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2010-02-09

2010-01-19

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Friday, March 13, 2009 12:15 PM

Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald

Ottawa school board candidates prepare in the background as Bill Henningsen, moderator of Thursday night’s candidates forum, explains the questioning format before the school board portion of the forum at the Franklin County Office Annex, 14th and Main streets in Ottawa. Ottawa City Commission candidates also answered questions Thursday night.

Budget talk highlights candidates forum

The Herald Staff

With the economic downturn, many of the questions at Thursday’s candidates forum revolved around budgets.

Ottawa City Commission candidates Gene Ramsey, Rocky Fleer, Linda Reed, Jeff Richards, Shawn Dickinson and Helen Hood and Ottawa School Board candidates Jeanette Lowry, Marge Stevens, Darrell Bourque, Brandon Jones, Roger Lawrence and MaLinda Manis voiced opinions on topics like city spending, organization funding, all-day kindergarten and No Child Left Behind.

“We’re just trying to live within our means,” Ramsey, who has served four terms on the city commission and four terms as mayor, said. “We’ve just got to work harder.”

Most of the city commission candidates agreed on the steps the commission has taken to cut costs, though Hood said she didn’t agree with the amount of funding that goes to organizations like the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce and Ottawa/Franklin County Economic Development.

“I think the director of the chamber of commerce and O/FCED makes way too much money,” she said.

The topic of all-day kindergarten split some school board candidates. Some spoke in strong support of it, while others said they needed to see more benefits before weighing in.

“The earlier they get going, the better off they do,” Lawrence said.

While all candidates agreed No Child Left Behind has brought improvements, Stevens said she worries too much emphasis is put on testing.

“We have to keep in mind that we can’t test all the time,” she said. “We have to learn some of the time.”

Voters will elect three school board members and three city commissioners. Ottawa races, along with other surrounding school board and city council races, will be decided in the April 7 election.

For more on the candidates forum, read The Herald’s Weekender Edition.

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Budget talk highlights candidates forum

The Herald Staff

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.