A doctor who has served 25 years on the Little Rock Board of Directors faces two challengers in his seventh reelection bid -- a retired contractor recruited by another city director and a local government observer whose blog posts often criticize board members.
At-large City Director Dean Kumpuris, a practicing gastroenterologist in Little Rock, was first appointed to the city board to fill a vacancy in 1995. If reelected, Kumpuris said he wants to continue improving and creating recreational opportunities at the riverfront area to make the city more attractive to young people.
"I have been doing this for a long time, but I've been incrementally doing what I think the city needs to make it a better city for all of us right now, but mainly a better city for young people to want to come to," he said.
But activist and blogger Russ Racop said at Thursday's forum that the city board needs "new faces and new perspectives." Racop runs a blog that's critical of city officials and the Little Rock Police Department.
At Thursday's forum, Racop said he would use the same sharp, critical thinking he uses for his blog if elected city director. He previously worked for the Arkansas Department of Human Services and in corporate security for banks for about a decade each, he said in an interview Friday.
"I want to be your voice at Little Rock City Hall," Racop said Thursday. "It's time to hold city leaders accountable for their actions and lack of actions."
Phillip Bryant, a retired contractor, said by phone Friday that he was encouraged to run for the seat by Ward 1 City Director Erma Hendrix, a longtime family friend.
"She thought I might be a good candidate to shake up the board and bring in some radical ideas and start doing something right," Bryant said. "She is the bulldozer that's behind me, pushing."
If elected, he said he would work to clean up the central part of the city and make sure city contractors complete road improvement jobs on time.
November's election comes after months of protests against police brutality in Little Rock and across the country sparked by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black individuals by law enforcement officers.
Kumpuris fielded a question during Thursday's forum about a proposal from local activists to reallocate at least 10% of the Little Rock Police Department's more than $80 million budget to community-oriented programs.
He said he agreed that policing in the city needs to change, though he pointed to recent changes that Little Rock has made, including setting up a Citizen Review Board to assess police actions, banning a type of neck restraint and having the Police Department undergo an independent review.
Kumpuris voted against the ordinance establishing the Citizen Review Board that passed in July 2019, though he was supportive of the idea.
"I was for the board, I just didn't like the way we did it," he said. "I think that when you do something like that you need more public discussion of what's happening."
He said he would be open to realigning the police budget and that the current conversation on police reform would be a part of the city's 2021 budget process this year, along with looking at all of the facts.
"We don't need to say we're going to take 10% of something until we know what we're going to spend it on," he said.
Asked Thursday whether he would support a requirement that officers live in the city, Kumpuris acknowledged that it is a "very contentious issue" and said there is no good evidence that having people live in the city limits would lead to better policing, or to a higher ratio of Black police officers.
"If there are people who are bad apples, then we need to acknowledge that and not let them work here," Kumpuris said. "Not all physicians are good, and there's ways that we identify them and don't let them practice."
Bryant said in an interview Friday that police should be retrained and not throw people on the ground before handcuffing them.
"The police have gotten into a bad habit," he said.
He said he believes that "at least the majority" of Little Rock officers should live in the city and know its heartbeat, but he said he didn't know if a residency requirement would be effective.
When asked if he would support reallocating some of the Police Department's budget to community-oriented programs, Bryant said he hadn't been keeping up with the city budget so he didn't know all the details.
Racop said Friday that reallocation of police funding is needed.
"We have to end the unwritten policy the current board has of giving the Little Rock Police Department everything they ask for," he said, pointing to expenses such as riot gear for officers and the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system. "We need to reallocate funds that go to the Police Department to provide real crisis intervention, mentoring and economic development in that same area where ShotSpotter was deployed."
He said the problems at the department, including concerns expressed about the police chief, can't be fixed, and he would support a metropolitan police force for Pulaski County under the sheriff's leadership.
Little Rock city directors are paid $18,000 a year and serve four-year terms. The election is Nov. 3, and early voting beings Oct. 19.