Residents in the city of Sulphur have the opportunity to elect new leadership for the city.
State Rep. Les Farnum, R-Sulphur, and Jacob Stutes are both running for mayor in the May 16 election.
Current Mayor Mike Danahay, who has been in the position since 2019, is not running for reelection, meaning no matter who wins there will be new leadership for the city.
Here’s a look at the two candidates:
Les Farnum
Age: 68
Party: Republican
Elected offices: Louisiana House of Representatives District 33, 2020 to present; 12 years on Calcasieu Parish Police Jury
Occupation: 47 years of experience working in the engineering, maintenance and construction field
Q: Why did you decide to run for Sulphur mayor?
A: Sulphur is the perfect place to raise a family, but it has so many needs due to the fact that it’s over 100 years old. Sulphur needs some vision that’s going to take us to another level, but that’s where my professional experience comes in to take the city to another level of management that has the vision to put forth a true long term plan on how to get out of the place that we’re in, our infrastructure, the rundown aspect of our city, those kind of things need a lot of attention, and they need it very quickly. I won’t have to learn on the job in order to get us there pretty quickly.
Q: Why did you decide to run for mayor while holding a seat as a Louisiana State Representative?
A: It’s a matter of need for the city, and the immediate need that the city has for some effective management and leadership skills that I do possess in order to move us quickly out of the dust that we’re in right now. It was a tough decision for me. I enjoy what I do at the state. I think we’ve accomplished some great things here, but the city’s in desperate need of some immediate leadership.
Q: What is the platform you are running on?
A: I have five points that I’ve put out since last fall when I decided to do this. It’s all around regaining public trust, our infrastructure needs, public works and maintenance organization, government efficiency and getting the pride back in our city and beautifying everything that we can about doing our businesses as quickly and as effectively as we can.
Q: If elected, what would the first things you would do when you take office?
A: I think the very first thing is to start a deep dive into our government, how it’s structured. Is it effectively structured? So the first thing would be a deep dive into our budget, how all of our organization is managed, in order to determine a clear set of goals on where we want to bring the city. That would be the very first thing.
Q: Why should people vote for you?
A: I think it comes down to a resume. When you hire a manager of an organization, it’s going to require a resume, whether you’re in the public sector or the private sector; everything comes down to a resume. I feel like my resume is far superior to my opponent’s, and that’s basically the differentiation between the two of us. I don’t know (Stutes) very well at all, so I just don’t know much about him, other than the fact that he’s not as prepared as I am.
Jacob Stutes
Age: 37
Party: Republican
Elected offices: none
Occupation: Funeral director at Robison/Johnson Funeral Home
Q: Why did you decide to run for Sulphur mayor?
A: The same people that we voted in over time, who are career politicians, keep producing the same thing. I was tired of seeing the same thing going on in our hometown and no clear ownership, so I decided to step up. There’s just no clear ownership with these guys now. They all treat this city hall deal like a retirement gig. Everybody who’s been there is 60-plus years old at the end of their career. They want it like a feather in their cap. I’m tired of seeing that position abused. They’ve not produced anything.
Q: What is the platform you are running on?
A: I would say putting people before politics … Until we become credible, we’re pretty much in a managed decline. Opportunity is not going to come our way just by accident. We have a population loss of about 3% a year, which means 638 people a year choose either not to come here or to leave. When you have a failing infrastructure, no family, community ties, no bids, there’s just nothing happening in Sulphur. Nothing. I’ve campaigned since August, and I’m going to tell you, people are livid that the same old, same old status Quo keeps happening time and time again. We have people with 20 years of government experience saying, ‘Oh, I’ve got all the answers. Let me take four years or eight years of your time and taxpayer money,’ and they don’t produce (anything). I mean, literally, I’ve had more economic developers come and say, ‘Hey, if you get in office, we’re going to develop some stuff, but if you don’t, we’re not.’ I think it’s time for someone with business sense who has had to produce for people to take this city back.
Q: If elected, what would the first things you would do when you take office?
A: I want to do an absolutely hard audit on the standards and operational procedures that they have. They are not holding the bar high. I mean, this was public works, you name it. There is no expectation. There is no clear vision. When you don’t have those things in that regard, you’re going to miss the target every time. But operational standards, we’re going to go through that with the fine-tooth comb to see why we’re producing such sorry results for Sulphur? We’re letting all these telecom communications just wreak havoc on our infrastructure, and everything’s a double standard. We vary our way through stuff. If you know the right people, you can get something done. If you don’t, you have to take a back seat. I’m here to tell you, for me, I absolutely 100% want consistency and predictability. Even the permitting process is just terrible. They would put stop work orders on our hometown people, but yet let a telecom communication company keep coming through here and just running still and act like it’s just, ‘oh, everything’s fine.’ I mean, I don’t think a single mother should have sewer backing up at her house, at City Hall, never calling her back … But, I think that’s a problem with government experience.
Q: Why should people vote for you?
A: I’d say I have the largest track record (as far as) success. From my point of leadership and my skill set, we’ve always had to produce. There’s never been any excuses in the funeral business or in the businesses that I’ve been in proximity to with management. It has to be a noiexcuse type deal where we go with Sulphur. I just think that they need someone that’s bold enough to put the people of Sulphur first. My track record has produced for the public for almost 20 years, and I have always held the public in the highest regard. I’ve always produced for them. I’ve always stayed very neutral with people. I was in the funeral business, so you had to serve everybody. You didn’t get to pick and choose and play politics. I think that’s a hell of a skill set to bring to the table that you’re looking out for everybody. And that’s exactly what I bring to the table. You don’t need political experience in my book to get stuff done.
