PORTOLA - On October 4th at the League of Women's Voters Candidate Forum, after speeches from school board candidates, the session moved to the Portola City Council election, with candidates Phil Oels, Bill Powers and Leah Turner.

Oels began the opening statements for the council candidates. Born and raised in Portola, Oels is an Army veteran who sees himself as a servant over being a politician.

Powers is another Portola native and a graduate of Chico State where he got his teaching credentials, and now enjoys serving the community, and he also serves on various county committees. He is a substitute teacher at Portola Jr/Sr High School and assistant Soccer coach. Powers previously taught at Jim Beckwourth High School for 23 years and was elected County Supervisor in 2004.

Turner has lived in Portola for 14 years, and moved from Burney, California. She worked for 12 years at Eastern Plumas Health Care. Previously she was a community service officer in Portola for seven years. She is currently a volunteer for Eastern Plumas Fire Department as their medical training officer.

When asked what procedures the Council should use to find a city manager, Oels replied, “Well, all I know is what we’ve been doing, it’s really difficult to put it out to people who are interested in it, you interview them, sometimes even going to weird places like Greenfield,” which he said he did. He also said since he’s been on the City Council, for the last ten years, there have been four city managers.

Powers added that there is usually a three part system, first is the national level, then a written screening, an in-person interview, and finally a second interview. Turner agreed you have to advertise nationally for a City Manager, and “have a criteria for a small rural area.” She said she believes good advertising, proper interviews, and background checks are necessary.

When asked if locals will be able to burn pine needles this season, and if there can be a class to provide to residents safe burning procedures, Powers said the answer will most likely be no, and emphasized efforts with Intermountain Disposal for yard waste removal. He also mentioned the city's work with the Air Quality District for safe and effective burning. When Turner was asked if she was in favor of burning lessons, she mentioned that she does not condone burning, but that proper burning lessons is a good idea. Oels mentioned that the burn ban was coming from the air quality district, and said he believes if people are going to burn they should be doing it right.

“What's the biggest problem faced by Portola and how would you solve it?” Turner said that the biggest problem is infrastructure quality and the solution is to seek outside funding and improve use of the city budget. Oels agreed that the pipes are “old and rusty,” and that the roads need improvement, but expressed concern about fixing pipes underneath newly paved cement, as well as funding issues. Powers replied, “We’ve swung and missed a couple of times in the last couple years,” mentioning a proposal from Chico State which was not fulfilled because the students involved graduated. The amount asked for was around 35 million dollars for sewage and water systems. He agreed there “wasn't much sense,” in paving without funds to fix pipes underneath the road.

Regarding what the city is doing to procure grant funding available for rural communities, Oels said he believes that’s a job for a City Manager. Powers referred back to the swing and miss comment, saying when they applied for a previous program, they were accepting ten communities, and we were number 11. He says they will continue to apply and search for grants. Leah’s solution was to hire a grant writer if we don't have one, and a committee to work with the grant writer and city manager. She said because of her experience with working in the fire department she knows a grant writer is essential. She agreed the pipes need to be repaired before the roads so newly paved streets don't have to be torn up.

When asked what the city council can do to help job prospects for Portola residents. Powers said perhaps the city should help residents to find jobs, suggesting a career preparation program with local businesses. Turner suggested the city build an employee development program, and work with agencies and businesses to advertise existing openings. She expressed concern with age limitations for certain jobs. Oels replied he finds it important to attract more businesses and industries to the city.

“What can the city council do to attract more businesses to Portola?” Oels pondered bringing tourism with more events like the recent gravel grinder bike race and adding a fishing derby to Lake Davis. Turner said the biggest problem is the housing market, and said there should also be a program to help bring in new industries while noting it's not necessarily the city's job to attract new business. Powers spoke about concepts such as finding uses for sawdust and similar biomass.

When asked about a vision of Portola ten years from now, Oels said he would like a clean town with solid structures, good roads, and reasonable tourism; he would also like to see it have clean water and be fire safe. Turner agrees and envisions a clean city with water rights and fire safety, community pride and child safety, addressing drug and homelessness problems. Powers, meanwhile, expressed confidence in solving the infrastructure problem, and achieving fire safety, and securing clean water.