Latest / The Kevin Stone Podcast / Episode #38 "An Interview with Ozark Mayor Roxie Hall"
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: The content of this podcast is for entertainment purposes only.
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- 0:03Speaker 1: time you find any of this to be offensive, you
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- 0:16Speaker 1: Kevin Stone Podcast, broadcasting to you from an undisclosed location.
- 0:19Speaker 2: Customized listening.
- 0:20Speaker 1: Let's begin by cleaning those ears.
- 0:23Speaker 2: Who am I?
- 0:24Speaker 1: I'm a nobody. I just happen to have a camera
- 0:26Speaker 1: and a microphone and an internet connection, which makes me
- 0:29Speaker 1: a superstar. I have beef enchiladas in the oven. What? Yes.
- 0:39Speaker 1: And you made them or are they frozen? Well, they
- 0:42Speaker 1: won't be frozen in about 35 minutes. Hey, I made
- 0:49Speaker 1: it at the house, so it's homemade. There are times
- 0:55Speaker 1: when doing this podcast gets me sitting behind a microphone
- 0:59Speaker 1: talking about something I read on the news. And there
- 1:01Speaker 1: are times when it actually gets me out into the community.
- 1:04Speaker 1: This was one of those times. Lately, I've been talking
- 1:06Speaker 1: quite a bit about Ozark, the water system, the tax
- 1:09Speaker 1: issue on the ballot, the upcoming municipal elections. And one
- 1:13Speaker 1: of the things I've complained about is how difficult it
- 1:15Speaker 1: can be for ordinary citizens in a small town to
- 1:19Speaker 1: actually know what's happening in their local government. Well, there's
- 1:22Speaker 1: one way to fix part of that. Ask questions. So
- 1:24Speaker 1: that's what I did. I had the opportunity to sit
- 1:27Speaker 1: down with Ozark Mayor Roxy Hall in her office and
- 1:30Speaker 1: talk with her about Ozark, her years in public service,
- 1:33Speaker 1: what she's proud of, what she might have done differently,
- 1:36Speaker 1: and what comes next when she's no longer sitting in
- 1:38Speaker 1: the mayor's chair. And before we start talking about who
- 1:41Speaker 1: should occupy that chair next, I thought it was worth
- 1:44Speaker 1: hearing from the person occupying it now. And just so
- 1:47Speaker 1: we're clear, this isn't an endorsement of anybody running to
- 1:50Speaker 1: replace her. It's a conversation. She gets to tell you
- 1:53Speaker 1: what she thinks, I get to ask the questions, and
- 1:56Speaker 1: you get to decide what you think about the answers.
- 1:58Speaker 1: There's a crazy idea. So let's start with the obvious question.
- 2:02Speaker 1: Why did Roxy Hall want to become mayor of Ozark
- 2:05Speaker 1: in the first place?
- 2:06Speaker 2: Well, I am Roxy Hall, currently the mayor of Ozark,
- 2:12Speaker 2: and just want to thank you for coming in today.
- 2:15Speaker 1: Okay.
- 2:16Speaker 2: Ask questions. That's what I'm here for. Right.
- 2:18Speaker 1: Well, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to
- 2:22Speaker 1: come in and ask you some questions here. The first
- 2:24Speaker 1: question I'd like to ask you is what made you
- 2:27Speaker 1: want to become mayor of Ozark?
- 2:28Speaker 2: I am born and raised here. I love this community
- 2:33Speaker 2: and it has such potential. I previously served on the
- 2:37Speaker 2: council for 20 years and I just wanted to see
- 2:42Speaker 2: what more I could do for our community.
- 2:45Speaker 1: When you first took office, what did you believe Ozark
- 2:48Speaker 1: needed the most, and how did that compare with what
- 2:51Speaker 1: you discovered after becoming mayor?
- 2:53Speaker 2: I definitely knew we needed more housing. We needed businesses.
