This transcript was generated by YouTube and NOT edited by Star Media.

INTRODUCTION

Rick Peterson and Lori Sorenson

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[Music]

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thank you for joining us we are live streaming tonight 2024 candidates form

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from the Star media studios in downtown lever star media is Rock County Star

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Herald's new way of bringing Community News beyond the print and

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online I'm Rick Peterson general manager here with Lori Sorenson our managing

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editor and we're honored today to host six candidates for the 2024 election to

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lever City leadership the Star Herald has been telling the stories of Rock County for

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over 150 years and we're proud of what we do we work hard on Fair and accurate

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news coverage and during the elections that work is even more important we believe an informed Community is a

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healthy community and informed voters are especially important in that process

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that's why we're here today for conversations with our candidates to help voters make their election

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decisions our mayor candidates are Pat boson the incumbent Isaac dor who is now

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seeking election as mayor our candidates for the north Ward city council are Dan

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Nath the incumbent and Josh gangon the Challenger in the southw Scott visman is

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not seeking reelection Lorie hollstrom and Mer Croc are now vying for election for his seat on the

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council we will start the city council candidates first with the South Ward then the north Ward allotting roughly 40

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minutes per Ward for questions and answers including opening statements and

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closing remarks a coin flip has already determined who takes the first

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question there will be three minutes three questions excuse me possibly four if time permits

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two minutes per response and one minute rebuttal if requested the same process

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will continue for the mayor's candidate to clarify we're not in a debate today it's more of a guided

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conversation about important local issues we invited community members to share questions for our candidates and

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we'll incorporate many of them into our discussion today the candidates weren't provided

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these questions in advance and those who aren't at the mic will wait outside the studio so that they don't have an unfair

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advantage in preparing their responses we'll call in the Southward

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candidates for those of you wondering which W you live in Dodge Street is the primary dividing line between the North

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and South Wards the polling location for the November 5th election for both North and

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South Wards is at the lever High

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School e

South Ward City Council Candidates

Lori Hallstrom and Mert Kracht

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like DJ yeah thanks Wyatt okay guys you ready y thanks for being here and thanks

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for running for office first of all it's a big undertaking and um we are grateful for your commitment to community

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leadership it's a big deal so thanks for that Mt won the coin flip and so um

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Lorie is going to be first at the mic I believe right is that how it goes okay and so we're going to have two minutes

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for opening remarks and then two minutes for each of the questions we kind of went over that if time allows we'll have

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a fourth questions so any questions before we start are y'all set I'll it

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all right so Lori gets to do the opening statement in your twom minute opening

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statement just tell us about yourself and what experience you bring to City leadership like what prompted you to run

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for office okay uh my name is Lori hollstrom I own Rock River relics here in the city of lever I've run my

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staining glass business for 14 years I've been in Rock County for 20 I ran in 2016 just because I really love the city

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of L the people the look of it the way we operate and uh I just would kind of

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like to to see some more changes and try to

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help thanks Lori and Mt could you give us in your two-minute opening remarks

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just tell us about yourself what experience you bring to city leaders ship and also what prompted you to run

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for office um I grew up on a family farm near Ash Street and moved to learn

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here in 2010 I believe so I've been here a while I run my own business merch

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machine and repair we've had that for 16 years

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and I've learned a lot about city government over the last four years and

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been following it a lot closer and been paying attention to it and I think we

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need to have a change we can't keep going in the direction that we're

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going thank you so um appreciate that you two those are great reasons to run

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and I again thanks for all of that so we will have um question one then mert will

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go first and so I want to know or I think our

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community would like to know what you see as lever's biggest challenge and conversely our best asset

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and how would you address the challenges and protect what's going well for

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us I think our biggest challenge and it's going to be

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tough is to get and keep small businesses in

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L if you go out and sit in BP's parking lot from 6:00 to 8:00 in the morning and

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watch all the cars getting on the interstate and heading west it is half the

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town the problem we have part of it is being next to South

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Dakota the other problem we're going to have in its beginning is the high taxes

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the high utility rates how are we going to have a small

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business want to come to town and they look at this and go well this doesn't make any

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sense and the other problem we have is not only that we're competing

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with one of the largest employers in

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town the city of leverne for employees and they don't pay taxes they

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don't pay property tax so it's going to be awful tough to get small business to

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come to town and keep them here and that's my view as a small business

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owner thanks Mart Lori you'll have that same question

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if you do you want me to repeat it are you good no I'm actually good I actually fully agree with M um one of our biggest

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issues is actually drawing business to our small businesses uh recently uh Lyft actually had a meeting asking the

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downtown businesses to collectively get together and share what they felt would help and honestly supporting your local

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businesses is actually the most important thing you can do by keeping the tax dollars in town um and that is a

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problem we have a lack of traffic other than mostly traffic from out of town although primary Necessities they seem

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to leave for S Falls to purchase again every time you leave that's tax dollars leaving our city which raises our

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property taxes other things um I also you asked about assets again it's the

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small businesses of leverne we lose them I don't know how we

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function that's about it yeah good points both of you thank you we will go

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ahead and then and move on to question two and Lori goes first on that question

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um I'm sure that you've been following the child care project um what is your

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understanding of our child care shortage as it affects Working Families employers

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and the local economy and as part of that question I'm curious if you support the city's involvement in the kids rock

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Child Care Center uh child care has actually been an issue for a long time now it actually was one of the primary

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things we discussed when I was actually on Council in 2016 um I'm very happy to see that we

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have a daycare that's being implemented only because the state has made it very restrictive for private healthare or

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pardon me child care to operate um and still stay in costs where they actually make any money sadly the same goes for

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even if it's not a private Child Care Facility um the child the the child care

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rocks um I'm very happy that we could move forward I I I have a little bit of

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concerns only because we have a higher need probably than what it's going to be built for so I I'm hopeful that maybe we

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can do something to address that because obviously we have parents that need to

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work and there's no opportunities for them to get child care unless again they leave town and we don't want people to have to do

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that thanks Lori Mt the child care shortage is not just a

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local problem it's everywhere and the the daycare center

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that's going up that's a good thing at this point looking at the cost

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of it we might have been better off starting from scratch because it's gone way past where it was supposed to be

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but at this point it doesn't matter because the money's spent so I just hope I it's a gamble I hope it

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works out I also hope it doesn't take away

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from like little lambs and that type of deal and what do

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they have up at the school I can't remember the name of it family U family U I hope it doesn't take away from

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that but I'm glad it has been

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done these questions are tough to answer aren't they nobody has a crystal ball but it it all does become part of policy

