QUINCY — Incumbent Jeff Spence and challenger Rob Madera are running for Position 2 on the Quincy City Council. Both candidates were provided with identical questions that included a word limit. Madera did not respond after several requests for comment.  

Q: What made you decide to run (or if you're an incumbent, run again) for city council?  

Spence: I originally decided to run after retiring from (Grant County Fire District 3) after 29 years as a volunteer as a way to continue to give back to the community.  As a lifelong resident of Quincy, I feel it’s important to give of your time and support. 

Q: What do you think are the two or three most important challenges facing Quincy?  

Spence: With continued growth, we have to make sure we continue to maintain city services to match that growth, while maintaining and upgrading our current infrastructure, as we are faced with an aging infrastructure that needs to be improved. We need to look at ways to manage our drinking water as with growth comes higher demand. One of those ways is the reuse of water for non-drinking usage, such as lawn water and for use in parks for lawns. 

Q: In terms of funding, how would you prioritize them? How would you pay for them?  

Spence: We currently have a 6 year and 20-year plan that prioritizes the needs of the city.  The city is continually applying for grants, state funding and anything else available to the city. We are competing against other cities for those funds. We continue to review the 6- and 20-year plan and fund each project as funds are available. 

Q: What are two or three important opportunities you see for Quincy?  

Spence: As the City of Quincy grows we want to continue to be able to offer quality services, I see opportunities to expand our services, we recently had a presentation by the boys and girls club which would like to start a chapter in Quincy, it would be a great opportunity for the city to help them get started, as they can offer programs for our children. We have an opportunity to expand our recreation programs to provide more opportunities for children and adults. 

Q: What are some things that you would like to see happen in Quincy, some goals that you would work toward? 

Spence: As Quincy grows, we need to be able to provide fun and inventive ways to interact with others in the community, concerts in the park, expanded block parties, but these things also need help from service groups, or other interested parties to make these things happen. The city provides help for many activities in Quincy, from Dru Gimlin 3 on 3 tournament to (Farmer Consumer Awareness Day.)