MEET THE CANDIDATES
By ANDREA FURLONG
Three city council candidates and mayor Frank Murphy are running unopposed in the Williamsburg City election Tuesday, Nov. 3. Marty Bunge and Pat McGovern are running for the seats of council members Marcia Greiner and Tom McAreavy, while Adam Grier is running for a seat he was appointed to last year. Murphy is the longest serving candidate on the ballot, with two years of experience as mayor. Polls will be open from 12 to 8 p.m., Nov. 3, at the Williamsburg Rec Center.
Due to a publishing error, last week’s sample ballot omitted Grier. See page 10 for the corrected ballot.
In the Parnell City Council election, all five council seats and mayor JoLinda Schlesselman’s seat are up for grabs, as the town continues its tradition of writing in candidates. The current council members are Ed O’Brien, Jim Carney, Lars Lavendar, Dave Quiram and Sharon Weldon. Polls will be open from 12 to 8 p.m., Nov. 3, at Parnell City Hall.
See left, for interviews with the Williamsburg City Council candidates.
Marty Bunge
Marty Bunge is a photographer who has lived in the Williamsburg community for eight years.
Q: Why are you running for the Williamsburg City Council?
A: I just think it’s important to give back to the community.
Q: In your mind, what do you see as the responsibilities of a city council member?
A: I think being a good steward of the money, that you watch the budget and make sure we’re spending our money the way we should be.
Q: What are the most critical issues facing Williamsburg right now?
A: Probably the biggest one in my eyes is to take a look at economic development. With the news out of Monsanto and Williamsburg Manufacturing, I think creating jobs and getting employment opportunities back into the community is a big priority.
Q: How will you help reach solutions for these issues?
A: I owned a business for 13 years, managed the newspapers here in Iowa County for six years. I think I can bring business experience.
As a member of the newspaper you tend to follow the city council closely, so I’m aware of what’s been going on in
Adam Grier
Adam Grier works as the safety director for Manatt’s, Inc., Brooklyn. He has lived in Williamsburg for two and half years. Grier has served on the city council since Paul Lortz’s resignation in July of 2008.
Q: Why are you running for the Williamsburg City Council?
A: I enjoy being a part of the community and having a say in what goes on. I just want to make sure that we’re getting the best value for our taxpayer dollars.
Q: In your mind, what do you see as the responsibilities of a city council member?
A: Being the point of reference for neighbors and other citizens to voice their concerns and bringing those concerns to the appropriate city employees or to the city council.
Q: What are the most critical issues facing Williamsburg right now?
A: I think (they are) keeping our taxes as low as possible to help those who are struggling financially and providing a good place for businesses to stay and possibly relocate to Williamsburg.
Q: How will you help reach solutions for these issues?
A: Just offering my own perspective as a homeowner and doing what’s best for our family, and using those same principles that I’ve grown up with and applied.
Q. If elected, what other issues will you focus on?
I’d like to continue being involved with improving the safety of our city employees through our safety committee that we implemented last summer. I’d still like to improve sidewalks.
Q: Of the decisions made by the council since the last election (two years ago), which one would you have changed and why?
I would say, the city’s involvement in the child development center. If there was such a need for a child development center, it should have been able to have been funded privately and not involved the city’s resources.
I think if there were enough people in the area that demanded that service, that should be funded by the families that use that center. To the best of my knowledge, the city has incurred at least $15,000 on inspection fees. And once it’s all built, the city owns the building and there’s a possibility of future problems and issues with the city owning it.
Q: Explain what cuts you would make to deal with a budget crisis to balance the city’s budget? Please be specific, for example stating what departments or services would be cut or frozen, or both:
One would be leaf and limb pick-up. Our public works employees have a lot on their plate, and I think the homeowners and property owners should dispose of leaves and limbs on their own.
If there were such a demand for the resources that the library provides, I’d prefer to see the operating costs and building costs of the library privately funded, as opposed to being funded by taxpayer dollars.
Q: How are you currently involved in the community?
I was appointed a council member last July. I’m part of the Iowa County Runners Club, a parishioner at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Williamsburg, and a member of the Knights of Columbus.
What attributes, skills and experience do you possess that will aid your ability to be an effective council member?
Good listener. I let fellow citizens know I can empathize with their concerns and will look for ways to best resolve them.
Pat McGovern
Pat McGovern is a program evaluator and research analyst for the Iowa Consortium for Substance Abuse, Research and Evaluation, Iowa City. He has lived in Williamsburg for the past five years.
Q: Why are you running for the Williamsburg City Council?
A: I just look at it as a good way to volunteer.
