Name: Chip Ledbetter
Age: 53
What is your party affiliation?
Republican
Why are you running for office?
I am running for mayor of Quitman because I want to see our hometown thrive and grow. I would like to see less government in the citizens of Quitman’s daily affairs. I want to see the city employees work for the citizens and be their priority. I want to see the community work together to make Quitman “A Very Special Place to Call Home.”
What type of work experience do you have?
I spent 30+ years in the Oil & Gas sector with 20 years in management. During my career, I worked on multi-million-dollar projects located in multiple locations all over the world. I’ve worked in management and had to oversee budgets of over $30 million dollars. While working in the oil field, I’ve managed hundreds of employees.
What do you hope to accomplish if elected, and what is the most important issue facing your municipality?
If elected, I would like to get control of the spending. I consider our community a retirement community, and a large percentage of our citizens are on a fixed income. Therefore, we need to work as hard as possible to stop the increases on the city’s related services.
Eliminating the flooding issues is a goal for me. I have monitored the flooding issues over the last 10-12 months and have a great idea on how to resolve them with city and county resources.
I plan to invest in Quitman. We continuously take money from the people in Quitman but fail to invest it back into the infrastructure. We need to stop depending on grants to keep this city going. The federal government is in the cost cutting mode, and the city should be doing the same. The crutch that the grants supply will leave us in financial ruin if we depend on them for everything.
I want to make this the safest city to live in and try to eliminate crime.
Another goal is to make our parks and recreational facilities the best that we can and provide a place where people love to visit and spend time with families and friends.
If elected, I will work with other local agencies and have one coordinated effort to improve our city.
What makes you a good candidate for this position?
I believe I am a good candidate for mayor because of my leadership abilities and the ability to think outside the box and make things happen. Hard work and dedication will always pay ten-fold, and that is what I will do for the City of Quitman. I will get up every day and do what I can to make Quitman the best it can be. I will use a commonsense approach to resolve issues. I will work hands-on with the city employees and make sure they have the resources they need to put our people first.
