Humboldt candidates air positions at forum

HUMBOLDT — If Humboldt were likened to a rose garden, school board and city council candidates found a lot of pretty flowers and a few thorns lurking among bushes at a forum Thursday evening.
They first were asked what issues faced the two governing bodies over the next five years, and then about strengths and weaknesses. About 50 people listened to 90 minutes of comments.
“We need team players,” said Shelia Bolling, first of three city candidates to answer, of challenges that lie ahead. “We need to work on getting businesses and clean up the town. We need streets fixed,” and proposed that her company, Payless Asphalt Services, could improve the town’s streets through crack and pothole repairs and seal coating.
While streets are a concern, Bolling said she wouldn’t want to raise taxes.
Jerry Stephens, Bolling’s opponent in the only contested city race, Ward 1, Position 4, said council members have “to address issues head on,” which may include raising taxes.
Bringing businesses to town is a challenge, he added, but “first we need to support the businesses we have — eat at the Mexican restaurant, buy at Moon’s, focus on local resources.”
Housing has no easy answer, said Stephens, Humboldt Housing Authority director. “We have to get people involved.”
A weakness, he said was lack of street maintenance in previous years and no apparent plan to put away money in the city’s budget so major repairs could be done.
Mark Slater, unopposed and an incumbent by appointment, said he “pretty much agrees streets are bad,” a concern he is well aware of being on the council’s Streets Committee. “I’d like to fix streets without taxes, but if that’s what it takes we may have to.
“Streets should have been dealt with years ago,” he said. “We’re trying to budget for it,” but the going is slow with revenue coming from gasoline sales tax revenue from the state.
Slater also is eager for an uptick in commerce — “I’d like to see a new restaurant” — and to encourage people who work in Humboldt to live in town.

 CLAYTON Schoendaller said funding was the most obvious issue facing USD 258, with state aid having been cut in recent years.
“But,” he said, “we have to use what we have in the right way.”
Schoendaller said saw a strength of the district being that “so many people wanted to be on the board.” Nine are in the running to fill three seats.
A weakness — one several candidates mentioned — is communication between the community and board members, administrators and teachers, he observed.
Steve Sellman, an incumbent, said the high quality of teachers and the district’s embrace of technology were strengths. He said a more open line of communication would be helpful.
However, Sellman noted with the perspective of having been a board member, some personnel issues must remain private because of state and federal laws affecting individual privacy.
“The past two years we have had some (personnel) problems that the board met head-on and the people are no longer in the district,” he said.
Toni Schomaker pointed out the district has the advantage of being “technology rich and, it being a government monopoly, we have to deal with the funding we’re given.”
With local teachers being among the highest paid in the area, she wants to “make sure they’re doing the best they can.”
“The old boys club mentality,” is a weakness, Schomaker said, exacerbated by a “lack of communication between the board and the community.”
“Funding is the key issue,” said Mitzi Farran, “and it’s getting bigger and bigger.”
In response to Sellman’s characterization of meeting personnel problems head-on, Farran wasn’t so sure. She said “more transparency on the board would be good. I think more could be shared with parents.”
Mike Mueller said with limited revenue, board members should lead to make best use of what is available.
“We also need to distinguish between hot-button issues and long-term goals, and with high (teacher) salaries we need to make sure quality is maintained,” he said.
With a background in management and budgeting and employed by B&W Trailer Hitches, Mueller said the board needed members who understood those disciplines. Also, with an aging population, he thinks efforts need to be made to attract people, and students, to Humboldt.
“If the board finds a weakness, work on it through leadership, not necessarily spending more money,” Mueller said.
Kyle Seufert also touted his experience with budgets.
“I work with them every day,” in his job at Neosho County Community College in Chanute, he said. “I also deal with student security on a weekly basis.
“We need to get kids ready for the real world, not all are going to go college,” Seufert said. “They need to be ready for their future.”
Larry Mendoza, an incumbent, said a strength of the district was the administrative leadership of Superintendent K.B. Criss, particularly in budgetary matters with the revenue concerns facing school districts.
He thinks, as did most of the candidates, that the district’s charge is to provide for students meaning to enter the work force out of high school, as well as those college-bound.
Don Hauser, another incumbent, said moving from No Child Left Behind to Common Core in the classroom was a challenge, and that a positive attitude of all involved was essential to give students opportunities to be all they can be.
“I think we’re doing the best we can with the dollars we have,” he said.
He also mentioned Criss and principals Kay Bolt and John Johnson as being top-notch leaders and a strength of the district.
Kevin Heisler was unable to attend the forum because of prior family commitments.
In a written statement, he said: “I fully understand that some of the issues facing our schools I will not be able to fully comprehend until I have discussed the matter with other board members and faculty members. However, I will form my own opinion once everything is brought to light …”