On Tuesday, Carbondale chooses a mayor

On Tuesday, Carbondale will choose a mayor.

After weeks of campaigning, voters on Tuesday will select one of two men to lead the city's government for the next four years - and that's in addition to choices to be made for three seats on the city council, separate races for school and park boards, and a highly watched referendum asking whether the city and park district should consider combining their operations.

Mayor Mike Henry, seeking his second term in office, and challenger Nathan Colombo have appeared before the public repeatedly in recent weeks to make the case for why they are the best-qualified candidate to lead Carbondale in the years ahead.

Last week, both appeared at a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Jackson County, laying out their credentials. In opening statements, Colombo traded on his generational attachment to Carbondale and said the city needs to "redefine itself" as "the small city of the future." Henry, in turn, cited his own history in Carbondale, adding that while the city is at a transitional moment, "this is not the time to change horses in mid-stream."

Their discussion, moderated by former city council member Mary Pohlmann, is recounted here:

The League of Women Voters played a role in Carbondale adopting a city manager form of government. What do you see as the respective roles of the mayor, the city manager and the city council?

Henry noted that while the mayor serves as the "ceremonial head of the city government" and shares legislative duties with the city council, it is the city manager who is charged with overseeing the daily operations of the city. The council may be responsible for developing policy, Henry said, but it is the manager who carries it out - and that includes dealing directly with city staff.

"It is not the place for the city council or the mayor to discipline employees or call them out on any issue," Henry added.

Colombo largely agreed with Henry's assessment of that relationship. He said he would work within the framework of the mayor's role as head of the government to advance discussions on issues most affecting the city's population.

"I will use these powers to further the conversation about what our town can and should be doing to become the small city of the future, increasing the quality of life for residents, visitors and prospective residents, with a realistic understanding of threats humanity is facing globally," Colombo said.

A lot will depend on the 2020 census. Even Carbondale's continued home rule status may be in jeopardy if the population falls below 25,000. What should the city do to increase census participation? What issues do you see if Carbondale's population is reported to be under 25,000 in the 2020 census?

Colombo noted the city already faces problems related to population decline, and falling below the home rule threshold would only exacerbate those. He said that in the interest of getting as full a count as possible, the city must increase its efforts toward counting historically under-reported populations, including international, undocumented and temporary residents. This should include seeking grant funding to bolster the effort, he added.

"Parts of our city are under-reported by as much as 40 percent per the 2010 census," Colombo said. "We must put in place activities, like the city is currently doing with the census commission, to make sure we are getting as full of a count as possible."

Henry noted that the city already has a "complete count" initiative underway, and also is pursuing some of the grants Colombo mentioned. Henry also said that as a vice president on the board of directors of the Illinois Municipal League, he is well aware of efforts by that organization to lower the automatic threshold for home rule to just 5,000 residents.

"There's a very good chance of this happening," Henry said. "There's never a guarantee, of course. If we lose home rule authority, all of our local taxes, such as food and beverage tax, package liquor tax, will be subject to voter referendum."

The city has made a major investment in improving downtown Carbondale. Some have said that there also needs to be more effort to improve Carbondale's neighborhoods. What do you think should be done to improve Carbondale's residential neighborhoods? Should the city fund a position for a neighborhood planner as part of that effort?

Henry said the city has initiatives in place to help potential homeowners buy property, or convert rental property into single-family units - and this is in addition the city's curbside improvement program and very active building and neighborhood services staff, who conduct regular inspections of rental properties. As for hiring an additional planner, Henry said that might be difficult at the moment.

"I believe we can do that planning within our existing planning department," Henry said. "This is not a good time to hire an additional person. If we want a neighborhood planner, I think we'd have to approach it from the point of looking at who we'd have to replace in planning to do that."

Colombo, noting a reported lack of funding for the current homeowner buying program, said the recent departure of Travis Taylor from the city's planning workforce opens the door to hiring a replacement who can expand the role into one that encompasses neighborhood concerns.

"May it be a dedicated position?" Colombo asked. "No, but will it include some activity that can help to bolster our neighborhoods? I believe so."

The city, along with other organizations, worked to create a warming center for Carbondale this winter. Has that been successful, and do you see a role for the city in supporting a warming center in future years? If so, are there changes that should be made?

Colombo said he was pleased to hear of the temporary warming center's effectiveness after it opened earlier this year in trailers situated on East College Street, but he added a permanent warming center is necessary in future years to help save lives. He also raised concerns about reported conflicts that arose within the warming center this year.

"What happens when conflict arises in these spaces?" Colombo asked. "By my understanding, people were ejected from the warming center because of disturbances caused. How do we when we put in place a permanent warming center facility build out to allow for folks who may even be disruptive to have a place to stay safe and warm during inclement weather like this?"

Henry said the warming center was a success in this, its first year, and the city continues to look at old property on East College Street that could be transformed into a more permanent space.

"I would like to see us use that as a warming center," Henry said. "They used to be dormitories, so it's full of a lot of smaller rooms, and this would allow us to take care of folks who have different kinds of needs all in the same facility, under the same roof, but not turn anyone out like we had to do this year."

Some people have expressed concern about the process by which the fire station at Walnut and Oakland was sold. What should be the protocol for the sale of city property, and how much input, if any, should city residents have in such decisions?

Henry said the city made a mistake in not having signage on all properties that were for sale - a problem he said has since been rectified. Henry noted that the $50,000 price for the 2017 sale of the building to developers planning to turn it into a facility that includes a craft beer tasting room was discussed in open session, but "we really should have had the signage, and we do now."

"He's put a lot of equipment in there," Henry said of the developer. "He's redoing the electrical inside and the heat and air, and he's moving right along. He also has the wherewithall to make this just an outstanding building here in Carbondale."

Colombo said he remains concerned about how the process was handled.

"My concern is about the transparency of this activity - not that I was involved in it personally, but the way that those who were part of the process had expressed their feelings ... When we look to transact properties in the future, we must bring more stakeholders to the table."

If elected, what will your top three priorities as mayor be?

Colombo said he would work on rebuilding Carbondale's population, in part by marketing the city to people displaced by climate change - whether that's people on the west coast facing wildfires, or those on the east coast or Midwest facing flooding.

Colombo also said he would work on "individualized business initiatives" that would seek to increase the number of black-owned and shared space businesses in the city. He added he would work to improve the city's public image by challenging racism, engaging with the media and "uplifting the creative and compassionate community that I know so well without the generic labels we've tried to apply in recent years. We deserve better than that."

Henry said his focus would be on completing the downtown revitalization that has started during his first term, as well as seeking new employers.

"I will continue to brand Carbondale as the home of a great research university, as the home of a great hospital system that's serving the region," Henry said. "Both of these companies bring tens of thousands of people into Carbondale during the day."