With answers invariably short, if not always to the point, nine candidates for the Boston City Council fielded questions on Saturday from the Greater Mattapan Neighborhood Council.

Taking part in the briskly paced online “town hall” were seven of the eight candidates running for the council’s four at-large seats and the two finalists for the seat in District 5, includes most of Mattapan, along with Hyde Park and Roslindale.

As in past election years, the candidates found ways to set themselves apart from the mayor. On Saturday, that was most apparent in their near-unanimous support for reinstating an elected school committee. Since 1992, after an earlier ballot measure, committee members have been appointed by Boston’s mayors.

In an advisory question in the 2021 city election, the return to an elected body was favored by almost 79 percent of Boston’s voters. In February of this year, the City Council approved a home rule petition that would restore an elected school committee with 13 voting members, but the measure was vetoed by Mayor Wu.

Taking issue with the veto during the “town hall” was Councillor At-Large Julia Mejia, a co-sponsor of the home rule petition.

“It’s a tell-tale sign in term of the kind of voices that are being heard and not so much so,” she said. “And I think an elected school committee’s the only way for us to have justice in our Boston Public Schools.”

Another at-large councillor who supported the petition in February, Ruthzee Louijeune, admitted, “It’s not going to be the thing that’s going to make our schools better, but it does infuse more transparency and more accountability into our decision-making process.”

At-Large Councillor Erin Murphy was one of five votes against the home rule petition. During the town hall, she acknowledged arguments from both sides.

“I do think if there were other options on the ballot question, it would not have passed overwhelmingly. But that being said,” she added, “I do think that an appointed school committee continues to give too much power to the mayor’s side.”

Unanimously in support of an elected committee were the other at-large candidates participating in the forum: Clifton Braithwaite, Shawn Nelson, Henry Santana, and Catherine Vitale. They said an elected committee could give more control to parents and power to the community, along with a chance to increase engagement. But Braithwaite noted that election results could also be skewed toward candidates who get the most campaign funding.

Also in favor of an elected committee was Enrique Pepén, a finalist for City Council in District 5 who, until recently, worked as the executive director of Wu’s Office of Neighborhood Services. Despite being endorsed by Wu, he said an elected committee would provide more accountability than one appointed by the mayor.

“They’re just going to agree with everything that’s been pushed by the mayor’s administration,” Pepén argued, “while, by having an elected school committee, we have an opportunity to have a conversation, a difference of opinions. Yes, we have an appointed school committee right now, but our Boston Public School system is hurting.”

Enrique Pepén, one of two finalists in District 5 who, until recently, worked as the executive director of Wu’s Office of Neighborhood Services, thinks an elected committee would provide more accountability than one appointed by the mayor.

Jose Ruiz, above, a former Boston Police officer, is against an elected committee “because I was alive when it was there and it was happening, and it never really worked,” he said.

The other District 5 finalist, Jose Ruiz, a former Boston Police officer supported by former mayor Marty Walsh, was firmly opposed.

“I’m against an elected [School Committee] because I was alive when it was there and it was happening, and it never really worked,” he said. “Folks, when it’s been under the direction and the rule of the mayor, then we can funnel everything toward the mayor.”

There was less distance between the District 5 candidates concerning the transportation plan favored by Wu for Blue Hill Avenue. The plan would include two central lanes dedicated to bus traffic along the wider stretch of the avenue between Mattapan Square and Grove Hall.

Pepén didn’t rule out the bus lanes, but he called for attention to crosswalks and hazards from diagonal parking. “We have to make sure we can talk about bus lanes, yes,” he said, “but we need to make sure that we’re prioritizing the safety of the pedestrians that are already crossing the streets.”

Ruiz argued that the city needs to relieve traffic congestion by conditioning people to switch from cars to other kinds of transportation. “A lot of people in Mattapan I speak to, from Mattapan to Dorchester, to Roxbury, don’t want the bus lanes,” he said. “Guess what: I don’t want the bus lanes, either. I’ve seen how they work in other parts of the city, and I continue to remind people that Boston’s not that big and we already have narrow roads.”

Among the at-large candidates, the bus lanes were opposed by Braithwaite, Nelson, and Vitale. None of the other candidates explicitly endorsed the lanes, though Louijeune called for considering needs of bus riders and low-income working people in a multi-modal plan that would make everyone “mostly happy.”