Editor's Note: This is part one of a two-part series of articles on the Silver City candidate forum held Jan. 21 at the Grant County Administration Center.

By Mary Alice Murphy

Thursday evening, a candidate forum for the three Silver City residents running for mayor and one councilor candidate featured their answers to questions provided by the audience and by the Silver City Daily Press, one of the sponsors.

At least 30 people from the town and surrounding area attended.

The forum was sponsored by Silver City MainStreet, KOOT FM 88.1, CATS TV, and the Silver City Daily Press. SCDP publisher and editor-in-chief Nickolas Seibel served as moderator and read audience questions, most of which were directed at the mayoral candidates. Daily Press reporter Benjamin Fisher asked questions from the newspaper.

Each candidate introduced himself or herself in their opening comments.

Candidate District 4 Councilor Guadalupe E. Cano, who is running unopposed to retain her seat, spoke first.

"I was raised in the district I now serve in," Cano said. "My time on the council has been a learning experience. I went through the certification with the Municipal League to become a certified councilor. I've been working a lot on accessibility issues in town, especially sidewalk issues. Residents give me a lot of feedback on what's going on and what needs to be fixed."

Mayoral candidate Ken Ladner said he moved to Silver City 40 years ago. "I have been a faculty member in the science department at Western New Mexico University teaching among other courses, chemistry and forensic science. I've always liked experiments to show scientific principles, such as walking on a bed of hot burning coals. It may not be as hot as sitting up here."

"I also served as vice president of academic affairs, president of the Faculty Senate and interim president of the university," Ladner said. "When I came here 40 years ago, I became involved in community affairs. I was on the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce board and served as president. I also served on the Silver Consolidated Schools board. I have worked on boards to improve Silver City's downtown, including sidewalks and the Silco Theater."

Dr. Mark S. Donnell, anesthesiologist at Gila Regional Medical Center, said he has lived 22 years in Silver City, living inside the town limits the entire time.

"I came from California," Donnell said. "I left because of the number of people and the lack of water. I looked all over the Southwest. I wanted a job as an anesthesiologist and I have an interest in chemistry. I needed a university where I could continue chemistry studies and research, and I found it here.

"I have served as chief of medical staff and chief anesthesiologist most of my career here, but I will retire my medical career on April 4," Donnell continued. "I see the job as a lot more than just running the meetings. The mayor needs to be in the community, working with businesses. I will have time to do that and I have the intent to work with the Legislature."

Cynthia Ann Bettison said it was nice to see a full room and invited them back to Town Council meetings.

"I am the current District 1 councilor and mayor pro tem," Bettison said. "I've been here almost 26 years. I came to be the university museum director. I was in the area in 1981 doing fieldwork in the Mimbres. When I got here, I jumped right into volunteering. I am a member of Rotary and have served as president of the New Mexico Association of Museums. I have town leadership. I've been on the Council since 2009 and was named mayor pro tem in 2010. I am a Municipal League board member-at-large and I work with the Legislature and Congress.

"Silver City has unique needs. I have always ensured that Silver City is heard," Bettison concluded.

The first audience question, read by Seibel, who asked for brief answers, was: It is crucial that Silver City and Grant County cooperate. What are your ideas to ensure that happens?

"We do our best to work together with Grant County," Bettison said. "We will continue to support county initiatives, such as the Substance Abuse Treatment Center. There will be a few differences. Our work is in Silver City. The County Commission has a broader reach. The county includes all of us, so the more we all work together, the better."

Donnell said he thinks communication is critical. "Between the two entities, to have the best communication, person-to-person is important. I think the mayor's job is to keep communications open."

Ladner agreed communication was important. "Silver City and Grant County are tied together in many different ways. The town provides water to town residents and, I'm not sure of the number, but 8,000 or 9,000 residents outside the city limits. I would like to see a regular meeting where we talk on our common issues."

Cano said she thinks "our Council has done a good job on communication, but we don't have to agree on everything. I'm looking forward to five commissioners."

The next question was: "What is your vision for the economic future to diversify away from copper?"

"Encouraging tourism is key," Donnell said. "We have recreational facilities. Summertime events can be expanded. I will want to hear from the residents. I'm strong on education. I encourage things like the Science Olympiad, which is aimed at kids and families and brings them in."

Ladner said it is important that the economy be sustainable. "I'm a big fan of small businesses. We should grow our own, such as the tile company that now markets all over the country. It has grown to 40 employees. There are 25 million small businesses in the country and they produce more than half of all employment. Most of our gross receipts taxes come from the larger businesses, but the money from small businesses stays in our community."

"Economic development begins at the local level," Bettison said. "People create, grow and maintain their businesses. I want to create an economic task force, which meets monthly. The Local Economic Development Act has been successful here, such as for Little Toad Creek, which is expanding. We need to continue tourism and the Arts and Cultural District. Every dollar the community gives toward art and cultural items, the town gets $7 in return on investment. We also need to support eco-tourism, such as with the successful Continental Divide Trail efforts."

Fisher asked: "Each of you is closely connected to the university. President Shepard has often mentioned bridging the gap between the university and the town. How do you propose to do that?"

Bettison said she jumped into volunteering to bridge the gap. "I would continue to work to join town and gown. The university has activities that bring the public, but how do we get students to come downtown? We can offer incentives to engage town and gown. I think I do a good job because of my connection between the two."

Ladner said it is important to have good cooperation between the university and the town. "The theater offers movies to anyone, and the university also generously offers venues for meetings. One of the first things I would do as mayor is meet with Shepard and ask him what the town can do for him. MainStreet each year holds a welcome back for the students."

