Gary Floyd said Friday he would bring a “common sense” approach to City Hall focusing on delivering city services and lowering property taxes to what he calls the core citizenry — retail workers and small business owners.
Floyd, who works at Karl’s TV and Appliance, said many Sioux Cityans struggle to make ends meet and to pay their property tax and utility bills. He questioned whether the city is charging neighboring towns enough money who buy city water and use the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
He pledged to lower property taxes, but said he would not advocate reducing the police and fire budgets, which constitute almost two-thirds of the city’s property tax budget.
“I would like to beef up a couple of areas there. I think you can lower taxes and still cover your services,” said Floyd, 55, of 3401 Athlone Ave.
Until he announced his candidacy, Floyd served as the talk show host for KSCJ’s “Swap Shop.”
During the campaign, he said he will address a number of issues, including the need to attract companies to Sioux City who offer good-paying jobs, traffic enforcement, consulting fees and what he called “frivolous lawsuits,” referring to the Doctor John’s Lingerie Boutique case. The City Council agreed to pay $220,000 to store owner John Haltom to settle the adult store case.
“We have all this retail going in here. Do we have enough people to support it? … If we have more retail outlets, how do we get more people to come here?”
One way would be to attract more out-of-towners to attend concerts and events in Sioux City, he said.
“We ought to be beefing up our entertainment value” bringing big-name acts to the Orpheum Theatre and Tyson Events Center, he contended.
One of his goals is to start a School for Performing Arts, saying, “We have talent around here. It’s my city and I want to give back.” He taught classes while living in Canada, teaching at the Conservatory of Music in Nova Scotia.
He and his wife, a Canadian, raised their boys in Canada for a number of years, where he worked in retail.
If elected, he said, he would not accept the city insurance plan offered to City Council members. Floyd will square off with four other candidates for mayor in the Oct. 9 primary election that will pare the list to two nominees.
Floyd’s interest in being a public servant stems from his days at Central High School, where he graduated in 1970.
“I thought Mayor Gary Floyd had a nice ring to it,” he quipped, noting all the places named Floyd after Sgt. Charles Floyd, the only member to die on the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
After graduation, which was during the height of the Vietnam War, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving three years as a cryptologic technician. After his discharge, he went to college full-time at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, Calif., while working as a civilian full-time for the Naval Security Group. He majored in speech and minored in theatrical arts.
Through the years, he has acted in and directed plays wherever he lived. Most recently, he was involved with the Sioux City Community Theater’s “Wizard of Oz.”
After leaving California, he moved to Des Moines where he worked for the Internal Revenue Service for three years and then moved with his wife and three sons to Nova Scotia. They have since divorced. He returned to Sioux City in 2000 to help take care of his mother, Georgia Floyd, who has since died. He now lives in the family home.
“I am glad I came back,” he said.
For more than 30 years, he played hardball, fast-pitch and slow pitch on adult teams and has coached youth baseball. He has not served on any city boards or commissions.
He has three sons: William, 28, of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Kenneth, 26, of Atlanta, Ga., and David, 25, of Sioux City, who just returned from 14 months in Iraq while serving with the Iowa Army National Guard.
