Sault Ste. Marie commissioner candidates speak to voters during election forum

SAULT STE. MARIE — Candidates in the upcoming election for Sault city commissioner gathered on Tuesday, Sept. 20 to discuss their positions at a public forum.

The League of Women Voters of the Eastern Upper Peninsula hosted four city commission candidates at Bayliss Public Library to help voters get a better understanding of their candidates and their opinions on important subjects.

Candidates Ray Bauer, Steve Habusta, Andrew Rubinstein and Kathy Twardy were present at the forum and answered several questions from the moderator and the public. Candidate Scott Marble could not attend the forum due to a work related issue and did not answer any questions. These five candidates are competing for three seats on the commission.

Host Linda Stoetzer asked questions put forward by the league and the audience, candidates had approximately one minute to answer each question.

The first question was, "What do you see as a top priority for the commission?"

Rubinstein replied that the lack of housing and child care in the city is one of the largest problems the city is currently facing.

"If we can't grow our population and get people to want to move here, we're going to struggle to build and grow our community," Rubinstein said.

Rubinstein added his own experience with recently moving to the city with his family and said that finding a place to live and finding child care was very difficult. Problems like these make it difficult for families to move into the area and Rubinstein thinks addressing these issues is important to building the community.

Habusta identified four aspects to prioritize as commissioner: financial stability, expanding the recreation portfolio, addressing the child care and housing crisis, and to develop the city's broadband infrastructure.

By expanding recreation efforts, Habusta believes the city can increase quality of life and decrease rates of addiction and mental health.

The biggest problem Habusta said the city should prioritize is the broadband infrastructure. This infrastructure, in addition to the housing crisis, is something he believes will bring more people to the community.

Bauer said the top priority of the commission right now is finances, especially when considering the Carbide Dock project. The project has been underway for several years, and the city has raised millions of dollars so far in grants. In 2018, the city commission estimated the city would need at least $20 million in total to complete the entire project.

If the project does not get completed, the city will not be able to use the money that was already raised.

Twardy agreed with Bauer that the Carbide Dock project is the most important priority for the commission at the moment. She added that the commission should put more focus on creating affordable housing in the area as well.

"I would like to see an expansion of quality housing at all income levels, even my daughter can't find a place to live as a matter of fact," said Twardy.

More:Sault Ste. Marie city commission continues work on Carbide Dock project

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The candidates were also asked about their opinions on what they would do to address downtown parking.

Bauer said he disagrees with many of the decisions that have recently been made about downtown parking, saying that making the kiosk system is too complicated. Bauer went on to say that the elimination of free parking will hurt many downtown businesses.

"It would definitely hurt business if you would take away free parking at Portage and Ashmun," said Bauer.

Twardy said the parking situation is very complicated and each aspect needs to be addressed individually. She said that the new system of kiosks works for the areas they're in, but much of the community won't use their phones for parking.

Twardy thinks the commission needs to be able to apply different parking solutions to different parts of the city.

"There's no one solutions that works great for the entire community, we have to take it like an onion, address it one layer at a time," said Twardy. "The commission is taking its time and looking at one area of the community at a time."

Rubinstein agreed, saying that there is not one solution that works for every situation.

Habusta thinks that parking costs will increase revenue for the city greatly, and gives the city an opportunity to put more money into the downtown area. While people may not like the cost of parking downtown, Habusta said he wants to take that revenue and put it back into the community.

“We may be charging for parking, but we’re pouring that money right back into the community,” he said.

Voters will be able to show their support for whichever candidate they prefer at the election on Nov. 8.

Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com

This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Sault city commissioner candidates speak on issues at public forum