Langley mayoral hopeful Sharon Emerson made good on her hope to have small group or one-on-one chats with Langley residents this past weekend.

Wearing a bright yellow hat with “SHARON 4 MAYOR” written in blue across the front, and a white T-shirt that displayed her campaign logo and slogan, she met with members of the public at the Commons on Sunday.

During the two-hour stint, the first of four planned Sunday afternoons at the location, Emerson met with three residents. All of them were women and each said they were concerned with the city’s past approach to improving the connection between the marina and downtown commercial core.

Emerson has been a staunch opponent of the funicular option, and has touted either widening Wharf Street — the project for which the first grant funds were secured — and improving the pedestrian walkway down the hill or buying more golf carts to move people up from the harbor and around town.

“At this point, I’m not even sure there’s a need,” she told one of the visitors. “If there’s a need, then golf carts are the best option.”

Open government was one of the pillars of her campaign, based on her responses to some of the visitors’ questions. She said she did not have a large-item agenda if she were elected, but rather several small initiatives. Among them, she said, was including more information online for residents. She gave an example of putting the entire city council meeting packet online to give people more detail to review before attending the twice-monthly gatherings at city hall. Another idea is to put all completed public records requests online.

Balancing the desire for growth and the desire to keep Langley’s “charm” was another common concern for the three visitors. Emerson said the city has the necessary devices to mitigate urban sprawl, and population growth estimates are low, but she also cautioned that cities only go two directions: either they grow, or they shrink, and she preferred the former.

“Langley already has a lot of those zonings and ordinances in place, plus the Design Review Board,” she said.

Emerson touted her experience running her own business, Island Home Nursing, for three decades. She said that she is well suited to be city hall’s top employee, a post for which she is willing to leave the company she co-founded.

“The mayor is the chief administrator, that’s what I do at Island Home Nursing,” she said.

Emerson’s Sunday gatherings follow a campaign kickoff of mayoral challenger Tim Callison last month. It was attended by a few dozen people.

Also running for the seat is Thomas Gill, a city councilman. He has yet to host any public events.

An earlier version of this story confused Emerson’s position on growth.