"I do research and teach courses at the university," Donnell said. "I am friends with Shepard. Ken brought the Science Olympiad to the university. The town has never put up banners for the event, which should be tied into the town. Those kinds of activities should be promoted by the university and the town."

An audience member posed the question of whether the Silver City Downtown Action Plan should be implemented.

"Of course it should," Ladner replied. "When I came in 1976, the vacancy rate downtown was 40 plus. The town removed the parking meters. J.C. Penny's and Cosgrove's were moving out. I want to see MainStreet continue to thrive. I will treat downtown and everyone outside downtown the same."

Bettison said the downtown action plan was done with public feedback. "I would like to take it off the shelf, look at it and see if we can add new ideas to move it forward fairly rapidly. We have so many plans. We need to tie them together and include the County Commission. Everyone in Grant County uses Silver City's downtown."

"I am not aware of what is in the plan," Donnell said. "I will look at the plan items and add to them."

The next questions asked how to include businesses besides those that are only downtown.

"I have not run for public office before," Donnell said, "but I'm already going around to businesses. About 50 percent say they are doing all right. Others are asking to restore the parking on Broadway from parallel parking. I hope we can do it as soon as the bridge opens. I will talk to businesses and find out what they want."

"I think it's in the plan for putting back in parking on Broadway for more spaces," Bettison said. "I talked about an economic task force for all of Silver City. We need to try to bring businesses together to work with the Chamber. We need to form items to make land use more business friendly. Businesses that want to start should be given a checklist. We need to make Silver City resident and business friendly."

"We absolutely should look at how to make it easier to get businesses going," Ladner said. "I checked on the Incentive Review Committee. It is not functioning. It has five members and a person has to write a letter to get on it. As mayor, I would like to make the committee functioning again."

A questioner asked what the candidates' three priorities were.

"We need to improve the infrastructure," Ladner said. "It's a vision idea. The sidewalks are in bad shape and it's hard to go places. The goal for me is for people to be able to walk and ride bikes more.

"I think the economic development portion is to focus on how to help small businesses get going," he continued. "The Small Business Development Center and the city can figure out a way they want to start and here are the steps.

"My third priority is recreation," Ladner said. "MainStreet recently called together community members to work on the Greenways Trails System. Envisioned is a pathway from Pinos Altos Creek and San Vicente Creek systems. A plan is sitting on the shelf, and so is another on Open Spaces."

"The most important priority for me is securing the water system for the community," Donnell said. "That is assisting the adoption of a plan to pump water along highway 180 to Hurley, Bayard and Santa Clara. We will capture the output from our wastewater plant to recharge the aquifer and create a secure water supply.

"The streets are in terrible condition," Donnell continued. "I'm sure some of you have hit the speed bumps on Cooper. You can't see them at night. Paint them white and even maybe with red stripes. We have potholes and streets that need marking.

"My last priority is encouraging small businesses," he said. "Nowadays you can order anything on Amazon and have it here in two days. Small businesses can't have huge inventories."

Bettison said her first priority is communication throughout the city and county. "My vision is of inclusiveness. I want us to work together to make our town successful. Second we need to continue to repair and upgrade the infrastructure for sidewalks and curbs, for which we have a grant. We don't do sidewalks in the winter, nor do we pave. We do have a street rotation plan. Third, economic development needs to be inclusive as well."

A questioner asked how to encourage young people to stay in Silver City.

Ladner said: "So many of the high school graduates leave the community because they want to get an education and want to get into certain professions that they can't study here. Often they come back. It's something I've thought about. I would love to have my kids here."

"I've thought about this a lot," Bettison said. "We do a lot of things at both museums to get the students learning about our history and getting them excited about living here.

"When the museum got the Senator Jeff Bingaman memorabilia, it showed that a person from a small community can be a U.S. senator," Bettison said. "A student can go away to study, but come back to work, like Dr. Twana Sparks did."

She said a collaboration of art and architecture is underway between Western and the University of New Mexico. "I would like to see students create mini-businesses. We can get them excited and they can use the unused business buildings."

"The reality is that the best and brightest will leave for advanced professions," Donnell said. "We need to give them the maximum number of opportunities while they are here. For teachers and doctors, the jobs are limited. But they will come back to form a business or come back later.

"We must work with the kids while they are here to make them want to come back," Donnell said.

"I think it's good to leave and come back," Cano said. "Then you appreciate your community. We need to be providing opportunities and encouraging them while they are here. I use Anthony Quintana as an example. We need to support those wanting to develop new ideas. Anyone who says there is nothing to do isn't paying attention."

Fisher asked the last question before the break. "Some of you have spoken about interacting with the state. What will you do as mayor to keep Silver city fresh in Santa Fe's minds?"

Bettison said she is a member of Prospectors, and as mayor she would continue that membership. "I will continue to do what I've done with the Municipal League board. I have met regularly with our legislators. The state Legislature concentrates on keeping the state healthy, but often they take away from the 107 municipalities and the counties, so they are not healthy."

"On Grant County Day, we talk to state officials," Bettison continued. "Municipal revenues and governance are under threat."

Ladner said when he was interim president at the university he went to the legislative session. "It's important for the mayor to meet with as many legislators as possible to convince them to our side. There are big issues that could impact Silver City in a negative way. We need to stay on top of them."

"I'm in agreement with Ken," Donnell said. "We need to keep Silver City in the mind of the legislators and meet with them to keep us in their minds. I will have time to be able to do that."

Part 2 of the forum will be covered in a subsequent article.