City Council incumbent Brad Gehring faced off against his challenger, Jim McDonald, Tuesday in the latest installment of Bremerton Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs and Issues debate forum for candidates, but fireworks and arguments were not on the Cloverleaf Tavern’s menu that morning.

Gehring, who had made plans to run for mayor of Bremerton, chose McDonald to replace him on the council. After much consideration, Gehring changed his mind and began preparing to campaign for the council position he has held for more than six years. Gehring, who at one time said, “McDonald would be the best person to replace me,” has not changed his tune much even now.

“Either way, I believe the district will be well represented,” he said of his opponent.

The feeling was mutual for McDonald.

“I began this campaign because I thought I’d be running unopposed,” McDonald said.

Unlike the debates between Bremerton’s mayoral candidates, and most recently Municipal Court judge candidates, there was a feeling of teamwork between the two.

Discussion items ranged from the lodging tax to the budget and beyond and the duo seemed to agree on most items, but a couple of questions did result in split thinking.

When asked if Bremerton’s council is too large, each took an opposite stand.

McDonald said the council could be trimmed and he would support “dropping by two” because it would be “more efficient.”

Gehring, on the other hand, said he would not agree to decreasing the council’s size.

“Nine is a lot, but it works,” he said.

Annexation was another topic the two disagreed on. Gehring said he did not agree with forcing annexation on residents and “people should have the ability to vote on it.”

McDonald said he looked at the issue from the standpoint of services rendered.

“If the city is providing services to an area, that area should be part of the city,” he said.

Revenue from car tab fees was another topic that separated the candidates, but only slightly.

Gehring said the streets are Bremerton’s largest investment and unless someone comes up with another way to fund roads, the city will have “no choice.”

McDonald said he agreed with Gehring in that the roads were important, but he does not feel a car tab fee would be beneficial to the city.

“It would be more expensive to do nothing with roads,” McDonald said when asked why roads were important now. But in response to the question of car tab fees being the vehicle by which the city obtains funding for them, he said, “A car tab fee puts a competitive disadvantage on Bremerton.”

The next episode of Eggs and Issues will take place at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 29 at the Cloverleaf Tavern and will be a discussion on Initiative 1033.