Today we wrap up with candidate coverage for the upcoming special Jefferson City Council election with a look at the fourth candidate, Mark Wright.

He is a Jefferson native and a 1978 Jefferson High School graduate. Wright works as a farmer and hauls grain products for local companies in Greene and Boone counties. He is married to his wife Janelle for 34 years and has two adult daughters and several grandchildren.

Wright’s main concerns that he says are facing the City are taxes, unsightly residential properties and supporting the fire and police departments. He notes that since property taxes have drastically increased, he wants to see more of the tax base and where and for what those funds are being used. Wright further acknowledges that the City is doing a good job of spending money to make the downtown area look nice, but when it comes to the unkempt state of some of the residential properties, he believes the City has no appetite to clean those up. Finally, he fears that if a greater interest and increasing resources when necessary isn’t being done to support the fire and police departments, the City could end up losing them.

Wright talks about why he is running for Jefferson City Council.

“Well I think I can make a difference. I think there’s areas that we’ve laid out that I can help with. I want to be a voice for the residents of the City of Jefferson. I think my values are in-line with a majority or a large portion, I should say, of the residents here in Jefferson. Just quite frankly I think I can be a good steward of the money that is being collected from the City. I think our common goal in Jefferson here is to make Jefferson great again.”

Wright is running against Amelia Carman, Michael Mentzer and Darren Jackson to fill a vacancy on the council in the upcoming special election on Tuesday.