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decisions and as city leaders we're going to be facing them so I appreciate your thoughts on those we will move on

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to question three and I believe um Lori

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let's see M you get to start on question three and could both of you move closer to your mics sure or pull the M you can

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pull the mics closer to you also too but just make sure that we're we want to make sure they're hearing equipment here

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I just don't yell in it so um we're gonna go ahead and move on to question three then and I believe mer starts this

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one so I'm curious I think our community is curious what you see as the role of

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City leadership in the economies of cannabis and THC

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products and would you support a city-owned dispensary I would not support a

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city-owned dispensary we've had trouble with a

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liquor store run by the city I don't think the city should be

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competing with private business in anything and to me this is in direct

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competition with someone that wants to come come in and do this I think it should be left up to the private sector

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and the city should stay out of

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it uh yes for the role of City leadership uh really the biggest concern is the amount of traffic it's going to

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drive to our city um honestly the fact that it's legal we have Iowa and South Dakota right next to us I visited a

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little bit with our head Sheriff about it because there will be concerns even though not necessarily the sale of it

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causes a problem but sometimes people might come to town that are a problem um

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I do not believe the city should own cannabis shop um it's something I actually expressed even back in

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2016 uh I believe it should be for private business only and I'm hopeful we

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actually have some people that have been advising the county and the city on this that already have a business in town I'm

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hopeful that they can acquire that license because they're knowledgeable and they've they've been here for 14 years invested in our town um my

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concerns are that basically it's a lottery um so someone may get approved that's not from here may not even be

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from the state of Minnesota so I'm I'm very hopeful that hopefully local businesses will acquire that in regards

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to the city um selling those products there is actually statutes written for state of Minnesota that says the city

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cannot compete with their businesses so those businesses would have to address that with the city was a

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problem thanks for your response these are again these are new issues and so leadership is going to matter yep so it

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look looks like we have time for the fourth question so um I believe Lori

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goes first on this one okay um given the

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challenges of attracting and retaining talent in today's competitive labor

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market how would you balance the interests of public sector employees with fiscal responsibility at the

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bargaining table for like City employ for city employees correct we we have

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City we have unions we work with and again the labor market is a little

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upside down right now it's hard to attract so as a city leader what how would you approach that well that's

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that's actually really tough um I I think the best route would would actually be to look first at what

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positions actually are open what qualifications are required um if they require education that's a whole other

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animal if they're an entry-level position um I would really want to try to promote loving the town you live live

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in especially as younger people get out of high school out of college they might want to come back addressing salaries

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it's going to depend on what life is like at the time I mean everybody sees that they hear 3% 5% 1% and sometimes

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nothing so that really is kind of dependent on what things were like at that

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time I'm not quite sure I understand I I can clarify a little bit I think I've

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been I've been following City um they're they're sort of

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revamping how were um the the the salaries and the and the

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positions because the the labor market generally is people are needing more

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money they're they're requiring higher pay for the positions and the way that

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the the city is structured right now it's we're having trouble keeping up and so they're currently going through and

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evaluating all the positions and looking at how we're going to fill them and how much we should pay and so again it it's

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it's a struggle of attracting the right people versus being um accountable to

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our taxpayers so I'm curious if you have an approach on

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that yeah it uh like Lori said it it kind of depends

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on the position you know I'm I'm a firm believer that

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you should be paid for what you can and will do and I think

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that's that's kind of the way I would look at it I I don't have a real good answer to that question can I add I

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would think if either of us were in a position like that on Council we would probably even want to look at people's

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positions in general there may be some positions and I don't want to say that that may not be necessary may not need

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to be full-time or may there may be other opportunities maybe for the city to adjust and find employment working a

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little bit better for them so that they can adjust for salaries I think they're going they're doing that now and and our

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city leaders our future city leaders are going to be part of that and that's why the discussion so AB absolutely I I

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agree with what she says and I

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also don't want to be taking away employees from the

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private sector if we can help

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it yeah thanks it's I I didn't these are tough questions I realize it but City

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leadership isn't easy so thank you for your thoughts on that I think we'll go ahead to opening or to the closing

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remarks and I believe mert will go to yours to your closing remarks first and

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and basically we're going to do a little bit of a recap but we would like in your twom minute closing remark explain why

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you're the best candidate basically um for Lever City lead leadership given our

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previous discussion well running my own business for 16

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years I know what it takes to keep things moving in the right

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direction um as far as being on the council

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a lot of times the purchase of equipment and that type of thing comes up I know

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just about every piece of equipment out there because I think I've worked on them um I've learned a lot about city

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government here over the last four years and I got the guts to stand up and

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say no if it's something that I don't agree with and I have a way of sniffing

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out BS when I hear it that's a great

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attribute Lori is that with are you okay Lori how would you like to close here um

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honestly I I I I I feel I'm a good candidate just because I love the city of lever I've been in Rock County for 20

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years in the city for it'll be 15 in January um I like to have a voice for

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the people if you feel like you don't have one most people know that they can come to me and talk to me and I will find someone to address it with um

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doesn't mean I can always get it solved but I'll do my best to at least make sure you're heard and someone knows um

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and I'm not going anywhere and like M I don't have a problem saying what I

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think that's about it yeah thanks you guys um thanks again for being here and

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and thanks for running for election well thank you for having us thank you for having us

North Ward City Council Candidates

Josh Gangestad and Dan Nath

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all right thanks you guys for being here thanks for running for office that's I

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really don't think we thank people enough for that it's a big Endeavor it's a big commitment and it's a commitment

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to local leadership so appreciate that it sounds like Josh won the coin flip

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and so Dan did it y oh Dan and you wanted to go first Dan's gonna go first and so we're gonna you know the drill we

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have two minutes for the opening remarks and for the questions and two minutes

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for closing remarks so we'll start with your opening statement um what we'd like

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to hear from you in your opening statement is tell us about yourself what experience you bring to City leadership

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and as part of that um kind of let us know too what prompted you to run for reelection

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sure uh did you want to reset the clock or thank you yes we will do that perfect

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there we go good deal uh welcome to all that have taken the time to learn more about your

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local city leadership I'm Dan Nath and I'm seeking re-election for the lever city council representing the north Ward

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my wife Kina and I we moved to L in 1997 we raised our family here and we feel

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very blessed to call L our home I retired as a fire chief from the lever

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fire department after serving 25 years in the fire service but I wanted to continue to serve the community so I

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thought uh maybe to run for a seat on the city council it's been my privilege

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to serve as a council member for the last eight years we have address many issues and I've learned and gained a