- 3:00Speaker 2: We needed our downtown area to be revitalized because, unfortunately,
- 3:07Speaker 2: we had lost businesses down there, and those buildings became
- 3:10Speaker 2: just vacant shells completely. to the point they become storage units,
- 3:16Speaker 2: and people didn't take care of them, and our downtown
- 3:20Speaker 2: needed to be revitalized.
- 3:22Speaker 1: Housing, businesses, downtown Ozark. And I think anybody who's lived
- 3:27Speaker 1: around here for very long knows exactly what she's talking
- 3:30Speaker 1: about when it comes to downtown. We've got some beautiful
- 3:33Speaker 1: old buildings down there. We've also watched businesses come and go.
- 3:37Speaker 1: But when I asked Mayor Hall what she was actually
- 3:40Speaker 1: proud of accomplishing, her answer wasn't just about attracting businesses.
- 3:44Speaker 1: Some of it involved things I'd never really thought about,
- 3:47Speaker 1: including the cemetery. What accomplishments during your time as mayor
- 3:51Speaker 1: are you most proud of and why?
- 3:54Speaker 2: Goodness, I don't know that I can single out to one.
- 4:00Speaker 2: We have done enormous amount of work in the cemetery.
- 4:04Speaker 2: We've added a pavilion up there because not everyone has
- 4:09Speaker 2: the access to be at a chapel or a church.
- 4:12Speaker 2: And they just want a very private service for their
- 4:16Speaker 2: loved one. We cleaned the bluff off up there. We
- 4:20Speaker 2: have added lights out on Hibbley Loop that were not there.
- 4:24Speaker 2: We've got an indoor putt-putt here, back here in the
- 4:28Speaker 2: community center. I think, too, just cleaning up Ozark. The
- 4:35Speaker 2: cleanup ordinance was a big thing that I wanted to
- 4:39Speaker 2: see happen here because what people don't understand is when
- 4:43Speaker 2: businesses come in to look at your community site, They
- 4:46Speaker 2: see what kind of pride you take in your home,
- 4:48Speaker 2: whether you are a renter or a landlord. How you
- 4:52Speaker 2: take care of that tells what you want for your area.
- 4:57Speaker 1: And I.
- 4:59Speaker 2: Think just those things are something that that and getting
- 5:05Speaker 2: to see our senior citizen center grow. So, yeah, I
- 5:09Speaker 2: could probably go on all day and talk about things
- 5:12Speaker 2: that have happened and things that have changed.
- 5:14Speaker 1: Well, let's let me follow up that. Because you were
- 5:17Speaker 1: talking about the bluffs over at the graveyard.
- 5:19Speaker 2: Yes.
- 5:20Speaker 1: Now, I have personally been out on them bluffs, and
- 5:24Speaker 1: I also know how dangerous them bluffs are. Yes.
- 5:28Speaker 2: We unfortunately have lost three lives off of that bluff.
- 5:32Speaker 1: See, I didn't know that, but I had heard a
- 5:34Speaker 1: rumor about something like that. But I also have been
- 5:36Speaker 1: told that y'all have done something about that now.
- 5:39Speaker 2: Is there a fence up there? Two years ago, I
- 5:43Speaker 2: asked the council if they would put money in the
- 5:45Speaker 2: budget for that. And then with the help of some
- 5:51Speaker 2: Arkansas Valley Electric employees, the bluff has been cleaned off
- 5:56Speaker 2: and there is a fence up there. And hopefully... The
- 6:00Speaker 2: fence is tall enough that we will not have any
- 6:03Speaker 2: more accidents because no life is worth that. And you're
- 6:06Speaker 2: not supposed to be in a cemetery after dark. But
- 6:10Speaker 2: if someone gets back in there, our street department has
- 6:14Speaker 2: done an excellent job. Where the road comes to an end,
- 6:18Speaker 2: they have reflectors up. So I don't have to worry
- 6:21Speaker 2: about someone accidentally driving off the bluff since the trees
- 6:25Speaker 2: are gone.
