Elections are coming up. We have three openings on our City Council and we have had only three candidates qualified for the November election. They are:
Incumbent, Ron Cox
Incumbent, Rick Wykoff, and
Candidate, Linda Koelling
Now, your City Council has the prerogative to either hold an election or proceed to appoint the three candidates to the three open positions. At our Monday, August 18th meeting, we made the three appointments.
Prior to the appointment, there was considerable discussion about the impact this decision would have on the public. The major concern that the Council had was to make sure that the public has the opportunity to meet the candidates, to get to know them and to be able to assess each of the candidate?s ability to govern our City.
Here is what I proposed, a televised public meeting with the City Council. At the meeting each of the candidates would have the opportunity to introduce themselves, describe their background and to discuss the attitudes and qualifications that they bring to our City Council. Each candidate and Councilmember would then be expected to field any question that they might receive from the public.
Next, and this is most important, each candidate would then be asked to describe the major issues and problems that they see the Council will be facing in the coming year. The candidates would be asked not only to identify the major upcoming problems but also to describe, in terms of their concept of governance, how they would propose to handle and resolve these problems.
You see, it is very important to direct these discussions at issues and managing the resolution of these issues. That way you will not only get to know the candidates but you will become better informed on the conditions of our City. And of course, questions will be welcomed and encouraged from the public.
After the public meeting, the program would be re-televised several times prior to the November polling date and the public would be encouraged to contact the appropriate candidate (or councilmember) to discuss their concerns. The City Council will consider my proposal at the September 2, 2003 City Council meeting.
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