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tremendous respect for the community I currently provide SA safy and quality training to several communities in

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southwest Minnesota through my employer and I hear a common theme when I tell them that I'm from

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L we have a gem of a community over here and they really kind of wonder what it

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is that we do right couple of answers come to mind about that first is our

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fantastic Community Support people of lever show up whether it's showing support for a community project or

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honoring a Community member people of Le show up second reason is the people of

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lever are concerned about each other whenever the community has identified a need members step up and offer their

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support supporting the daycare center preparing our children for the future supporting a place that keeps us

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connected to our common history maybe it's supporting the many parks and recreational activities we have or

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supporting our local businesses when they need it the most as your representative to the council I feel I

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have shown up and I am always willing to listen to concerns and comments ments from the community members I have

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actively attended our Council meetings and board meetings those that I can't attend usually it's due to work uh make

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sure that I am able to bring the updates back to the council and the city

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staff thanks Dan yep was right on two minutes too I'm

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impressed all right Josh if you would like to go ahead with your all right

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well I just want to introduce myself and say thank you to everybody who's watching excuse me make sure you into the mic yeah thanks thank you for

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everybody's watching right now uh my name is Josh gangstead I'm married to my wife Stacy gangstead and we have two

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boys uh that live with us Jack and Matthew Jack's a senior Matthew is a junior I also have a daughter who has

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just started teaching this year in Ellsworth her name is Megan um Stacy and I lived in the Twin

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Cities and about 10 years ago she had a career change and she wanted to move to

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a smaller Community like leverne um the cities was just kind of getting to do too much and when she first suggested I

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thought well that's crazy I I can't do what I do in my profession in the cities in Le bur but we did find uh some

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employment through some companies in sou fall so it has worked out well um we've

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re never regretted moving here the boys love it it is a wonderful community and

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and we just want to keep it that way so it's it's just been great for us and we really enjoy

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it um the reason why I decided to run for Council um in the north Ward is I've

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talked to a lot of people and they've expressed to me a concern with the amount of spending the city does and

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taxes that have been raised and they're just concerned that it's it's out of control and they really just want

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somebody that will step up and maybe try to stand in their in place of it and try to maybe reduce it if we can um I I

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understand that we do have nice amenities in this town they it does cost money to run a city I I get that um but

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there are some luxuries that probably are not necessarily needed we need to prioritize what is necessary to keep the

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city functioning and if there are short cuts or reductions that we can make in

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some of our purchases that we we make for equipment for instance um that needs to be addressed

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and looked at um I think there are ways to do it effectively without sacrificing the quality like that we have

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here that's it thank you yeah so with the coin flip I believe now Josh will

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take the will go first at question one okay and so we'll have that up on the

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screen here too but what do you see as the biggest challenge and the best asset

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in leverne and how would you address the challenge and protect what we have going

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for us well I think the biggest challenge we have is maintaining our quality of life

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we have I mean the current council's done a pretty good job of setting things up we have a nice

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park we have nice equipment again it comes at at a huge cost and we're starting to see the effects of that um I

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see a lot of people have asked me about their utility rates have gone up exponentially um and they just they're

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really starting to feel the pain of it and I know that we use some money from our utility profits to kind of keep our

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taxes down but that also now we're raising utility rates to cover that so it's just something that has to be

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addressed there's that there's definitely ways to keep the quality of life we have without raising taxes

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raising our utility rates so that's a challenge and how do you do that and that's something we as a council need to

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look at um we need to receive ideas from the community um give them get their

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feedback on what we what we propose and what they propose and have good dialogue and

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communication um I think our biggest asset that we have have as a community is just how how nice our parks are uh

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it's well it's well kept it's clean um like he said earlier everybody that I talk to that that's been to L it's not

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from here really admires our nice Parks the Redbird field um they just think

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it's that the houses for the most part are are very well-kept and uh they they

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said same thing how do you guys do it I said I don't know how they do it but they do it um I think it's a matter of

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personal Pride too I think a lot of people take a lot of pride in their in their home homes and even their neighbors homes they're willing to help

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out other people if they need help with stuff so um so I guess that's our best asset

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is you know the face of our community are the people that we have here um their willingness to help everybody else

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out um just keeping things the way they are as far as how they

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look that's all I have thank you okay I don't know if I need to

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repeat the question I mean you're good go ahead yep y thanks uh I I guess I

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feel that the biggest challenge that we have um facing us right now is is

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Community Development we need to make sure that we're moving forward we need to make sure that we continue to to

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assess what it is that we have and not take any steps backward and so what I

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really want to do um make sure that the that the council is is taking that

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forward-looking approach and making making sure that everybody is able to to

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provide the um the amenities that they that they want or the life experience

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the quality of life that they that they need to have uh one of the main things that that we're facing right now is is

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daycare uh it's it's a big shortage at this point in time um there's a lot of

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restrictions that are being put out and and a lot of our our local homebased

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dayc carees they're they're really suffering at this point in time not able to satisfy all of the the uh

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restrictions that are being put forward and so one of the ways that we're able to address that is by partnering with uh

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the federal government with the state government with the county all of those uh different entities are able to come

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together um the businesses in the community members step forward and they

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really put a lot of effort and a lot of uh funds into a a strong um daycare

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center uh the kids Rock Center and so along with the daycare then comes the

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families um then comes the economic growth then comes the school system all

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of that our children are are really supported at that point in time and we're going to be able to see that type

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of growth that is going to come through so um not to take anything away from the homebased day carees because they are

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truly a a great asset for us we we hope that they are able to continue but we

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want to make sure that um we have those additional items coming

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forward thanks um so guess what that was

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question two that was child care so um I

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think that you were supposed to answer question two first okay I'll ask the

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question and we'll see if you want to add anything to it and then I think we'll just go from here because that was

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what is your understanding of the child care shortage yep as it affects Working Families employers

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and the local economy you know so if you just want to build on that a little bit but certainly your response there was

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great also so okay take as much or little time as you'd like okay sounds good um yeah definitely the daycare

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shortage uh the child care shortage is something that we're facing throughout the the entire State um what we've done

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here in leverne is being looked at and watched by a lot of different communities uh the other communities definitely have

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the um the same problems that we are facing with the homebased daycare the

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private daycare they just can't afford or they can't continue to uh support

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those things with the restrictions that are being put on them and so I have definitely exposed or um I've definitely

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brought to the the current leadership at the state level my concerns regarding

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that I've contacted them uh but but the restrictions and the regulations that

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are put on the homebased yes and just to clarify too I didn't ask the second part but I again would you would you support

