Meet Washington’s Ward 2 candidates

WASHINGTON — With an open seat on the Washington City Council up for election on Feb. 14, three candidates have their names on the ballot.

They are similar in many ways. All three vowed to seek community input on decisions, keep a tight municipal budget and open dialogue on proposed railroad quiet zones in the city. Most of the differences end there, however, with the contenders coming from diverse backgrounds and bringing diverse ideas to the polls.

The field of potential representatives for Ward 2 have stated their views on several hot-button issues in interviews and at a forum hosted by the Washington Chamber of Commerce Tuesday night.

Ivan Rangel

Ivan Rangel owns a construction business in Washington, which he has run for 28 years. He said he was running for his kids, and to improve constituents’ access to the their local government through his bilingual skills.

“I’ve got three kids, they all go to different schools, so I want to keep Washington a place they want to continue to live in,” he said. “Also, I know there’s a growing Latino and Hispanic community in town, and I know from experience a lot of people don’t speak out or voice their opinion if there’s a language barrier, if they don’t know English. I believe I can make that bridge.”

At the public forum, Rangel said his top priorities for the city were housing development and building permit reform.

“On the residential side, when you do remodels, at the time you don’t have to pull a permit to do that,” he said. “In other cities, you have to be licensed and registered with the state … I think that help residents select a contractor.”

To accomplish those goals, he said he’d consult officials in the city.

"I would get in touch with the building department, and see what we could do,“ he said.

On the issue of qualifications, Rangel said his management background and construction experience had taught him about working with people and money.

“I’m a small-business owner, I deal with day-to-day finances,” he said. “I could bring in my insider knowledge about construction, which the city deals a lot with.”

Asked why people should vote for him, Rangel said he was committed to working based on community input.

“I’m open-minded, I’m not set in my ways,” he said. “I really want to hear what the community’s needs are … I want to do what’s best for the community, not what’s best for the city, if that makes sense.”

Jennine Wolf

Jennine Wolf is a former Washington County Environmental Health Director where she said she worked for 19 years before retiring. Now, she’s a part-time secretary at Washington United Methodist Church. She said she had a desire to return to public service.

"I worked a lot with the community, the county, and I miss doing that,“ she said. ”I thought this would be an opportunity for me to help in a different way.“

At the public forum, Wolf said her top priorities in office would likely include homelessness, and infrastructure improvements, as well as affordable housing and emergency response.

“I don’t mean $300,000 homes, I mean affordable housing for people on low income,” she said. “And I would like to continue to support public safety in our town. That means the police department, fire department … I believe if we give them our support and anything they need to help them grow in their job, it’s only a benefit for Washington.”

Wolf acknowledged that accomplishing those ends would be no easy feat.

”We have the homeless shelter, but we also have many other problems that need to have solutions found … such as the police department, such as the hospital end of things, a lot of the citizens and how you deal with mental health,“ she said. ”A lot of these people are going to have to sit down to the table and get some discussion going.“

On the issue of qualifications, Wolf touted her extensive experience working in local government.

"I learned about developing policies and procedures and implementing policies and procedures,“ she said. ”So I believe I have a good understanding of government, I have a good understanding of law … of budget and what it takes to develop one and implement one too. I believe my knowledge will be an asset to Ward 2.“

In an interview, Wolf said that experience was her main appeal to voters.

“I’ll be doing basically the same thing, only it’ll be city ordinance,” she said. “You’ll still have to develop working relationships with a lot of different people in the city.”

Richard Conrad

Richard Conrad is a part-time comedy hypnotist, but he’s held many positions, as a non-commissioned officer, firefighter and emergency responder, ambulance staff member, American Legion Riders president and at the Veteran’s Affairs hospital. A friend of former Council Member Steve Gault — whose vacancy he’d fill — Conrad said he had long been interested in running for the office.

”I didn’t want to run for councilman because (Gault) and I were in the same ward, so I decided it was time to step up and see if they’d let me take his place,“ Conrad said. ”I’ve got some opinions, I’ve been talking to people … and I want to put my word in.“

At Tuesday night’s public forum, Conrad said he wanted to “set a budget that would let our infrastructure grow, without raising taxes.” He also said economic development should be the city council’s top priority.

"One of my big things is bringing jobs back into the city,“ he said. ”We’ve lost three factories that I know of … and that’s really hurt us, people leaving town … I would like to see the jobs come back to this town, and I don’t think that’s something we actively pursue enough.“

To that end, Conrad said the city should work more closely with the Washington Economic Development Group, along with some improvisation.

"If I had to go out and try to bring in new jobs from somewhere, if I heard anything, I’d be happen to,“ he said. ”I guess I’d just use my experience, and see what I come up with.“

Asked about qualifications at the forum, Conrad said he had plenty of experience in a leadership role.

“I was a non-commissioned officer, I had troops underneath me, and I had to sometimes make decisions that were sometimes not well-liked, but such is life,” he said. “When I was on the fire and rescue — I hope this would never (happen) during a council meeting — sometimes I had to make snap, emergency decisions as a team leader out in the field … I bring some maturity along with me too in my decision-making process.”

In an interview, Conrad said his strongest point as a candidate was his willingness to hear people out.

"I would try to be as fair as I could, and equal to each person, you can’t please everybody all the time,“ he said. ”I learned a lot about dealing with people … I think my experience through the years in dealing with people will make a difference, I really do.“

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com