Van Buren mayoral candidate says city needs more jobs, business

story by Marla Cantrell
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Max Blake, safety supervisor for Blake Construction, wants to be Van Buren’s next mayor.

“I wanted to give back,” Blake said. “I didn’t have money to go out and buy things. … I started talking to some men at my church, First Baptist, and the idea of running for office came up.”

Blake, 49, began to investigate city government, checked into the duties of alderman and mayor, and decided he could do the most in the city’s top job.

“That’s who makes the difference,” Blake said.

Blake will be up against Mayor Bob Freeman, who is in his first four-year term. Freeman survived a five-man race in November 2006 to win the job.

The Southside High School graduate took classes at Westark Community College before landing a job in aviation. He freely admits he has no experience in politics. He’s never served on a commission, committee or council, but he has management experience he believes will transfer.

“I had a lot of dealings with the Fort Smith Airport Commission,” Blake said. “I worked for Grady Stone Aviation, and then Truman Arnold Company, which owns TAC Air. I worked for TAC for about 18 years, and I was general manager for about 10 of those years. … We were a service provider for private aircraft. It was a highly demanding service, and I did a lot of work with the military.”

Blake believes the city is facing three major challenges: slow turnaround on projects such as the yet-to-be-opened library, traffic problems on Highway 59 and Pointer Trail, and not enough economic growth.

“I don’t want to increase taxes,” Blake said. “I want to increase taxpayers. I’d like to look at what incentives the state provides, what we can provide and go after potential manufacturing or service jobs,” Blake said. “Get people to look at us. Figure out what draws a company to us. See why someone would go to the old Therma-Tru building in Roland instead of here. We’ve got a lot of empty buildings empty.”

And while he acknowledges the success of the regional economic development effort, such as the new Oxane plant in the city’s industrial park, he also thinks the push should focus more on Van Buren.

“It’s just like Fort Smith going to Washington all by theirselves,” Blake said. “They suited up and went. They didn’t ask us, did they? I’d have knocked on their door and asked to go along.”

Part of his overall plan is simple — he wants an ad campaign encouraging residents to spend their money in Van Buren.

“It could be as simple as waiting until you get back to Van Buren to buy the milk you need, or gas, or spend your entertainment money here,” Blake explained.

But he does have a much more complicated plan when it comes to developing the riverfront park at the end of Main Street. He wants to move an entire chicken processing plant away from the river in order to lure in tourists.

“If I become mayor I’d like to talk to Simmons Foods and whoever owns the place,” Blake said. “I’d like to find out their intentions and how we can persuade them to move — of course, still stay in the city — without offending them. Is it matching money? Get with the state, the federal government. There’s too many cities developing their waterfronts and it’s not with their own money.”

Blake said his greatest asset is his honesty and desire for transparency in government. He’s raised $3,000 so far and is working on his first fundraiser. He knows shooting for the city’s top seat is a formidable goal and if he doesn’t win, he will look at a future run on the council or one of the committees serving the city.

“I just want to leave this place better than I found it,” Blake said.