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the the city's current involvement that the trajectory that we're on with our

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public private okay yes and and yes I do uh I do support it I think that it is a

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necessary um aspect of the the daycare shortage issue that we have to face we

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have to address it if we want to continue to grow the city of lever uh the main thing is our our economy our

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local businesses we know that we are losing people we know that we have uh

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employers that are not able to or employees that are not able to come toiv because we don't have the daycare and

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one of the most frustrating thing I know for for many young families is having to wait to have children because you're

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waiting for daycare and so with the daycare center we're hoping that we can really address some of those issues by

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the number of people that um are interested and have signed up I think that that really does show that need

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thanks Dan yes and so then Josh if you could address that and again just when

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with your response you know what is your I mean how what is your understanding of

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child care as it affects Working Families employers and our local economy

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and further do you would you support the city's involvement in this public private

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Venture that we already have underway sure so um my understanding I don't have

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young children anymore but I do have friends that have younger children and I've heard excuse me please PLL yeah

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I've heard the complaint um or the concern I should say that there is a lack of of daycare availability and it

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it it was a problem um I guess my personal thought is I don't know that's necessarily the role of the Govern

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government to take over that um shortage but it that it's already done so we're

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doing it um I I have know Hills Beaver Creek or the hills city Hills I should say uh they did a similar thing and

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there's completed and I think they have one more Suite as they call it available for another person to privately go in

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there rent that space use it and I think they did it for a fraction of what ours

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is going to cost obviously it's a smaller space it's a smaller Community but I think there was probably a better

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way to do it for a lot less money than what we're spending on it I'm I'm told that the numbers are I haven't a proof

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of this but the numbers are higher than what was projected and I'm sure by the time the Project's over it will be but

35:11

um the other thing I don't really agree with either is the the the contract agreement they have with kids rock as far as lever covering all the utilities

35:18

electric water everything for it the maintenance of the building um I guess my my personal feeling is that as I

35:26

understand it kids rock is a non-for-profit is that what eron stand so I I think they should probably have

35:31

to maybe not necessarily pay rent for the building but they should have to pay for the maintenance ongoing maintenance

35:37

and utilities for it um I mean I hope it works out I sounds like they have some

35:42

interest in in filling some spots already which is good um the other thing I I just don't like about it is it does

35:49

take away from private homeowners that or private home people I should say home operated

35:54

daycares that maybe had some openings that are now maybe going to lose some spots so I just hope it doesn't affect

36:01

them negatively um that's my one thing against private versus public sector um

36:07

I always try to promote private sector that's it Dan did you have any re

36:14

um any additional rebuttal or anything to any I mean it's an opportunity for

36:19

either so right right no I think I'm okay sounds good thanks both of you

36:25

we'll move on to question three that I believe Josh starts

36:31

with right yeah yes and so the question is what do you see as

36:38

the role of City leadership in the new economies of cannabis and THC products

36:46

and would you support a city-owned dispensary well I think the city

36:51

leadership as to as far as the role of it um they need to establish some

36:56

guidelines um I I'm GNA kind of have to go on the second one to support what I'm saying right now I don't think the city

37:03

should be a city-owned dispensary at all I think that again should be a private Private Industry it should not be the

37:10

city shouldn't be involved with it it's a cash-based business I you're going to have a basically a vault in the back

37:15

room full of cash the ones that are operating currently that you go to they don't take credit cards they don't take

37:21

checks they have an ATM machine in the lobby and you pay cash for everything so everything is cashh um I just think it's

37:27

a better situation that's fitted better for a private industry um the city like I said they

37:34

can set the policies any restrictions they feel are necessary um but I I just don't see that

37:40

there's any role for government city government especially to be involved with the dispensary um they can issue I

37:47

think the state actually issues a license if I'm not mistaken so the licensing will come from the state um I

37:53

know the state has guidelines I think the Count's kind of deferred to the city as what whatever the city decides for the guidelines but yeah there definitely

38:00

needs to be somebody to look at and say well you know if you're going to have this business you can't do these things or you know here's your operating hours

38:08

Etc um but just I just don't think it's another business we should get into I'm

38:13

not it's just not a good business fit for government if you ask

38:19

me okay Dan um yeah I I

38:25

am in support of the role that the city has taken so far um that is we've gone

38:32

through and we've we've approved the uh cannabis sales um outside of what the

38:39

county has and the one of the main reasons that that we would want to go through and do that is to at least have

38:45

a little bit of control over what is going to happen as far as cannabis and THC products are concerned within the

38:52

within the city of lever uh one of the disadvantages to the State Licensing

38:58

guidelines and what is being put out there is the fact that the people that get the priority and get the get the

39:06

first choice on the licensing um are those that uh may not have a a definite

39:13

interest in the city of lever and so uh to maintain that level of control to

39:18

maintain that um that understanding of what is going to happen uh that's really

39:25

the the main reason that we went through and and approved the the licensing or

39:31

the the um the rules that we have set up as far as cannabis is concerned so far

39:39

um do I support a city-owned dispensary I'm really on the fence on that and so

39:45

it's I can see advantages to it and I can see disadvantages to it uh as far as

39:51

what is happening um we're in again a unique situation in in the state of Minnesota we've got Iowa just 12 mil

39:58

away we've got South Dakota just 13 Mi away and so when when you start looking at the potential of what those states

40:05

are doing that is definitely going to have an effect on what is the future of

40:11

cannabis sales in Minnesota um so taking that into account not jumping into it

40:17

real quick uh and truly understanding what what the rules are um I'm on the

40:23

fence so Josh did you have anything more to add to the discussion no it's a you know

40:30

it's a it's a whole new world out there when you talk about the economies of of THC products and so this it might not

40:37

seem like a fair question but again it's these are the sorts of things that City leadership will be grappling with so I

40:43

appreciate your earnest responses there um I think that

40:48

we have qu we have time for a fourth question if if you want to Sure up for

40:54

that okay so then question for Dan would go first I believe yep so given the

41:03

challenges of attracting and retaining talent in today's competitive labor market how would you balance the

41:10

interests of public sector employees with fiscal responsibility at the

41:16

bargaining table so oh she he's she's resetting the

41:22

timer so I'm do you understand the question I mean it's costing we have to pay our city employees but we have to be

41:28

responsible to taxpayers yep exactly right and and so as far as going through

41:34

and making sure that uh the amenities or the quality of life is supported here in

41:40

lne um it it does take employees and the the one of the best assets that we have

41:47

in this in the city of lever is our great employees they're willing to step up they're willing to jump in they're

