By Julie Johansen
Two candidates for mayor, David Robertson and incumbent Roger Swenson, along with four candidates for council seats, Thayne Cox, Jerod Curtis and incumbents Carole Larsen and Tracy Addley, introduced themselves at Orangeville City’s Meet the Candidate night on Wednesday evening.
The Orangeville Youth City Council, including Mayor Nick Lake, Mayor Pro Tem Madde Larsen, and council members MeyRick Larsen, Zander Hughes and Micah Hughes, conducted the evening with city council member Carol Stilson.
To begin the evening, each candidate was given three minutes to introduce themselves and state why they were running for office. General questions from the youth council were then asked to each candidate in a rotating procedure. Some of the first questions included “What is the best thing about Orangeville?”, “How do you plan to involve citizens in the decision making of the town?” and “What is one issue facing Orangeville and how can you solve it?” Most of the answers included finances, community involvement, recreation, communication and the residents of Orangeville.
Questions from the audience were then written down and given to the youth council for presentation to the candidates. Some of these included how to keep sidewalks and other areas free from weeds and sidewalk clutter, the primary focus of each candidate and how to keep the old and welcome the new. One question was if you had one million dollars, how would you spend it as a council member? Answers here included paying off the debt of the city, economic development, listening and talking to the citizens, and transparency.
Each candidate was again given three minutes for a summary and closing statement. At this time, the issue of term limitations was addressed by most of the candidates, either for or against.
The theme of the evening seemed to be “Don’t lose the past, but accept change.”