Infrastructure, budget, economic development tagged as priorities
Daniel Taylor, Correspondent
The 2025 Boaz election forum drew a packed house inside Snead State’s Fielder Auditorium on Aug. 12 as residents gathered to hear candidates answer questions about improving the community.
Joe Whitmore, president of Snead State Community College and moderator of the event, said Boaz voters were primarily concerned about three things in the upcoming municipal elections: infrastructure, budget priorities and economic development.
The mayoral candidates — incumbent David Dyar, Jana Pair and Tim Walker — took turns answering questions on those topics.
Dyar touted his past successes and the progress the town has made paving over 110 roads with 30 more planned in 2026. He also mentioned park improvements, hiring more police and growing the city’s general fund budget from $426,000 when he took office nine years ago to now over $3 million.
He said the city has “done everything I know we can do” to attract more industry, but that he could do “a better job” at helping small businesses thrive.
“I’d like a little more time to finish what we started,” he said.
Walker, who served as mayor before Dyar, encouraged residents to buy local to help increase the tax base and proposed that the city collaborate with Snead State and other organizations to boost the workforce and local economy. He said he would prioritize cutting departmental waste, servicing the city’s debt and helping improve schools if he were to be voted mayor.
Pair proposed adding a new fire department in east Boaz and working with downtown businesses to renovate the buildings that have become “embarrassing.” She also suggested accelerating the payment on the loan for the outlets and cutting a deal with Tanger to take over instead of “throwing” more money into their upkeep. She said, if she were mayor, she’d hire an economic developer to attract more business and industry and create incentive packages.
“We are so behind the curve,” she said. “…You can just look around and see, we have gone backwards, not forwards.”
The 10 city council candidates were also allowed to answer one question and explain to voters why they should earn their vote. The candidates included David Ellis and Rodney Frix for Place 1; Steven Bates, Darla Lasseter and Riley S. Young for Place 2; and Kevin Brooks Jr., Alan Hales and Johnny Willis for Council Place 3.
Place 4 councilman Matt Brannon and Caleb Williams, for Place 5, are running unopposed.
The full video of the forum can be viewed on the Boaz Chamber of Commerce’s Facebook page.
The municipal election will be Tuesday.
