The four candidates running for Magnolia City Council positions 1 and 2 discussed their platforms and answered write-in questions from audience members during an April 21 public forum at City Hall.

The Position 1 candidates, incumbent Anne Sundquist and opponent Dona Hunt, addressed questions from the residents in attendance first followed by the Position 2 candidates, incumbent Jeff Chumley and opponent John Bramlett.

A sample of five questions posed to each set of candidates during the nearly two-hour forum is included below.

Position 1

Q: Do you have an overall philosophy for what city government should be doing for its constituents and if so, what is it?

Hunt: "I think city government needs to be represented by multiple facets of the voting populous. I think you need to have open mindedness, you need to have a plan, and you need to carefully follow that plan in order to keep the hodge-podge from happening. We've all talked about not wanting our city to turn out like some surrounding areas of Magnolia. We want to keep the ambience of our city. I just think with fresh ideas, a new face and somewhat of a new voter on City Council—it will help that move along.

Sundquist: "For our citizens, we are most concerned for their safety. I have worked to support the Magnolia Police Department and our officers are there on the streets. We need to provide quality city services—not just the bare minimum. A great deal is going into our infrastructure not just new infrastructure but repairs so that you can receive the services you should have. We do have a plan, and we're expanding it that will keep us from becoming the new [FM 1960 corridor] in the Greater Houston area, so we can keep the small town atmosphere."

Q: How will the upcoming growth of new businesses keep the city moving forward?

Hunt: "Business is a very close item to my heart because that's what I do with my job. I want businesses to come to Magnolia, and I want businesses that add a great deal and enhance the lifestyle we already have. I think we should be selective, but I think we should be proactive in going out and looking for the proper businesses and having them talk to our city people. [I think that is] the best route for our growth for the voters in this community."

Sundquist: "New business will continue to help us serve the people who are here, [so] they don't have to drive elsewhere to get the things that [they] need. Business also brings in sales tax dollars, and we have been steadily increasing our sales tax revenue over the last few years. It's been a remarkable growth that we've had, and we've had those reports. I believe they are on the [city] website that [Magnolia Economic Development Coordinator] Tana Ross provides."

Q: What do you think is going to be the city's biggest challenge in the coming years?

Hunt: "I think the biggest challenge is handling the growth. You're going to have to have a handle on exactly how you want this to happen. We have an incredible comprehensive plan [and] over $30,000 was spent to develop this plan for the voters of Magnolia. A lot of the voters had input in it—how we want our community to be built. It does take a lot of planning and attention to detail because all of that tax money is important to everybody, but you still have to have a plan and a careful plan. We don't want our city to be a drive-through city. We want it to be a destination city and a destination we are proud of and maintain."

Sundquist: "This plan will help us to grow in the right place. I see though with the growth, we've got to take care of our mobility in the area. It's been going, but it seems like it's taking forever at times. As part of the infrastructure, we are working on improving and expanding our water and sewer [lines] not just for the retail that will be coming in but the citizens who live here so they have the best quality when it comes to that."

Q: We had numerous questions submitted about red light cameras, including the legality and whether Magnolia should have them. What is your stance on the red light camera issue?

Hunt: "I know there are a lot of mixed feelings about red light cameras, and I know the statistics can prove good and bad as all statistics can. My personal opinion is they don't bother me because I'm not planning on running any red lights. I think traffic control is very important in our city right now because of all the construction and people get impatient. I've had things happen to me regularly here in our main intersection where people are cutting in front of you. My overall deal would be right now I'm in favor of it until we get passed a lot of the construction and maybe have better flowing traffic through the city."

Sundquist: "I think it's always something we need to review, but I think Dona [Hunt] and I agree here. Yes, it does bring in revenue to the city—it's going to help there. Most of the statistics show [the cameras are] cutting down on the accidents. I know that when our red light camera was not working that one Saturday afternoon about three weeks ago there were four accidents at our famous or infamous intersection [at Buddy Riley Boulevard and FM 1774] that was only in the afternoon. I think we need to [have the cameras] but review [the policy] from time to time."

Q: What is your stance on the upcoming election for the road bond in Montgomery County?

Hunt: "There are not enough words in my vocabulary to explain just how important I think this is to our community. No. 1 is safety. No. 2 is growth—we have to have a plan, we have to have all of this infrastructure, we have to have these things in place. This is it folks. You're going to have to have the roads, and sometimes it's going to be painful. If you consider the number of people these 77 projects are going to impact positively, those are the people who are here and those don't even include the people that are coming."

