The main issue facing Pratt is that it is the highest taxed city in Kansas. That is the platform for City Commission candidate Dale Phye.
“That is the highest priority. Everything else is secondary,” Phye said.
The city doesn’t have the highest income in the state so why does it have the highest tax rate? It is bad for the town and is running people away, Phye said.
Phye has several ideas to cut expenses for Pratt. He suggests a 50 percent pay cut for city commissioners, refinance any city payments, sell the Green Sports Complex and let it be privatized. It would probably be run more efficiently, Phye said.
He also wonders why if the new high school was supposed to help bring people to Pratt that people are still leaving. The approaching four-lane highway will also be a problem for Pratt. People will drive on by instead of stopping and that will result in lost revenue.
He wants to change the city commission meeting starting time from 5 to 7 p.m. to allow more people to attend. He thinks the 5 p.m. starting time gives people the impression the commission doesn’t want to listen the people who elected them.
“They still have to answer to the people who voted them in,” Phye said.
He would also like to see a town hall meeting before the city commission meeting to encourage people to give their opinions.
This is Phye’s first run for city commission. He thought about starting a conservative talk radio program. Instead, with the encouragement of friends, he decided to seek election. He feels he knows more about running government then the average person but admits he doesn’t know it all.
A year ago he had no interest in city government and no interest in voting.
“I felt I was part of the problem,” Phye said.
He was not satisfied with the presidential outcome. He was frustrated with the way the government was stepping on the Constitution and how federal and local government could pick and chose what rights they controlled. No one has the right to tell a property owner what property owners can or can’t do with his or her property. He worried if a city government could ban smoking they could also ban praying, Phye said.
“We need to get the Constitution out of the trash,” Phye said. “We need to stand up and say no. We need to draw a line in the sand.”
Phye calls himself a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. Currently he works for Basic Energies and has been there three years as a bulk truck operator.
He has a wide variety of work experience. He was an elevator operator for Byers Coop, worked at Cross Manufacturing, he is a certified nurses aid, took auto mechanics courses at Pratt Community College, worked for Excel Industries, drove a motorcycle for Farrars Iron Foundry in Norwich, worked for Mid Continent Industries in Newton, was a metal fabricator and painter.
Phye, 42, is engaged to Lea Ann Raleigh. Between them they have four children. Nichole Phye, 18, and D.J. Phye, 14, Jacquelyn Bowser, 16 and Meghan Bowser, 22.
He attended Skyline and graduated with a GED. After one year in the Kansas Army Reserves he joined the Kansas Army National Guard and served for seven years and operated an 88M.
Pratt, Kan. —
