John Josendale addresses key issues at Mayoral forum ahead of General Election

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- A City Council and mayoral forum was hosted at Grace Calvary Chapel on Wednesday evening.

The forum was divided into three sections. The first section focused on candidates in Districts three and four. The second section highlighted at-large candidates. The final section focused on the mayoral candidates.

John Josendale and Larry Miller are running for St. Joseph's mayoral seat. Josendale received 1,839 votes in the primary, followed by Miller with 1,170.

Miller was not present at the forum. Josendale spoke on a wide range of topics and wanted to address the community.

Josendale said one of the best accomplishments over the last four years was appointing a new city manager.

"He is very key to towards the future on where we’re going. I think he’s a good leader," he said. "He’s got a team that he is working with that I think we accomplished a lot, and I give him a lot of credit for that."

Josendale said if he is re-elected, he would like to regularly host town halls.

“Whether that be coming here one month or going somewhere else one month. Go around different parts of the City, and we’ll bring in different council members that are involved in this area, whether it be this district," he said. "We’ll bring in different department heads so we can have questions and answers, so we can be more transparent."

Josendale also addressed closed-door council meetings as a whole, as the meetings have been a recent big topic of conversation between candidates.

"There are certain things that have to happen behind closed doors, whether there be a personnel issue, a contract issue, or things like that. When we talk about a closed-door meeting, that’s what our closed doors are. We don’t talk about issues," he said. "We have a first reading and a second reading so that you all have the opportunity to talk to us or reach out to us, and we want to be able to do that."

Josendale said the City's new programs to assist St. Joseph's homeless community have been flourishing.

"That they understand that someone really does care. Part of the issue that we have found out there is that they don’t feel like anyone cares. They don’t feel like anyone is listening to them," he said. "We get that person right away, and we the city has taken where we set up x number of rooms that we can get them somewhere right away and get them connected to someone the next day. That makes a difference."

Josendale addressed what needed to be done to improve education. He said if we don't fix the schools, we don't fix anything.

"I will support the school board and the school district, because we have to fix it. We have to make it to where we have an education process that works for everyone," he said.

The full forum is available on Vote Saint Joe. The general election will be held on April 7.