Candidates discuss city government Monday

Four candidates for municipal government made their pitch to voters at a forum in the Washington Free Public Library Monday night. City councilor Bob Shepherd and park board candidate Larry Bartlett are both running unopposed. The only contested race in the city is for the at-large council seat held by Karen Wilson-Johnson, and her opponent is Mark Kendall.

Ed Raber, director of the Washington Economic Development Group, read a list of prepared questions to the candidates and then read questions submitted by the audience. During the debate between Wilson-Johnson and Kendall, Raber read a question from the audience about whether the city should be financially involved in demolishing or improving worn-down buildings in town.

Kendall spoke first and said, ?I would tend to say the city should be involved but only as a last resort, such as when the buildings are falling.?

Wilson-Johnson spoke about the city?s purchase of the collapsed buildings on South Marion Avenue in 2009. She said she viewed that purchase as a last resort because nothing was happening with the buildings.

?We don?t think, ?Here?s a bad-looking building. We can grab it and rehab it,?? she said. ?This is a situation where we?re trying to keep the downtown looking beautiful. We knew it was going to be a long legal battle and that the building was going to sit there. When the city took control, it was felt that something would have been done before now. But after we took control, the project has been delayed. A lack of financing has stopped a lot of what we?ve wanted to do. The city would much rather encourage businesses and citizen groups to do it.?

Wilson-Johnson said the city offered developers incentives to purchase the South Marion buildings but that the effort failed because there were no takers.

Raber also asked the candidates how the city council could improve Washington?s image. Kendall, who has lived in Washington for 10 years, said the town?s image is already very good.

?As an outsider, I don?t think locals truly appreciate what they have here,? he said. ?You walk through downtown and it is like a street out of Disneyland. There are a lot of things about this community that are very appealing. How do you get current citizens to keep the properties up? I don?t think it?s that significant of a problem. If you have a trash problem, enforce your ordinances, but I think we have enough ordinances on the books that I would not propose changing them.?

Wilson-Johnson said one of the best ways to entice property owners to clean up their properties is to keep the city areas clean as well. Wilson-Johnson said she was embarrassed that the collapsed buildings have stood so long after their roof caved in in 2006.

?We have a beautiful town, and we forget how beautiful it is because we get focused on how awful certain areas are,? she said. ?Thank goodness the people who come through town mostly see the nice areas and do not get stuck on the little eyesores that drive me crazy.?

Raber asked the candidates what the city will do about engineering services after Dec. 31, which is the last day the city will employ a city engineer. The council recently voted to eliminate that position.

Wilson-Johnson said that was a difficult vote but that the move was a way to cut costs, which she said the city desperately needed to do. She said the engineering on the wastewater plant is done mostly through the contractors working on the project. She also said the city could employee the county?s engineers on a part-time basis if it needed an engineer.

Kendall said the city should look at whether it needs a city engineer in the future. He agreed with Wilson-Johnson that the city should approach the county about using its engineers.

The candidates were asked about the significant increase to residents? utility bills and how the city should handle such increases in the future.

Wilson-Johnson said, ?I know that increase hurt and it hurt bad. I?m paying the same fee as everyone else. Unfortunately, it appears it was something that had not been looked at for many years on council. In the past several years, there were things that weren?t brought up to council that should have been.?

Wilson-Johnson said that the city had no choice but to implement steep increases to the utility bill in order to pay for the new wastewater treatment facility.

Kendall said the current council did a good job of handling the recent rate increase. He said Iowa Renewable Energy (IRE) is having its waste transported to other cities for processing. He said the city should look into an agreement with IRE so that it disposes most of its waste in Washington.

Shepherd is running for re-election in Ward 1, which is the northwest section of town. He said a lot has changed since he became a councilor nearly 12 years ago. Shepherd said the city relies on the help of many people and organizations to improve the town. He spoke about the city?s newest aid ? its city administrator, Brent Hinson.

Shepherd also talked about the comprehensive plan the city is planning. He said he and the council want as much input as possible from the residents.

Bartlett is running for an at-large seat on the park board that is currently occupied by Carol Ray, who was appointed earlier this year but who declined to seek election. He said he is proud of the city?s parks. He said New Dawn in Sunset Park and the swimming pool have been great for his children and now his grandchildren, too. He said he looks forward to the soccer fields on the north edge of town.

?I realize that is only a temporary solution, but that gives the city and the park board a little more time to develop an alternative plan,? he said.