Unalaska, AK – On October 2, Unalaskans will go to the polls to pick a mayor and two city council members. Nine candidates are vying for the three positions and next week, Unalaska Community Broadcasting will be giving you a chance to ask them the questions that matter to you as a voter at our Candidate's Forum. That event will be held live in the Burma Road Chapel on September 27 and broadcast on Channel 8. If you have questions for the candidates, you can ask them in person that evening, or you can submit them ahead of time by e-mailing us at news@kial.org.

In the meantime, over the next several days here at KIAL News we'll be briefly introducing you to the candidates in the mayor's race. Incumbent Shirley Marquardt is facing off against challengers Katherine McGlashan and Shannon Morrison, and we're kicking the series off today with our interview with Shirley Marquardt.

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Shirley Marquardt has served as mayor since March of 2004, when she was appointed to replace then-mayor Pam Fitch. She was elected to the office the following October and has held it since then. Before that she spent nearly a decade on the City Council.

Marquardt says the main difference between being a council member and being mayor is that her title now gives her more clout to deal directly with government agencies and companies on behalf of Unalaska.

"It's just the title that gets you through the door--it's a handy thing," she says. "Being mayor enabled me to take the idea of an emergency towing system from just an idea to an actual on-site asset ready to go in four and a half months. [That] had never been done before."

Marquardt cites that tow package system as one of her major accomplishments in the past three years. She also points to the deal she struck with Alaska Airlines and Pen Air to provide community access seats to Unalaska residents during high traffic times around fishing seasons, and her efforts to get the Coast Guard to upgrade its Unalaska marine safety detachment to a family duty station. The latter hasn't happened yet, and she says that's one of her priorities if she's reelected. Another one of her goals is to get money from the Selendang Ayu settlement redirected to Unalaska. The ship's owner has been fined $10 million, but so far none of that money is slated to go to Unalaska.

"Selendang Ayu money is being freed up and its going everywhere except for Unalaska," she says. "I think that's unacceptable. It's going to go to different agencies and it's going to be used in different parts of the state--that's baloney. That was our issue, and that money should be here, and I'd love to see it come back and have it be up to the [City] Council how best to spend that money."

Marquardt says she's working with state environmental regulators in an effort to direct some of the settlement money to response equipment and other needs in Unalaska.

Marquardt is facing Katherine McGlashan and Shannon Morrison in the October 2 election. We'll be profiling McGlashan tomorrow and Morrison on Friday here on KIAL News.