Imperial council candidates address hot-button issues at forum
IMPERIAL — The city’s Chamber of Commerce hosted an open public candidate forum Wednesday night, during which City Council hopefuls answered questions pertaining to key issues concerning the community.
Held at Frank Wright Middle School, City Council candidates Mayor Geoff Dale, Mayor Pro-tem Betty Sampson, council member James Tucker and challenger Karin Eugenio provided personal insight into matters concerning the future economic development of Imperial, allocation of the city’s budget funds, and the safety levels of its water in accordance with California state standards. Candidate Nicole Olguin was not in attendance.
Imperial voters will be electing three candidates for City Council on Nov. 6.
Moderated by Kay Day Pricola, executive director of the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business in Imperial County, each candidate provided a three-minute opening statement to express opinions on major platform ideas. Following the opening segment, each candidate was asked a series of questions relating to how they would approach Imperial’s strategic plan, budget and water issues if they were given the opportunity to hold public office. Answers were limited to two minutes.
Taking into consideration the fact that Imperial has adopted a five-year strategic plan for economic opportunities, incumbents Dale and Sampson expressed their desire to focus on renovating the town’s city hall and police facilities. While Dale and Eugenio both agreed that businesses in the downtown area should be developed to a further extent to bring in more revenue, Eugenio noted the absence of emphasis on the beautification of Imperial’s current parks and public facilities in the strategic plan.
“Investing in the current infrastructure of Imperial will build more wealth and sustainability,” Eugenio said. “Instead of directing funds to outside developers, the focus should be on rebuilding the quality of the town from the inside. I want to plant more trees and bring a bigger grocery store to town to sustain the needs of the city’s growth.”
Eugenio, Sampson and Tucker collectively agreed that youth sports tourism would be a key to implementing Imperial’s strategic plan. Sampson explained that new sports facilities would entice teams from cities outside of the Imperial Valley to visit and drive up revenue for the city.
When Pricola asked each candidate where they would allocate surplus funds if they had the opportunity, Tucker, Eugenio and Sampson replied they would distribute the money toward Imperial’s parks, beautification and library for educational development. Offering a different viewpoint, Dale emphasized the importance of refurbishing the underground infrastructure of Imperial. Calling attention to the need for new water pipes, Dale explained that investing funds in updating the water system would bring down the cost for some of the current water issues that the city is experiencing.
The city has sent quarterly notices to residents stating that its water system has violated a drinking water standard after testing for high levels of trihalomethanes, also known as TTHM.
The city was required to notify residents of the violation until testing levels fall below 80 parts per billion. Meanwhile, the city’s new granular activated carbon filtration treatment system at its water treatment plant went online Thursday.
In responding to a question how he would fix the problem of the city’s contaminated water, Dale assured voters water levels would adjust and improve to meet California state standards without further action. Standing by his claim that the water has never been contaminated or dirty, he offered to provide records of the water levels to any resident who asked for them from Imperial City Hall.
“Unfortunately, the governor put a moratorium on water that labeled it as unsafe after its implementation,” commented Dale. “The water is not bad, and the new filtering system put in place already solves the issue of meeting the new standards required by the state.”
While Sampson and Tucker both agreed with Dale’s remarks and voiced support for the actions taken by the city in installing the new filtration system, candidate Eugenio expressed a strong desire to make sure that water is safe and affordable for all of Imperial’s residents. Eugenio praised the efforts of the city but demanded that additional action be taken to ensure water levels meet state standards. By catalyzing the process of beautifying Imperial as it currently is, Eugenio argued that existing businesses would thrive and generate more funds for the city, in turn allowing water rates to be lowered for residents.
When asked about making budget cuts, Tucker and Sampson noted that it would be a hard decision to make, since the staff in all departments of the city is already spread thin. Dale agreed, stating that consolidation efforts are already constantly made to keep a tight budget. Adamantly affirming that he would not make any budget cuts at all, Dale reiterated his ambitions of bringing outside developers into Imperial to increase the number of professional businesses, create more jobs and expand the overall industry. In contrast, Eugenio advocated discontinuing money to outside developers.
Arguing that citizens of Imperial should have more of a say in the economic development of the city, Eugenio contended that community residents should dictate what the goals are for their own town.