Q: You have been the spokesperson for the childcare providers’ interests in the Williamsburg Child Development Center, a joint city and childcare business project. You currently serve on the project’s executive building committee. If elected, will you continue to serve on that committee?
A: No, I would not, and I’ve notified them of that fact. I would follow the city attorney’s recommendations as far as . . . if I’m able to vote and take part in discussions.
Q: It is well known that the childcare center has become somewhat controversial, since the first contractor filed for bankruptcy, stalling the project for several weeks. The childcare center’s executive building committee and the city have also sparred over the project’s finances. Has your involvement in that project influenced your decision to run? think my involvement in the child development project with the city council influenced me to run. I think it was more my experience with the whole project. I know the city’s undertaking the library project, which is a much bigger project, but it’s along similar lines. I think my experiences with the child development project and some of the pitfalls we’ve run into may help with the library project and other capital development projects the city undertakes in the future.
4. In your mind, what do you see as the responsibilities of a city council member?
I think the biggest responsibility is that city council members are stewards for the community and to always keep the best interests of the community in mind. That’s not so easy to do when you get into the nitty gritty of a project or something like that, but just always remember to try to look at the bigger picture and weigh the pros and cons of how the actions or the vote or the decisions the council is making will impact the overall community.
5. What are the most critical issues/problems facing Williamsburg right now?
It’s not really a problem, but the new library, I think, is a really big project. I know people have been working on it for several years already. There’s been some really positive movement on the last year in that or so, so I think keeping that moving forward and eventually having a beautiful library for the community is probably one of the biggest issues that I’m aware of.
I know that reading the summaries from the council meetings it looks like they’ve recently gotten a report about some water loss, and I don’t know if that’s a big thing or not, but it sounds like something they might take action on relatively soon.
6. What knowledge, experience or ideas will you bring to the table in reaching solutions for these issues?
I think my experience with the child development center — albeit it different funding sources and a different type of project — is similar to what the city will be undertaking with the library. I hope that I can at least ask questions that maybe someone who hasn’t been through a project like that wouldn’t think of or wouldn’t know to ask. I think I’m a pretty good active listener, so I can dig a little deeper and ask questions that need to be asked.
With the water loss thing . . . I’m very curious to see where that’s coming from and help brainstorm and problem solve on how we can address that issue and any other future issues that come up.
7. If elected, what other issues will you focus on improving within your time as a council member?
I think I’d like to continue the work of the current city council and previous city councils in helping to attract more families and more people to Williamsburg and keep our community growing, while at the same time maintaining the small community feel that we have.
8. Q: Of the decisions made by the council since the last election (two years ago), which one would you have changed and why?
I would probably have to say something about the child development center because that’s what I’ve been most involved with. But, I’ve always respected the council and understand that they’re looking out for the entire community, whereas when I was before the council talking about the child development center, I was focusing on the child development center.
A lot of the decisions that have been made about the project we had to make due to the current conditions, like when we had the wet soils issue, when the contractor went bankrupt. Those are things we decided to work through and made some tough decisions on.
So, to give you an answer, probably, a little more support for the child support. I use support very broadly, because it could have been financial support or it could have been some more positive feedback within the community to show that even though we have our differences at times, the city council and the executive building committee are both working toward having a child development center that is an asset to the community.
8. Q: Explain what cuts you would make to deal with a budget crisis to balance the city’s budget. Please be specific, for example stating what departments or services would be cut or frozen or both:
Cuts are probably going to need to be made, but I would try to look at ways that resources could be shared across departments, to see if there was any duplicity that could be eliminated or streamlined, so we could eliminate some costs that way.
Salary freezes are something the city will probably need to consider depending on how bad the budget is shaping up to be. Without seeing the numbers I can’t decide that for sure, but that is probably one of the things I would look at first if the numbers dictated it, because I don’t think we can chop off one department and keep all the other departments at the same level. There might not be a total equitable line, but I think we need to look at doing it more equitable, rather than just picking out individual services and cutting those.
Q: How are you currently involved in the community?
The child development center is one big one. I’m a current deacon at First Presbyterian Church, Williamsburg and I’m on the Friends of the Library Committee.
9. What attributes, skills and experience do you possess that will aid your ability to be an effective council member?
My experience on the child development project is one thing I see as having a transference over to the library. At my work we’re 95 percent grant-driven, so I know the importance of balancing budgets and holding to contracts. And, I think my ability to try to look at the bigger picture and think outside the box.
PARNELL ELECTION
All five council seats are open and the mayor position is open. The current mayor is JoLinda Schlesselman. No current or prospective council members have filed nomination forms.
UPDATED October 28, 2009 11:51 AM