- 6:26Speaker 1: Now, I have actually been out on those bluffs before
- 6:29Speaker 1: that work was done. And I'd heard stories about people
- 6:32Speaker 1: dying there, falling off the bluffs, but I didn't know
- 6:34Speaker 1: whether they were true or not. But Mayor Hall confirmed
- 6:37Speaker 1: that three people had lost their lives there. What I
- 6:39Speaker 1: did know from standing there is that it was extremely
- 6:42Speaker 1: dangerous to be on them bluffs. But then I asked
- 6:44Speaker 1: her something a little different. I wanted to know what
- 6:47Speaker 1: she would have done differently. Because looking back and admitting
- 6:50Speaker 1: you've changed something isn't always easy. So I asked her,
- 6:54Speaker 1: what would you do differently?
- 6:55Speaker 2: I think... I would have probably done like a, I
- 7:01Speaker 2: have a radio program that I do the second and
- 7:03Speaker 2: fourth Tuesday of the month with Mark Dietz, with Katie Wyan.
- 7:07Speaker 2: But I think probably because not everyone listens to the
- 7:11Speaker 2: radio or some of their work schedules, I probably would
- 7:15Speaker 2: like to have done a muffins with the mayor once
- 7:19Speaker 2: a month on Mondays, just You know, and I had
- 7:22Speaker 2: it over in the community center to where people could
- 7:25Speaker 2: come in and just, if they had a question or
- 7:27Speaker 2: keep them informed. Once we lost our local newspaper, I
- 7:33Speaker 2: feel like we lost a connection with people. Right. And
- 7:38Speaker 2: not everyone does Facebook. Not everyone listens to the radio station.
- 7:43Speaker 2: And it's hard to get that information out there. So
- 7:47Speaker 2: I look back and think I probably should have put
- 7:49Speaker 2: more effort into... having the availability for all citizens to
- 7:56Speaker 2: have done that. And in saying that, my telephone number
- 8:01Speaker 2: is out there. It's nothing. I've gotten calls at 2
- 8:04Speaker 2: and 3 o'clock in the morning, which is fine because
- 8:08Speaker 2: that is my job as a mayor that I wanted
- 8:11Speaker 2: to be accessible to.
- 8:12Speaker 1: Now that caught my attention because communication has become one
- 8:16Speaker 1: of the reoccurring themes around here lately. And it isn't
- 8:18Speaker 1: necessarily because nobody's putting information out. The problem is figuring
- 8:23Speaker 1: out how you reach everybody. Facebook? Not everybody uses it. Radio?
- 8:27Speaker 1: Not everybody listens. Websites? You have to know to go
- 8:30Speaker 1: looking for the information. And Mayor Hall brought up something
- 8:33Speaker 1: Ozark used to have that filled part of that gap.
- 8:36Speaker 1: A local newspaper. So two people who are apparently now
- 8:39Speaker 1: old enough to remember newspapers proceeded to reminisce about newspapers.
- 8:43Speaker 1: I'm not saying either one of us is old. I'm
- 8:46Speaker 1: just saying we both remember when checking your notifications sometimes
- 8:50Speaker 1: meant walking out to the mailbox. Talking about the newspaper,
- 8:53Speaker 1: why did we lose our newspaper? Was it just simply...
- 8:57Speaker 1: cost you know not enough people getting the newspaper i do.
- 9:00Speaker 2: Believe it was the bevels had done a fabulous job
- 9:05Speaker 2: of keeping the spectator going unfortunately uh mr bevel had
- 9:11Speaker 2: passed away a few years ago and you know with
- 9:14Speaker 2: things being online like they are um i unfortunately would
- 9:19Speaker 2: think in a few more years you're gonna a paper
- 9:22Speaker 2: is going to be very rare And I hate that.
- 9:25Speaker 2: And I miss like the birth announcements and the wedding announcements.
- 9:29Speaker 2: And they had a section the 40 year ago and
- 9:32Speaker 2: 75 year ago. I used to think those were silly
- 9:35Speaker 2: until I got to be in the 40 year ago.
- 9:39Speaker 2: But that was very detrimental to our community to to
- 9:44Speaker 2: lose that business.
