Below are the answers from Mr. James Bryan (At Large). The answers are cut and pasted directly from the email and contain no altering of text, except for format (bulletized the questions and indented the answers).

• -Water is becoming a less plentiful, but more frequently required asset in Eastern NC. What policies would you push to ensure that Jacksonville has a safe, secure and clean source of water?
• Water allocation is an extremely important issue that necessarily requires regional cooperation.  It is not enough for the city council to act alone.  The area aquifers need to be maintained so that they can indefinitely supply our future generations.  After the state?s severe draught, the General Assembly requested a water allocation study be conducted.  Check out the study and supporting information here:http://sogweb.sog.unc.edu/Water/index.php/Main_Page  I would support regional efforts and coordination with state policy makers.
• The current City Council took steps to reduced benefits to city employees. What policies would you push to maintain a viable city workforce and recruit/retain employees?
• I would ask the manager to work with the human relations department to ensure the city maintains appropriate staffing.  Beyond competitive wages and benefits, this would also include stability and managerial support.  I would ask the manager to maintain a work environment where employees feel valued and know that the city excels because of their hard work.  The principal effort I individually would make would be to ensure the next manager is capable.
• Transportation is a significant issue in Jacksonville. How would you seek to solve traffic issues and mitigate risks? How would you work with the NCDOT and the legislators to push for better support of our transportation systems?
• Much of our transportation issues involve the state and we are compelled to coordinate with them.  Unfortunately this means a slower planning process than what we would likely achieve on our own.  While we could move faster by acting alone, the local cost burden would increase dramatically.  I think it is important to remember that the state already has transportation improvement plans that prioritize projects many years in advance.  Similarly, the city has its own transportation plans and projects.  The real issue is when will the money be available?at what point do we raise a capital improvement project priority instead of waiting for state funding.  At the very least, I do not foresee congestion issues being addressed until safety concerns are remedied.
• What priorities will you have regarding infill development within Jacksonville?
• Infill development is very desirable, but difficult to attain.  The difficulty arises because it is more costly than new sprawling construction.  I believe Jacksonville is seeing considerable infill development compared to other NC jurisdictions.  To further encourage infill development may necessitate some rather extreme and unpopular techniques, such as eminent domain.  At this point I am not ready to explore such options.  Because so much of this issue involves the market, I would be hesitant to have the city creating policies trying to force the market.  I would be interested in having City-County discussions to create mutual plans for urban boundaries.
• What policies would you push to make Jacksonville more attractive to businesses?
• There is no particular policy that I would push, instead I would encourage a broad approach.  Certainly I would strive for low taxes and fees.  Additionally, I would want increased stability and forecasting in fees?to combat the political inclination to lower fees today only to be forced to raise fees even higher tomorrow to pay for neglected infrastructure. While I believe our local businesses need better recognition, I also believe this to be beyond the scope of government.  Too many times I hear people complain about Jacksonville having too few choices particularly in regards to chain restaurants.  There is not enough recognition of the many wonderful locally owned businesses.  Local businesses themselves, or the chamber of commerce, are the appropriate entities to handle this issue.
• Many residents complain about the lack of recreational opportunities (swimming pools, parks, mountain bikiking trails, etc) in Jacksonville. What priorities will you have regarding recreation?
• I personally desire more recreational opportunities, but frankly do not believe it would be a high funding priority if I were elected.  I would opt for the most cost effective opportunities, such as trails.  If there were programs or projects that could be self-sufficient from user fees, I would support their public construction.  I would also support parks that were created at reduced cost to the city through cooperation with either developers or the school system.  I would not be inclined to create a public cost burden for something that was available locally through a private entity (i.e. pools, golf courses) unless it met one of the earlier criteria.
• The City is currently fielding resumes for the City Manager position. how would you feel about the current Council hiring a Manager before the potential election of an new council?
• I do not believe the current council is inclined to hire new manager before the election.  It would be a poor decision if they did.  One of the principal reasons is that any candidate would be hesitant to accept the position without knowing the makeup of the new board.
• Downtown Jacksonville has been overcome with blight and abandoned and unused buildings. Past Councils have approved Downtown Master Plans that would replace the existing buildings with high-priced homes. Even now, there are several recently built homes in the above-$250k price-range available downtown. What policies would you support to revitalize the Downtown area?
• Downtown has drastically improved and continues to do so.  The downtown master plan has specific policy recommendations—these are the policies I would support.
• Actions by the current Council have raised questions about transparency and integrity in Council-actions. What are your thoughts on the recent events and how would you address potential issues of open-governance?
• I believe there to be two separate issues that overlap.  First is transparency and open-governance.  I support open government and believe it to be fundamental to our society.  I believe there is technology available that allows us to have more open government.  I believe government has been too slow to adapt to this change in technology.  Our community is so technologically savvy and transient that it is imperative we make the most use out of available online resources.  Other communities in the state are exploring options such as blogs and public email (not just upon request, but simply always available online).  We need to involve the public from the earliest stages of policy development, not just at the statutorily required public hearings.
  The second issue is recent events about transparency and integrity.  While I have personal thoughts and feelings on many matters, few rise to the level that I would want to address as a candidate.  Being an elected official is difficult and I appreciate the efforts of our local representatives.  I believe this question to focus on the firing of the manager.  I likely would not have voted to fire the manager.  If I was on the board I would have suspended him first if there was, as they claim, a history of him being insubordinate.  If I was on the board and I fired him, I would have released his personnel documents after the controversy as is allowed under the General Statutes to maintain public confidence.  I believe the manager was not fired for being insubordinate, as the councilmembers claimed—but they had every right to fire him simply because they wanted to.