41:53

willing to help out wherever they need to help out and so um as we come through

41:58

and start looking at the competitive labor market you've got private sector they're looking for employees everybody

42:04

is is short staff at this point in time and so we have to keep that in mind as

42:10

as far as when we're going through and looking at our competitiv nest on the

42:15

fiscal responsibility so making sure that we have a good understanding a good

42:21

labor pool one of the main things that we can probably do is we can try to recruit and recruit from where recruit

42:27

from within our own Community um maybe going in and doing some of those uh job

42:33

fairs down at the down at the high school level uh into the college level um the um TNT buildings the housing that

42:41

we have gone through and done I think is a great example of a partnership that we can go through and we can we can really

42:48

work with the um the contractors work with the different organizations and give ourselves that opportunity to to

42:56

keep our um our students and our our resources here within within the

43:02

community and if some of those come and work for the city that's all the much uh

43:07

better off that we would be so um that would be the main thing that that I would want to want to bring to the table

43:15

thank you yeah I mean Dan said it's pretty much everything he said um you want to

43:21

have an appealing job market uh so you can attract you know maybe go to like you said to high schools but maybe go to

43:28

some colleges and college career Affairs um you have to look at you know

43:33

what the job entails and it compare it also to the private Market sector is is there a comparable job and what is that

43:40

private sector demanding for for pay right now at the current moment so that's one good way to to to measure

43:47

that um also you can compare with other municipalities you know what they're what they're paying similar employees

43:53

for the similar types of jobs that they're doing to try to be in line with that I mean we don't want to be paying

43:59

somebody double what the next community over is paying somebody I mean we also don't want to be paying them half of

44:04

what they're worth either so um experience comes into a lot of that too I mean some obviously you're going start

44:09

attracting younger people not going to have a lot of experience so they're hopefully they're going to gain some experience on the job and then create a

44:16

better you know Market attractiveness for themselves as far as employability so

44:23

um it's it's yeah it's hard to balance that I mean you want to pay very

44:28

competitive rate but you want to also be responsible with the citizens money the funds are taxes so um but you have to be

44:34

competitive because if you don't have employees you're not going to have a city that's going to be operating so it's a fine Mark line to walk but I you

44:42

know it can be be achieved being in City leadership is not

44:47

an enviable time right now for that reason that's that's tough so thanks for your responses there we will go can I

44:54

yeah absolutely I I just want to make one additional comment yes um and and so

44:59

um just bringing into mind for everybody is just the fact that um as our as our

45:06

population gets older our Workforce gets older and uh we do have have to make

45:12

sure that we do have a good succession plan for those positions you know especially any of those licenses that we

45:18

may hold our employees May hold making sure that we've got a good succession plan in bringing that responsibility

45:25

down to that younger Generations so just want to make sure it's an opportunity if anybody's watching uh we have an

45:31

opportunity out here and and we just want to make sure that everybody is aware of that yeah I I think there's

45:37

some great mentors that work for the city now that you know if you get some younger people working there they can

45:42

they're very valuable what their knowledge and what they can teach these younger guys so yeah it's it's a

45:48

necessity to get younger younger people in there and make sure that they want to stay there make sure they're happy to be

45:54

there so it's it's a need obviously but there so way to do it so we can work

45:59

through it yeah supposedly we're all replaceable but it's terrifying to think of these seasoned people retiring so yes

46:07

and it's all part of City leadership isn't it yeah so all right so then I

46:13

think we're ready to go into closing remarks I believe that uh Josh will go

46:19

first and in this two-minute time period we'd like you to explain why you're the

46:24

best candidate for Lever City leadership kind of answer that question given our

46:31

bit of our previous discussion sure um here's why I feel I'm the better

46:36

candidate um I know that Dan's been in for I think 14 years now or 12 years or

46:42

whatever it was eight years and then anyway in the last 12 years there's not been one dissenting vote on anything

46:48

that's come across the table um not one person at one point thought that hey maybe this is something we don't need

46:54

right now we can push this off for another year or so so um that to me I don't understand that hell in 12 14

47:01

years I can't remember right on the the stat in front of me right now but it's it's just boggling to my mind how nobody

47:07

can vote no on one thing um I feel like I run a pretty tight ship in my own

47:13

house there's a lot of things we all want um but do we need them and that's the number one deciding factor of how we

47:19

spent money at our houses is it a want or a need um there's a lot of things the city probably needs there's a lot of

47:27

things that they would like to have that wants are they necessary is it is it going to help the city be a better city

47:33

is it going to give any value back to the citizens that are paying for it um

47:39

quite honestly I don't think that happens right now I think it's just yep let somebody wants it we'll just we'll just buy it get what you want so I I

47:47

just think i' bring a a lot more fiscal conservative values to the current board right now um I don't see anybody that's

47:56

running right now for any of the three spots that are just willing to say no

48:01

and sometimes you have to say no like you said you got to make the tough decision sometimes it's not easy you don't want to say no but the same time

48:08

you got a responsibility to have all the taxpayers you're you're in charge of their money you're supposed to spend it

48:13

wisely and you need to do th that with it so um that's that's what I bring to

48:19

the table thanks Josh yeah um first off I'd

48:25

like to thank everybody uh thank everybody for taking the time to come to the Forum uh or watch The Forum uh if if

48:32

that's what you're doing uh thanks for expressing your interest in running for these different positions uh thanks to

48:39

the candidates that are running for the positions um I'm seeking re-election to the L city council because I feel that I

48:45

can help the city of L continue to move forward and grow uh we have a great city

48:50

which is highly respected throughout Minnesota and I just want to make sure that that we continue with that um um a

48:57

little bit of uh reference to some of the items one of the main things that that I like to ensure is if I don't

49:06

understand or I don't necessarily agree with uh something that has been brought a proposal that has been brought I make

49:12

sure that I reach out to the um to the department heads I make sure that I I

49:18

have that discussion with them and find out why it is that we need to have what it is that they are proposing uh when we

49:24

go through the budget process what is the understanding uh of the need for the equipment what is the understanding for

49:31

for the spending of the funds where is it that we're we're going to best utilize the money that is there and so

49:39

um I'm not an expert in in many of the different fields that we have out there and so we rely on our staff we rely on

49:45

making sure that the proposals that are brought to us are are good proposals that that we can fully support and we

49:53

can get behind and so that's really that winds up being um the result of a lot of collaboration

49:59

a lot of partnership uh bringing everybody together and bringing things to to the table that we can

50:06

support so thanks again to the north Ward for the trust support for the past

50:11

uh eight years that I've been here and I hope that you'll give me the support for uh the election coming

