KENNEWICK -- With three new members elected to the Kennewick City Council last week, the new year will bring a new mayor, mayor pro-tem and perhaps new curbs on city spending.

The five candidates who challenged incumbents last Tuesday campaigned on common concerns: Be more frugal with taxpayers' money, be more accessible to the public, and back off on the antique carousel project and the politics hovering over possible closure of Vista Field.

Voters chose Don Britain over Margery Price, Sharon Brown over James Hempstead and John Hubbard over Mayor Tom Moak.

If the three newcomers follow up on their campaign rhetoric, their messages will mean changes at city hall as well.

Moak said the odds are very good that the new council members will want to review priorities.

"When you have a new group coming in who have criticized the old group, they will look at doing things differently. I would expect they would be re-analyzing what we've done and how we've done things," Moak said.

The current council represents decades of service in office, while the new threesome bring zero collective experience into elected office, with each replacing 12-year incumbents.

Moak tried to make his experience his strong asset in campaigning, but it didn't carry through on election day.

Price also sought to make the most of her city hall experience, including 23 years as city clerk.

And Hempstead described himself in fliers and in door-belling as the most experienced council member.

But long experience was a handicap on election day.

The new council members will have little time to ease into their jobs.

Looming issues include:

-- Dealing with a $1.6 million hole in the budget and the potential for staff layoffs.

-- Deciding whether to continue an appeal of a $3 million judgment from the Columbia Park Golf Course lawsuit.

-- What to do with an antique carousel that verges on becoming a $1 million garage queen.

-- Considering whether Southridge area improvements and Hildebrand Avenue extension remain high priorities.

-- Deciding whether to take a hands-off approach on closing Vista Field or to continue discussions with the Port of Kennewick, which alone has authority over the airport property.

"They are going to have to go back and look at the capital facilities spending plan. I would think they would be looking at the elements and what is not important to them," Moak said.

The mayor doubts the new council will have anything to do with Vista Field.

"Clearly it is a port issue. It's not going to be an issue for them at all," he said.

Each newly elected council member received thousands of dollars in campaign donations from private pilots and Kennewick businessman Carl Cadwell, who lobbied vigorously during the summer to keep Vista Field open.

January will mark one year since the current council held a retreat to set the priorities for 2009-10.

But now that the votes are in, Moak said that early in 2010 he "would expect the new council will be looking at having its own retreat to see where it wants to go."

Moak said he couldn't be sure what's ahead.

"None of the candidates who won talked about where they wanted to spend money or emphasize on where to put city resources," the mayor said.

"Since they called into question capital funding, they need to look at that," he noted.

The carousel project has become a sore topic. The city has invested approximately $860,000 in the purchase and refurbishment of the carousel and its 44 horses originally carved in 1910 by the renowned Charles Carmel.

And the council voted in late summer to put another $150,000 toward the project by constructing a building that could serve as its temporary facility to assemble and test it.

But the campaign revealed that most council members felt the city has spent enough.

Moak said the new council may have to make the hard decision to sell.

"Are they going to support the carousel foundation in its efforts to raise money or totally walk away from the project? We invested with the intent that we could get our investment back if needed," Moak said.

The toughest issue for the new year may be trimming the city budget, he said.

Moak met with City Manager Bob Hammond on Friday for an update, but it's still uncertain how good the holiday retail season will be. And the mayor said the number of city jobs at risk won't be known until January, when retail sales tax income can be forecast.

"The new council is going to have to look at the possibility of layoffs, but I hope it doesn't happen," he said.

The mayor said his advice to the incoming council members is that they should start attending every meeting they can at city hall, including council committee meetings and workshops.

"Unfortunately, it isn't going to be a slow learning process because some decisions will have to be made rather quickly," he said.

As for who will replace him as mayor, Moak said the assignment probably will fall on Paul Parish, Bob Parks or Steve Young. Parks and Young were re-elected, Young having been appointed to the council less than a year ago.

Young said he would be mayor only if it was what the council wanted.

"There have been disagreements and there will be more, but we have to work together as a team for the sake of the community," Young said.

Parish said he wouldn't turn down the assignment.

Parks couldn't be reached for a comment Friday.

-- John Trumbo: 582-1529; jtrumbo@tricityherald.com