VIDEO: Mayoral Candidates Differ Squarely in Makeup Debate

After a week in which a massive state-wide power outage caused by falling trees and branches left much of the city in the dark, the first question during Sunday night's mayoral debate was appropriate: "Does anyone have plans to do a better job in trimming the trees on the city streets?"

Incumbent Mayor Michael S. Rohde (D) and opponent Walter Micowski (R) came down on opposite sides in their answers to this first question, setting the tone for a combative hour-and-a-half debate at Holy Angels Catholic Church in South Meriden.

"All we have to do is look at Wallingford – they have an ongoing tree trimming program," said Micowski, who mentioned his job as an energy services consultant. Outage numbers in Wallingford, which owns its own power company, were minimal during this past storm, as compared to the rest of the state. "It makes sense, it's a proactive, ongoing consideration that we need to do."

Rohde disagreed, saying that in Connecticut it's Connecticut Light and Power's job to trim trees near power lines.

"That's where the responsibilty lies, that's who should be paying for it," Rohde said, adding that since the storm, state and federal legislators are putting pressure on the state to ensure CL&P cuts trees preventatively. He also discussed the possibility of putting power lines on one side of the street and trees on the other in future developments.

The debate was put together at the last minute by City Councilor Bob Williams (W) and moderated by the Record-Journal's Dan Ivers, after a planned matchup last Tuesday was canceled due to the outages. It was held just two days before Meriden voters will head to the polls to select their mayor, six city councilors and four members of the Board of Education on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Candidates answered questions regarding their views on progress in the city's downtown, the fate of the Mills Memorial housing complex, and their own backers.

Click above to see both candidates answer questions submitted both by the audience and one another. And check back, we'll be posting videos question by question throughout the day.