Ingrid Ault, one of two Democrats trying to oust Ann Arbor City Council Member Stephen Kunselman in the Aug. 2 primary, went on the attack in a debate Wednesday night, suggesting the incumbent has been ineffective in representing 3rd Ward residents.

Ault, director of Think Local First, waited until her closing statements to deliver the blow, giving Kunselman no chance to respond before the debate ended.

"One of the things I find distressing is there have been a lot of promises made by Stephen Kunselman over the last two years, including an ethics policy that he championed the last time he ran for office, and he's done no action," Ault said.

"Pretty much chickens is what Stephen is known for," Ault said, referring to a backyard chicken ordinance Kunselman championed about three years ago. "And I don't mean to be negative here, but it's distressing to me that communication is a key that's been ignored."

Kunselman spoke with AnnArbor.com afterward and explained why the ethics policy he vowed to bring forward during his last campaign in 2009 never materialized. He said at the time an ethics policy was needed to restore the public trust in city government following revelations that City Council members were quietly communicating via e-mail with each other during council meetings — a practice that since has been banned under council rules.

"In terms of the last campaign, I certainly worked toward the ethics policy," Kunselman said. "If you recall, Council Member Taylor brought that forth before I actually got back on council, kind of as an opportunity to steer it in a direction before I could get there."

Kunselman said the idea eventually died for lack of support in the council rules committee. And given that a new e-mail policy was adopted, he said it wasn't all that necessary anymore.

"In regard to her comment about chickens, that is really old news," Kunselman added. "I'm sorry to hear it's still an issue among some people out there, but obviously we know (backyard chickens have) not caused any problems within our community."

Wednesday's debate was hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Ann Arbor Area in CTN studios. It lasted about 45 minutes and included seven questions touching on public safety, parks, communication with residents, a proposed transit center on Fuller Road, solid waste services and issues unique to the 3rd Ward.

In addition to Ault, Kunselman is up against Marwan Issa, technology director at Global Education Excellence in Ann Arbor. Issa praised Kunselman for his track record.

"I've been following him and I love what he's done," Issa said. "And actually, one of the reasons why I ran is because I've seen how much he's been able to have changed and what great work he's done. But I believe it's time for me to run."

All three candidates are lifelong residents of Ann Arbor. In fact, Kunselman and Ault even graduated together from Pioneer High School in 1981.

"I have a very long civil-service record," Ault said. "I started out in Mott Children's Hospital and have worked in many other areas. And I'm doing this because I think it's important we have communication, regional cooperation and control of the fiscal spending in our community."

Rattling off a list of his accomplishments in the last two years, Kunselman cited defeating the taxpayer subsidy for a downtown conference center, stopping talk of a city income tax, preventing the expansion of Ann Arbor's municipal airport, pushing back developers from densifying neighborhoods and saving Argo Pond for generations to come.

"I will continue to push for housing density downtown, not in our neighborhoods," Kunselman said, citing the health, safety and welfare of the community as his priorities.

Issa said he grew up in Ann Arbor on Packard and still lives there.

"Many of you might not know me and might suggest I'm too young or not familiar with running the city," he said, adding he looks forward to proving what he can do in office.

Asked about recent cuts to public safety, including elimination of 20 positions in police and fire, Kunselman said Michigan's economic conditions have forced the city to make difficult decisions.

"How we gauge whether or not those cuts are going to be too severe, I think, is a matter of debate certainly," he said. "I am not comfortable with these cuts. I don't believe we should be making these cuts if we have other things we can be cutting back on."

Referencing the city's increasing debt load, Kunselman suggested the city could stand to practice some more fiscal discipline.

"We have a large amount of debt that has increased in the last five years," he said. "That debt requires payments, and when we have to make payments on that debt that takes away money to pay for public safety, as well as health, safety and welfare."

Ault said everything needs to be on the table, including public safety, as city officials continue to talk about the budget.

"Nothing is sacred," she said.

She said the unions need to start looking at their health care costs and perhaps consider paying a larger share to help save jobs in police and fire.

