Faith led Rev. Rodgers Kirk to community leadership. Hope brings him back on the supervisor ballot a second time.
He remains committed to bringing social leadership to a board he believes should have a bigger vision than law enforcement, rural roads, and zoning questions.
That begins with the jail.
“I’ve listened to this project of building a new juvenile facility or jail, looking at costs $30-plus million,” he said. “I’m looking at all the crime going on right now in our neighborhoods. I’m saying the board has a responsibility in helping to solve this.”
Kirk finished fourth in 2018’s hair-tight, six-candidate supervisor race. All six contenders finished within 2 percentage points of each other.
Kirk won 30,089 votes, just 700 less than elected supervisor John Maxwell.
He said he had little doubt he’d try again.
“I’ve always felt this whole role of being a servant, giving back and being a part of making changes. That’s kind of the way I was raised. It rubbed off on us.”
Kirk is lead pastor at Third Missionary Baptist Church, Davenport, and has a rich history of civic engagement. That includes serving as president of the Davenport NAACP chapter and Quad-Cities Interfaith, and serving on the boards of Churches United, Scott County Kids and the Scott County Family Y.
He also served as vice president of the his faith’s national board, the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
County leadership
Kirk said supervisors have an obligation to lead regional justice planning that individual cities and police departments cannot.
“It’s not just a county role. It’s a partnership. But it takes the county leading the way, and Bettendorf and Davenport to be part of that so we can create this juvenile justice piece that will help everybody. But you have to have someone to lead the way. Change that paradigm a bit and look at it from a different perspective.”
He encourages exploration of a regional juvenile assessment center, to help, house and rehabilitate kids in trouble – but before they get in trouble.
“We need a juvenile assessment process that you don’t need to commit a crime to get,” he said.
Mental health
He favors a bigger supervisor role for mental health.
“There’s a direct relationship between the juvenile piece and mental health. Right now, we’re doing the maximum funding we can.”
Kirk said more state aid is needed, but don’t wait for the state legislature. “We need to build partnerships that do more here right now.”
Kirk said he would not reduce sheriff’s funding. But he’s confident that mental health support will reduce sheriff’s expenses. “I’ve been told by deputies about a third of inmates suffer from mental illness and need more care than just talking to someone,” he said.
Rural development
Kirk favors more explicit county guidance on development. County policy now steers most development to property bordering cities. He sees supervisors playing a bigger role.
“A lot of supporters talk to me about rural development. That’s where it becomes delicate. What happened in the LeClaire area and using TIF to build subdivisions, which was wrong. It took away the tax base for schools out there. This needs to be talked about and planned out.”
Most county residents – especially in town – are oblivious to supervisors’ responsibilities. He said that’s on supervisors to fix. “About two out of 10 people really know what the board of supervisors does. We need to get out more and give those communities – the Donahues and Dixons – an opportunity to be a part of discussions and voice their opinions.”
Pandemic control
Kirk said he’s among those supporting a countywide mask mandate.
“We’re combating so much misinformation that we have to get everybody the right information about social distancing and mask wearing. I think we should have a mandatory mask rule because one thing the CDC has said is that mask wearing definitely saves lives."
He backs supervisor Ken Croken’s support of masks. But Kirk was careful to note he’s not Croken. “Ken and I kind of walk together on a lot of different things. Sometimes my approach would be different from Ken’s,” he said.
He said his leadership so far hasn’t distinguished by political party. “I’m not about to start.”