The Reporter submitted four questions to each council candidate. Here is how they answered. For the entire Q&A visit Kenmore-Reporter.com and search “Vote 2013.”

Deputy Mayor Bob Hensel has served on the Kenmore City Council for nearly a decade. He has had a big part in shaping the course of the city that was incorporated in 1998.

But he will retire from his position in January and three Kenmore residents are vying for his Position 4 seat.

Nigel Herbig, Charles Crouch and Patrick O’Brien have as differing ideas for the direction of Kenmore as their backgrounds.

Herbig has worked for many high profile elected officials during his career. He currently works as State Rep. Jessyn Farrell’s legislative assistant. Farrell represents Kenmore in Olympia from the 46th District.

Crouch is a former Navy special warfare operator and currently a local business owner. He has owned CrossFit Kenmore since 2011 and moved to the city in 2010 from San Diego with his family.

O’Brien is an environmentally active citizen who has worked and consulted in the “green” industry. He has also been involved with People for an Environmentally Responsible Kenmore (PERK).

Both Herbig and O’Brien see developing the waterfront as one of the biggest issues facing the city.

“Kenmore is brimming with potential – we have a great location right on the lake, yet some of our best waterfront property is taken up with industrial uses,” said Herbig. “It is a long-term project, but we have to work with the property owners to open up our industrial waterfront – for our health, our environment, and our quality of life.”

O’Brien said the city needs to develop an integrated plan for the development of the downtown core and waterfront after “openly and transparently” resolving the outstanding environmental issues.

Crouch’s most pressing issues center around family, business and solidifying the city’s identity. He points to State Route 522 as the biggest catalyst for economic growth.

“With 50,000 cars driving through Kenmore each day, how do we get some of them to pull over here?” he said. “First, make Kenmore economically viable for business by showing businesses people can and actually do want to gather here. Second, ensure rules and regulations are more conducive for businesses.”

One of the biggest ways that Crouch would draw businesses is to give Kenmore more of an identity. The identity he suggests is one that is family friendly.

“Identity is a big deal because it means an integration of businesses and people in our city,” said Crouch. “Companies spend big bucks to make and produce logos and brand their names and purpose, we should too.”

Herbig also agrees that the city needs to be more family friendly by moving forward to create more sidewalks. He thinks the city’s current 20-year plan is a good start.

“Too many of our major roads aren’t safe for pedestrians, and our kids can’t walk safely to school,” said Herbig. “Our sidewalk network is spotty, patchy, and in some places completely non-existent.”

Both Herbig and O’Brien want the community to be more involved in city matters, and city government to be more transparent.

O’Brien also sees balancing the budget with no new taxes as a priority.

“The council has taken no responsibility and has in fact vehemently denied the factual growth in the new City Hall operating costs,” said O’Brien. “Two years ago they denied any need to increase taxes, yet last year they increased taxes on our car tabs and on our water and sewer bills.”

One of the biggest issues of the past decade has been the redevelopment of the city center and specifically the Kenmore Village Shopping Center. The city recently announced buyers and developers for the properties, which will have a lasting impact on the city’s economic growth.

Crouch and Herbig see the issue more broadly and think the city should be less directly involved in real estate development.

Crouch said he understands the city’s desire to promote growth but hopes in the future that the city will use more of a “guiding hand” in the process, rather than get so involved. He sees another opportunity in the future to do things differently with the Lake Pointe property.

“I’m not a fan of the city acting as real estate speculator – while I think we will get great things from this particular deal, at the end of the day we are losing money on it,” said Herbig of the Kenmore Village sale.

Herbig also recognizes that the deal is a monumental event for the city.

O’Brien is more critical of the city’s actions, calling the Kenmore Village deal another error “in the long series of downtown development contractual and fiscal mistakes.”

“The city should at least have tried to keep the property together and sell it to one developer,” said O’Brien. “After 10 years of investing more than $6 million in the old shopping center property, we have now agreed to sell it for $3 million, or half of what we paid … The reality is that the original purchase and sale of the Kenmore Village was unnecessarily dragged out and used primarily as a political tool to support the construction of the City Hall that was clearly beyond the need and affordability level of our local Kenmore community.”

As far as the broader issue of economic growth, the candidates have some differing ideas. Herbig and O’Brien agree that the city poorly handled the issues surrounding the city’s new business registry. O’Brien wants the business registry fee revoked.

“Unlike elected officials, city staff members have a vested interest to increase taxes and are not held accountable by either a vote of the people or by term limits when they make grievous errors in judgment,” said O’Brien, who also advocated for the council to have the power to higher and fire city staff with a two-thirds vote.

He also would like to see more pedestrian access across SR-522.

Herbig sees the city’s economic growth issue as night and day, literally, as he sees Kenmore currently as a bedroom community.

“People sleep here at night, but go elsewhere to work during the day,” said Herbig. “I want to see more office space in our downtown. People working here during the day will make it easier for many of our small businesses to succeed – our coffee shops, our restaurants, etc.”

For Crouch, economic growth goes back to building more of a sense of community for the 15-year-old city.

“The best way to spur growth in the city and to build a sense of community between businesses and local government is to guide the city in a way that encourages people to gather,” said Crouch. “The key to business growth in this city is synonymous with solidifying our identity and encouraging people to gather.”

Voters will cast their votes during the primary election on Aug. 6 and the top two vote getters will move on to the general election in November, with the winner replacing Hensel in helping to guide the city during the next four years.

For the complete Q&A with these three candidates, visit www.bothell-reporter.com; search “vote 2013.”

More information on the candidates

Charles Crouch, www.charlescrouchforseat4.com

Nigel Herbig, www.nigelherbig.com

Patrick O’Brien, email at Patrickpatrican@outlook.com