KNIGHTDALE - Voters pleased with Knightdale Town Council policy will likely vote the three incumbents back in office, but those dissatisfied with choices the council has made over the past four years will find an new voice in Charles Bullock, the challenger for one of the three seats.

The three incumbents for Knightdale Town Council want to continue the path they're own and the challenger says when growth occurs again, he'd do a better job of having developers pay for it.

Incumbents Jeff Eddins, Mike Chalk and Terry Gleason and challenger Charles Bullock all say a park in Knightdale's future is a good idea. There are some nuances in their arguments with Eddins and Chalk standing out among them in terms of caution.

"Sure, I think everyone wants a park, it's just a matter of cost. Can we afford it?" said 10-year veteran councilman Eddins. "We have a lot of other projects we want to accomplish over the next five or 10 years and we want to make sure all of them get accomplished.

Eddins said cost for the park improvements needs to be established. He said he hasn't decided if a bond referendum is the best course of action. "I'm open to everything. But I want to do the most economical and prudent way available...What I don't want to happen is we buy a beautiful piece of land and we can't do anything to it for another five or 10 years."

Chalk, a 14-year veteran, said he wouldn't raise taxes to buy a park. "I think we really need to put it out to the people and they can decide if they want it," he said. "I think it's a good opportunity for the town of Knightdale to get a piece of land of this size if we can afford it."

"I'm in favor of continuing to look at it and I think it will be a smart investment at this time," said Gleason, who has served one four-year term on the council. "If we don't, I think we're going to kick ourselves for not buying it down the road."

"The Wilder land, a good undeveloped track of farm land would be a good place to have one," said Bullock. "I think we ought to go with a bond referendum. We put it before the taxpayers and let the taxpayers decide."

Bullock, Eddins, Chalk and Bullock all said the town needs more police officers and firefighters, with Gleason offering another option. Gleason said that police and fire staffing was "staff pretty close to our optimal number" as long as the growth rate stays the same.

Gleason said the time to add more officers is if development picks up.

As for the kind of Town Manager they will look for when Town Manager Gary McConkey retires in spring of 2010, they all said a people person who is good with finances.

All the candidates said they would continue the council's path of saving two cents on the dollar of tax revenue and putting it in a capital reserve fund, with Chalk and Eddins saying, however, that in tough economic times, there might be an occasion where that revenue would be needed in the general fund.

Gleason said he believes the council made good decisions when it signed on to public transit.

He also said now is the time to negotiate with the city of Raleigh for easements on sewer lines that soon will be built. He said they could serve as a "greenway" until the town has the money to make it official by paving a pathway along the sewer line.

Bullock presented himself as the candidate of change, and said he will make sure streets are maintained and when development picks up, he will make sure it pays for itself.

"If I win, it's time for a change," he said. "Knightdale's got a bright future, even in these dismal times. We need to be good stewards of our tax dollars and be good stewards of the townspeople."