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GREENSBORO — Mayoral candidates faced voters Thursday night at the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress forum. Incumbent Yvonne Johnson and challenger Bill Knight answered questions from about 40 residents at the Greensboro Central Library.

Here’s a sampling of their answers:

How will you evaluate the new city manager?

Knight: “I want to work with him and make sure that he has an absolute clear set of objectives as to what is expected. There will be a lot of feedback. It’s a learning experience.”

Johnson: “I’ve spoken with a number of council people about this. The first thing we will do is have a work session with him and set some … clear, measurable goals and objectives.”

In six months the council will evaluate what he has accomplished.

How would you avoid the fractiousness in City Council meetings?

Johnson: The council could soon adopt rules of conduct. “But if someone wants to be contentious and nasty, that doesn’t wipe that out. So my suggestion is to the people of Greensboro that you select the people you want to represent you based on knowledge, character and civility.”

Knight: He wants to make the council meetings function better. “A decision is made. The discussion is over. You move on. It’s not hard to conduct an orderly meeting.”

Can you explain your campaign slogans, “Positive Leadership” (Johnson) and “Go forward Greensboro” (Knight)?

Johnson: “When I talk about positive leadership, I talk about vision. I talk about commitment. I talk about obligation. That one should do their homework ... Even when you are at odds, you can respect someone’s human dignity and that is what positive leadership is.”

Knight: Greensboro has been looking backward instead of looking to the future. He asked the council members to help the city move forward by paying for former police Chief David Wray’s legal costs, according to a city policy to pay employee legal bills.

Are there any aspects of the proposed land development ordinance that you disagree with or support?

Knight: “I don’t know.”

Johnson: She likes incentives for in-fill development. “To provide some incentive for people to come in and revitalize and re-energize and to bring new business into places that are dormant or dead excites me.”

Does the police department have enough staff?

Knight: The city should study how the staff is being used. “The question boils down to how effectively are you using the people you have.”

Johnson: Staffing levels are much better. The City Council added a second police academy and would like to see a third to put more police in uniforms.

This year, the council had few discussions about the budget. How can it be done differently in the future?

Johnson: She said the council did spend time on the budget. “We got the result we asked (the city manager) for. We didn’t want a tax increase. We said, 'Cut what you have to cut.’ He did. We looked at it and we didn’t have a problem with it.”

Knight: He would like to spend more time looking at what can be cut, including jobs. “Can we do with less? We talked about a no tax-increase budget. What about reducing taxes? It is possible.”

The election is Nov. 3. Early voting begins Oct. 15.

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com