Dayton council candidates share views in forum

Communication between the mayor and the council was a top issue cited by candidates for the Dayton town council in a forum in Dayton Wednesday night.

Candidates were asked what they considered the three most critical issues facing Dayton at this time.

Christopher Bernard, who’s running for an unexpired two-year term on the council, named council-mayor communication and transparency as the top issue on his list.

Dierdre Wilson, who is Bernard’s opponent for the unexpired term, was unable to attend the forum.

Six candidates are running for two four-year terms on the council, and four of them attended the forum including council incumbents Cliff Reed and Laurie Walters-Clark.

Reed said the council is working on the communications issue, not only between the mayor and council but with the citizens.

Walters-Clark agreed that the most critical issue was mayor-council communication, and added another important issue is strategic planning for the town. She said strategic planning helps with the budget, among other issues.

Council candidate Christopher Smith said government transparency is his number one issue. The second issue, he said, is the town’s budget. He said the town has had the worst budget year it’s had in a long time.

He also cited issues with employee management, and said the town also has infrastructure issues that need to be addressed.

Candidate Roberta Billingsley said she wasn’t prepared to answer that question at this time. She said if she’s elected to the council, she will use common sense and logic to address the problems.

Two candidates for the four-year positions – Lisa Hanson and Angela Klebba – were unable to attend the forum. Klebba and Wilson both sent statements that were read to the audience.