BY WALTER ELLIOTT
PHOTO COURTESY HUUB Facebook
ORANGE – An overflow audience came to the Universalist Unitarian Church of Orange here at 45 Cleveland St., April 17 for the mayoral candidates debate.
The church’s HUUB outfit hosted the candidates night among (in left to right order on stage) Quantavia Hilbert, Dwayne Warren and April Gaunt-Butler before an estimated sanctuary audience of 200 and an overflow room of 60 that Wednesday night.
The incumbent mayor Warren, current West Ward Councilwoman Hilbert and former Councilwoman Gaunt-Butler also traded views for nearly two hours on simulcast. The audience, once the two minutes of opening remarks were made, responded with applause at every statement. The applause was peppered with sporadic laughter, a few boos and murmurings that caused moderator Vanita Jenkins to caution them several times to be subaudible.
If one wanted to see the trio vie for Orange’s next mayor a half-hour before the debate’s 7 p.m. start, however, you were ushered into the chapel room as part of the overflow. An Orange Police officer and a HUUB member helped close the sanctuary’s inner doors.
There were two OPD officers standing in the church’s entrance, wanding people for metal. Double parking on Cleveland Street’s southernmost block, especially by official municipal vehicles, was the rule of the night.
It sometimes seems that candidate night or debate organizers schedule their events that directly conflict with another civic meeting. In April 17’s case, there was an Orange Board of Zoning Adjustment meeting in City Hall starting at 7:30 p.m.
For all of the peaked interest and lively responses, one wonders it will translate to actual voting on May 14. Voter participation, indeed, was one of the six audience-derived questions put to them. All three candidates’ responses boiled down to finding out what the public, including voters, wanted.
Jenkins had noted that 199 votes determined who would get elected to the council’s ward seats in 2022 – and 1,939 votes in the last mayoral election in 2020. The question asked who would get more of the voting public involved.
Warren said that it came down to involvement beyond the election year. The public needs to take interest in city committees and attending council and Orange Public Schools Board of Education meetings.
Hilbert said that she will continue to hold quarterly community meetings and coffees, and perhaps more, should she become mayor. She said that the low polling turnout may be because some have become resigned to the status quo.
Gaunt-Butler that the elected seats she had sat on and wants to sit “are not mine, they’re yours.” She would make volunteer panels like the Citizens Budget Advisory Board a standing committee without the need for annual recreation.
Hilbert, in a later response, added that the CBAC should be more involved and their recommendations seriously considered. It was her experience that committee members would receive the department budget documents “hours or a day before the meeting where we would make recommendations.” (Candidates were allowed to make 30-second rebuttals.)
Another from-the-audience question regarded the vacant and quasi-derelict Orange Memorial Hospital block. OMH, closed by Cathedral Health in 1993, is on its third developmental proposal cycle.
Warren explained that the city had taken the last developers to court, imposed a clean-and-lien order and brought the property back to city possession. While reuse and repurposing option are being considered, the mayor said that placing a new public school there is not being considered.
Hilbert said that a third request for development proposals had reached the council at a recent meeting. Adding, “it’s your property,” she wants to see community input “on what they want to see there.”
Gaunt-Butler noted that some of the hospital buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. Whether a mix of apartments, community space or city services would go there, she wants “tax equity” there without now-22-year payments in lieu of taxes.
Warren, in a later response, said that PILOTS help bring advanced revenue into city coffers.
The above are samplings of the two-hour debate. HUUB had recorded its Zoom livestream for viewing on YouTube.
The overflow room’s simulcast projector, which began losing its sound midway, lost its feed altogether at 8:39 p.m. A HUUB member, after trying to correct the problem, apologized for the loss. Its audience, unable to go to the sanctuary itself, began filing out.
Whether all of the points and counterpoints made and audience enthusiasm will translate to voter turnout will be known before the polls close 8 p.m. May 14. Participating registered city voters will also have the three incumbents on the ballot and a write-in challenger to pick three at-large council members from.
