Please note that there are several sets of answers below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 17, 2024 -
Question 3 for The Wickenburg Sun: “If elected, what do you plan to accomplish over your first year as Mayor?”
This next year is critically important for our beautiful Town. With such significant developments to the south of us, the Town Council and Town Manager must work as a Team. With my strong leadership there will be a much-needed strengthening of collaboration between the Town Council and Town Manager.
The mayor plays an important role in prioritizing and organizing the Town’s business. This requires an in-depth understanding of the Town’s business, finances, needs, and the residents’ desires. To be effective, I as your mayor will focus on unity, inclusion, and the importance of respecting every person’s opinion when compromise is required to achieve and implement the goal of what is best for our Town.
Initially I look forward to working with the Interim Town Manager and then working with our new Town Manager to address these priorities:
(1) listening to and tackling the concerns of our residents;
(2) utilizing the expertise of our residents through Town Boards, Commissions and Committees drawing upon residents’ knowledge and experience;
(3) scheduling and holding regular planning and update meetings;
(4) implementing procedures and milestones to monitor and ensure timely progress on goals and objectives;
(5) increasing transparency:
(6) emphasizing conservative financial management with integrity;
(7) charting intelligent growth;
(8) pursuing economic development;
(9) seeking solutions to our need for affordable and workforce housing and transportation;
(10) actively promoting Wickenburg’s team roping and other equestrian disciplines;
(11) preserving Wickenburg’s Western and Mining heritage and small-town charm.
See BGforMayor.com for more information.
It certainly has been a privilege and honor to serve as a Town Council member since December 2020, and I am very excited about serving as your Mayor. Together we can make a difference!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 2, 2024 - Question 2 for The Wickenburg Sun: In Wickenburg, what is the biggest need of the Mayor right now and, as Mayor, what would you do to fill that need?
Although the Mayor provides significant leadership, the mayor is one of seven on the Town Council elected to serve in collaboration with the Town Council members and Town Manager. We must work as a team.
My leadership will set a tone and environment for openness, unity, trust, and transparency. Using my skills, learned as an associate organizing Billy Graham international crusades, working in a private university as well as other professional experiences, I will show respect, listen and work to achieve the best possible solutions for Wickenburg. It is essential that we have teamwork and consider residents' input as we work toward agreements that strike a balance.
As Mayor I intend to meet weekly with the Town Manager. My goal is to establish frequent planning and update meetings to gather input, share ideas and work toward solutions. I will always push for transparency and interaction with residents. I will encourage the utilization of volunteer Advisory Boards, Commissions and Committees to glean then transfer members’ concerns and recommendations to the Town Council. What a resource! We need a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach.
I will encourage the Town Council to frequently review our General and Strategic Plans and to establish more specific Strategic Plans that include action points and timelines.
I will lead efforts for intelligent economic growth, address the need for affordable housing, increase transparency, and work diligently on the many other important issues facing our town. Achieving what is best for our Town and preserving Wickenburg’s mining and western heritage are a priority.
Our great Town is at a crucial point, and I will provide the strong leadership required to tackle challenges without hesitation, always going the extra mile while leading and learning from the entire community. Together we can make a difference!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 14, 2024 - Question 1 from Wickenburg Sun: As mayor, and based on the recently approved 2024-25 fiscal budget, what are some changes you would like to see in the 2025-26 fiscal budget? Please be specific and elaborate as to why you would like to see those changes.
The Town budget is complex and requires extensive consultation with Town Manager and hours of study. I will promote and secure more residents’ input. Council needs to give clear directions regarding the goal of decreasing budgets (excluding capital improvement items).
The budget has grown significantly in the last two years. While Kristi Henson supported the budgets, I voted “no” believing there were numerous areas within those budgets where the costs and expenses could be reduced.
I will push for changes in future budgets: (1) reducing the property tax, (2) reducing the food tax, (3) limiting consultants use and requiring competitive bidding, and (4) adding a line item for the Community Center.
The Town has many financial challenges such as the ten-year $120M wastewater and water infrastructure plan. I am concerned because this plan was created using a very low 2% inflation rate, and the $120M does not include any debt servicing. Council needs a detailed long-range plan for these expenses and including items such as road maintenance, improving current parks, building new parks, adding more recreational sites and trails, remodeling or building a new community center, etc.
I will collaborate with Town Council members and Town Manager to be fiscally responsible. This will include limiting the hiring of high-paid consultants and requiring all projects to be competitively bid instead of the frequent practice using engineering estimates and cooperative bids from other cities and counties. I would push for reducing the Town Manager’s spending limit without Town Council approval (it is now $50,000).
As Mayor I plan to use as a resource my expertise combined with experience from past years budgets as well as that of our residents willing to volunteer. Together we can make a difference!