"Another thing is we need to create revenue, and that's something we haven't really discussed," Ault said without getting into specific detail.

Issa hammered on the topic of public safety throughout the debate and said he fears the City Council has made decisions that jeopardize Ann Arbor's standing as a safe community.

"Many people move to Ann Arbor because of the safety and security. We have senior citizens who decide to live here and buy homes, which we get property taxes from, because of the safety and security," he said. "But the city has decided we need to cut those."

Issa said the city needs to take a fresh look at its budget.

"It needs to be redesigned," he said. "It cannot be the same budget doing a Band-Aid fix. We need to start from scratch, redesign it and start looking at what jobs we can cut that are being duplicated. Safety and security is not a duplicated job."

Issa said he also thinks the city can do a better job of maintaining parks. He said many city parks, especially those in neighborhoods, appear to be eroding.

Kunselman said the parks are maintained as best as possible with limited resources. He said it's worth noting the city has kept its pools, ice rinks and other recreational areas open.

"I think in every possible instance we should encourage keeping every single park that we have," Ault said, offering her take on parks. "We're called Tree Town for a reason."

The candidates took turns weighing in on the proposed project to build a transit center along Fuller Road. The fact that a portion of Fuller Park would be repurposed for the project has been a sore point for some who note the city charter requires sale of city parks to go before voters. But since the land isn't being sold, just repurposed, a public vote isn't expected.

"If the project is so wonderful, then we should allow the vote of the people to look at it as a whole," Kunselman said. "Show the parking structure, show the train station, get the citizenry excited, and then it will certainly fly and will certainly be passed, I think, with great support."

Issa said he thinks the Fuller Road Station project will be a good addition to Ann Arbor. He said hopefully it works out, though he wonders how the city can afford it.

"They need to come up with a plan of what they want to do with it and let the people who are really in charge of the city decide — the voters," he added.

Kunselman, the energy conservation liaison for the University of Michigan, also said he sees a lot of potential in the project, which is a collaboration with U-M.

"I think the Fuller Road transit center has the opportunity to be something that we can all grasp and support if it included the train station as part of the first phase," he said. "The parking structure, if that's all that ends up being built, will be just that: a parking structure with a bus stop serving the University of Michigan. I don't think that is an appropriate use of our park land."

The big issue right now, he said, is where $10 million in funding the city has committed to the parking structure is going to come from.

Ault said she prefers a project that can be implemented in phases, but including a train station in the long-term vision.

Ault, who was appointed by the mayor to the city's Housing and Human Services Advisory Board, also expressed an interest in continuing funding for nonprofit groups. More than $1.2 million in city funding goes to nonprofit groups that provide human services each year.

"What a lot of people don't understand is for every $1 we invest in nonprofits, $12 to $15 comes back in our community," she said. "So actually when we make those kinds of investments, we're actually creating revenue for our community while servicing our citizens who are at risk."

The city's solid waste budget was another topic of discussion. Kunselman said the city has provided top-notch solid waste services, including recycling and compost collection.

"But these Cadillac services are no longer possible in these times," he said, suggesting the city cut back on compost pickup. "So we have to start prioritizing, and I always prioritize solid waste pickup because that's the most important thing in terms of our public health."

Ault liked the idea of launching pilot programs to test out new approaches. She also said she'd be in favor of exploring a countywide approach to recycling.

Each candidate offered his or her take on issues unique to the 3rd Ward, including the economic and social diversity of the ward.

"Its needs are also very significant in terms of the deterioration of our public infrastructure," Kunselman said. "If you look at the roads going out, so to speak, in the ward, they're in bad shape. If you look at the water mains, they're in bad shape."

Ault agreed roads are a top issue. She said she's been knocking on a lot of doors in the ward and different neighborhoods have different issues.

"One of the issues that comes up everywhere is safety," she said. "So I think we need to focus on safety, and one of the ways you can do that is through neighborhood watches."

Ault also said "downzoning" is something the city might consider for the Burns Park neighborhood area closest to Hill. She said neighbors there have expressed concerns.

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's e-mail newsletters.