With the June 10 municipal election a week away, two mayoral candidates and four city commission candidates discussed their plans for Mandan's future at a candidate forum Monday night.

The forum was the second to last of a series hosted by The Bismarck Tribune at Bismarck State College.

Generally speaking, Monday's forum was cordial, and the candidates agreed with one another on most issues. None of them chastised the current commission or mayor for any actions. In fact, they commended them.

With Mandan Mayor Ken LaMont not up for re-election, Tim Helbling and Rick Parkes are vying for the office.

Helbling spent the last decade on the city commission, with eight years before that on the Mandan Park Board. He touted this experience as valuable to provide guidance with the possible transition of two new city commissioners.

Parkes, on the other hand, has had no governmental experience. He is an operation specialist for the Tesoro refinery. He said his work there within a $4 billion budget and a strategic plan, in addition to his experience as a firefighter, gives him the qualifications for office.

Gerald Serhienk, Steve Thilomony, Thomas Jackson and incumbent Sandra Tibke are all running for the two seats available on the Mandan City Commission.

Jackson said his goal is to continue to encourage residential and commercial expansion. Serhienk said he wants to help shape the growth the current commission has nurtured. Thilomony wants to create a 15-year strategic plan, and Tibke highlighted continuing the success she's had.

All candidates said they like the idea of the proposed Mandan event center, but would hesitate to fully support it until a clear financial plan is ironed out.

"As a community, we're jumping the gun here," said Tibke. "We need to research and see if we even have the money."

With $70 million of the debt for Mandan, it may be a while before that possibility is available.

The candidates said the debt is a concern. Yet they stipulated that the debt is healthy as Mandan usually pays it off quicker than most communities. Only Serhienko dissented and said adding more projects will only make matters worse.

"To me - I'm an accountant - debt is debt," Serhienko said. "No matter how you stack it and butter it, you owe money."

Helbling said the only way to reduce the debt is to encourage retail development, which he said would reduce the overall tax burden.

All the candidates also agreed that with increased development, parking issues are cruising into town. They all generally agreed that a parking ramp would alleviate the problem, in combination with continuing to require commercial developments to include parking in proposals.

(Reach reporter Chris Rosacker at 250-8254 or chris.rosacker@bismarcktribune.com.)