Sundquist: "I am wholeheartedly in favor of the road bond and have a sign in my yard [supporting it]. Our county is working very carefully. As we grow immensely, these are 77 projects that they narrowed down to meet the needs based on the revenue that's coming in. If you went to any of the talks [about the road bond], the [county plans] very conservatively, so if anything should happen, they could still handle those 77 projects. We have several [proposed projects] here, not just the Woodlands Parkway [extension], but Nichols Sawmill [Road extension] in particular. If you stop and think, if we have to get out of here all you have to do is think about the Tri-County fires. If we have to have a way to get out [of the city], we need to get to [FM] 2920."

Position 2

Q: Can you give a rundown of some of your past and current career experience and how you can have a positive impact on the city?

Bramlett: "As far as my past, I spent 37 years in public education and was responsible for close to $1 million dollars in one school district and a couple of million [dollars] in another. I've served on the [Magnolia] City Council before and was working with little or no dollars at the time I was on there. We were at a [budget] deficit, and [council members] have brought us out of that deficit. It takes a lot of planning and working to accomplish that."

Chumley: "I wear many hats sometimes. I don't really try to draw attention to myself—I just try to do a good job. In the past I've owned my own business, so therefore I write my own checks and at the end of the day there is nobody to rely on but myself. I know how to carefully spend. As you can plainly see, the city budget was over budget in 2010. I was elected in 2011 and was part of the careful spending along with the mayor and the council. It's changed some, but it's still the same thing. I'm a penny pincher. It's not my money—it's our money and that's how I spend it."

Q: Do you have an overall philosophy for what city government should be doing for its constituents and if so, what is it?

Bramlett: "The overall philosophy is that I feel the city should represent itself to its citizens. I think the citizens need more input, and I feel a lot of them are scared to say anything. I wish more people would be involved in other subdivisions that are now growing. I wish they would get more involved because it takes people to make things happen. If you sit up here and dictate all of your rules without having input from the community; I think the community needs to give us more input."

Chumley: "It needs to take everybody into consideration all at one time straight across the board. Be careful of your table manners and how you project that for the greater good of all citizens of Magnolia."

Q: What is your stance on economic development and bringing new businesses to the city?

Bramlett: "I believe wholeheartedly in economic development. I've always been a person that likes to see growth. [We helped bring] our little McDonalds that's here in town. I saw a new one open up on [Hwy.] 242, and I went in there and asked, 'How do you get them to come to Magnolia?' and he said, 'Well no one's ever asked me.' [I said], 'Well come and visit with us.' [Anne] Sundquist was on the chamber at the time, and that's how we got McDonalds."

Chumley: "That was of my main goals when coming to the council in 2011 to get the city to grow [by] annexation—let's get there before Conroe gets to us. I watched the city of Montgomery had this problem. The city of Conroe is all the way out to Walden Road. I was afraid of that because of [FM] 2978 [in Magnolia] and all the businesses and box stores and everything else running this direction here. That was one of the first things I wanted to do was annexation."

Q: If re-elected or newly elected to office, what are some of the top priorities you hope to accomplish?

Bramlett: "If I'm elected, I hope that public service is brought back up to staff. We had a shortfall due to the loss of our [police] chief, and we have a new chief on board [who] I think is going to bring a lot of really great things to the city. We had some [officer] positions that were not refilled after the other ones left, and I hope we can refill those and that the budget allows us to look at the possibility of some more. That's the problem we hear is that we don't have enough [officers]. Another problem that we have in the city, and I hear from everybody is traffic. [Traffic on FM] 1488 and [FM] 1774 in the mornings and evenings used to be bad, and now it's even bad during the day now. We need to work with [the Texas Department of Transportation] and Montgomery County in order to get this thing working to where people can drive through town and not have to sit there forever to get through street by street."

Chumley: "If re-elected, I would like to continue the momentum that's we've had going on with the city staff, putting money in reserves and working on the infrastructure—that's very important. The infrastructure of Magnolia [needs] to be self maintained. We've put backup power to the city sewer and lift stations, and we've put backup power to the City Hall. Infrastructure is really important, staffing [because] we have to maintain everything, and that's what I would like to do is maintain that steady growth."

Q: Where do you stand regarding the public improvement district in Magnolia Ridge?

Bramlett: "In 2008 I sat [on City Council] with another councilman—there was two of us never in favor of it. We put ourselves in the position of the people living there and how [could] we afford an extra $150 to $200 to be burdened with [each month], so I was never in favor of it then. The problem with it now [is] it's been voted on by council, so it's a legal issue. There [have] been lots of studies going on, so the attorneys are going to have to work this problem out."

Chumley: "The PID is under negotiation with both parties. Personally what we did in the city to help out—this may be another avenue for an out if both sides could come together—would be an in-city MUD, which we voted in. That's something that we could do and something we've done to give another avenue out. Both parties are still in dispute with this."

Community Impact Newspaper was one of two panelists at the forum and posed questions to candidates submitted by residents as well as original questions.

To view polling locations information and our Q&A with the candidates for City Council positions 1 and 2, check out our Election Guide.