BY DONNA WESTFALL

Two slots up for grabs come this November.

Four candidates plus 1 incumbent are running.  They are: current Councilmember, Rich Enea, running for re-election, and the following four candidates; Joe Aliotti, Dennis Sutton, Dave Slagle and Blake Inscore all confirmed by County Clerk, Alissia Northrup.

Interviews have been conducted so far with Joe Aliotti and Dave Slagle.

Some of the questions being asked of each candidate:

Have they ever dealt with subtle bribes? Would they recognize a subtle bribe?

Are they strong enough to stand against 3 or 4 “Yes men” when other council members continue to rubber stamp staff recommendations?

What issues are important to you if elected to the City Council?

What would you do when efforts to dig into the financials are thwarted?

A couple of questions being asked of the incumbent:

“Have you spoken with Councilwoman Kelly Schellong about her role in throwing alleged whistle blower, Lonnie Levy, under the bus when he complained about the fraud and corruption on the WWTP?”

“Will you support a GMO ban in the City?”

Joe Aliotti, currently on disability from Redwood Coast Transit but due to return to work soon, wonders why we don’t have a multiplier on the sewer rates as we do with the water rates.  “Issues need to be dealt with, not swept under the carpet.”  He is in favor of disestablishing BID (Business Improvement District) where the majority of downtown business mechants have been blocked by the City Council which has insisted the organization continue limping along.  He’s concerned about the budget, crime, education, improving funding for transportation, extending bike trails, inflation, increasing jobs and encouraging small business, and wants to see our own film commission. In essense break away from the Humboldt/Del Norte film commission since they haven’t done very much for our community. Wants to see the Fairgrounds saved, but not look to raising sales taxes as the first option.

Dave Slagle is CFO/Controller for Hambro. He’s a numbers man with a logging background, Masters degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting. Three years new to the community. He and his wife have taken up entering triathalons. He’s conceerned with funding the swiming pool which he looks at as an amazing resource for a community this size. He was pretty stunned at the budget presentation at Monday nights council meeting, August 18th.   Said the budget didn’t make sense and that the council members were not asking questions.  Unfortunately, our interview was cut short, but I look forward to continuing the discussion. Since Dave was not here during the early years of the Waste Water Treatment Plant debacle, I asked him what he would do if presented with evidence that up to $15 million was improperly billed to and paid for by the City. His response, “Send it to the Grand Jury.”  My response, “What if the Grand Jury has a stacked deck and will not ivestigate thoroughly?” Thoughtfully, he responded with a logical retort, “Contact the Attorney General’s office.”

Dennis Sutton is scheduled for this Thursday and Blake Inscore still needs to be scheduled.

And that’s the update.