One mayor and two Town Council candidates attended a town hall on Oct. 20 ahead of a Nov. 2 election for those positions in Wagener. The hopefuls who showed up were council candidates Kevin Young and Taylor Love and mayor candidate Chris Salley.

The discussion started around 6:30 p.m. Questions asked were provided by the audience, who wrote them down on index cards and presented them to the moderator.

During closing statements, Salley stated that he doesn’t live in the town limits, but if elected, he would move to be inside the town limits.

After consulting with state elections officials, Cynthia Holland, registration and elections director for Aiken County, said this would disqualify Salley from being mayor.

Questions about the budget, improving the medical center and future of the Wagener Fire Department were posted.

On the budget, Love answered that she would, “Make some adjustments to the budget and find items to cut out.”

Young answered that he would “get all expenses lined up and have control of checks and balances.”

Salley stated that he didn’t know what shape the town is in financially and would have to determine that first.

Asked about plans for the water department, Love and Young said they want to look for grants to help improve the department, while Salley stated that he would improve what needs to be fixed first.

Digging into the scandal that hit the town’s fire department this summer over suspect money transfers, all candidates stated that they would rehire the old fire department members and staff.

Love stated that background checks on the new members haven’t been done.

Young said that “if the old firefighters want to come back, yes, they could,” and agreed with Love on the need for them to pass drug tests and background checks.

Salley said, “Yes, I will rehire the old Fire Department staff, adding that he had learned that the investigation was false.” Salley did not elaborate on what investigation he was referring to.