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A Democratic incumbent is hoping to fend of a challenge from a first-time candidate in a primary for the city’s Fourth Ward seat this spring.
Virginia Smith, who was first elected in 2011, will try and defend her seat on the Urbana City Council from Everett Piper, a first-time Democratic candidate who said he believes residents need a stronger voice on the council.
Smith worked at Honda for 26 years but retired in 2013. Smith is a life-long Urbana resident who initially won the seat four years ago after she defeated a previous incumbent. She initially wanted the job to represent residents, and said she has worked well with other council members.
In particular, there have been numerous nuisance complaints in the city’s Fourth Ward and if re-elected she would work with other council members and residents to resolve some of those complaints, Smith said.
As a council member, she said she helped review the current ordinance to see if it could be improved. Smith said she has been responsive to concerns from residents in the ward, often meeting them in person.
The city has numerous projects in the works, including infrastructure upgrades and looming building projects at Urbana City
“We’ve got wastewater treatment, we’re working on sewer lines, we’re putting in water lines, we’ve got everything going at one time,” Smith said. “With our city administration they’re great, so I don’t think it’s going to be too much of a battle. We’ll get it done.”
Piper retired from Navistar in 2002 after a 30-year career, but said he has remained busy working as a parking enforcement officer with the Urbana Police Division. That job helped him meet residents throughout the city and learn about some of the issues they’re concerned with, Piper said.
“When you write parking tickets, people don’t like that. But that’s how I got acquainted with a lot of people downtown,” Piper said.
Residents in the ward have complained about several basic issues, including a slow response for snow removal and potholes not being quickly repaired, Piper said. He thought about running for a long time but ultimately decided he could represent the ward well, he said.
“I’m not a politician,” Piper said. “It just got to the point where it made me mad that the Fourth Ward is not getting the representation that they need, and that’s what made me do it.”
He thinks the main issue facing the city now is its aging water infrastructure, which he added the city is working to repair over time.
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