Traves Williams has been a Sedalia resident for 30 years and recently decided to run for mayor.
“One of our biggest problems; decisions are made by the City of Sedalia by non-residents,” Williams said. “I've been involved with this community for 23 years. Our administrator’s not from town, Kelvin Shaw’s not from town, our HR director's not from town, our city attorney, they're from Independence. So, yeah, no decisions from the people of Sedalia are being made.”
Williams said if elected, he will represent the people and be more accessible than the current administration.
“I have a problem with not being transparent in council meetings,” Williams said. “And the mayor should have an open-door policy.”
Williams said he disagrees with the way the Good and Welfare portion of the council meeting is handled.
“Your questions have to be prepared by e-mail weeks in advance before the council meeting so you can ask your question,” Williams said. “If it doesn't pertain to what they're talking about at that time it becomes a problem. I think it's important that we’re able to talk to our council members.”
Williams said council members should be more available to their constituents about problems in their neighborhoods.
“If you're my council member, I might have to talk to you about something important that might not be related to the agenda, it might be something on my street," Williams said.
When asked about simply calling city council members, Williams indicated that form of communication has seen little success.
“From my understanding, a lot of people, from knocking on doors and talking to people, they say their accessibility has been limited,” Williams said.
Williams works for the City of Sedalia on the mowing crew and said the time is right for him to run the city's top job.
“I'm a city resident, I worked for the city for 20 years and I've seen changes as far as how we operate, as far as leadership,” Williams said. “And I think I can make a change.”
Williams co-founded Helping Hands in response to a public outcry for a new approach to handling code enforcement violations.
“We started that program in 2022 and right now we have about 60 completed projects, so very proud of that one,” Williams said.
Williams had an issue with public communication from city crews.
“When you're already working 10-hour days, four days a week, from wastewater to the water department, to concrete crews, I ask you to think that we can do things a little bit better," Williams said.
Shutting off services could also be handled in a more compassionate way, Williams suggested.
“We have the United Way, we have Open Door, we have all these agencies like Pettis County Community Partners that are willing to help,” Williams said. “But instead of reaching out to those programs, they’d rather shut the water off, wait for you to raise that kind of money and then charge $45 on top of that. We could just say ‘Ma'am, if you call this number, they'll help you with that bill.’”
Williams hopes to transform the City of Sedalia into a kinder community, as some people are feeling an economic pinch.
“More transparent, more compassionate towards other people,” Williams said. “We're in hard times now, you go to the grocery store, you do anything and we're raising rates of people that are less fortunate?”
Williams said streets need a proper assessment before being patched or resurfaced, and the 353 Redevelopment Plan should be extended to businesses.
“A lot of people know me because of my community service, and I think everyone knows that I'm very approachable,” Williams said. “Anyone can talk to me about any subject and I won't ever turn anyone away. If I don't have an answer, I'm going to try really hard to find one for you.”
Chris Howell can be reached at 660-530-0146.
