By John Fredericks / Staff

Former Roswell Councilman David Tolleson wanted to show the city he was ready to become their mayor on December 1.

If style matters, than he accomplished that objective in Tuesday night’s final mayoral debate, sponsored by The Beacon.

Billed as a free wheeling wide-open event where Roswell mayoral run-off candidates Tolleson and Mayor Jere Wood could exchange their ideas and policies while engaging each other directly a week before the election, the event, held in the outdoor pavilion at Moshka Restaurant drew about 120 people. The debate was true to its hype.

Both candidates went toe-to-toe, took off the gloves and volleyed several sharp exchanges with one another.

Their personal and management styles couldn’t have been more starkly displayed.

It was vintage “Carpe Diem” (Wood) vs. “The Slow and Cautious” (Tolleson).

TOLLESON: IT’S ALL ABOUT (MANAGEMENT) STYLE

Tolleson was prepared, well spoken, quick on his feet and glib. He deftly deflected many of Wood’s charges by turning them back around, and charmed the audience with several quick one-liners, like this retort, when Wood told him to look in the mirror for wasting city staff time on non-starter projects: “I’d rather look to my left for those,” he whimsically quipped. Wood was positioned to his left in the debate.

When questioned about his position on Roswell’s looming budget woes, Tolleson skillfully tap danced around the question and answered with a question to Wood of his own: “During the most recent budget votes, you specifically voted to keep your salary when I voted to cut mayor and council salaries.  Why are your values so out of touch with the average Roswell citizen?”

Wood tried throughout the night to position his opponent as a rudderless ship wandering aimlessly in the night. But Tolleson waltzed through many of Wood’s charges, with responses like this one, concerning his notorious fence-sitting reputation. “I disagree with your disagreement of my characterization, [so] we’ll just agree to disagree.  That’s part of the political process.”

Tolleson was relentless in his attempt to portray Wood as a “Ready, Fire, Aim” personality that often makes knee jerk decisions and then tries to figure out how to get them done.

“In terms of budgeting, style matters,” said Tolleson. “Last year you sent out a memo early in the budget process telling our staff that you would support increases of salaries and a two percent match on their retirement fund. In the end, we did everything we could to institute those, but it was irresponsible to go to your staff before council had talked about the budget.  You promised that you’d be supporting those things. [Your style] creates a real morale issue.”

Tolleson’s other primary example was the Charlie Brown Towers project, where he accused the incumbent of wasting two years of the city staff’s time and the taxpayers’ money in pursuing an agenda that had very tepid community support. Tolleson went back to it three separate times during the 80-minute debate. “Rather than working with the community, the Council and the staff to find alternatives that would be appropriate for our community, that would be community-led, you went forward with your [Charlie Brown Towers] proposal that allowed no other discussion,” Tolleson said.

In one of Tolleson’s most pointed accusations of the night, he accused Wood of taking a “my way or the highway” approach. “[You] cost untold staff, citizen and council time, thereby costing taxpayer dollars…we even had to change our entire committee structure to try to rein you in. Have you put a price tag on what your leadership style has cost the taxpayers?” Tolleson asked.

But Wood finally turned the tables by tacitly telling Tolleson at least he took a position on it, while his challenger rode the fence the whole time. “I pleaded with the council to come up with alternatives when we were considering Charlie Brown. You came forward with no alternatives. You suggested nothing. You took your typical stand: let’s wait to see what the consensus is before I take a position. You still haven’t taken a position as to what the alternative should be to those buildings adjacent to Martin’s Landing, which I think is the wrong thing,” Wood answered.

WOOD: WHERE’S THE BEEF?

Where Tolleson out-shined Wood on style and presentation, the challenger offered up very little in the way of substantive policy positions or solutions.

Wood, on the other hand, had his record of accomplishment to highlight, which is significant, plus he served up several new ideas to solve some of the city’s current challenges. Wood has juxtaposed his campaign against Tolleson by emphasizing his leadership acumen and penchant to get results while trying to paint Tolleson as an empty suit that looks the part - but doesn’t walk the talk.

“During my administration we were named as the third best place to raise a family in the United States. Just this week I’m proud to announce that Business Week named Roswell one of the top two places in the state to raise a family. So that’s what leadership style can do. Leadership brings you a quality city; it makes this a great place to live. You [Tolleson] have to enter the debates to get to the right answer,” Wood emphasized.

Wood then tried to further define his opponent, with some success.

“You can’t make a decision, you can’t take a position and you can’t lead,” Wood said, referring to Tolleson’s council record. “You want this election to be about style. I want it to be about results. I get things done, you don’t. It’s that simple,” Wood stated.

Wood then referenced the Obama for President campaign and attempted to make an analogy to the Tolleson effort, albeit on a local level. Wood said, “Throughout this campaign, you have chosen not to tell the citizens what to expect in your administration. I think we have experience with that on a national level, and I think the citizens should be asking you what to expect rather than just to expect a change and hope that the change is going to be good.  That has not worked on a national level and it won’t work on a local level.”

MILTON COUNTY

In perhaps one of the most compelling differences between the two candidates’ approach to government, Wood reiterated his staunch support for Milton County, while accusing Tolleson of waffling on the issue until he gets more facts in.

“The citizens of Roswell whom I’ve listened to tell me they want to secede from the county.  They recognize that Fulton Co. is a dysfunctional government that’s never going to get better, and looks upon Roswell as it’s cash cow, solely, Wood said. “They don’t represent Roswell, they tax Roswell. Mr. Tolleson, when are you going to let the citizens of Roswell know that you’re going to get behind this program fully, and not just consider it and just dip your feet in the water and wait for a full-blown consensus.  When are you going to join the team and support Milton Co.?” Wood asked, firmly.

Tolleson answered by defending his more cautious approach, which defines the soul of his approach to governance.

“My caveat is this,” Tolleson said, “half, sometimes more, of the revenue of our city of Roswell comes from sales tax. Sales tax is gathered at large across Fulton Co. and then divided per capita. The original [UGA and GA State] studies said it would work. The latest study was done before this latest recession.”

Wood jumped on Tolleson’s response and succinctly drew the distinction between the two candidates. “There’s a difference in the way Mr. Tolleson and I approach things.  I take a position and go forward with it and try to bring people onboard with it. Mr. Tolleson waits until there’s a full decision. That’s not leadership; he’s waiting for other people to make up his mind,” Wood said.

“It does not make sense to blindly follow a goal without knowing what is entailed in that goal. I agree with Milton Co.  [But] you need to know [all] the facts,” Tolleson forcefully responded.

But Wood shot right back: “What Mr. Tolleson said is: don’t get a divorce until you work out a settlement agreement. I think when it’s time to file a divorce you file a divorce.  You work out the settlement and do what needs to be done, but it’s time for divorce; let’s move on. Let’s make a decision.”