AUBURN - A few candidates encouraged everyone to exercise the right to vote next Tuesday, even if it wasn't for them.

However, candidates spent an hour trying to tell voters why they should.

The Citizen hosted a debate Tuesday evening between the three Democratic candidates vying for the two opening Auburn City Council seats and the two men hoping to run on the Democratic line for the mayoral seat.

The three candidates for council started the evening off. Incumbent Thomas McNabb is aiming to hold on to his seat, and newcomer Gilda Brower, founder and director of the Montessori School of the Finger Lakes earlier received the Democratic nod, along with McNabb, for the two council seats. Cherry Love-Duncan also is hoping to earn one of the two seats.

A week before the Democratic primaries, more than 50 people heard the party's candidates' positions on anything from economic development to absentee landlords.

Mayoral candidates councilor David Dempsey and retired fire chief Michael Quill aim to run on the Democratic line, but both will run on other party lines. The Cayuga County Independence Party has endorsed Dempsey, and Quill filed an independent petition for his party Team America.

When asked if he would support the other candidate if not chosen to represent the Democratic Party, Dempsey said he would carry the banner of the Independence Party until the November election.

"I didn't get into this to plan for losing," Quill responded when his turn came.

The retired Auburn fire chief received the Cayuga County Democratic Party Committee nomination for mayor but party members will hit the ballots in the primary Tuesday, Sept. 18.

One point of contention between the two candidates was the 15-person minimum dictated in the firefighter's contract. Quill was chief when the union negotiated this contract, which Dempsey claimed caused more than $600,000 in overtime costs, $800,000 with additional factors added -- a figure Quill called inaccurate.

Quill supported the policy of having 15 firefighters on a shift for the fire department, upped from 14 in the previous contract. The requirement helps with safety for the firefighters, he said.

"Yes, it's good. And 16 is better than 15, and 17 is better than 16, and 20 is better than that," Demspey said. "Unfortunately, we have to balance the needs of the community with the dollars available."

Quill answered questions of his retirement, which came amongst criticism of his management of the fire department. As council and the city manager reviewed the budget, "things were uncomfortable," he said.

"We were second guessed," Quill said. He decided the best thing for the department would be for him to step down.

Dempsey pointed to some of the badgering from Mayor Timothy Lattimore as a factor, but called Quill leaving as a mistake.

"I was raised that you never, never, never quit," Dempsey said.

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Citizen.