Astros aside, mayoral candidates have different visions for Fayetteville

"How 'bout those Houston Astros!" two-term Mayor Nat Robertson said.

"I'm an Astros fan because Fayetteville has an interest," Mayor Pro Tem Mitch Colvin said.

The Astros brought a minor league franchise to Fayetteville, signing a 30-year lease with the city to build a baseball stadium downtown. The team is playing at Campbell University in nearby Buies Creek until the stadium is ready in 2019.

Robertson said the deal shows he's hitting home runs.

"I felt like, when I came into office, that Fayetteville was really not what it could be. It wasn't competitive with other cities throughout the state or the Southeast," he said.

His work, he said, has helped generate $100 milion in public and private investment to downtown Fayetteville.

"The city of Fayetteville has made great advances and really just pushed forward with development, development codes, quality of life issues," he said. "We're on a roll."

Along with bringing sports and development downtown, Robertson said, reducing crime is a focus for him.

"We've been able to reduce the property crime rate by 24 percent," he said. "We're looking at ways to reduce the violent crime rate. When folks feel safe, they feel good about their community."

But Colvin, a Fayetteville native who has spent the past four years as a member of the City Council, said Robertson has overlooked large segments of the city's population.

"There's a certain segment of the population that, I think, the mayor's concentration has been on for the last four years that have been doing very well. But there's a lot of people in the community that I talk to and in some of the areas I represent that have been left out of the conversation," he said.

Colvin said he worries that Fayetteville offers too few opportunities to entice young people to stay, noting that his two college-age daughters say they're unlikely to return to Fayetteville after they graduate.

"If all of our talent leaves, what does our leadership look like in the next generation?" he asked.

Colvin owns a funeral home that the state recently placed on probation for two years. Regulators say it kept incomplete records and lost documents. In 2014, the board fined the funeral home $1,000, saying it cremated remains without proper authorization.

Colvin said he's been open about the problems and is working to fix them.

"My folks started a business, I took it over and tried to turn it around, and we've had our ups and downs, for sure," he said.

It's Fayetteville, he said, that needs better leadership.

"We just have different philosophies," he said of the difference between him and Robertson. "I am more about collaboration. That has been my No. 1 issue – to work with our other elected bodies, the county commission, the school board, our universities and colleges. Right now, there's a disconnect, and citizens are paying the price.

"We can go so much further by working together," he added. "I want to use the office of the mayor to bring the right parties to the table, to have discussions and talk about how we change our community."

Robertson said his leadership has produced results.

"When you look at where we've come from to where we are now, I think I'm the only candidate to be considered," he said.

Fayetteville voters will decide which man steps up to the plate on Nov. 7. Eight of the city's nine council seats are also up for election.