Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of interviews with candidates in the March 5 city of Clovis elections. Incumbent Helen Casaus is running against Bryan Davis and Paul Nelson for a four-year term. Early voting began Tuesday and runs through March 2.
Helen Casaus
Q: Describe yourself in two or three sentences.
A: I relocated here from Fort Sumner about 50 years ago,
I am a retired nurse of 45 years, and I have three children.
I do a lot of volunteer work throughout the community and have been involved with many nonprofits and the board.
I just love my community, and I like to serve where I’m needed.
Q: The city spent part of 2023 on efforts to ban abortion clinics in Clovis’ city limits. Are you interested in continuing that fight? Why or why not?
A: I don’t know if we’re going to continue or not. I am pro-life. I think life begins at conception. I don’t agree with the abortion clinics coming into Clovis.
Q: What do you consider Clovis’ greatest asset? And what can city government do to enhance that asset?
A: I think our biggest asset is our people, the friendliness in this community. I run into a lot of people from other places that have visited Clovis, and they are super excited and enlightened with the friendliness of the community.
I think we need open-door policies, and I think we need to be transparent with our citizens.
Q: What do you consider Clovis’ greatest weakness? And what can city government do to strengthen that weakness?
A: We don’t communicate as well with others as we should. I think citizens need to get involved. I think they need to go to meetings. If you have a complaint … we can’t read minds. I think the citizens need to play a big role and really get involved.
Q: Any big initiatives on your agenda if you’re elected?
A: There’s so much that has happened in my tenure with being on the city commission.
I mean, we’ve improved infrastructure, residential street improvements. We have done a lot with the reuse water treatments, the quality of life, the housing.
I see a lot of things happening in District 3, but I am not only elected for District 3, I’m elected for the whole community.
Q: What do you think is the purpose of government?
A: The purpose of government, I think, is to work with the community, listen to the community, respond to them, and lead businesses.
Bryan Davis
Q: Describe yourself in two or three sentences.
A: I am a Christian, conservative, American, husband and father. I am a Clovis native, and I just love people and want to serve.
Q: The city spent part of 2023 on efforts to ban abortion clinics in Clovis’ city limits. Are you interested in continuing that fight? Why or why not?
A: I am very pro-life. But unfortunately, the abortion issue is very much controlled by the state. So, barring any changes in that arena, I would actually be more interested in promoting life, rather than trying to go against the state more and limiting abortion.
Q: What do you consider Clovis’ greatest asset? And what can city government do to enhance that asset?
A: The best thing about Clovis is the people, for sure. But that’s a little difficult to quantify. So, that’s why I’m leaning more toward the economic side.
You have, of course, our Air Force Base. You have the train station, and then you have all the dairy around the area. That all feeds into Clovis.
What we need to have is a better cultural environment around those types of jobs.
Right now, our focus is so much on higher education, which is not a bad thing, by any means. If we could do a better job in promoting those types of trade jobs and things like that, I think that would go a long way.
Q: What do you consider Clovis’ greatest weakness? And what can city government do to strengthen that weakness?
A: This may not sound like a terrible thing, but I think it is a weakness honestly. I think Clovis in general, is just too nice. And we need to be bolder, and stand up for what’s best for our community.
We need brave leadership. Because courage begets more courage. It’s infectious.
So, if we have brave leadership all the way at the top, then that’s going to trickle down throughout the entire community.
Q: Any big initiatives on your agenda if you’re elected?
A: I have talked to John Snowberger about the pregnancy resource center. He has talked to me about getting the city close to put in what are called Safe Haven boxes, which the city of Portales has already approved the wording on theirs to actually arrive.
But I would definitely want to pursue that.
Q: What do you think is the purpose of government?
A: To protect the God-given rights of the people. As long as whatever the government is doing, pursuing that ultimate goal, then they’re on target.
Paul Nelson
Q: Describe yourself in two or three sentences.
A: I’m a logical thinker, I’m a technologist, and I like to solve problems. I think that would be the best description of me. I’m really good at problem solving.
Q: The city spent part of 2023 on efforts to ban abortion clinics in Clovis’ city limits. Are you interested in continuing that fight? Why or why not?
A: I’m pro-life. I think the local government’s job is not to do that. I think the local government’s job is more infrastructure and stuff like that.
I think there are laws that are made at the state and national level for this. I just think that’s too much local regulation. I think it makes it too hard to live life.
And every locality has such different rules on every little thing. So, no, I would not personally spend a lot of time on that.
Q: What do you consider Clovis’ greatest asset? And what can city government do to enhance that asset?
A: I think the greatest asset is the people; we have a lot of caring people. I think harnessing the citizens of the city of Clovis to help solve the problems is a great way to use them.
Growing that resource means more people are working on a problem, and the more chance you have of fixing the problem.
Q: What do you consider Clovis’ greatest weakness? And what can city government do to strengthen that weakness?
A: I think finances, the amount of money the city has, is probably the greatest weakness.
I think they’re doing some stuff with trying to get more retail. But I think the more things we can keep in Clovis, we’ll keep people from going to Lubbock for shopping or medical care.
The more things we can do locally, I think the more revenue we’ll bring in, and the better off we will be in the long run.
Q: Any big initiatives on your agenda if you’re elected?
A: I don’t have an agenda. My agenda is to do what’s best for the city and to take each item as it comes.
I have 22, almost 23 years, of experience with the city so I think I know it pretty well. But the commissioners, they have a little bit different roles.
So, if I see something I will definitely work on that.
Q: What do you think is the purpose of government?
A: Government is to provide the necessary bounds of rules and laws and to provide the necessary resources.
Locally, it’s roads and sewer, trash pickup, things like that.
So, the government is to provide those necessary services: public safety, police and fire.
At the larger level, it’s to provide the bounds to live with. For public safety and for the beautification of the city, if you will. Government sets those bounds of what we want our community to be.
— Compiled by Landry Sena, The Staff of The News
