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Politics seem to become more polarized with each election, but Lycoming County commissioner Rick Mirabito described the energy at the recent forum with the Democratic candidates in the primary as more positive than partisan.
"I didn't get the sense from this crowd that it was a partisan political event," Mirabito said.
"It was an event about education. About how we do we solve the problems facing our community. Whether you're a Republican or Democrat or Independent, you can't help but be impressed by that," he added.
The four candidates, Victoria Marks, Denitra Moffett, Mark Mussina and Sean Simcox, were out to sell themselves to the crowd at Park Place as the most suitable candidate to represent the party in the general election in November.
Questions were delivered by the moderator, Pennsylvania College of Technology professor, Dr. Craig Miller, and each candidate was given a time limit to answer.
Although the candidates at times had similar answers to the questions, each brought their own unique perspective because of their life experiences.
Simcox serves on the Jersey Shore Borough Council and has a background in banking. Moffett is a veteran and brings with her time spent as a logistics specialist in the army. Mussina is a local real estate agent and Marks was an air traffic controller.
One issue that has been in the news and is the subject of many complaints from area residents is the airport and the lack of air service to the county.
The question from the moderator was "What do you think is a more important use of resources --
dealing with the airport or growing and retaining industry?"
Marks contended that "one really does depend on the other."
"If we can't bring people in here, we can't bring businessmen and industry again," she said.
She shared how difficult it is to travel by air, going to Philadelphia to fly because there is no commercial service here.
"What business wants to do that? It's just not happening until we fix that," she said.
Mussina agreed with Marks.
"It's hard to grow industry if they can't fly in here," he said.
"I think it falls back on the people running the airport that they did a terrible job of promoting what they have and what their capabilities are because the understanding to everyone is it's just as expensive as all get out to fly out of Williamsport so we've got to go to Harrisburg," Mussina said.
Moffett too agreed that the two go hand in hand, but rather than putting the blame on the people running the airport, she pointed out that it was a bureaucratic decision that resulted in the loss of funding through the Essential Air Services (EAS) program.
She did question whether the amount of money going into rebuilding the airport should be spent on attracting industries.
"Do we actually do more with the industries and get farther and develop the airport later," she asked.
Moffett said she believes that whoever the next commissioners are, they're going to have to "cautiously approach this to make sure that it's handled in a reasonable timeframe."
"Having an airport is key to any modern society," Simcox added.
"That being said, business growth will bring back airlines to this county, so that's where I would focus my energies," he said.
To gauge how they would handle the county budget, which this year was around $1.3 million, Miller asked the candidates their experience creating, approving or administering budgets and the amounts they have been responsible for in the past.
Simcox, who is a member of Jersey Shore Borough Council, said that in addition to his work with the borough's budget, he was the director of a preschool for children with special needs for 10 years where he dealt with a multi-million dollar budget. He also served as chairman of the board of the Jersey Shore Hospital, which has a budget in the millions.
"My financial background is as a banker. I look at small business plans and tax returns all day long," Simcox said.
Moffett listed her time in the military as a logistics specialist dealing with a budget of around $20 million, as offering her the experience necessary to serve as commissioner.
"I was a very transparent logistics specialist, because it's not my money, it was the government's money," she said.
"I wanted to be sure that I was not only spending it wisely, but I was being transparent with the powers that be to know 'hey, this is what we're using the money for,'" she said.
Mussina, who, in addition to being a real estate agent, is also a partner in a local business, said that he believes the important thing about working with budgets is building relationships.
"It is about the ability to work with other people and to hear their needs and to be willing to go out and see the needs that are around us and then to make proper decisions as to where the money needs to go," Mussina said.
They all emphasized their commitment to the Democratic backgrounds. Marks said that she's a sensible Democrat. But whoever is nominated will have to face a savvy and informed electorate.
After the forum, Tai Greene, a young businesswoman who posts online, said that she's learned that the local elections are very critical.
"There’s so much more than just the federal level. Local is what counts more. So I continue to post about this, so that way I let my peers, my constituents know what’s going on at a county level," Greene said.
"Something’s going to happen in Lycoming County -- something’s going to happen. Irregardless of who wins, we’re gonna hold them accountable. Our generation holds accountability. And that’s what the internet does," Greene said.