Council candidates discuss priorities for city

November 2, 2012

MARSHALL - As the time until Election Day continues to count down, candidates for Marshall City Council are continuing to talk about their positions on local issues. A total of five candidates for two council positions spoke during a candidate forum Thursday night at the Marshall Area YMCA.

Candidates present Thursday included Glenn Bayerkohler and Don Edblom, who are running for council in Marshall Ward One, and Ellayne Conyers, Justin McKinney and Craig Schafer, who are running in Marshall Ward Three.

Candidates were given a chance to discuss what they saw as the top issues Marshall will face in the next five years. Encouraging economic growth and maintaining city infrastructure were shared priorities among the five candidates, as was keeping an eye onthe city budget. Bayerkohler and McKinney said they felt careful spending would be important for the city.

"We can't spend money we don't have," McKinney said. Encouraging business and population growth in Marshall, which McKinney said were also priorities for him, would help on that front.

In addition to the other issues named by candidates, Schafer named public safety as another priority for Marshall.

When candidates were asked to share ideas about how to balance the city budget, encouraging the growth of the city tax base through new businesses and industries was a common suggestion across the board. Edblom said he thought the city should continue to use tools available to it, like Tax Increment Financing funding, to help attract businesses to town, as well as working with state legislators to