Coralville City Council candidates discuss top issues at forum

Attracting businesses and responding to public need emerged as some of the top issues for the six candidates vying for three at-large openings for the Coralville City Council.

About 20 people gathered Monday at the Coralville Public Library to question those appearing on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The forum began when the event's sponsor, the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, asked the candidates to pick their top three issues.

Challenger Chad Chase, 23, owner of Earth Home Candles, said he wanted to balance city budgets, retain educated citizens and improve quality of life for area students.

Another challenger, Laurie Goodrich, 54, who works for Athletes in Action, said she wanted improve community safety, offer more activities for young people and attract viable businesses.

Incumbent Henry Herwig, 59, owner of H.J. Limited Heating and Air Conditioning said he wanted to expand on his 16 years experience on the City Council by completing flood-related projects, decreasing the city's dependence on property taxes and finish several community-betterment tasks, such as redeveloping the 5th Street area.

Challenger Bill Hoeft, 42, a writer, said he wanted to responsibly grow Coralville's business base, provide more transparency to the public and have a responsive council that responded to public need.

Another incumbent, John Lundell, 54, who works as deputy director for the University of Iowa Injury Prevention Research Center, said he wanted to follow up on his six years of council membership by continuing smart business growth planning, following up on flood recovery and keeping a close eye on the difficult economic times.

When the forum was opened for public questions, several specific issue arose, including publishing work session minutes, balancing budgets and decreasing property taxes for commercial establishments.

The Coralville City Council does not take or publish minutes of its work sessions. Chase said that “if the public requests this – and I feel they overwhelmingly have – then we should offer to do so, as a responsive government organization would.” Herwig countered by saying that Iowa law does not require taking minutes and that he was not certain how “entertaining or helpful it would be for somebody to read those.”

On the matter of property tax reduction, Hoeft said it would attract businesses.

“I think it would make for a more business-friendly area, and it would invite more to Coralville,” he said.

Lundell answered the budgeting question by saying that the council continues being frugal.

“I do not think we have spent unwisely,” he said. “However, I do not see us decreasing our budget in any significant way in this economic climate. I think it's more a matter of flat-lining it.”

Goodrich agreed, saying that her former experience as a city employee showed her that the city's budget was already “squeezed.”

“I think the city has a good handle on spending the taxpayers' money, and I would want to continue that,” she said.

Incumbent Thomas Gill was absent from the forum as he battled pneumonia.

Another public candidate forum will be held at 7 p.m. tonight, Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the Coralville City Hall.