Columbia mayoral, city council candidates address residents at forum Wednesday night

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia mayor and city council candidates running for Wards 3 and 4 spoke to the community Wednesday night, ahead of the April 5 election.

Mayoral and city candidates appeared at the forum at the Columbia Public Library at 6:30 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Columbia-Boone County.

Attendees include mayoral candidates Barbara Buffaloe, Tanya Heath, Randy Minchew, and David Seamon.

City Council candidates attendees include Roy Lovelady and Karl Skala are Third Ward candidates and Erica Pefferman and Nick Foster are Fourth Ward candidates are set to attend.

All city council candidates agreed tonight that if elected they will work to improve the city by addressing issues like homelessness, affordable housing, climate change, issues within the city government and even trash.

Fourth ward city council candidates Erica Pefferman and Nick Foster, were up first tonight, as part of the mayoral and city council forum, addressing what they would work on if they were elected in a few weeks.

Pefferman said there are pressing issues within the council she would work to address.

"There's not a healthy team dynamic right now, there's a lot of end fighting and political grandstanding, and what happens is the needs of the citizens are put second. I would ensure I would do my part to not contribute to that and really bring the team together," Pefferman said.

Foster spoke about using resources to address homelessness and mental health among other community issues, if elected.

"I do have several priorities that are at the top of my list, uh climate change is one of those, public safety, mental health and mental health services and then homelessness and housing. And the last one I've spent a lot of years working on in this community," Foster said.

Tonight third ward candidates Roy Lovelady and Karl Skala answered the communities questions.

Lovelady said if elected, he would use the remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds to address inequalities in the community exposed by the pandemic.

"My goal will be to make sure that we participate in this robust conversation with the community for the second half, and definitely make sure it's effective and get that money passed out as equitably as possible, because if its covid relief money we need to address covid issues," Lovelady said.

Skala spoke about addressing the city trash issues if elected.

"Let me deal with the garbage issue, the trash issue, I'm agnostic about the trash issue I was around in 2014 when the discussion first started and in 2016 when there was a referendum. I will do whatever the public wants in regards to this referendum," Skala said.

Mayoral candidates Barbara Buffaloe, Tanya heath, Randy Minchew and David Seamon were also in attendance tonight, answering many of the same questions city council candidates did.

Each mayoral candidate agreed they would work on a mental health crisis center and homeless shelter if elected.

You can watch the meeting in the player below.

In-person absentee voting will still be open until April 4.