At-large Democrats scrap over city issues in forum

The large slate of candidates vying for the Democratic primary nod for at-large City Council seats covered issues from budgets to noise to trash to town-gown relations when they participated in a forum at the Athens Public Library Tuesday night.

The event was put on by the Athens County League of Women Voters. All six candidates in the race for the three at-large spots attended the event. They include at-large incumbents Elahu Gosney and Christine Knisely, Ohio University students Ibriham Alassaf and Nate Hall, Cycle Path owner Maxine Rantane, and OU professor Steve Patterson.

With no Republican challengers slated for the November ballot, the top three vote-getters in the Democratic primary will win the three available seats unless one or more independent candidates file for the seats.

One Republican had filed petitions to run for an at-large seat, but they were deemed incomplete by the Athens County Board of Elections. The Republican, Aaron Grassel, has since stated his intention to run as an independent.

WITH A STATE BUDGET proposal from Ohio Gov. John Kasich, R-Westerville, that would slash Ohio's local government fund in half, as well as a Republican-led effort to eliminate Ohio's estate tax, the city of Athens is facing hundreds of thousands of dollars of lost state money over the next couple of years.

Patterson called this an enormous issue, and said while he doesn't have the city's line-item budget to see what needs to be done, he does want to gather input from the citizens of Athens.

"It's going to be an ongoing struggle, and it's not something that's going to be easy to handle. That I understand," he said. "It's going to take a lot of planning to figure out how we go about resolving that issue."

Hall promised that if elected he will vote against anything that takes advantage of the city's public workers with Senate Bill 5, which scaled back collective-bargaining rights, now in place.

"That being said, we're losing money and we're going to have to find ways to make up for that," he said. "One thing I'd like to see done is have more input from (the citizens)."

Rantane acknowledged that it's a difficult situation and pointed to her experience working with budgets and finance, and said she'd have to review the budget specifics to judge what to do.

"The one thing that would absolutely stay: the safety and service in the city has got to be in place," she said. "There is no way we can cut police or fire."

Gosney took issue with the values of the leadership in Columbus, saying that the state is shirking its responsibility and pushing the problem onto local governments.

"There are no easy answers," he said. "Eighty percent of our general fund is personnel costs, and half of that is fire and police It will be the top priority of myself and I think the rest of council to maintain fire and police protection in the city."

Knisely praised the work of city Auditor Kathy Hecht and said that council has been conservative in its budgets and needs to continue that practice.

"I think we are being very careful," she said. "And at the moment there is a soft hiring freeze; that makes us take a very cautious approach on filling vacant positions Ideas from the public would be greatly appreciated."

Alassaf said that Kasich's budget will hurt Athens a lot both with the local government fund cuts and the estate tax revenue losses. He said Athens gets over $230,000 in estate tax revenue annually.

"We have three options," he said. "We can either cut jobs or pay, which we don't want to do during an economic recession. We can cut non-essential city services. Or we can raise taxes. And it's really going to have to be what the citizens of Athens want."

ON THE TOPIC of town and gown relations, Alassaf said that the problems come in a cycle, and the goal should be to bridge gaps to promote a better atmosphere. Patterson said that being a professor and seeing various sides of the issue, behavior change should take place on the part of all parties. Gosney said he's wary of things like the noise ballot initiative that could drive a wedge in the community, and that common ground needs to be found.

Hall also predicted the noise initiative will be divisive, and said the root of the problem is a lack of contact between students and permanent residents. He called for better communication.

Knisely said that relations can always be improved with better communication and pointed to various collaborations between the city and OU students as good signs.

Rantane said that permanent residents and students need more interaction to build a better sense of community.

IF THE CANDIDATE could solve one problem, Patterson said he would want to build a stronger partnership between the city and its largest employer, OU.

Knisely said she would want to improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods by dealing more effectively with trash, litter and planning.

Gosney said he would address the trash and litter problem by hiring a second litter-control office and creating a new enforcement plan.

Hall said that he try to improve town-gown relations because that would solve a variety of other issues such as the need for a new fire ladder truck, the noise issue, the spring festival issue and the "delinquent landlord" issue.

Alassaf said he would improve city infrastructure by using long-term fixes instead of temporary fixes for city streets, and addressing aging pipes and sewers he said haven't been addressed in over half a century.

Rantane said she would like to address safety issues and would like to see the neighborhood watch groups brought back.

IN CLOSING STATEMENTS, Rantane said that after being a part of the city for 30 years, she's been able to get involved in a lot of different aspects of life in Athens.

"I think we are going in the right direction," she said. "I would love to be given the chance to have a louder voice by being on council and having the people talking to me so I can direct council in a positive direction in the future."

Gosney said that Athens is his hometown and a place that he loves and that it's been a privilege to be able to give back by serving on council. He said the country is in a strange time both at the state level and nationally.

"I think it's important to have strong, progressive Democrats elected at the local level, where we can take action," he said. "Local government, for the next year or two, will be incredibly important in shaping the future."

Knisely said she decided to run for re-election because she enjoys being involved in city operations.

"Do we have improvements to make in the city? Yes," she said. "Have we made some improvements? Yes My belief is that the three of us who are elected to serve as council members will have as our highest priority the well-being of our community."

Alassaf said having been born and raised in Athens, with plans to stay after college, the best way to contribute to his community is to be a public servant.

"I want to help by (pointing) our community in the right direction," he said.

Patterson praised the night and the election as democracy in action. He pointed to his service of the nation in the military and said that now he wants to serve the city of Athens.

"I enjoy services," he said. "I've been involved in faculty senate; I've been involved in a lot of other functions on campus (Being on City Council) is a service responsibility, something I would take with pride."

Hall pointed to President Obama's notion in the 2008 election that change comes from the bottom up, not the top down.

"If we're going to heal our nation, we have to start by healing our communities," he said. "And that's why I'm running for council. I want to bridge that gap between students and non-students and work together on issues that we agree on."