- 9:46Speaker 1: Of course, now I'm of the older generation, you know,
- 9:49Speaker 1: that remembers that.
- 9:50Speaker 2: We remember things like that, yes. And we're definitely in,
- 9:53Speaker 2: like I said, we're definitely in the 40 years ago column.
- 9:56Speaker 1: But then we moved away from buildings, newspapers, and city projects.
- 10:00Speaker 1: because Mayor Hall's time in office is coming to an end.
- 10:03Speaker 1: So I asked her what she hopes people will remember.
- 10:06Speaker 2: That my family and I were willing to serve and
- 10:10Speaker 2: willing to be here for the people. And that my
- 10:14Speaker 2: heart was and is and always will be for this community.
- 10:20Speaker 2: And just because I'm leaving office does not mean that
- 10:23Speaker 2: I don't care. I'm going to miss. I mean, you
- 10:28Speaker 2: think about it. I've been in this for 28 years.
- 10:32Speaker 2: Whether some people like it or not, what you can't
- 10:35Speaker 2: say is that I don't care about this town. And
- 10:39Speaker 2: I'll never forget the first event that we had with children.
- 10:43Speaker 2: I'm right in the middle of it with them. We
- 10:45Speaker 2: had an underwater Easter egg hunt. And I'm in the pool.
- 10:49Speaker 2: And this little boy comes up and I had not
- 10:53Speaker 2: gotten my hair wet or anything. And he comes up
- 10:55Speaker 2: and just splashes me. And the mother was just devastated.
- 11:00Speaker 2: She's like, I'm so sorry. And I said, it's okay.
- 11:03Speaker 2: I said, can I play with him and splash him back?
- 11:05Speaker 2: And she said, yes. So I did. And the rapport,
- 11:10Speaker 2: because when I went to school that later in that
- 11:13Speaker 2: month to go read for Dr. Suste's He's like, hey, hey,
- 11:17Speaker 2: I'm the one that got you wet. So, yeah, it's
- 11:21Speaker 2: things like that that I still want to do and
- 11:24Speaker 2: still be a part of it because just because I'm
- 11:28Speaker 2: no longer going to be mayor doesn't mean I don't
- 11:30Speaker 2: care about what happens to this community.
- 11:32Speaker 1: That's one of my favorite parts of this conversation. Not
- 11:35Speaker 1: because it's some major political statement. It's because it isn't.
- 11:39Speaker 1: It's a kid splashing the mayor in a swimming pool.
- 11:41Speaker 1: Now that's community. And when Mayor Hall leaves office, she
- 11:44Speaker 1: told me she doesn't intend to disappear. When you're no
- 11:48Speaker 1: longer sitting in the mayor's chair, how do you hope
- 11:50Speaker 1: to remain involved in Ozark?
- 11:53Speaker 2: I still plan on volunteering, going into a senior citizen
- 11:57Speaker 2: center to help. I love to go to Little Debbie
- 12:03Speaker 2: Outlet Store and take Little Debbies to the seniors. And
- 12:06Speaker 2: when I say take Little Debbies, I don't mean an individual.
- 12:09Speaker 2: I get them the box. Each one get a box.
- 12:13Speaker 2: I want to stay active with the schools, going and reading.
- 12:18Speaker 2: And I don't want to drop off the face of
- 12:21Speaker 2: the earth. I do think probably the first three months,
- 12:24Speaker 2: I want to just sit back and regroup. Then just
- 12:28Speaker 2: see what the Lord has done. What door he has
- 12:31Speaker 2: to open for me.
- 12:32Speaker 1: And we're not talking about just one Little Debbie snack
- 12:34Speaker 1: per person here. We're talking about the whole box. So
- 12:37Speaker 1: if Mayor Hall shows up at the Senior Center carrying
- 12:40Speaker 1: oatmeal cream pies, apparently she is not playing around. But
- 12:44Speaker 1: there was another group of people she wanted to talk
- 12:46Speaker 1: about before we finished. The people who actually do a
- 12:49Speaker 1: lot of the day-to-day work for the city of Ozark.
