Candidates vying for seats in next month's city elections disagree on how the city should handle historic designation and preservation.

For more than 20 years, the city's mayor and council have acted as the commission that makes decisions on the historic merits of the properties, often when the owner has plans to alter the site to pursue development.

"They just don't seem to know when they are the mayor and council and when they are the Historic District Commission," said Lorraine Pearsall, president of Montgomery Preservation Inc., a nonprofit historic preservation, education and advocacy organization based in Rockville.

Her organization and the Maryland Association of Historic District Commissions have cited potential for conflicts of interest and inappropriate deliberations.

City Manager Angel Jones is collecting proposals for a new system and scheduled a mayor and council work session at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at City Hall, 31 S. Summit Ave.

"I would advocate not having the same people who are the mayor and council serve as the HDC," said Mayor Sidney A. Katz, who served on the City Council when the arrangement started. After 20 years, the set-up seems to have run its course, Katz said.

The mayor and five-member council, officially a separate body, began acting as the HDC when city leaders were forming the Olde Towne historic district, Katz said. Residents were anxious that elected leaders would not make final decisions and that rules would stand in the way of redevelopment.

Recent proposals suggest that the city's Historic Preservation Advisory Committee, which conducts public hearings on historic work area permits and makes designation recommendations to the HDC, become the commission. Some have suggested that a council member serve as liaison. In either case, the mayor and council would "be the overseer," said Katz, who does not get a vote.

Challenging the mayor for his seat is Richard Koch, a Kentlands resident and regional real estate developer, who said he was hesitant to comment until after seeing proposals and listening to debate in a public hearing.

"The process should be set up to provide the best protection of the historically designated structures in the city," Koch said. "In my mind, if a property is historic, we should figure out ways to incorporate into redevelopment projects so that they are preserved."

Councilman Henry F. Marraffa Jr., after 15 years on the job, said the HDC should be made up of elected officials.

"Anybody who is appointed should not make major zoning and development decisions and I'm on adamant on that," he said.

The mayor and council receive training and "understand the concepts" of historic preservation, he said. In their role on the HDC, city leaders take HPAC's recommendations under advisement and make decisions based on economic development, city code and historic preservation.

Candidate Tom Rowse agreed that the HDC "needs to be in the hands of the mayor and council." The Deer Park resident is vying to capture one of the two councilmen's seats. "It can't be in the hands of people who are appointed. It has to be in the hands of people who are responsible to the electorate."

Like Marraffa, Rowse supported the recently approved Wilson project, a 20,000-square-foot medical building slated for the corner of Frederick and DeSellum avenues.

"Sometimes we just have to draw the line and make sure that we are working with the future needs of the city," said Rowse.

Councilman Michael A. Sesma said he "it might be time to restructure the HDC. We do have a unique structure here compared to other cities and we may need to consider it becoming more independent from the mayor and council."

He does not oppose the HDC becoming an autonomous body that incorporates the functions of both HPAC and the HDC, he said.