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2010-02-09

2010-01-19

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Saturday, March 14, 2009 12:12 AM

Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald

Ottawa City Commission candidates listen and prepare Thursday night as Jeff Richards answers a question during a candidates forum at the Franklin County Annex, 14th and Main streets, in Ottawa. Ottawa school board members also had a chance to answer questions Thursday night.

Money matters at candidates forum

By JENALEA MYERS, Herald Staff Writer

Money — the lack of it and where it should be spent — was a hot topic at Thursday’s candidates forum.

The forum was the first chance for the public to hear from Ottawa city commission and school board candidates.

“I’m not running on a platform of change,” Brandon Jones, Osage County Attorney and candidate for the school board, said. “I’d like to get on the board to help. There are already a lot of good policies in place.”

Candidates include incumbents Marge Stevens and Jeanette Lowry and newcomers Darrell Bourque, Roger Lawrence, MaLinda Manis and Jones, whose wife is Franklin County Attorney Heather Jones.

Cutting costs

Manis, whose mother, Helen Hood, is running for city commission and whose father is County Commissioner David Hood, said money for activities and athletics should be examined.

“I’d like to know how those monies are allocated and spent,” she said. “That’s a policy I would like to look at and revisit.”

If all-day kindergarten is questioned for one possible cut, most candidates said it would be something they’d be willing to defend.

“If I had a cause when I ran eight years ago, that was the cause,” Stevens, who joined the board in 2001, said.

Candidates also were asked how far they would go to keep all-day kindergarten.

“I hope I don’t have to decide that because I would go a long way,” Stevens said.

Lowry, who has been on the board since 1997, said she originally was opposed to all-day kindergarten.

“Many years back I questioned it, but I have, through study and experimentation, seen that it’s really important,” she said.

Lawrence, director of imaging services at Ransom Memorial Hospital, said he supports all-day kindergarten.

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

Budget cuts should have the least impact on students, the candidates agreed.

“You have to look at the impact on student learning,” Bourque, who taught at Ottawa for 38 years, said. “Are we overstaffed in some areas? Yes, we are. It might be beneficial to look at some areas that are overstaffed.”

Budget talk

Candidates for city commission also tackled a number of questions revolving around budgets.

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

Other candidates include incumbents Rocky Fleer and Linda Reed and newcomers Jeff Richards, Shawn Dickinson and Helen Hood.

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.

Other candidates said they support the funding of those organizations and also the Main Street Association.

“If we didn’t have them, the city staff would have to do that,” Reed, who has served one year of an unexpired term on the commission, said. “We need to rely on their expertise. They do a lot of work that people don’t see.”

Dickinson, a student at the Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., said he’d like to see Ottawa become more environmentally friendly.

“I think the city has just begun on green choices,” he said. “There are some things we can do better.”

Candidates discussed how many commissioners, if any, should attend National League of Cities conferences, trips candidates agreed could be costly but beneficial.

“I think it should be limited but not eliminated,” Richards, a member of the Franklin County Planning Commission, said. “We need to network and see what works for other cities.”

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.

Jenalea Myers can be e-mailed at jmyers@ottawaherald.com.