Candidates in sole council race square off in debate

The candidates for Athens' only contested City Council race this fall Tuesday evening debated issues from development and taxes to the arts and university relations at a forum hosted by the Athens County chapter of the League of Women Voters.

Republican Randy Morris is vying for the Fourth Ward seat currently held by Democrat Christine Fahl. Fahl was selected to replace state Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Athens, to represent the east-side ward after Phillips went to the Statehouse. No other council members are being challenged.

Fahl pointed to her experience in planning and working with community groups throughout the city as unique qualifications for her to be returned to the seat on council.

"My experience, my education and my familiarity with the issues that face the Fourth Ward makes me the best candidate for the Fourth Ward seat on City Council," Fahl said in her opening remarks. "And I look forward to continuing serving you on City Council."

In his opening remarks, Morris said he is providing an alternative to those who feel that City Council has not been as open, accountable and fiscally disciplined as it could be.

"If I come to council, all I'm going to have is the ability to persuade," Morris said. "There are still going to be six votes, and if I don't persuade anybody to change their mind, the worst that could happen is the votes will be 6-1 instead of 7-0."

Morris said his top priority if elected would be to use such persuasion to convince other members of council that the safety and security of citizens needs to be the city's top priority.

Fahl said her top priority if elected would be to use her planning background to move the city forward with sustainable development. She advocated "continuing down the path of smart growth and sustainability."

As far as development, both candidates have said they are for "smart growth" or "intelligent development." When asked to cite examples of development that they have supported, as well as those they have not, the candidates had varied answers.

Fahl said smart growth is the intelligent use of land and infrastructure that is unique to Athens.

"We need to encourage redevelopment "“ making better use of the land that has already been developed because the infrastructure is already there," Fahl said. "In our code we have to make sure these sort of projects are encouraged."

Morris said he applauds recent residential developments such as Palmer Place, University Commons and the Summit at Coates Run, saying they take rental pressure off neighborhoods such as his own.

"And, though my critics might disagree with this, I have no designs on leveling the forests and putting up Wal-Marts," Morris said. "Smart growth is all a matter of degree."

Like many other cities in the nation, Athens faces serious budget problems. The candidates were asked whether they would support tax hikes or service cuts to deal with future budget issues.

Morris said he doesn't think the city would need to raise taxes, but would perhaps do well to raise revenue.

"If we had to do cuts, I would suggest we do a top-to-bottom re-prioritization," he said. Morris continued that some arts and recreation projects that are valuable to people shouldn't take priority over such things as fire, police and streets in tough budget times.

Fahl pointed to actions City Council has taken such as a soft hiring freeze and reorganizing the city works department for more efficient use of personnel and equipment.

"This year, in the middle of the year, we did go and cut out $400,000 in our budget," Fahl noted. "Council was able to do that. We've done it in the past. And if it's needed, we will do it in the future."

The city of Athens and Ohio University have always had an intricate relationship, and both candidates have said they would work to improve that relationship.

Fahl said she was encouraged that neighborhood associations are meeting with OU President Roderick McDavis fairly regularly to talk about the issues they face.

"Communication is a huge part of what the town/gown relationship is all about," Fahl said. She said that the university should consider off-campus impacts more as it does its planning.

"They have to realize, and communicate with the city," Fahl said, citing increasing enrollment at OU and talk of considering letting second-year students live off campus.

Morris said that he would encourage both sides to "act like adults."

"I don't think we have a good relationship right now... and I think it needs to improve," Morris said. "You need to have a good, healthy dialogue... because it's in their best interest to cooperate with us and it's in our best interest to cooperate with them."

He said that the relationship between Athens and OU needs to build off of the understanding that neither could survive without the other.

Both candidates cited traffic as the top problem in Athens' Fourth Ward.