Voters hear from Mansfield candidates during campaign night ahead of November’s election

The future of Mansfield is at stake.

That was the message 15 city residents heard from 18 candidates Tuesday during a neighborhood watch meeting inside the pavilion at Burton Park.

Residents heard about people who want to lead the city as mayor, sentence criminals as judge, and pass legislation as members of city council.

Some of those candidates are lifelong Mansfielders. Others have moved to the city and now call it home.

Their backgrounds are as teachers, businesspeople and community servants.

The candidates discussed infrastructure, the health and well-being of residents, and Mansfield’s budgetary concerns.

Leading the fiscal conversation Tuesday night were the city’s candidates for director of finance: Kelly Blankenship, a Republican, and Jon VanHarlingen, a Democrat.

Blankenship told the audience that she was born in Mansfield and graduated from Malabar High School. After earning her bachelor’s degree from Coastal Carolina University, she began her career with an investment firm that specialized in public funds.

“In 2000, I had an opportunity to go be a missionary associate in El Salvador,” Blankenship said. “I left the investment company and took that opportunity.”

She eventually moved home to Mansfield and began a career in the municipal court.

“In 2007, I then ran for and was elected as finance director,” Blankenship said. “So I held this job before.”

She had her third child in 2011, and took five years to raise her children full-time. Then, in 2016, she began doing accounting work from home.

“I’m still functioning in the same accounting mind and same accounting background as the city,” Blankenship said.

She wants to lead the city’s finance department because she believes Mansfield is poised for extreme growth in the near future.

“With all of the momentum that we’ve gained, you need someone in place who’s going to be able to take Mansfield to the next level,” Blankenship said. “I am the right candidate for that position.”

VanHarlingen also has experience working with the city’s finances, including two terms on city council.

His 34 years as a city employee started when he became caretaker of the Clear Fork Reservoir.

“I lived on the property for two years,” VanHarlingen said. “They called me caretaker because I was on the job for 24/7.”

He eventually began working at the city’s wastewater treatment plant, and ran the lab there for the majority of his career.

He handled records, performed inspections and bid on projects throughout his career.

“I had two different titles at different times,” VanHarlingen said.

He served as the wastewater treatment plant’s rehabilitation officer as well as its finance officer.

“I was responsible for all the receivables, expenditures and reports,” VanHarlingen said.

In that role, he said he gained extensive experience working with both the mayor’s office and state auditors.

With the city facing fiscal emergency in 2013, he said he decided to take his fiscal background and use it to run for Mansfield City Council.

“I had a very strong understanding of how the city of Mansfield and the finances and departments worked,” VanHarlingen said. “I could speak to them with some kind of intelligence.”

He won that race, then another. His tenure on city council came to an end Dec. 31.

He’s worried about the city’s infrastructure, and he said the city cannot borrow its way to financial health.

“We don’t have that option today,” VanHarlingen said. “As everybody knows, the interest rates are on their way up.”

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield candidates talk to voters about issues ahead of election