Flowery Branch candidates meet the voters

FLOWERY BRANCH - Four candidates and one stand-in vying for three Flowery Branch City Council seats met the voters and fielded their questions Thursday night in the city’s historic train depot.

The political newcomers seek to fill posts where none of the incumbents are seeking re-election.

Flowery Branch Concerned Citizens hosted the forum; moderator Ken Cochran said questions reflected citizen concerns.

“I think a lot of it is taxes, a lot of it is infrastructure, a lot of it is Streetscape and bringing business to downtown Flowery Branch,” Cochran said. “I think that’s what they all tried to address tonight.”

Both candidates for Post (3) Stacy Carlson and Kristopher Yardley were at the candidate’s table.

James Miller, running in Post (4), found his race was uncontested with the announcement during the forum that the other candidate, Otto Multsberg, had withdrawn.

Post (5) candidate Christopher Bozeman took questions; the other candidate, Tara Richards, was out of town for a previous trip commitment.
Friend and Flowery Branch resident Jessica Tullar, who is also Special Projects Manager for the Gainesville Department of Planning and Development, represented Richards.

All the candidates supported development and marketing to get visitors off Interstate 985 and into the historic business district.
Carlson said she wants downtown spruced up and the city needs more sidewalks.
Bozeman told the audience Flowery Branch needs to plant more flowers in public areas.

Miller would not answer yes or no to raising taxes, saying he wanted to review city finances and needs first. The other candidates took a no tax hike stance because of the economy.

None of the candidates would eliminate the police department but some favored staff cutbacks; all of them wanted a close city look at costs and revenues.
All the candidates supported changing council meeting times to evening instead of in the morning to encourage more citizen participation.