Our town faces many challenges and I’m keenly interested in the upcoming council and mayoral races. So I was pleased to see in the Jan. 10 edition of The Times that mayoral candidate Ginny Dickey will host a series of town hall discussions.

Then I read the topics for the discussions: The role of the mayor, council and town administration; how to vote by mail; building strong partnerships in and around our town.

Say what? I don’t believe most Fountain Hills residents need a civics lesson on the basic functions of government. And I’m pretty sure that the majority of us have figured out how to vote.

I would like to see council and mayoral candidates address the big, thorny issues that confront us. How would they solve the financial crisis? Is the town willing to go to bat for residents vis-à-vis the outrageous increase in our Epcor water bills?

How would each candidate approach the significant amount of vacant retail space in town? What would each candidate propose to attract and support local business and jobs? Concrete solutions, not canned clichés.

Mayoral and council candidates, please give us your thoughts on the real issues, not on how to vote by mail.