The search for new Ward 1 and 5 Columbia City Council members began at the first candidate forum event on Tuesday night.
The three Ward 1 candidates are Pat Fowler, Greg Pierson and Mark Anderson. The only Ward 5 candidate is Matt Pitzer, who previously held the position. Some main points of discussion were topics about climate action and adaptation, more development downtown, city relationships with the school board and voter involvement.
The candidates mainly agreed on bringing the community together to make Columbia a better place to live, but Fowler said she doesn’t think the city pays enough attention to the neighborhoods and affordable housing in the area.
“We’re not doing a very good job of incorporating the decisions that affect the affordable housing we already have into every city decision, and I want to change that dynamic,” Fowler said.
Rhonda Carlson, a realtor and “starter-home” builder, said she was also concerned that affordable housing had not been discussed enough.
“If we’re wanting people to move companies to Columbia and bring businesses to Columbia, the housing cost is a concern,” Carlson said.
One topic that was mentioned was student housing in downtown Columbia. Anderson and Pitzer discussed some negative impacts of student housing downtown, including the decrease of non-students participating and enjoying the downtown Columbia culture.
Pierson, on the other hand, said he believes the students could have a more positive impact.
“If that’s something that we are able to accomplish by engaging the students and educating the students about the nature of downtown and the things there that we can add benefit to, then I think having the students closer to downtown and living downtown is going to be a good thing,” Pierson said.
Each candidate will have more opportunities to talk at other candidate forums, and elections for Ward 1 and 5 council member positions will be on April 7th.