- 12:51Speaker 1: Is there a city employee, volunteer, organization, or group of
- 12:56Speaker 1: residents whose work deserves more recognition? than you think they've received?
- 13:02Speaker 2: We are super blessed. Uh, our city employees, they work
- 13:07Speaker 2: so hard. They do. Um, I'm going to miss them.
- 13:12Speaker 2: They have become like family to me. They were when
- 13:15Speaker 2: I was on council, but it's a little different when
- 13:17Speaker 2: you come over here in the mayor's seat. Um, you're
- 13:20Speaker 2: with these people seven days or five days a week.
- 13:23Speaker 2: Some of them, I mean, communication seven days a week, but, um,
- 13:27Speaker 2: I just don't think people realize how hard they work.
- 13:32Speaker 2: The department heads that we have give 110% of their job.
- 13:37Speaker 2: They do.
- 13:38Speaker 1: Well, I have to admit, I have encountered people from
- 13:41Speaker 1: the street department and the water department in and around
- 13:44Speaker 1: my house. And every interaction I've ever had with them,
- 13:47Speaker 1: they've always been polite, professional, and real nice. They are.
- 13:51Speaker 2: And like I said, they work hard and they take
- 13:54Speaker 2: pride in their job.
- 13:55Speaker 1: They do.
- 13:57Speaker 2: I'm very, very proud of them. I brag on them
- 14:01Speaker 2: when I go to meetings in Little Rock. I serve
- 14:03Speaker 2: on some boards there and I always have to say, hey,
- 14:07Speaker 2: I'll put my crew up against anybody in the state
- 14:09Speaker 2: because I believe in them.
- 14:11Speaker 1: And for the record, what I said there wasn't something
- 14:14Speaker 1: I put into the interview just to make the mayor happy.
- 14:17Speaker 1: I have dealt with city employees around my house and
- 14:19Speaker 1: that has been my experience with them. But eventually somebody
- 14:23Speaker 1: else is going to sit behind that desk. So I
- 14:25Speaker 1: asked Mayor Hall what advice she'd give the next mayor
- 14:28Speaker 1: of Ozark. And this may be my favorite piece of
- 14:31Speaker 1: advice from the entire interview.
- 14:32Speaker 2: Take it a day at a time and do what
- 14:36Speaker 2: you can not to take things on social media personally.
- 14:41Speaker 2: I think that's been one of the hardest things for me.
- 14:46Speaker 2: When you try and you do all you can and
- 14:50Speaker 2: then you get, of course, my husband refers to social
- 14:53Speaker 2: media is that of the devil. And I'm beginning to
- 14:57Speaker 2: think that he's probably right. And I think keeping that
- 15:01Speaker 2: line of communication open, because you're going to have, just
- 15:06Speaker 2: like we had the meeting last night, You know, you
- 15:08Speaker 2: have people that are going to talk and they've got
- 15:11Speaker 2: all these things to say. Then when you set up
- 15:14Speaker 2: a meeting place for them, they're not there. I would
- 15:17Speaker 2: suggest that they make sure that each day is a
- 15:21Speaker 2: new day and know that you can't please everybody. You
- 15:26Speaker 2: know that you've done your best. And then when you
- 15:29Speaker 2: lay your head down at night, if you would do
- 15:32Speaker 2: it the same way over again, you've done all you
- 15:34Speaker 2: could do.
- 15:35Speaker 1: You know, I actually kind of agree with her husband
- 15:37Speaker 1: on the social media thing. But think about what social
- 15:40Speaker 1: media does. It makes it really easy for us to
- 15:43Speaker 1: say things to people that we probably wouldn't say if
- 15:46Speaker 1: we were standing right in front of them. There's something
- 15:48Speaker 1: about looking another human being in the eye that changes things.
- 15:52Speaker 1: There's a little respect there. Maybe a little fear of
- 15:54Speaker 1: getting punched in the nose if you run your mouth
- 15:56Speaker 1: too much. I'm not recommending punching anybody in the nose.
