Cory Grant

At-Large

1. Why are you running for City Council?
I’ve been involved in the city here at Storr’s Hill for over 15 years. I ran for city council 5-6 years ago and I lost by a little bit. I figured it was time to put my name back out on the ballot and see how that goes. But one of the city councilors that is stepping down kinda endorsed the idea of me running. I want to make sure that we broaden our eyes and horizons to different aspects of the city.

2. What skills and experiences would you bring to the position?
I’m an involved Lebanon resident that’s been working with the community for many years. I’ve run my own computer business and I’ve run a nonprofit for many years. I think that would help out a lot.

3. What’s one thing you want other people to know about you?
I’m very selfless. I put everybody else first before myself. I’m not looking for a gain for me. I’m looking for a gain for everyone else. For example, the amount of hours I put into the ski area to provide for everyone. To make sure we have smiling faces for everyone at the hill. And arranging sponsors to keep the area free for skiing.

4. What are your top 2 priorities that you want to address if you win?
Public service and fiscal responsibility. To me, fiscal responsibility is: every year we make a budget, but we go over that budget. We should be more responsible with that budget and try to maintain it. We have to hold people accountable for it too. We need checks and balances to make sure that it’s being followed, run and operated correctly.

Public service is something that every town, city, state, and country needs. We need the public services to protect our homes, loved ones, families, and neighbors. We should work to give them the resources and support that they need to make sure that this is the best city we can have.

5. Lebanon, like many other cities, is facing challenges with rising property taxes. If the city were required to reduce spending, which service or program would you consider for reduction first? Which should be protected most strongly from cuts?
Hard to say what to reduce first. I would be new coming into this. But I think a lot of cuts would go away if we had fiscal responsibility. We need to protect our public services: fire, EMS, police, grounds crew. It all falls into a big blanket of public services. If we start to shy away from some of that, it opens the window to what we’d be inviting into our city.

6. Lebanon is home to residents from widely varying economic, generational, and cultural backgrounds. Please share a few ideas for how to make Lebanon a place where these residents can thrive.
This is a broad question, but… entertainment I remember when I was younger we had Woolworths—people would meet over there for breakfast or lunch. You’d always see a group of elders or a group of community members and everyone knew everyone. You had things to do. You had Benning Street in West Leb. There were more things to do. People could go out after a work day, meet up, throw some darts, shoot some pool. I think over time we’ve lost some sight of that. It’d be great to bring those things back.

I think we need to find something like the coffee shop where everyone knows your name.

7. What’s the best way for voters to reach you?
I want to know what voters want and would like to see. I want to be a spokesperson for the public. It shouldn’t just be ideas from me. It should be ideas from the community. You can get a hold of me by cellphone 603 359 6932 or email corygrnt@gmail.com, or even show up at Storr’s Hill and talk to me! Open door. That’s why I’m running.