WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – We’re now three weeks from Election Day. The candidates for Watertown city council sat down Tuesday night to discuss the issues and why they’re running.
Each of the four people in the race attributed their campaigns to wanting to make the city a better place for their families and future generations.
The candidates are T.J. Babcock, Bob Kimball, Ben Shoen, and Leonard Spaziani.
About 50 people attended the forum at the Italian American Civic Association.
In the first hour, candidates were asked about issues like the perceived majority on city council, leadership in the city, and Zoo New York in Thompson Park.
“Like the other two have said, we need to know a little bit more about the books,” Babcock said. “What it is. I do think the county needs to be more involved, it shouldn’t fall solely on the city. It is an asset to this area. So, whether the county’s putting in more money, the state’s putting in more money.”
“It’d be nice just to elect people who actually do freely think and don’t have to align with any specific group,” Shoen said. “I meant that locally and nationally, ‘cause that kind of gets us into the position where we don’t make any real progress. We fight each other and nothing gets done.”
“I think right now what we need is just a steady hand on the tiller and somebody keeping an eye on the finances of the organization,” Kimball said, “and try to move us forward in incremental steps.”
“Who really runs the day-to-day operation,” Spaziani said. “That’s the city manager. If you don’t have good communication between the city manager and the council, your leadership goes down the drain, your future, or your ideas go down the drain.
Two council seats are up for grabs. The election is on November 7
A forum between the two mayoral candidates will be held at the same location at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
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