I may be reached at 928-231-4455 or BBratcher@wickenburgaz.gov. For additional information please visit BGforMayor.com.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 2024
Resident’s Questions to All Mayoral Candidates and BG’s Answers
1. Why do you want to serve on Wickenburg Town Council? What are your qualifications to be mayor?
The Mayor of Wickenburg needs to be someone who provides leadership while going the extra mile for you, and one who listens to the residents and votes for what is best for Wickenburg. I am that candidate! My proven leadership skills, experience, and a fierce dedication to a better future are what Wickenburg needs! It has been my privilege to serve on the Town Council since December 2020. I love Wickenburg and am committed to bringing a better future by continuing to listen to and being a voice for our residents.
Experience matters! In 2011 I began attending most of the Town Council meetings and the majority of the Planning and Zoning Advisory Commission meetings. For three years I served on the Economic Development Advisory Commission (EDAC) and after serving have attended a majority of the EDAC meetings. Since becoming a Town Council member, I have attended an estimated minimum of 80% of all of the Advisory Commission and Committee meetings because it is very important to me to hear the discussions of the Commission and Committee members as well as residents' comments. Resident input is essential!
My extensive and varied work experiences in accounting and administration, working 13 years planning and coordinating Billy Graham Crusades throughout the United States and internationally, and serving as Executive Director of a non-profit organization helped equip me to serve as Mayor. I was raised in the South Plains area of Texas, graduated from Baylor University (BBA Cum Laude), have been a successful REALTOR® in Wickenburg and the surrounding area since 2004, and have lived full time in Wickenburg since 2011. For additional information please visit BGforMayor.com.
2. What changes do you want to see the Town Council make and why?
I will work as Mayor to increase collaboration and teamwork within the Town Council and with the Town Manager charting a course for intelligent growth while preserving Wickenburg’s mining and western heritage, promoting tourism, keeping Wickenburg as the Team Roping Capital of the World, promoting other equestrian disciplines, increasing transparency, focusing on fiscal responsibility and elimination of waste, and diligently working on the additional concerns of our residents. I will lead Wickenburg forward. Wickenburg is at a pivotal point, and the Town Council and Town Manager must work closely as a team to achieve what is best for Wickenburg. The Town Council needs frequent planning and update meetings with the Town Manager. There must be more transparency to the Town Council and to residents.
3. Will you commit to studying the entire Town Council meeting packets and research items you are unfamiliar with prior to the TC meeting?
As I consistently have done since becoming a Town Council member, I will continue to thoroughly study all Town Council meeting packets and spend numerous hours in preparation for each Town Council meeting. I do research, communicate with residents and Town staff, ask many questions, and then make decisions based on merit and research, not emotion or pressure.
4. What groups/organizations do you belong to or volunteer at? Have served on their board? Would you recuse yourself for Town Council votes/discussions on group(s) you are on the board?
Some of the organizations for which I have volunteered are Community Rodeo Association of Wickenburg, Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts, First Southern Baptist Church of Wickenburg, Friends of Music, Foundation for Senior Living, Historic Wickenburg Downtown Merchants Association, Humane Society of Wickenburg, Town of Wickenburg, Wickenburg Breast Cancer Network, Wickenburg Christian Academy, Wickenburg Elk’s Lodge #2160 and Wickenburg Walks to Boot Breast. Currently I am not a member of the Board or an officer for the Historic Wickenburg Downtown Merchants Association (HWDMA), but when I was on the Board and an officer I recused myself when a Town Council meeting agenda item involved the HWDMA.
5. Do you own a business? An employee? Retired?
I am self-employed and have been a successful REALTOR® in Wickenburg and the surrounding area since 2004.
6. What are your views on growth?
What about the water usage that comes with growth? How do we continue to be a rural community if there is too much growth or “spread”? To keep a community sustainable it must recognize and embrace growth. However, I will push for and lead Wickenburg forward on a path of intelligent slower growth that recognizes our residents’ wishes and our western heritage. Water is a major concern in our desert, and I have attended many in-person meetings and webinars to stay informed on this crucial subject. I will work with Town management to ensure necessary procedures are in place so Wickenburg will always have an adequate water supply. The Town Council needs to prioritize discussions regarding growth and annexation while protecting our beautiful Town and its resources.
7. Business! What would you do to encourage new businesses and retain existing businesses?
The Town Council’s responsibility regarding Economic Development is to set policy, and the Town Manager and staff are to implement it. We have an Economic Development and Transportation Advisory Committee, and I would challenge Town staff to utilize the experience and expertise of these Committee members as well as residents in creating a pathway for economic development which would include promoting Wickenburg as a destination for tourism, adventure, shopping, and retail services. Also recruiting new businesses/industries and retaining existing businesses would be a key part of my strategic and intelligent growth plans, always striving to maintain the goal of keeping Wickenburg the Team Roping Capital of the World and promoting the cowboy culture and more rural character associated with the many equestrian disciplines.
