Chris Kemp

With the April 5 general election less than three weeks away, seven of eight Eau Claire City Council candidates and both candidates for Council president gathered for a forum Tuesday night at DeLong Middle School, 2000 Vine St.

Five predetermined questions were given to the candidates prior to the forum. The candidates had 90 seconds to answer each question and were also given a two-minute closing statement.

Topics included the Eau Claire Ski Sprites, property taxes, cost saving measures for any future budget crisis, downtown revitalization and the city’s mayor-less form of government.

Junior Will Joynes, who attended Tuesday’s forum, said downtown revitalization is one of the biggest issues for him in the city council campaign.

“Being a student in that Third Ward area, it’s a definite plus to have that place be brought up again and to have it be a bigger destination for the students as well as the people of the city,” Joynes said.

In Districts 3 and 4, where most students reside, both of the challengers have UW-Eau Claire connections.

Former Student Senate President Adrian Klenz is challenging incumbent Toby Biegel in District 3, which includes the residence halls and downtown.

Meanwhile, senior Chad Nelson will face incumbent Bob Von Haden in District 4, which encompasses the Water Street and Randall Park areas.

Senior Eric Ristau, a resident of District 4, came into – and out of – the forum as an undecided voter.

“They’re both really good candidates,” Ristau said. “I still really don’t know exactly how I’m going to vote.”

Various local media outlets sponsored the forum and John Murphy from WAYY moderated it. It will be rebroadcast on Community Television at a later date.

Nelson said afterwards that the forum was important to his campaign and a prime opportunity for the community to make an informed decision.

“It was a good chance for the people to hear candidates’ opinions, so I think it was a good thing,” Nelson said.

Klenz agreed, saying he was pleased with everything the candidates had to say.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to share our views with the community,” Klenz said. “I think everyone did a great job and I think it was important that people out there get to see what it is that we’re talking about.”

But Biegel and Klenz also accused the other of focusing on negative campaigning rather than the issues at hand.

“He keeps talking about how he runs a clean campaign,” Klenz said following the forum, “but he has publicly called me a liar, he has publicly called me dishonest, and I don’t think that’s running a clean campaign.”

Biegel said during his closing statement that his campaign against Klenz reminded him of his first City Council campaign when one of the issues was City Council representatives not getting along.

“I was happy to see my opponent didn’t really stay to the negative aspect that he has traditionally been at this kind of a setting,” Biegal said afterwards.

Students will have a second chance to hear both Klenz and Biegel, as the two have a debate scheduled for March 30 at Schofield Auditorium.