Two candidates vie for the role of Benton mayor

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - The Town of Benton will soon have a new mayor.

In Bossier Parish, two men are in the running to be the Benton’s next mayor. In the running are James Friday and Kenneth Shiflett, both Republicans.

KSLA News 12′s Donna Keeya spoke to them about their priorities and why they’re the right person for the job.

Friday has over sixteen years of experience on the Benton Council.

“The mayor that is presiding now is resigning due to some issue that he has, so I’m taking his position, hopefully. And then I got three aldermen coming on that’s going to need some training and some explanations of what’s going on in the town and how to do town business,” Friday said.

Shiflett is a business owner in Bossier Parish.

“My business background is enough to allow me to make decisions and listen to folks and see what we need to do as a town and move forward on it,” he explained.

KSLA asked both candidates about their plans for Benton.

“If elected mayor, we got a great community, I hope to maintain the status quo of what we’re already doing. As far as keeping up the infrastructure, we have done that for the past 16 [to] 20 years,” Friday said. “[We] had great leadership with the two past mayors, maybe three past mayors that I’ve served under, plus council members that I’ve worked with.”

“Trying to bring safety to the town, working obviously with the law enforcement agency but also doing things for the kids,” Shiflett said. “You know, we got a ballpark back there, there’s a water ditch, you might be able to do something with that for the kids with bicycles and skateboards, maybe some kind of swimming pool possibly.”