Saturday, October 30, 1999
Lebanon candidates look at growth, spending
BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
LEBANON — When the votes are counted next week, one thing is certain: the next city council will have at least one new member.
Five people, including two incumbents and a write-in candidate, are running for three open seats. John McComb and Jim Reinhard, seeking a return to council, are being challenged by former council member Ronald Pandorf and Ben Cole, the son of a council member who was recalled in 1998. Jane Davenport is running as a write-in.
The winners will serve a four-year term.
A 12-year council veteran, Jack Hedges, is stepping down to run for Lebanon municipal judge.
With Warren County's seat transforming from a small town to a bustling suburb, growth and communication are common topics among the candidates.
“We've got to communicate with the public better,” Mr. Pandorf said. Council members “come out and bring out legislation at meetings ... and people don't have an opportunity to express their opinions before this legislation is laid out. (Citizens) should know what's going on.”
Mr. Reinhard, who was appointed to fill an unexpired term, agreed that legislation shouldn't always be “popping up on the floor,” and called for better communication between council and the administration.
“We're only as good as the information we're given,” he said. “We need to get more timely information. It's better than it was, but it still needs improvement.”
Growth is the other big challenge facing the new council, candidates said. The city's population is exploding, up 31 percent since 1990 to an estimated 13,700. The city is also on track to best its record for residential housing construction this year.
Keeping the city's infrastructure on pace with the growth — making sure the electric, gas, water and sewer systems work — is crucial, some candidates said.
“These are the things that most people are concerned with,” Mr. Reinhard said. “That's what you hear from everybody and there's a lot of truth to that. The growth is everybody's concern. That is a big priority with this council.”
One need only look at council's recent moves to try to save a 10-acre parcel from becoming an apartment complex to see the pressures of growth, Mr. Cole said.
“It's going to be a major problem,” Mr. Pandorf said. “We're going to have to look at all the alternatives. We're just going to have to sit down and work them out. I'm a person that can work with people.”
The two challengers are also concerned about the current council's spending habits, particularly the amount of land the city has purchased in recent years and what was paid for it.
“We're buying a tremendous amount of land on some of these projects,” Mr. Cole said. “We're telegraphing our projects to the point where the people we're buying the land from can ask what they want.”
Mr. Cole wants to see the capabilities of the city's telecommunications system developed, such as electronic meter reading and telephone long distance.
“We have a tremendous investment we have to see come through,” he said. “Where are the other issues that supposedly make the system more than just cable (television)?”
Mr. McComb said council still has some traffic issues to address and may also create a community center/amphitheatre.
But he is pleased with the way members have banded together in the last 18 months.
“There was a clear division and time spent on disagreeing,” he said. “I think the encouraging thing that we've witnessed in the last year-and-a-half is we don't argue. Any disagreement is a respectful one. We're thinking about the town instead of ourselves. It's very, very refreshing.”
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