Though there was little debate to be had at the Langley Chamber of Commerce’s candidate forum this week, aspiring elected officials had plenty to say about the issues facing the Village by the Sea.

Members of the business community packed the Braeburn Restaurant on Wednesday night to hear the candidates speak about their priorities.

Mayoral candidates Kennedy Horstman and Thomas Gill were the first to speak. Both with expertise in technology, they aligned on many of the same goals, such as increasing affordable housing and fostering diversity and inclusion.

But when asked about keeping the city administrator position, which was created earlier this year, the candidates have different ideas.

“That job might not be needed once things change, once we have the opportunity to actually talk about what the city needs to do to focus our priorities,” Gill said.

Horstman, on the other hand, said the city needs professional management and continuity across administrations.

Kay Kenneweg, who is running for Position 3 on the Langley City Council, was passionate about public health advocacy and creating a wilderness preparedness plan. She also spoke about her own difficulty in finding housing, from couch-surfing to living in a treehouse at one point.

Her opponent, Chris Carlson, told a story about a close friend who had to move three generations of family members to Texas when they couldn’t afford the cost of living in Langley.

“Our community will not survive if hardworking families like theirs can’t make it work here,” he said. “This community is going to slowly wither on the vine.”

Carlson said only 27 people, out of about 600 employees, work and live in Langley, a statistic from the city’s 2022 Housing Needs Assessment.

Scott Chaplin, who is running for Position 4 on the city council, spoke at length about his experience as Langley’s current mayor, from challenges with records organization to the budget to outdated software programs.

“But we’re really on a sinking ship right now in some ways,” he said. “It’s not inevitable in that there’s great hope. We’ve hired some amazing people and we’ve done a lot of training for the people that we do have on staff.”

His opponent, incumbent Craig Cyr, was startled to hear Chaplin use such bleak terminology when speaking about the city.

“Langley faces many challenges, none of which are insurmountable,” he said in a statement to The Record the next day. “I believe with the addition of a professional administrator, assisting our volunteer mayor, we finally have the right staff in place to address accumulated legacy issues, as well as some significant current challenges, including the 2024 budget. Let me be clear, Langley’s future is indeed bright.”

During his time speaking at the forum, Cyr pointed to his work as a council member in banning fireworks, introducing an ordinance establishing the Dismantling Systemic Racism Commission and removing faux totem poles from Seawall Park.