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Candidates, residents and current council members gathered at the Greensboro Volunteer Fire Company Community Center for the event.

The meet-and-greet gave residents an opportunity to meet the candidates, talk with them one-on-one and ask the questions about what they plan to do for the town.

The council will hold its election on Nov. 4 with two seats on the ballot. Pete Brelia, Kim Ernest, William Schaffner and Paula Turner will fight for the seats.

During the candidates opening statements, transparency was a big topic from all candidates. Ernest mentioned transparency as one of her top priorities.

“Some immediate deficits I noticed were lack of communication, transparency, accountability and knowledge,� Ernest said. “... I will not sit here today and promise you perfection. What I promise you is to do my best to hear you out, to respect your perspective and to assist you in making decisions for the future of all town residents.�

Brelia is running for re-election. When asked about the improvements of the town with a new town manager, Brelia explained how he would work to keep the improvements going forward as a council.

“As somebody that is on the current council the last two years prior to the current or the recent personnel changes, there was a lot of confusion, there was a lot of kicking the can down the road. Some of it was our fault; some of it was the fact that we weren’t given the information in a timely manner to make a decision,� Brelia said. “... There’s always going to be some type of issue, whether it be personnel or equipment or legislature or something, there’s always going to be a problem that we have to deal with. But I think the town is taking steps in the recent past to resolve a lot of those issues. And I think when this election is over, and we’re able to get back to work and be productive again, I think we’ll continue to make positive strides.�

Improving a working relationship with the county was a question asked by the residents, Schaffner suggested potentially having a quarterly meeting with the county commissioners to discuss issues and improvements that could be made.

“I think it would be helpful if we could figure out how to have a meeting with the county, but not just one town at a time,� Schaffner said. “I think it would be nice if on a quarterly basis or even if we had to start with semi-annual basis to have meeting with the county with all the towns together in the same room just to air out issues, concerns, projects that we’re thinking of coming up with, projects that the counties coming up with. … I do think that more networking would be beneficial to us as a small town to see a bigger picture from time to time.�

Turner received personal questions from the residents. When asked why should she get a vote, Turner reiterated her ability to show up and maintain community engagement as keys.

“If I’m asked I show up,� Turner said. “ My biggest qualification is the willingness to learn. I don’t think any none of nobody up here has the answers to all of the problems because they didn’t happen overnight, so they’re not going to get fixed overnight. I believe that as a community we can come together.�

The candidates were asked 15 questions during the alloted time. While there were more than 15 questions that were written by the residents, those who wrote questions that were not asked were allowed to meet with the candidates one-on-one to ask their questions.

The town election will be Nov. 4, residents can vote from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. at town hall.

For questions, the town encourages you to contact them at 410-482-6222 or via email at greensboro@greensboromd.com.