds to reduce everyone’s sewer bill, but $1 million isn’t enough. So, I’d look for improvements that would have long-term savings and return on investment.

For example, converting our street lighting to LED. LED lights would provide a cleaner more vibrant light than the current sodium lights and at 50- to 75-percent less energy cost — a savings we would maintain well into the future.

Witt: Flooding — As I have lived in this community all my life and the same street all but one year, I hear a lot about the flooding issues. I know there was a study done a couple of years ago about flooding. I would like to see something done about it.

Employees — I want to do whatever we can to keep our employees as we have excellent employees.

If elected, how do you plan to keep residents engaged and informed of the happenings related to town government? 

Lundy: First, let’s fix the live-streaming service the town already has and make sure everyone is trained to use it. Streaming meetings has been an invaluable tool to improve communications with the public, but it needs to work every time for every meeting.

I also intend to continue to use my website, LundyForMooresville.com, and social media accounts to keep the public informed about current issues, concerns, and provide more detailed information when possible and appropriate.

Witt: I will do as I do with my business. My cell phone will always be open to anyone to call me at anytime as my clients do. I want to be seen in the community. I try to support Mooresville athletics. I want people to feel they can come talk to me, even if they didn’t support me. We are all in this together.

~ By Lance Gideon | Reporter | Published October 26, 2023 in The Morgan County Correspondent