50:17

up so thanks guys yes thank you everybody yep thanks thanks for joining

50:22

us and again thanks for running for City leadership you're welcome

City of Luverne Mayor Candidates

Pat Baustian and Isaac DeBoer

52:35

all right guys thanks for being here thank you for running for office and thanks for your interest in community

52:42

leadership and your investment in community leadership this all matters and so I I think that's important that

52:48

our viewers know that it this is not something we take lightly and so kudos to both of you for that um we'll go

52:55

right into it here I believe Pat won the coin flip and so he chose to be first at

53:00

the mic and so just for a quick recap we're going to have two minutes for opening remarks and two minutes for each

53:06

of the three questions if time allows we'll have a fourth question so in your

53:11

opening statement Pat tell us about yourself what experience you bring to City leadership

53:19

and what prompted you to run for reelection good question first of all

53:25

I'd like to thank uh star media and Rick Peterson and Lori for uh putting this event on and having this forum so um so

53:34

what uh what experience brought me to City leadership professionally and through the community involvement um it

53:39

was prior to uh um the Blandon Community Leadership Foundation that uh I was

53:45

thinking about uh getting involved in city government I've always been one to uh look at uh tasks look at issues and

53:52

and not complain about them I've always been one to get involved and and uh fix them and make them better make our community better and uh so I applied for

53:59

the Blandon Community leadership program which gave me um an immense amount of uh

54:05

uh experience and knowledge on what makes the community tick what makes the community better and uh so um I went to

54:15

that and uh at that time um uh mayor Weber uh assigned me to the airport

54:20

board so I worked on that airport board and uh then I uh became with that I uh

54:27

uh decided to run for city council became a city council member for eight years and uh at that time uh mayor

54:33

Steensma uh asked me to run for mayor told him no the first time and uh he said why he says because mayor doesn't

54:39

vote well um it's a it's a leadership role in the community and uh they they

54:45

really uh wanted me to run as a leadership role so I did and uh it's been uh 14 years of a great opportunity

54:51

to make our community better uh working with all the Civic organizations the nonprofits

54:56

the boards and commissions that work so hard and volunteer their time and uh

55:02

give back to their Community uh just like we do try to make our community better and uh it is uh it's one of those

55:10

things that uh uh to give back make things better uh that's what I'm about um being a leader and uh giving uh

55:18

giving all I can to lead our community thanks Pat Isaac well thank you uh again thank

55:25

you to the Star Herald and star media Venture for putting this all together and thank you to the residents of lever

55:31

for the opportunity that this allows um you know I have a lot of experience and

55:37

background in finance uh have served on the leeda board in the past also have

55:43

served with the southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership for many years what really prompted me to run for office is

55:49

over the years I've I've watched uh our community grow and do a lot of great

55:55

things and we we can continued to do a lot of great things but over the last 5 to six years I've really had some real

56:01

significant concerns about the trajectory of our spending uh how much

56:07

is actually available to the public ahead of time uh and transparency on

56:12

that and um it was really uh kind of a struggle when you go to the truth and

56:18

Taxation hearings or or various things like that it feels like we're doing a an

56:24

about face instead of breaking down for uh the citizens you know our Lev is

56:30

going up by x amount uh and that is in an increase in spending we tend to have

56:36

uh ratios or other types of things that we kind of get behind instead of just

56:41

jumping out in front and and telling the citizens on that this uh spending

56:46

trajectory really prompted me because it's going to be extremely difficult for

56:52

our small business Community for us to entice Young people to come to this

56:57

community we have a situation where we uh are not competitive with some of our

57:02

neighbors with what our utility rates are at and pretty soon we aren't going to be competitive anymore with where

57:08

we're at on our real estate taxes we can't afford to have double digigit increases year after year after year to

57:16

support spending so that's really what prompted me to to run for office on that

57:22

so thank you for the opportunity thanks Isaac now typically we' we'd we'd allow

57:27

opportunity for rebuttal when we're working with questions but there was a lot in Isaac's opening remarks that we

57:34

won't cover later in the Forum so I don't know if there's anything you'd like to address in that Pat I mean you

57:41

just it would just be a minute if you did but just wanted to have that opportunity absolutely I would so the

57:49

truth and Taxation hearing uh that's one thing um you know the levy increase

57:54

we've had enormous amount of tax-based growth uh through big businesses through new businesses and uh market value

58:02

increase and so if you don't have those uh double digit tax levy increases

58:07

you're missing the opportunity to capture that tax capacity and it's because of people moving to our

58:12

community uh paying more than uh what they want what paying more for a house than what the market value is um driving

58:20

up those prices so when the assessor goes around look looking at um the average prices paid and and like house

58:26

that's drawing that's pushing the valuations up utility rates you got to pay play Apples to Apples um in our Pure

58:33

cities that have utilities um we are on average with that um when you look at

58:38

other cities um that are utility commissions it's different and real estate taxes looking at peer-to-peer

58:44

communities we are lower than all of our peer cities around us um per the league

58:49

of Minnesota cities thanks Pat and you were shaking your head Isaac so there is another one minute if you have more

58:56

you'd like to I I would certainly love that opportunity let's take that minute here so the the real definition of a

59:03

property tax levy uh is from the Minesota Department of Revenue and it is the budgeted expenditures for that year

59:10

plain and simple uh for us to sit there and talk about tax capacity and that is

59:16

really hiding behind we are increasing spending uh by that much um the impact

59:22

to the individual uh property owner is based upon uh their property

59:27

classification and their market value and it determines what share but ultimately that's the driver on that on

59:33

the utilities side of things uh we have been extremely irresponsible uh with our spending from

59:40

that uh on as compared to a Nationwide study uh the last five years we were

59:46

taking 16% of gross revenues from the electric fund to transfer other areas of government Nationwide that averages

59:53

something just over 5% the budget going forward is again for 10% and again we

59:59

should be at about 5% so that is what's driving our utility costs oh you guys

1:00:04

this is a lot of information thank you we um I think we're going to have to leave that discussion at that for now

1:00:12

and we're going to move on to our our first question and so I believe Isaac will go first on this one what do you

1:00:20

see as the biggest challenge and best asset in leverne what is L's biggest

1:00:26

challenge and best asset and how would you address the challenge and protect

1:00:32

what we have going for us well I see the number one challenge that's facing us is the the fact that we have dispensaries

1:00:39

coming uh the state of Minnesota has uh determined that uh every County uh based

1:00:44

upon size is going to have a marijuana dispensary uh whether we like it or not is irrelevant it's coming we need to

