Candidates running for the Two Rivers City Council gave residents a chance to hear their views on city issues.
The candidate forum was hosted by the Manitowoc County League of Women Voters, Two Rivers Business Association, and Chamber of Manitowoc County at Two Rivers City Hall last night.
Katherine Dahlke, Shawntel Hoffman, Darla LeClair, Bonnie Shimulunas, and Adam Wachowski began with their opening statements before asking five questions, discussing housing, responding to constituents, and working with a new city manager, among other topics.
On housing, Dahlke said the city has a place to help with something like mixed-use housing.
On the other hand, Wachowski said housing is controlled by the private market, but they can help with the quality of life.
“Quality of life goes with in the rec department, so your parks, your rec,” he explained. “The quality of your police department, your fire department. And also goes through the quality of roads and sidewalks. A place where you call home. That’s what the city can control.”
The second question asked whether candidates would respond to residents’ questions. Darla LeClaire said everybody needs to be heard.
“Everybody should be heard, we work for you,” she stated. “And you should fell free to come and talk to us or contact us at any time and we are responsive and we want to be responsive.”
Shawntel Hoffman also said she would be willing to listen and open to change.
The third question involved the current movement on the former Hamilton Property and the community visioning process.
But the question was what you think would happen if another property could be developed later. Shimulunas said it’s important to hear from contractors first.
Dahlke stated that she would like to see more long-term strategies, like what’s happening with Hamilton, but also ones that will stick for a long time.
“What has legs?” she asked. “What’s going to fit our city ten years from now, twenty years from now? What’s not the flavor of the month? What’s going to stay with us in the long term as we develop the property? That would be another consideration we would look at.”
Two Rivers council candidates were then asked about the city’s budgeting process. Incumbents said the tight budget is good this year without cutting too much.
Bonnie Shimulunas said she’d like to see more city council discussions in the future.
“I would like to see the department heads prioritize what they want,” she mentioned. “Because I don’t really care if they want something, if they don’t have something they need this year, go get something you want. They have the right to.”
The last question in the forum was about working with a new city manager.
Dahlke said that everyone needs to find each other’s boundaries and know their own role.
Shawntel Hoffman said she’d like to see the city council itself be a stronger leader in the city’s government.
“I think the council needs to work together more and try to do things instead of, I feel like a lot of times there was a lot of, ‘the (city) manager wants to do this’ or ‘this is the manager’s idea,'” she told those in attendance. “I feel like the city council needs to be stronger. I’m not saying that he can’t have any ideas or any participation, but I believe that a lot of that has been unloaded onto the manager, and I believe that the city council needs to take that back.”
Residents asked the council questions about working with federal agencies like ICE, their relationship with Two Rivers Public Schools, and the importance of industry.
The full Two Rivers Candidate Forum can be found on the city’s YouTube Channel on the live tab.
