Washington candidates present platforms, ideas at forum

WASHINGTON - Washington residents gathered at the Performing Arts and Events Center at Washington High School Wednesday evening to hear the platforms of candidates running for city council and school board.

Hosted by the Washington Chamber of Commerce, the forum was split into two different panels. The first featured uncontested candidates, which included Brendan DeLong and Danielle Pettit-Majewski running for city council and Eric Turner and Kelly Smith running for positions on Washington's school board. Each candidate was given five minutes to address members of the public.

DeLong, who is currently the city council member of Ward 3 and finishing up his first term on city council, highlighted four key items he hopes to continue to tackle if reelected. DeLong stressed the importance of the upkeep of infrastructure in the city, keeping businesses and jobs in Washington, improving the attractiveness of Washington to potential incoming residents, and keeping property taxes low and department heads in check. DeLong highlighted his own expertise in business and strong ties to the community as examples for why he believes he would be a good fit to continue in his position.

Pettit-Majewski, who took on her current position on the city council last July to fill a vacancy as the representative of Ward 1, the county's Public Health director, echoed many of DeLong's points, but also highlighted that she often views issues from a 'public health perspective.” Pettit-Majewski also noted that she was going to fight to 'make sure [Washington] doesn't lose EMS service,” naming the issue as a top priority for her.

'A person's area code determines their health more than genetics or biology,” Pettit-Majewski said, adding that her goal is to make Washington a safe and healthy place for residents.

Eric Turner, an at-large school board member who has already been serving on the board for 14 years, was also seeking reelection. Turner noted that he hopes to continue making sure students have a 'good learning environment” and wants to continue being able to help in decisions that will benefit students.

'I feel we have a good school board, good administration and strong teaching staff and would like to be part of that for another four years,” Turner said.

Kelly Smith, the only uncontested newcomer, is looking to be elected as the board member representing District 1. In her address to the public, Smith outlined her goal to make Washington schools a 'safe and fun place to learn and grow” and plans to 'aid and help the community and schools grow.” Smith noted her involvement with the school currently through her own children and hopes through participation in the school board, she will be able to 'support kids and empower teachers.”

Following the panel with the uncontested candidates, a panel featuring Sonia Leyva and Evan Young, who are both running for the District 4 school board seat, and Millie Youngquist and Andy Drahota, who are running for the at-large city council seat, began with opening statements which lead to prepared questions moderated by Michelle Redlinger Exective Director of the Washington Chamber of Commerce.

Throughout the panel, Leyva, a speech pathologist who currently serves on the school board, stressed the diversity she brings to the board and hopes that with reelection, she will continue to bring a different perspective that will represent the Latino community as well as serve as a role model for Latino youth. When asked what strategies she would want the board to pursue in order to deliver a quality education to students, Leyva stated she hopes to continue bringing different leadership opportunities as well as activities to students, which she believes will allow students to feel as if they have a certain ownership over their own education.

'It's important that students ... feel like they have a voice and that they matter,” Leyva noted.

As a newcomer, Young noted that through running for school board, he hopes to provide 'another option” for voters and that he hopes to bring new and fresh ideas to the board. Young explained that he feels the board has been doing 'good work” in the past several years and if elected, he would want to continue the trajectory the board is already on. Young also stated that he feels it is important to keep class sizes small and to be able to provide the staff of the school district the training that they may feel is necessary to be good educators.

Following the school board candidates, Youngquist and Drahota, both vying for the at-large city council seat, also answered prepared questions. Drahota explained that he was running for city council because he 'has a passion for housing” within Washington and hopes to continue to build upon the housing the city already has. Drahota and his wife run a business in the community that fixes up run down properties and the candidate hopes to bring his expertise as a business owner, specifically in housing and as a property owner and landlord, to the council. When asked what he feels the current council can improve on, Drahota noted that the council could work on having better communication with the public and distributing information on changes the council decides to implement that affect residents of the city.

Youngquist, who currently holds the seat noted that she 'enjoys being part of a community that is shaping Washington's future.” Youngquist was first elected into the seat in 2014 and stated one of her goals for the future is getting the city designated as a Great Place in Iowa, a designation given by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. She noted the designation would open a significant source of grant funding that would allow the city to implement further improvements. Youngquist also echoed Pettit-Majewski's concerns over losing EMS service stating that the issue is of 'utmost importance.”