By DANIEL LOCKE | Staff Writer
CALERA –
David Morgan has jumped into the Calera City Council race.
The lifelong Alabamian has spent the majority of his adult life working in public safety and is one of three individuals to hold the position of executive director for a 911 department before turning 30. If elected, it would be Morgan’s first time holding a seat on the council.
“I’m running on a few different things that I feel are all very tightly interconnected,” Morgan said. “Public safety, community, accountability, transparency and family. Nothing I’m planning can easily be placed into just one category.”
Morgan would like to see an increase in the amount and variety of activities available for people in the community.
“The core of my plans are to create opportunity for community involvement through programs for people to volunteer directly with the city, creating a program to make it easy to form informal groups and clubs around common interests and by creating a schedule of classes to teach life skills and art like gardening, plumbing, dance, theater etc.,” Morgan said.
Morgan would like for Calera’s youth to have more options when it comes to activities, specifically ones that would teach them skills that they could carry with them.
“So much of our society is focused around kids and schools that unless you become a professional athlete or performer you sort of lose all opportunities to do the enjoyable parts of life when you graduate,” Morgan said.
In addition to caring for the youth, Morgan would like for the community’s adults to have opportunities to come together and bond over common interests.
“While we have facilities and programs for seniors, we just don’t do much of anything meaningful for just regular adults with different hobbies and interests,” Morgan said. “We need a community approach supported by the city but not delivered by the city.”
Morgan is also running on the promise of increased transparency between the government and the community—a common theme between candidates this election cycle.
“I’m a firm believer that anything a government does in secret probably shouldn’t be done at all, so I have a series of transparency reforms I hope to get passed to help folks stay informed about what the city is doing and how their money is being spent,” Morgan said.
Morgan invites people to communicate their wants and needs to him as well as simply getting to know him.
“I want to hear from people about the things they see and the ideas they have. I want to talk to as many people as I can and I encourage folks to reach out on Facebook, Instagram or my website ElectDavidMorgan.com,” Morgan said. “There is a lot of information on my website but I’m more than happy to answer any questions anybody has about me or my platform.”
Morgan plans on making himself available to the community both before the election as well as after, if he were to win.
“I’ll be holding a series of events both before and, if elected, after the election to hear from folks in town hall settings and one-on-one.”
The Municipal Election is set to take place on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
