EAST STROUDSBURG — The four Monroe County commissioner candidates voiced very different views Saturday on storm water management buffers and how best to achieve high local water quality.

Republicans Donna Asure and Robert Nothstein and Democrats Suzanne McCool and Theresa Merli fielded questions on jobs, police and fire protection, home foreclosures, property tax assessments and appointments of minorities to government boards. The four are seeking four-year terms next month and party control of the three-member commissioners board.

But stream and wetlands protection sparked the most extensive exchanges during a candidates forum at East Stroudsburg University sponsored by the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The three incumbents — Asure, McCool and Nothstein — revisited their divergent positions on a storm water management plan for the Brodhead Creek watershed that was before them for nearly two years. The approved plan is intended as a recommended model for local municipal storm water protection ordinances.

"We have over-regulation that will keep our streams clean," said incumbent Nothstein, who sought limited buffers of 25 to 45 feet along streams in the county plan. "...We have beautiful, wonderful streams in Monroe County."

McCool supported the recommendation of two county agencies for 150-foot low-development buffers along streams.

"We had a chance to be leaders when we were to pass a model storm water act," McCool said. "You'll see our streams, many of them, are in peril and we have to do something about it."

Asure said she was unfairly lambasted by the media as a fence-sitter because she didn't endorse either the larger or smaller stream buffers. Asure says she wanted to make sure municipalities had wide discretion to consult a lengthy state document, and perhaps allow developments near stream banks if developers employ proven scientific methods that prevent erosion and pollution.

"I don't care" how streams are protected so long as they are protected, Asure said. "We recommend all the time from the county level to the township level ... and they can make their own decisions."

The commissioners eventually passed a storm water plan — supported by Asure and Nothstein but opposed by McCool — that established no specific buffer size but set standards for water quality.

Merli, the only non-incumbent, is president of the Brodhead Watershed Association, a conservation group that contends local stream quality is deteriorating. She said a 2006 Monroe County Planning Department study contains test results showing the presence of sewage fungus where the Brodhead empties into the Delaware River.

"I am not making this up," Merli said. "We aren't doing enough."

Stream buffers came up a second time when the NAACP's Ron Byrd pressed Merli to explain why she, as a challenger, should join the commissioners board.

"I don't think of the same old solution for the same old problems," said Merli, noting New Jersey imposed a 300-foot riparian buffer. "I don't think we think things through. I think I would do a better job of listening to the professionals."

Nothstein called the New Jersey approach an extreme infringement on property rights without a scientific justification.

"That's the taking of private property," Nothstein said. "We're not New Jersey and I don't want to be a New Jerseyan."

Merli, a former New Jersey resident, said large buffers actually do protect property rights.

"The reason you have those stream buffers is to protect the downstream property owner," Merli said. "It's everyone's property we're concerned with."

Said McCool: "I get more calls from people after storms because they're flooded by people up the hill."

Asure said Pennsylvania, as a commonwealth, puts local decisions in the hands of people at the most local level. She said county government often serves in an advisory capacity for townships and boroughs that establish local ordinances.

All four candidates said they oppose a comprehensive reassessment of all local properties in the near future. Monroe County last did a reassessment in 1988 and all property values — including homes and commercial structures built since then — are assessed for taxes based on common 1988 values.

"It can't be done under current law," said Nothstein, pointing to two recent court decisions as preventing Monroe from addressing it. One ruling, he said, invalidated the "base year" method of setting values employed by Monroe County, while another struck down a market value approach based on most recent sales.

Asure agreed the courts and/or the legislature will have to resolve legal issues before the county reassesses, but said Monroe County can make it easier on taxing authorities by tweaking the current assessment formula.

Merli said previous reassessments have been costly and produced numerous errors. McCool said she wants to wait until promised state gambling revenue is returned to property owners through tax relief before considering a reassessment.

All three incumbents defended the county's record in helping homeowners who are threatened with loan defaults and foreclosure. Asure noted the county hired a detective for the District Attorney's Office devoted to white collar crime and has come up with payment plans for owners who can't pay their taxes all at once.

Nothstein said the county has refused to cave to pressures from mortgage companies to quickly foreclose on residents who are behind on their payments. He said the commissioners and judges both receive letters from lenders.

"We have turned a deaf ear to those requests knowing the plight of the homeowners," Nothstein said.

McCool said more counseling is needed for potential homebuyers and all buyers should hire lawyers to represent them. Merli said counselors should work directly with Realtors to assist buyers before they close on a deal.

"Many people have been misled by their own dream of owning a home to believe they can get by by the skin of their teeth," Merli said. But once household costs rise even a little, those buyers are unable to make ends meet.

Asure said that during her eight years in office she has worked hard to build consensus.

"I'm very proud of the tough decisions I've had to make during that time," Asure said. "I have a proven record of bringing people together during that time."