1:00:51

decide as a community uh where we want to be on that I am a strong proponent of

1:00:56

that needs to stay in the private sector the city's role in that government's role in that is to uh make sure

1:01:04

licensing is done in a proper manner and regulations are handled in a proper manner on that um the best asset that we

1:01:11

have is obviously our people uh and we need to do what's best for our people

1:01:17

and that means every resident every business owner and the best thing that

1:01:23

we can do is be ex excellent steward wordss of the money we need to challenge uh our department heads to be more

1:01:29

efficient with what we're doing we need to uh potentially look at maybe a pu on

1:01:36

our Utility side of things uh to take some of that maybe burden and to create

1:01:42

a little bit of a buffer in there uh so that we don't end up with what we have had in the last number of years where we

1:01:48

have electric rates that are nearly the same as Excel Energy yet we have a cost

1:01:53

structure that is much much less that and our desire to spend money from the

1:01:59

utility in particular the electric to make our real estate taxes look lower

1:02:05

needs to get minimized and we need to balance this thing much more so in a more active manner than we have

1:02:11

excellent thank you Isaac um Pat I will just give you a little heads up that we

1:02:18

do we do address THC and cannabis products later in the discussion too so

1:02:24

I would like you to focus your answer to question one on what was our biggest

1:02:30

challenge and our biggest asset if it is dispensaries go for it but I'm just we will have more discussion on that later

1:02:37

great thank you um you know the biggest challenge that we have right now and currently is to get our kids rock

1:02:43

daycare center operational um that has been worked on since 2015 that's not a

1:02:49

local problem that's not a uh Regional problem it's a state and National problem and uh I'm I'm glad that uh our

1:02:56

Eda has uh worked on that uh uh constantly we had local businesses bring

1:03:01

that in and uh bring it to our attention as far as what we should do um it's through uh a lot of uh looking into it

1:03:09

what are the what are the challenges of our businesses lack of Day daycare affecting our our businesses and and

1:03:15

getting the employees available right um so that's that's our biggest challenge that uh we need to get that operational

1:03:21

we need to start providing daycare to our Workforce and uh so once that's once that's ongoing um another thing that

1:03:28

we're looking at um that is a challenge is the uh the more housing um we we have

1:03:35

more housing going in uh spec homes but there is a need for more um market rate

1:03:40

housing we had a successful project with the uh Prairie uh Prairie uh loft apartments and over 90% uh occupied is

1:03:48

is a uh that is a success so uh when we look at more people move into our

1:03:54

community um um my opponent says taxes are High um

1:03:59

property taxes when we compare them to our Pure cities um are actually lower uh

1:04:05

Pipestone Redwood Falls Windham Jackson you can go out and compare them compare compare the market rates Market values

1:04:11

we're lower than everybody I've talked to 16 different families from sou Falls that have moved to lever they move to

1:04:17

lever because they get more property value over here they get it they come because of Education a clean community

1:04:23

and they like all of the quality of life enhancement projects that we have um along with a great education system it's

1:04:29

a win-win so you know just growing our community growing our growing our housing and uh uh continuing on the path

1:04:36

that we have thanks Pat I would like to take a minute to about I

1:04:42

can go for it um so I will agree with Pat on the housing housing is a

1:04:48

significant issue in in particular for our uh young families uh entry-level

1:04:53

housing uh we need to uh work creatively to find Solutions on that I feel I'm

1:04:59

well equipped to do that through my uh connections with the southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership uh but what goes

1:05:06

with that is we need to be affordable with our utility rates the biggest complaint that anybody new Resident

1:05:13

comes to town is they have sticker shock when it comes to your utility rates Child Care is an issue yes uh I feel

1:05:20

like uh it's pretty much a solved issue from the perspective of you have a wonderful board that's in place on that

1:05:27

uh that has been uh challenged with getting this open they've been

1:05:32

challenged what I would say because of City leadership's role of taking a project that started out that was

1:05:38

supposed to be a $4 million project that now has ballooned to $9 million and at that time6 million was

1:05:46

going to build a new one so that's a a significant

1:05:51

issue did I have a yep well if if you had been involved in the Eda uh since

1:05:58

2015 you would understand that the price of uh programs go up the the cost of

1:06:05

infrastructure goes up the the building when we uh bought that building whether it's a daycare or not it's a city

1:06:10

building so when you look at the price of the building you look at the roof of the building it's going to be ours

1:06:15

whether there's a daycare in it or not um so the price of the dayare is 7.2

1:06:21

million um you can't add on everything else because it's a city facility we're going to leave for a dollar and then as

1:06:27

as far as a uh electric utility we have done massive amounts of infrastructure

1:06:34

improvements generation project substation we've added on for an additional capacit industrial park to

1:06:41

think about bringing on a pu or a Utility Commission having another level

1:06:46

of government to not be able to control the rates we have set our city up for 30 years where many cities have not

1:06:52

invested like we have so thanks guys we're going to have to

1:06:57

leave that at that great discussion we'll move on to our next question which

1:07:04

guess what child care so what is your understanding of and it's kind of a it's

1:07:11

it's a big deal in our community so this has to be one of our candidate discussions so what is your

1:07:16

understanding of the child care shortage as it affects Working Families employers

1:07:21

and the local economy and then the second part of it is do you support the city's involvement in kids rock Child

1:07:28

Care Center yes all right uh as as many of

1:07:33

the viewers know um as the mayor um I was uh I sit on that kids rock daycare

1:07:39

board um I have worked on it uh with Holly on our Eda board since 2015 we

1:07:45

went through the initial studies we had the studies updated we worked with Private Industry private private

1:07:50

developers that wanted to come to town and start their own daycare um what happens is it's an upside down business

1:07:56

model in today's world you can't charge enough to pay for a building you can you can buy a building but you can't afford

1:08:02

the payment you can't afford the wages you can't afford you can afford the wages but not benefits um so what we're

1:08:09

looking at is the same problem Nationwide Statewide and uh and the

1:08:15

state is the state is addressing it uh We've we've started addressing it uh about three years ahead of the state so

1:08:22

the the the kids rock daycare center will provide That Daycare to our Working

1:08:27

Families um when we have a surgeon that can't do surgeries because their daycare got sick and it's a hall lines on deck

1:08:34

in order to try to get a surgeon because their kids have to have daycare it becomes a challenge when industry comes

1:08:41

to the Eda and says what are you guys doing to work on a daycare shortage we started looking at it um so when we look

1:08:48

at it and look at it the scope that we're at we've worked with first children's Finance the cost of the

