Mayor hopefuls Jerry Miles and Jay Schlum last week squared off against each other, attempting to convince a group of neighborhood residents they could lead the municipality into the future.

Residents of FireRock Country Club hosted the informal debate Feb. 8.

Several citizens – judging by the way they framed their questions – did not favor recent decisions by the Town Council, including the move to hire a new town manager and the rationale behind placing a property tax proposal on the ballot.

FireRock neighbors who live in the exclusive enclave also are worried about what could happen to former effluent lake sites located along Shea Blvd. and the town’s plans to build a fire station on Shea.

Miles said the former effluent lakes should stay as open space and be deeded to the FireRock Homeowners Association or given to the town for open space purposes.

Schlum agreed with that assessment, saying the parcels formerly used by the Sanitary District as holding ponds should be not re-zoned into commercial sites.

Apparently at some point former Town Manager Tim Pickering had suggested the sites could be re-zoned commercial to help generate revenue for the town.

As for a fire station site, the town is considering building a new facility on the north side of Shea west of the Palatial Estates subdivision near Fountain Hills and Shea boulevards.

There have been talks over the years of possibly using a MCO-owned site near Fountain Hills and Kingstree boulevards, but fire officials are saying the Shea site is better.

“I would like to see more exploration on the sites,” Miles said. “We need a good, serious study.”

Schlum said the town needs to be “sensitive” to what fire department officials are saying because they have already done the research in terms of response times, topography, location, etc.

“This is still in the discussion stages,” Schlum said. “We also have to be sensitive to the neighbors with regard to noise and that type of thing.”

Both mayoral candidates agreed that Fountain Hills Blvd. needs to be fully improved, harking back to potential contributions coming from the Ellman Cos. in exchange for developing former state trust land in northern Fountain Hills.

“His development will create more burden on Fountain Hills Blvd., and he will have to pay for that,” Miles said.

Schlum said negotiations would determine how much Ellman contributes: “It’s on our radar screen as a need that will be addressed.”

The candidates diverged when it came to such issues as hiring a new town manager and the need for a primary property tax.

FireRock resident Al Koehlinger criticized the town for the way it hired Pickering and proceeding with a hiring process before the new council is seated in June.

“It’s wrong that he will be starting when the council comes in,” Koehlinger said.

Miles said there is a “strong push” by the current council to hire a new manager now and that it’s unfair to both the new manager and the new council.

Miles criticized the council for allowing Pickering to manage unabated and for the way agenda items are selected.

Schlum said he is “confident” in the selection process for a new town manager and that a significant team is working on the search.

“We are looking for a different type of manager than we had,” Schlum said. “I’m looking for a community builder, myself.

“And I believe the current Town Council knows the needs of the town right now and what we need in a town manager…

“Plus, the process will be very open and public. The candidates as well as citizens will have opportunities to provide input.”

As for the proposed property tax, Schlum said the strategic planning process identified the financial issue several years ago.

“There will be a financial gap in the future,” he added.

The current councilman also said the sales tax rate would be cut five-tenths of one percent if the property tax passes and the money will be earmarked for public safety services.

“We don’t want to be leveraged with only sales tax and state shared revenues in the future,” Schlum said.

If “extra” funds are generated, they can be saved for future projects and expenses, he said.

Miles said the property tax isn’t needed right now and is quite confident the vote won’t pass.

“We’ve got to deal with alternatives,” Miles said. “Some of these financial figures just don’t make sense.”

Miles criticized the town for high legal fees, escalating budgets, lost lawsuits and needless expenses like commissioning a $12,500 survey that determined Pickering wasn’t a popular town manager.

“There is going to be a shortfall?” he said. “Basically you don’t spend money on things we don’t need.”