The League of Women Voters hosted a virtual forum Tuesday over Zoom with all four prospective mayoral candidates; Art Bettge, Jim Gray, Olivia Moses and Barb Rathbun. The forum was moderated by University of Idaho College of Law professor Richard Seamon.
Both Gray and Moses spoke on feeling the need to bring other groups to the table and the feeling that not everyone in Moscow is well represented in the current government.
“There are decisions being made without the input of any of the city natives, and I would like that to change,” Gray said.
There was also a conversation about the role of the mayor in the city and their influence over the culture of the city.
“A municipality should provide residents a sense of place and community, and the mayor facilitates that,” Bettge said. “The mayor is the CEO who facilitates the business of government.”
Seamon asked the candidates about reducing carbon emissions in the face of climate change. Rathbun was skeptical of any government involvement in the issue.
“I think the science is still out there on climate change,” Rathbun said. “Before I go forcing anybody to do anything we need to get some settled science.”
Rathbun also expressed concern about overloading electric grids with electric cars.
Bettge and Gray spoke on leading the government in attempts to lower the city’s carbon footprint but were against having individuals make sacrifices.
Moses acknowledged the politics of the issue found a need to educate on better resources for those who have electricity and climate-draining appliances.
Another topic was traffic and growth in Moscow. While Bettge pointed out that most of the traffic decisions are made by the Idaho Transportation Department using occupancy data, all candidates said that they hoped to encourage safe development.
“People need to be safe,” Moses said. “We will figure out how to pay for it together”
In terms of growth, Bettge spoke on his desire to develop space between University of Idaho’s campus and downtown into mixed-use development and to educate developers on the profitability of different housing solutions.
Moses spoke of a more direct plan of reaching out to developers and other cities with similar project goals to ask for help and guidance in making these decisions
The League of Women Voters is next hosting a forum for city council candidates on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. over Zoom. More information can be found on the League of Women Voters here.
Abigail Spencer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ABairdSpencer