Helena-West Helena City Council · Ward 1
Robert Cheek
for City Council, Ward 1
Competent, honest, transparent city government — and a council member who does the work between meetings, not just at the dais.
Helena-West Helena City Council · Ward 1
for City Council, Ward 1
Competent, honest, transparent city government — and a council member who does the work between meetings, not just at the dais.
Why I'm running
Fifteen years managing data and budgets at scale for our schools. Four years on the A&P Commission. And the last several years fighting — in public and on paper — for fair, accountable water rates.
My family and I own and operate the Edwardian Inn. I'm running for Ward 1 to support the mayor's office the right way: not by rubber-stamping, but by doing the homework, asking the hard questions, and being accountable to the people I'd represent.
The record
I read the rate study, ran the comparisons, and drafted full alternative water and sewer ordinances — plus a draft ordinance to establish an independent water commission. And the increase we're now locked into keeps climbing on its own: an average monthly water and sewer bill rises from about $43 toward $60 by 2033. Not opinions. Legislation. Read the commission draft & the plain-language summary →
The council agreed on the record that the first increase would take effect January 1, 2025 — then the new rate landed on December bills, including one dated 12/30/2024. I caught it, put the citywide impact at roughly $180,000, and raised it publicly and with City Hall. Reading the fine print and holding officials to what they said is the job.
On the Advertising & Promotion Commission, I helped run the search for a new director and onboarded our new leadership — the unglamorous work of keeping a public body functioning well.
Meeting reports built from the city's own packets and video — every quote checked against the recording, so any neighbor can see the work and check the record for themselves.
Council Watch · № 14 · August 26, 2026 special meetingAn emergency bid waiver to rent an automated side loader ($10,400–$10,900 for four weeks), a $260,000 used-truck option on the table, and the council's sanitation math — the recap, the documents, and the full transcript, every line playing the city's own video.
Read the record → Council Watch · № 3 · August 20, 2026 special meeting$210,000 over 60 months through Commercial Capital. The 30-second summary, the recap, the documents to the dollar, and all 175 turns of the transcript — every line playing the city's own video.
Read the record → Council Watch · № 2 · August 19, 2026 special meetingThe chief's fleet report, the mayor's fund-balance case, and the FOIA press-notice issue that pushed the decision a day — 212 transcript turns, three documents.
Read the record → Council Watch · № 1 · August 18, 2026 regular meetingThe community-service ordinance passes, public-comment rules go back for rework, water and sanitation report deep trouble — every document and all 493 transcript turns linked to the video.
Read the record →What I'll fight for
Ordinance language, budgets, and spending public and understandable before votes — not after. Public hearings for rate changes. Leadership measured on results.
Support the execution of the water funding already secured, demand accountability on every dollar and deadline, and finish the fight for an independent water commission. See the draft →
From the historic core to West Helena — a council member you can actually find, at your door and at the meeting, already having read the fine print.
Rooted in Helena
I've lived in Helena since 2014 and have owned and operated the Edwardian Inn since 2019 — a 120-year-old building in the heart of downtown Ward 1. Meeting payroll, taxes, and regulations every day teaches you how government decisions actually land on the people who live with them.
I didn't leave. I invested. And I want the same for the rest of our ward.
Get involved
A small ward is won one conversation at a time. Leave your name and Robert will know Ward 1 is behind him — and you'll hear from the campaign when it counts, like when early voting opens Oct 19.
Takes twenty seconds. It goes straight to Robert.
Robert reads every one of these, and he'll be in touch. In the meantime, the single most useful thing you can do costs nothing: mention his name to one neighbor. Then vote early, Oct 19–Nov 2.