MOSES LAKE - Dick Deane serves in Moses Lake Council Position 6 and is being challenged by former city councilmember Jim Liebrecht.

In his opening remarks during a candidate forum Monday, Deane introduced himself as a longtime Moses Lake resident who has been active in the community for decades.

"Safety, health, progress is the direction I want to take our community," he said. "I've been taking an ethical and professional approach throughout my life. I vow to you that I will continue to do so."

Liebrecht told the audience he knows what it takes to be a leader in the city and is an individual who will not be bullied.

"I vote my conscience," he said; adding his priorities are maintaining or improving emergency services and services for seniors.

Liebrecht said three key issues facing the community in 2012 are better balancing of the city budget, getting more support for emergency services and combating crime.

The city will not rid itself of the crime problem by simply shoving criminals out of the city limits, Liebrecht said.

"This is something that takes every city in this county to get together," he said.

Deane's key issues center on current and future growth. As the city develops the council has been working with the state to improve traffic flow, he said, and is now looking at how to maintain the fire department and ambulance services in face of continued expansion.

Bringing in new retail merchants has long been a challenge and the city must work to widen its average income base to attract more interest, he added.

An audience member asked candidates what they would do to help clean up crime in the city, at which Deane pointed to several "beefed up" programs already in place, such as a regional drug task force and new city gang task force.

Liebrecht likened the problem of crime to a cancer or virus that must be taken care of through money and training, and said more resources need to be funneled toward law enforcement programs.

In response to a question on the role of the city manager and his relationship to council, Liebrecht said city council must make itself the stronger half of the partnership.

"We are the ones who tell Joe (Gavinski) what to do," he said. "I want to know what Joe knows. That's my job."

Deane said it's the job of city council members to put in the necessary time to educate themselves with the help of the city manager.

"I've never gone without proper information because I go in and search for that information," he said. "If you want the information you can get it."