The 800-pound gorilla in the room in the contest for Auburn City Council Position 2 is likely to be the comparative ages of the two candidates — incumbent Gene Cerino is 82, his challenger, John Partridge, the City’s former fire and police chaplain, is 45.

Partridge respects Cerino, his former teacher at Auburn High School, but he considers himself as the representative of a new generation, a breath of fresh air.

“I know (age) will come up,” Partridge said. “People have told me that he had his chance. He should have a chance to enjoy the work that’s he’s done. I respect him for what’s he’s given to the city, and I communicated that to him before he ran. I just think I will bring a fresh perspective to the Council.”

Cerino considers Partridge a political greenhorn, well meaning and sincere, but lacking the necessary experience to step into the job in such troubled times.

“I just don’t think it’s wise to change horses in midstream,” Cerino said.

A year ago, Cerino, afflicted by pain in his legs, didn’t expect to run again. But a back operation cured what ailed him, he said, and he changed his mind. He said he feels as energetic as he did in 2004 when he last ran. If he wins it will be to serve his third consecutive term, his fourth overall.

The former high school wrestling coach still substitutes for the Auburn School District. He said he keeps himself in shape with regular workouts, is as fit as 62-year-old man and has plenty of energy to do the job.

Cerino, chair of the Municipal Services Committee and a member of the Public Works Committee, said his focus is public safety.

“I don’t have any special issue other than public safety. I don’t have any axe to grind. I am not beholden to anybody or anything. I have a reputation for being able to use good judgment in looking at the issues that face the City,” Cerino said.

He is proud of having written the City’s dangerous dog ordinance.

“It says that anybody in the city can own any kind of dog they want, they just have to know that they will have to be responsible for the dog’s behavior if it’s one of the 12 breeds listed by the American Kennel Society. We put those 12 breeds on our potentially dangerous list,” Cerino said. ” … We have to make sure those people that own certain dogs will know that the City of Auburn is doing to be active in pursuing some kind of punishment of them if they can’t control their dog properly.”

Downtown redevelopment and transportation are Cerino’s top issues.

As a member of the Downtown Redevelopment Committee, he believes that when the recession ends there is going to be a new residential and business area south of City Hall and west of A Street Northwest. He said the issues that need to be resolved before that happens — how to tie the new area to old Auburn and how to recreate a healthy, vibrant downtown business district — will take time, effort and expertise.

“One way we can create a healthy business district is by bringing people to live in downtown Auburn, and this has got to happen,” Cerino said.

He also wants the state to accept some fiscal responsibility for the terrible shape of the trucking corridors in Auburn, which with its warehouses and distribution centers, he calls the economic hub of the region. Auburn, he said, cannot afford to repair the corridors.

Partridge enters race

Last January, a friend and Auburn business owner approached Partridge about running for the Council.

Taking his own measure — 45-years old, married 26 years to the same woman, college degree, business owner, three grown children — he decided he had the right stuff and the time to do the job.

“He saw qualities in me that needed to be brought to the City Council,” Partridge said. “As I analyzed my qualities in terms of what I could bring, I saw that number one is the future. Our city is moving forward. We’ve got a bright future in Auburn, and I want to be part of it. Was change needed? Well, the change is that we need to be bringing up the next generation.”

Partridge served on his first City Hall committee when he was 17, helping to provide input to the City Council about how best to serve youth in the community. He also volunteered 100 hours at Auburn General Hospital, today Auburn Regional Medical Center. Partridge is a a member of the Auburn Lions Club and its past president.

Partridge’s father founded the Partridge Insurance Agency in 1965, and when John graduated from Auburn High School in 1982, he followed in dad’s footsteps and opened his own insurance agency. At 23, he sold the business and used the proceeds to put himself through college while raising a young family. After his father died and his mother retired, he bought his father’s business, which he till runs today in Federal Way.

Partridge was surprised when Cerino announced he would run again. But as the city’s former fire and police chaplain, Partridge said, his areas of interest and expertise, municipal services, were the same as Cerino’s and he thought he could fit in nicely.

His major issues are downtown redevelopment, meeting the city’s basic needs and fiscal responsibility.

Partridge said the business owners and residents he has met during the campaign lack confidence in how the City is using their tax dollars, the direction the City is taking and their own involvement in what’s happening.

“They are hearing things after they happen rather than before and having input into what is happening,” Partridge said. “I want to help restore that confidence. This is a team thing, we are a city … I intend to be that bridge, develop that confidence and see that involvement.”

He said city officials need to remember their basic responsibilities as a City.

“Everyone is concerned about money these days, and we have to be responsibly covering our bases in terms of public safety, basic infrastructure and what happens at Howard Hanson Dam.”

He said the City also needs to look at where the money is going and where to invest it.

“The primary responsibility of a councilman is to adhere to that budget. Coming from the private sector, having had to raise a family in this community, I know what it means to make hard choices about spending money,” Partridge said.

Partridge’s children, Laura, Devanni and Annie, are the fourth generation of his family raised in the same house in Auburn. Devanni, 21, was recently crowned Miss Washington 2009. She was also Miss Seattle 2008 and Miss Auburn 2007. She will compete in the Miss America pageant Jan. 30 in Las Vegas. Her little sister, Annie, was third runner up in the Miss Auburn pageant last January.