FAIRHOPE, Alabama—It was a full house Sunday afternoon at Homestead Village retirement community for the first candidate forum of the election season.

Hosted by Taney and Celia Brazeal and labeled an ice cream social, the event was complete with cookies and ice cream for the attendees, with chocolate, strawberry swirl and vanilla ice creams along with sugar and chocolate-chip cookies.

More than 175 people attended the 90-minute event, an event organizer said.

Each candidate received three minutes to speak on why voters should elect him or her, with incumbents going first, then challengers, starting with the mayoral race.

Mayor’s race

In the mayoral race, the incumbent Tim Kant said: “As we go through this debate, and we move forward through the next four years, (I hope) that we learn to work together a little closer. I truly believe that whoever you elect as mayor, elect council members who will work with the mayor. Because we don’t need to go through what we went through the past four years.”

Lonnie Mixon, City Council president for the past four years, spoke next saying, “Over the past four years I’ve served on the City Council, and in that time I’ve learned what the responsibilities are for the council and what the responsibilities are of the mayor. Over the next four years we need to continue to stay on a conservative financial path. As mayor I will work diligently with the council. That’s a responsibility of the mayor, to reach over and work with the council.”

Chris Warner, who has a doctoral degree in urban planning, rounded out the mayoral section of the debate. “I would be different than either of these gentlemen in that I would get out of the way for the council. I would only veto any measure passed that is one, wasteful. Two, unethical, we are not going to do business with elected officials under my watch. Thirdly, I will veto any measure that does not adhere to the city’s master plan,” said Warner.

Council Place 1

There are two candidates for Place 1 in the council election, incumbent Debbie Quinn and Jack Burrell.

Quinn spoke of her track record on the council saying, “This past year I started a neighborhood watch program in the city. We started five neighborhood watch programs, with two more in the works. I’ve been very proactive in getting grants for the city.”

In his three minutes, Burrell said, “I am a financially conservative person. I own two businesses and we don’t owe any money to anyone in those businesses. We keep within our means and if I’m elected I will do the same for the city.”

Council Place 2

The two candidates for Place 2 are incumbent Dan Stankoski and Rich Mueller.

Stankoski spoke of the successes of the council saying, “What we have done, the council and the city government, for fiscal responsibility is, we have the rainy day fund. Prior to the sales tax when you needed more money to balance the budget, you simply raised utilities. We became more transparent. Between the mayor and the council, we haven’t been fighting. What we have been doing is the democratic process. We debate, we discuss, and then we compromise and that’s how we get things done.”

Mueller, who indicated he could only tell the audience about himself since he did not have any political background, said, “I’ve been a resident for 17 years. I spent eight years in the navy. When making decisions there are three basic things you need to ask. Is it legal? Can we afford it? Does it benefit the citizens of the community either directly or indirectly? If the answer doesn’t match all three of those, it doesn’t need to be considered.”

Council Place 3

There is no incumbent for Place 3, the seat currently held by Mixon. The three candidates are Diana Brewer, Mike McPherson and Vince Valentim.

Brewer talked about some of her achievements in the community such as starting the “Women’s Best” and “Senior’s Best” programs at Thomas Hospital and her work with the Fairhope Educational Enrichment Foundation. “I want to bring the spirit of cooperation and communication to our city government. I want to bring an atmosphere of respect, not just between the council and the mayor, but between the council and the citizens as well.”

Mike McPherson spoke of unity between the council and the mayor’s office. “I love our city but I do not like what has happened in the past four years. I wish to promote and restore unity to our community. It is not the mayor’s responsibility alone to reach out to the council to cooperate. The strong council must also reach out and cooperate to our mayor.”

Vince Valentim said “I’m not running as a politician. When you start getting into politics, you start getting into this good ole boy system. Fairhope is too nice a place for that to happen. First thing I want to do is get a bucket of paint and paint those streets back the way they were.”

Council Place 4

In the race for Place 4 are incumbent Mike Ford and Kyle Brady.

Ford said he intended to keep doing what he has been doing during his time on the council. “I may be old but I think young. I have eight children and 24 grandchildren. That makes you think young. I don’t feel like making any promises to you. As you go along on the council, you may promise something today and circumstances may change after that. All I can do is promise you I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing. I have no agenda other than to keep Fairhope one of the best cities in the nation.”

Brady, a local musician, kept his speech short saying only, “I love this community and I am not a politician. So often I am frustrated by seeing politicians hold seat in public office that should be held by community representatives and community servants. It doesn’t take a politician to run a city. It takes citizens who represent their neighbors.”

Council Place 5

The candidates for Place 5 are incumbent Rick Kingrea and Kevin Boone.

Kingrea said the city would continue to be great no matter who got elected because of the people in the city. “I hear a lot about the disunity and I want to focus on what we have accomplished these past four years. During the worst economic times in recent history we were able to continue providing great city services. More importantly, we didn’t lay anybody off. We created a rainy day fund where there was none before. We opened up government. We are in the right place and moving in the right direction, we just have to keep going.”

Boone, who runs a paving business, said, “I can’t come up here and promise you much of anything, other than one thing. I can promise you I’ll work real, real hard. That’s all I know I can do. I can give you my word I will work hard, never embarrass the position you elect me to and I’ll never bring any problems or create any issues that I can help.”

Audience questions

After their three-minute introductions, the candidates fielded questions from the audience.

A question was asked about the city’s finances and was directed to Kant, who said the city has a rainy-day fund which currently has $6.6 million in it. “We have reduced our debts over the past four years,” said Kant.

That reserve has been funded by a sales tax which the council passed over Kant’s veto.

Brewer was asked if she supported a conversion from a county-run to a city-run school system. Brewer indicated she had been involved with the organization Good2Great, which has advocated for an independent city system in Fairhope. “The bottom line is a city-run school system would cost more than the current system. Therefore I would not advocate for the city school system without a vote from the people.”

Mixon fielded a question about the changes and the future of the police department. “Our police department has become modernized over the past three years. The people serving on the police force are doing a great job and I would want them to keep doing that,” said Mixon.

Additional questions involved how to replace sales-tax revenue, city lawsuits, and the police budget.

Upcoming forums

The next public candidate forum will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7, at Faith Temple at 49 Ingleside St. That forum is sponsored by the Point Clear-Fairhope Action Committee, a 10-year old faith-based organization. That forum, according to organizers, in addition to “answering key questions asked by a panel, the candidates will mingle with the public and answer additional questions during refreshment time after the forum.”

Another forum, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Quail Creek and sponsored by the Quail Creek Civic Association, has been described as a private forum for Quail Creek residents and members of the association.

That private forum has raised the ire of Phil Brady, president of the Citizens of Responsible Government, a local non-partisan nonprofit good-government group.

“The history of Fairhope in recent years has been a history of private pledges made in secret to small constituencies,” said Brady, who sought to unseat Mike Ford on the council in 2008. “This Quail Creek forum has a similar odor to it, and I do not think any candidate ought to attend any forum which is not open to any interested person.”

The CRG had planned its own public forum, going so far as to request a waiver of city fees to use the Civic Center for the event. But after Ford raised questions at a council meeting about the group’s possible bias, it withdrew its request and cancelled its plans, without explanation.

Courier editor Mike Odom contributed to this report.