Both Kent City Council’s veteran councilman and newest councilman will be up for re-election tomorrow, although they are running uncontested.

Wayne Wilson, who has been on council since 1992, will once again be seeking the Ward 3 position. Councilman John Kuhar will be on the ballot for the Ward 4 office. Kuhar filled the vacant Ward 4 seat in 2005, his first election to the council.

Kuhar said tensions between students and police is the biggest issue in his ward, which covers University Townhomes, White Hall Terrace and some residence halls.

“We just have to find better ways of dealing with it. I think in every public event that I’ve been at, we’ve mentioned that 1 percent (of students) act like jerks when they drink.”

Kuhar also said if Kent wants to be known as a progressive community, it needs to have more progressive programs and ideas.

“People want to be in a town that’s thinking forward,” he said. “In Germany, they are paying you twice the electric rate for solar. We need to start thinking like that, too.”

Wilson said his ward is all about getting down to business.

“The redevelopment downtown, I think, is going to be very crucial to stimulating retail business down there,” Wilson said. “(Then) retail will hopefully get the hotel conference center that we’ve been working on for so many years.”

“Kent needs jobs for its citizens and income tax for its budget issues,” he said. “(The) biggest thing probably right now (in my ward) is getting the grocery story reopened in the plaza.”

— Andrew Schiller