- 16:00Speaker 1: I'm just saying consequences have a funny way of improving
- 16:03Speaker 1: people's manners. And maybe social media sometimes shows a little
- 16:06Speaker 1: too much of what's really in the human heart. Because
- 16:09Speaker 1: you can sit safely behind a screen, type whatever comes
- 16:12Speaker 1: into your head, hit post, and send it out to
- 16:15Speaker 1: hundreds or thousands of people without ever having to look
- 16:18Speaker 1: the person you're talking about in the eye. But listen
- 16:21Speaker 1: to the other part of what she said. Ask questions.
- 16:24Speaker 1: Show up. Communicate. You can disagree with your mayor. You
- 16:27Speaker 1: can disagree with city council. You can disagree with your neighbor.
- 16:31Speaker 1: I mean, good grief. This is Americo. We're pretty good
- 16:34Speaker 1: at disagreeing. But if we're going to complain about what's
- 16:37Speaker 1: happening in our community, we ought to make an effort
- 16:39Speaker 1: to know what's actually happening in our community. That's part
- 16:42Speaker 1: of why I've started doing more of this on the podcast.
- 16:45Speaker 1: Go to the meetings, talk to the mayor, ask the questions,
- 16:48Speaker 1: and then let people hear the answers for themselves. I
- 16:51Speaker 1: had one final question for Mayor Hall. There wasn't any
- 16:54Speaker 1: policy attached to it, no water system, no taxes, no election,
- 16:58Speaker 1: just this. Is there something I haven't asked that you
- 17:01Speaker 1: want the people of Ozark to know?
- 17:03Speaker 2: Um, thank you for giving me the opportunity to have
- 17:09Speaker 2: a dream come true because, um, I always, even when
- 17:13Speaker 2: I went to girl state back in 1980, um, I
- 17:19Speaker 2: always knew I wanted to serve the people. And I
- 17:23Speaker 2: thank the community for giving me the 20 years as
- 17:28Speaker 2: your councilman to having that faith in me and then
- 17:32Speaker 2: giving me these two terms as your mayor. Um, it
- 17:38Speaker 2: has been an honor and, uh, You're going to cause
- 17:42Speaker 2: me to get emotional and I wasn't going to do that.
- 17:45Speaker 2: But it's kind of the saying, you know, when you
- 17:48Speaker 2: get up and you love what you do and this
- 17:52Speaker 2: is not a job, serving people, making things happen, seeing
- 17:56Speaker 2: progress is what it's about.
- 17:59Speaker 1: And I think that's where we'll leave it. I want
- 18:01Speaker 1: to thank Mayor Roxy Hall for inviting me into her office,
- 18:05Speaker 1: sitting down with me, and answering my questions. You don't
- 18:07Speaker 1: have to agree with every decision somebody makes in public
- 18:11Speaker 1: office to recognize the time they're willing to give their community.
- 18:14Speaker 1: And this conversation wasn't supposed to tell you what to
- 18:17Speaker 1: think of Mayor Hall. It was supposed to let you
- 18:20Speaker 1: hear from her. Because that's something I want this podcast
- 18:22Speaker 1: to keep doing, especially here at home. Talk to the
- 18:25Speaker 1: people making decisions. Talk to the people asking for our votes.
- 18:29Speaker 1: Ask them real questions. And whenever possible, let you hear
- 18:32Speaker 1: their answers instead of me telling you what they said.
- 18:35Speaker 1: I'm Kevin Stone. This is the Kevin Stone Podcast. Follow
- 18:38Speaker 1: the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio.
- 18:43Speaker 1: And Mayor Hall, thank you for sitting down with the
- 18:45Speaker 1: little podcast in Ozark. We're getting dangerously close to looking
- 18:49Speaker 1: legitimate around here. Still haven't been to Harvard, though. I'll
- 18:51Speaker 1: talk to you next time.
- 19:00Speaker 2: This concludes our broadcast day. Good night, and God bless America.