About 200 people turned out Tuesday night for the Lookout Mountain candidates’ forum.

Candidates for mayor and City Council post spent the night answering voter questions and giving their take on what they envision for the mountain community.

Candidates attending included mayor Tommy Gifford and his challenger Bill Glascock; also, City Council incumbents David Bennett and Sandy Gothard and challengers Dennis Eischied and Blair Ramey, all vying for three open council seats.

The forum was hosted by the League of Women Voters of Georgia. It was held at Lookout Mountain United Methodist Church. Tracey-Ann Nelson with the League was moderator for the event.

Vision for the future

Candidates were asked what they envision for Lookout Mountain in the next three years.

Gifford said his vision, for the next three to four years, is to learn about “our mountain” and “improve our mountain.” He said he supports the proposed Chapelbrow development, an assisted living community, in the comprehensive plan. He said he’s aware the town is at a “standstill” and he wants to move forward and find that “spark,” but is still uncertain of what that “spark” would be, whether it is Chapelbrow or the new sidewalk pathway, or some-thing else.

Glascock said he has attended all the meetings on Chapelbrow and he looks at the “big picture,” but he is against the “all-or-nothing approach.” He said he wants to see the city finish one project, such as the new town center, before the city starts to plan for another project.

Gothard said the city needs a new town center, but not a PUD (planned unit development) ordinance for it. He said the city should look into government grants and other ways to raise money. He said these can be accomplished within the next three years.

Bennett said he would like to see a new town center and an assisted living center in the community.

Ramey said he agrees with Bennett, but that education is an important factor, because more and more babies are being born and bringing the bulk of growth. and the city should appeal to those families and get behind the schools.

Eischeid said government grants are difficult to get, but the city should move forward with the new town center because “we know what we want.” He said the assisted living pro-ject is important to him because of the number of senior citizens in the city. “We need to have alternative housing,” Eischeid said.

Sewerage woes

Lookout Mountain citizen Barbara Howell asked a question she said she has been won-dering for 10 years: What is the city going to do about the odor from the sewerage system?

Howell said she wonders why the city would add new residents without correcting the sewerage problem.

Glascock said he took a long look at the sewerage system, and in his study he realized that the frequency of the pumps from Covenant College is a key factor to the problem. He said the pump system at Covenant must pump out the sewerage at a more frequent pace, rather than gather up for some time. He said Howell has a legitimate complaint.

Gifford said the city has been working with the sewerage system and the college to cor-rect the problem. He pointed out a new $50,000 grant that would be a part of the $250,000 grant that would go into re-building the Flintstone system for the sewerage to have a better steady flow. “We are constantly working with the college on how they use their pumps and their tanks,” Gifford said. “There is no quick fix.”

Howell brought up two sewerage spills that occurred in the city.

Gifford acknowledge the spills and said it was due to the heavy rain and that there were similar spills across Georgia due to the recent flooding.

Glascock said the city should not move anyone into the city or another student at Cove-nant College until the problem is fixed. “It is a very serious problem. We are maxed out on our sewerage system right now,” Glascock said.