8. Workforce/affordable housing? Wickenburg needs affordable housing.
Affordable and workforce housing are definite needs in Wickenburg that are extremely challenging to meet since the prices of homes, mortgage interest rates, and construction costs have increased dramatically in the past few years. This is a complex issue for which I am very willing to meet with others to collaborate, learn, and seek out innovative ideas and effective strategies. I will lead efforts to consolidate and encourage action on the most viable strategies consistent with my growth goals to reach the best solution to meeting the needs of our Town.
9. We have an Occupancy (Bed) Tax that was proposed by the lodging businesses in Town to be used to promote Tourism and advertising of the Town. What is your opinion of this and why? How do you think it should be fairly used?
I support collecting a Town bed tax to be used for marketing and tourism for our Town as these funds in the past have been very effectively used to market Wickenburg. Recently in the proposed 2024-2025 budget, Town staff made recommendations for the distribution of the Bed Tax funds. I would like to see more focus on uniform branding (Town identity) through closer coordination and cooperation of the agencies receiving these funds. I look forward to hearing residents’ opinions about this, and I would like to receive the Economic Development and Transportation Committee’s recommendation(s) to the Town Council about the proposed use of these funds.
10. Community Center. There was a task force that met many times. Nothing was done with all the work that the participants did. The town hired consultants and nothing is done. Now we are told next fall. Do you think the Community Center should remain at its current location? And what do you think should be done?
I have communicated with many, many Town residents as well as those in the immediate surrounding areas. Everyone who has communicated with me has expressed the strong opinion that (1) the community center needs to stay in its current location (or on the same parcel should a new community center be built) and (2) there should be no hotel/motel downtown. I will lead and support having our Community Center in its current location (or on the same parcel on which it is currently located). When the Town Council voted to approve the Community Center feasibility study, it was very clear that the Council requested Town management to provide (1) resident input, (2) information about the current Community Center (if the structure is sound, what are the estimated renovation costs), and (3) an estimate to build a new Community Center if the current one is not structurally sound. Deferred maintenance on the building has reached a critical point, and the Town Council needs to have the Town Manager expedite providing this information. As your Mayor, I will encourage and work with Town management and the Town Council to make it a priority to finalize a decision and follow through with the implementation of that decision.
11. Redevelopment of the Historic Downtown area. What do you think about this and why? Do you think the town needs another hotel downtown?
Public opinion has been very strong about (1) keeping our downtown historic and western and (2) no hotel/motel downtown. I agree. As Mayor, I will encourage the Town Council to direct the Town Manager to provide details for a historic overlay district, obtain residents’ opinions, and have the Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee make a recommendation to the Town Council.
Further recognizing the need for continuing growth to ensure the sustainability of the community combined with increasing tourism resulting from the Town’s marketing efforts to make Wickenburg a destination for visitors, business meetings, family gatherings, and team-building events, I will work to identify locations suitable for the development of new lodging and related facilities consistent with my strategic and intelligent growth plans. I will always strive to maintain the goal of keeping Wickenburg the Team Roping Capital of the World, promoting the cowboy culture and more rural character associated with all equestrian disciplines.
12. Town Council control of direction and spending by the Town Manager. The Town Manager can spend up to $50,000.00 without Town Council approval, should this amount be lower, higher or remain the same? Also, the Town Manager can move money around within the budget without Council approval. Should this continue, should it only be within the same category (for example Coffinger Park to Sunset Park)? The present Town Manager does not seem to take direction from the Town Council – examples of this are the cost to renovate the Community Center or the zoning for equine community. What could you as mayor do to take control of this issue?
Being fiscally responsible is a high priority for me. I would like to see (1) a decrease in the amount the Town Manager and/or staff can spend without Town Council approval, and (2) the transfer of funds in our budget be limited to only within the same department unless there is Town Council approval.
As Mayor I would seek greater interaction between the Town Manager and Town Council to achieve agreement and support by establishing frequent Town Council planning and update meetings.
13. Transparency is a hot topic at present in the community of Wickenburg. How can the Town Council and you as mayor work with the Town Manager to have a more transparent and open Town Government? What can be done to restore confidence in the Council and Staff?
Transparency and communication are critical. As Mayor I will solicit Town Council members' support giving clear and concise directions to the Town Manager expressing the intentions and goals of the Council and requiring increased communications with Town Council members on the implementation and follow-up actions.
The Mayor and Town Council members must recognize and be responsive to residents’ communications. I am committed to encouraging venues for interactions with residents. For my part I will lead by asking the tough questions and fostering stronger collaborations between the Town Council, residents, and Town management.
I would welcome communication by call, email, or text to 928-231-4455 or BG@YourRealEstateResource.biz.
I value residents’ opinions!