The turnout was lighter for Mayor Tim Leavitt and the city council’s second town hall forum Wednesday, but the discussions stayed plenty weighty.

The city’s upcoming biennial budget process dominated talk, but questions from the 25 or so citizens who gathered at Hudson’s Bay High School didn’t shy away from all of Vancouver’s biggest controversies: the prosecution of an open-carry case, the acrimony between the police department’s union and chief, neighborhood groups’ gripes and proposed train horn quiet zones.

The topic non grata, however, was the Columbia River Crossing. Leavitt, who served as his own master of ceremonies, was apparently in the mood for some fresh topics to discuss and chose to leave questions about that controversial bridge to be answered in writing.

“The biggest priority is the budget, our No. 1 priority is figuring out how we deal with that,” Leavitt said. “It looks like more employees have to be laid off, and it appears we can’t avoid cuts to public safety.”

The town hall was part venting session, part brainstorming workshop and even part local civics 101 class. It was the second in what are planned to be quarterly meetings held at different venues around town. The first town hall, at the Cascade Park Community Library, drew upwards of 80 people.

Some, including First Place Neighborhood Association President Susan Page, used Wednesday night’s opportunity to air grievances. Page asked council members to attend more neighborhood association meetings, and criticized them for diverting real estate excise tax revenues from the city’s street maintenance funds to infrastructure for the Boise Cascade Waterfront development.

“Why do we pay for outside surveys if you’re not going to do what people say is important?” she asked.

Leavitt responded that it was the council’s decision to take a small amount — about $150,000 — from street maintenance to pay for a huge change for the city’s downtown.

“The investment in the waterfront was essential for the future of our community,” he said.

All city council members, save Pat Campbell, who was at another meeting, were also on hand to answer questions.

Councilor Jack Burkman took a swing at explaining several aspects of the city’s budget, including the general fund versus the capital fund. Councilor Jeanne Harris mentioned that Vancouver may soon be looking at different ways to pay for some city services, including creating a separate district for the parks and recreation department and the creation of a regional fire authority.

“We’re pretty darn lean,” Harris said. “We have to ask: What is our responsibility? Are we a full service city? Are we a core service city?”

All council members encouraged attendees to contact them with any concerns, and also to get involved in the budget process. Vancouver resident Don Maynor said he attended his first town hall Wednesday because he wants to stay part of that process.

“You just have to be an active citizen,” said Maynor, who approached Leavitt after the meeting to say he’d be giving his input on the budget. Maynor told the mayor he hopes to see mandatory furloughs for city workers implemented, rather than layoffs. “You don’t immediately run to cut employees. You want to keep workers on the payroll and off unemployment.”

Even though the commons room at Hudson’s Bay High wasn’t overflowing with people, Leavitt said he thought the session was a success.

“It was a smaller crowd, but a lot of new faces that wanted to dialogue with the mayor and city council,” he said, adding that was “very refreshing.”

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