The focus was less on issues, more on experience and problem-solving.

Calling the City Council “too responsive to a minority of vocal activists,” Nezam Tooloee said Monday that electing environmental activist Arnie Kubiak would only “compound the imbalance.”

Kubiak responded that while his community involvement has focused on environmental issues, he can reach out to other constituencies. But he added that “people want to protect the environment, and I can help them.”

That was the sharpest exchange in a three-way debate among candidates for the island’s at-large seat on the council, an exchange that focused as much on problem-solving techniques as on specific positions.

“I have worked with this city council and with others for many years,” said Kubiak, until recently the president of the Association of Bainbridge Communities environmental group, “so I do not have a big learning curve. I can stand up for my beliefs, but I have a willingness to listen to others.”

Tooloee said his background as an entrepreneur and business consultant qualifies him to be a productive council member.

“The council has an oversight role similar to a corporate board of directors,” he said. “I have been on boards of directors, and I understand that role.”

Third candidate Larry Johnson pointed to his professional experience as a printing-company manager.

“I have put together an interdepartmental task force at work,” he said. “I am not reluctant to learn from other people.”

Asked by moderator Andy Maron to define the island’s most urgent problem, Johnson and Kubiak focused on growth-related issues.

“We need to manage growth, to welcome new people without pushing out the old,” said Kubiak, without specifying how that might be done.

Johnson said the city needs to learn lessons from others.

“We need to look at other cities with similar problems and goals, and learn how to maintain the community we want,” he said.

Tooloee called for “restoring balance” on the council.

“We have to stop being bogged down with win/lose arguments, and focus on win/win solutions,” he said, saying such solutions can be achieved by involving more interest groups earlier in the process.

In response to a question about projected budget tightening, Tooloee said he thinks the city spends too much on operations and not enough on capital projects. He called for more efficiencies, focusing on collaborating with the other local taxing districts – schools, parks and the fire department.

Kubiak offered no specifics, saying only that he would take a hard look and work with other interest groups. Johnson said more money should be directed to the neighborhood service centers of Rolling Bay, Lynwood Center and Island Center.

On the shoreline-construction moratorium, Kubiak distinguished between the present island-wide moratorium, which he called “a mistake,” and the proposed moratorium on new Blakely Harbor docks, which he said is something that neighbors there support.

More generally, he called for balancing private rights and public benefits in regulating shorelines.

Johnson agreed that the moratorium “has gone on too long,” and again suggested that the city look at solutions that have been tried in other jurisdictions.

Tooloee said the shoreline moratorium was a prime example of the problems he sees with city governance.

“The city has failed miserably,” he said. “Shoreline owners, of which I am one, feel a special responsibility towards the environment. We are not the enemy, and should not be treated as such. And a judge has very clearly said that the moratorium is illegal.”

Reading a question from the audience, Maron asked the candidates how they respond to a community-values survey showing that 85 percent favor environmental protection.

Kubiak said that number has translated into support for the $8 million open-space bond, and he favors incentives to prompt additional landowner protection. Johnson called for more consistent enforcement of ordinances.

Tooloee said that high a level of environmental concern demonstrates that further regulation may not be needed.

The largest round of applause from the full house in City Hall’s council chambers went to retired television producer Kit Spier, who has withdrawn from the race and thrown his support to Tooloee, but whose name will remain on the ballot.

“Please do not vote for me,” Spier said as he left the podium.

Co-sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Bainbridge Concerned Citizens, the debate is the only scheduled forum prior to the Sept. 16 primary election.

Mail-in ballots, used by some 70 percent of Bainbridge voters, will go into the mail late this week, according to Kitsap County Auditor Karen Flynn.