Editor’s Note: This is the second of a four-part series featuring the three mayoral candidates.

If you could change a department in city government, which one would it be?

That might be a question dozens of city residents would like to answer, but only one of three Jamestown mayoral candidates might have the possibility of addressing the status of government departments next year. The Post-Journal asked each of the three Jamestown mayoral candidates, Andrew Liuzzo, city councilman running on the Libertarian Party line, Eddie Sundquist, local attorney running on the Democrat, Independence and Working Families Party lines, and David Wilfong, county legislator running on the Republican and Conservative Party lines, “Which city department would change the most under your administration? How would those changes benefit city residents?”

Wilfong started the debate by stating he would like to take a closer look at the development department because one of the “many hats he wears” as a state certified code officer. He said a lot of municipal governments hire outside firms to handle code enforcement.

“We can hire and outside code officer to take care of that for us and they can bill us,” he said. “That cuts down on the number of code enforcement officers we need.”

Wilfong said the city should be more people friendly when it comes to property owners who want to improve their properties.

He said sometimes people don’t deal with the bureaucracy at the city Municipal Building when they want to make renovations to their homes or want to make improvements to their property.

“We need to get people to come to us when they say, ‘I want to put an addition on the house,”‘ he said. “We want people to come to us when they want our expertise when it comes to building, construction, roofs. We should change to a more user-friendly model instead of a hand down punishment role. People don’t get permits. They want to do it behind everyone’s back.”

Sundquist also said the development department might be an area for change to be more inclusive.

“There are a ton of organizations trying to improve housing in the city, but not necessarily are coordinating. I want collaboration from the housing groups,” he said. “The department of development is a great place to coordinate what all these organizations are doing.”

Liuzzo said as a business owner and manager for the last 40 years, he would not disrupt the departments immediately after entering office if elected, but would first talk and observe each department before making any changes.

“I never went in and disrupted departments immediately. I always went in and observe departments and recognized their experience by working with the staff and asking for suggestions,” he said. “The staff wants to be a part of the solution. They want to be recognized for the work they do and, above all, respected. Communication by current workers is how you identify what works and what doesn’t. Then you can decide where duplication and shortfalls occur.”

When given an opportunity for rebuttal on what the other two candidates stated, Wilfong declined his opportunity.

Sundquist then discussed the idea Wilfong had about not having code enforcement officers as city employees. Sundquist said the city handles more than 500 code violations at a time and tries to prevent the cases from going to court.

Also, Sundquist said he is the only candidate suggesting a transition team to work with the employees to see how to make each department more efficient.

Again, Liuzzo discussed his experience as a business owner and manager about how making a change without all the facts isn’t going to improve city departments.

“Going in there and tell them that this is what we are going to do isn’t going to change anything,” he said. “(City employees) have to be involved … they have to give their input. It has worked well for me as a business owner and manager, and I was successful.”