Valley council debate courts young people

Candidates for City Council courted the support of teens at Spokane Valley’s first youth-led candidate debate.

“We need community programs that the city sponsors,” Position 2 candidate Jennie Willardson said at Monday night’s forum, hosted by the Chase Youth Commission at the Spokane Valley Community Center.

“Youth are the future of our community,” she said.

Willardson listed her credentials as having worked on the Spokane Valley Arts Council and the Friends of the Library committee.

Her opponent, incumbent Councilman Steve Taylor, said he’s the city’s representative to the regional Keep America’s Promise campaign and works with youth at Greenacres Baptist Church.”I’ve been involved in youth political activities for the last 13 years,” he said.

Position 6 candidates Bill Gothmann and Ed Mertens both have adult children, and Gothmann was a college professor for 19 years.

“I had to deal with students and their goals and that to me was very important,” he said.

Of the six running for opposed seats, Councilman Mike DeVleming is the only candidate with school-age children.

He created the city’s Student Advisory Council, serves on the Washington State University-Spokane board, was a sports coach and was on the YMCA board.

Howard Herman, his opponent for Position 2, has four adult children.

The city should help poor kids participate in programs in the parks department and other organizations, he said. He also called the department’s staffing and funding inadequate.

“For lower-income youngsters it seems to me there may not be that much to do,” Herman said.

DeVleming emphasized the youth programs in place now, including some in the CenterPlace community center.

“We offer more park programs and more opportunities in this community to get involved,” he said.

Willardson said additional money for parks and programs could be raised through voter-authorized taxes specifically for those purposes.

Taylor said the city could subsidize the program fees for some disadvantaged kids, and he said working toward a youth-friendly community ties into his goal of better public safety.

Mertens, who has used his campaign to stress the need for more volunteerism, encouraged youth to get involved. “It’s a healthy city and we want to keep it that way,” he said. “And you, the youth, will help us do it.”As at forums with adult audiences, Gothmann said people in Spokane Valley should have better access to advanced degrees, and that the city should be more involved in area colleges.

The candidates’ responses were peppered with references to prayer, God and the work of churches in helping kids. That prompted one teen to ask how the candidates would keep religion out of city politics.

Gothmann said, “religion can and does play a major part in our ethical lives.” But both he and Mertens said they don’t intend to force their views on other people.

Religion “belongs in church,” was Willardson’s response.

Her opponent, Taylor, said that it’s important to respect people of differing faiths, but the country was founded on Judeo-Christian values that shouldn’t be completely removed from government.

DeVleming seconded Taylor’s stance. “I like the fact that this community has really grasped the idea of opening the City Council meeting with a prayer.”

His opponent, Herman, said there needs to be a clear delineation between faith and politics. Government is the art of compromise, he said, and “people cannot compromise on matters of religion.”

After two hours of questioning from teens, the audience voted on the candidates. The results had Taylor, Herman and Mertens winning with 14 votes, nine votes and nine votes, respectively.

“I think that they all did very well,” said East Valley High School freshman Rile Reavis, 14, who co-moderated the forum.