1:08:54

building is one thing to do nothing at all to look at a price tag and throw um

1:09:00

a price tag that isn't really tied to the cost of the dayare remodeling out there um you can't you can't do that we

1:09:07

are working to fix the daycare problem we're not looking to complain about it or the price tag we have held cost down

1:09:15

immeasurably because of working with first children's Finance we go out and get partners before we do a project the

1:09:21

federal $2.6 million Grant the state the county are City $1.5 million Grant

1:09:27

fundraising we have worked hard to make this affordable thanks

1:09:33

Pat well the child care shortage has been an issue ever since I had kids uh

1:09:38

in in uh in that age 20 years ago uh it's been a significant issue it's gotten exaggerated greatly by actions

1:09:46

from uh the state level by DHS um it definitely needed to be

1:09:51

addressed uh and there's no sense you know debating you know the model which model should

1:09:57

have been done because we we have a model which is our current Child Care Center where I think we've fallen short

1:10:04

is really getting a a band together of all of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota cities the league of Minnesota

1:10:10

cities and really pushing back at the state level on the overburdensome

1:10:16

regulation that's coming down at our inhome providers uh talked to a couple inhome providers uh within the recent

1:10:22

month or two and they got another 90 page bulletin of information guidance

1:10:28

directions that they supposed to do that are just absolutely some of them have make no common sense whatsoever and you

1:10:35

know our mayor served as the president of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota cities from 2021 and 2022 and it would

1:10:42

have been a fantastic opportunity to band all of them together against the core issue my understanding is that we

1:10:50

we asked for a lot of money and we certainly did get some money to help with our project uh so I have always

1:10:58

been in support of a solution to child care and uh that solution it was going

1:11:04

to take some public investment on that I disagree with our current mayor that uh

1:11:10

on the dollar price tag of it we bought a building we put a new rough on the building we're renovating the building

1:11:17

that is the entire scope of that project uh and that is at 9.1 million presently

1:11:27

period I assume you have a rebottle no I do I do thank you thanks B yes Isaac was

1:11:34

right I I was the president of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota cities in 22 and uh I also still sit on that board

1:11:41

and also sit on the league of Minnesota City's board currently um at that time and since then

1:11:48

the shortage of daycare has been discussed and uh actually uh lne has

1:11:53

been asked to go brief at the coal of great Minnesota City's fall conference this year um cgmc and the league they

1:12:01

see leverne as having a plan having a project and put a solution forth together working with their business

1:12:07

communities their governmental partners and uh they recognize the plan uh that

1:12:12

lever put forth is a plan that is going to work for Lever and um as far as

1:12:18

addressing the challenges of DHS at the state yes the cgmc has pressed and the

1:12:23

league has pressed on working with the state legislature and some of them have addressed and uh Senator Weber will tell

1:12:30

you that but as far as our plan uh we have a solid plan it's it's well thought out and uh um we'll have a successful

1:12:37

kids rock daycare center thanks I don't have anything more to add yep that's go

1:12:42

all good discussion thanks both of you we will move on to our next question

1:12:48

then um and Isaac you'll get first dibs on this what do you see as the role of

1:12:55

City leadership in the new economies of cannabis and THC products and would you

1:13:01

support a city-owned dispensary well I see the role of city

1:13:07

in that as U since we've deviated from what the the county has asked for uh on

1:13:14

um regulation on that side of it the city is now in charge or the gatekeeper on licensing for cannabis dispensaries

1:13:22

uh we also have an obligation and and and desire to because of that to establish a good set of ordinances and

1:13:29

regul rules uh for operation those two things coupled by themselves makes me

1:13:35

say that it would be a huge conflict of interest for the city to even begin to look at a city-owned dispensary on that

1:13:42

that needs to stay in the private sector the um the role of the government is not

1:13:48

to compete with the private sector but to provide guidance and Direction and that's where we need to spend our time

1:13:55

efforts uh I feel it's less than forthright of our Council to uh go

1:14:00

forward with a uh study that they spent 50,000 on to uh explore a city run

1:14:08

dispensary and or Andor a public private partnership uh on that uh money would be

1:14:14

better served with legal uh on that side of it to do it and it's uh it's

1:14:19

something that is uh coming whether we like it or not and I absolutely will not

1:14:25

support a city-owned dispensary thanks

1:14:31

Isaac well um I hate to say it but the uh statement by Mr dor of the city is in

1:14:38

charge of Licensing cannabis is 100% inaccurate the state is completely in

1:14:44

charge of Licensing all cannabis dispensaries the only responsibility that the city will have is make sure

1:14:51

it's zoned appropriately and uh so you can't get more far off from the truth than that

1:14:56

the state controls all licensing uh the state and its legislative uh uh uh

1:15:03

document they passed allowed cities to look into cannabis dispensaries to place

1:15:08

one in um correct we will have at least one cannabis dispensary in the county uh

1:15:14

because of our population and so where that happens uh could be in lever could be in Hills uh we don't know but the

1:15:22

council just like all of our other projects instead of just saying a no um that we

1:15:28

wanted to research it we hired a consultant to look into it and actually

1:15:34

um get documentation for us the pros and cons of owning a dispensary so when you

1:15:40

have a dispensary just like a lever Municipal liquor store that Revenue would stay local if you have a

1:15:45

dispensary that is owned by out of state um none of that Revenue that is made from that will stay local and so the

1:15:53

residents of lever have to realize there will be a dispensary in leverne one way or the other um and if it if it is

1:15:59

located it could be in Hills if it's in Hills maybe it won't be in L but the revenue um unless it's locally owned the

1:16:07

revenue will leave our communities so that's what the city wants to look at is getting the facts on it and uh then they

1:16:14

will look at it logically like we do at every other project and look at the data look at our consultant and uh determine

1:16:21

what's the best need for the community but as far as uh the sheriff looked local sheriff for buy agrees local

1:16:27

cannabis should be owned and ran by City municipality thanks

1:16:32

Pat I'd like to rebut that uh for clarification uh the licensing are the

1:16:39

reg uh the city of lever is the gatekeeper just like on liquer this the state sets the regulation yes but we we

1:16:47

process and help process the paperwork on that for my understanding on that um in regards to should the

1:16:55

you know it it certainly would appear to me with the voting record that we have on record here with that that if

1:17:02

something like this is presented it will pass uh because we've had 12 years of unanimous voting at our Council level

1:17:10

and then lastly the statement about the all the revenue leaving is incorrect there there's a generous uh share of

1:17:17

sales tax general sales tax revenue it's a 10% sales tax that 20% of that is

1:17:23

coming back to in the local government Aid formula half of that is actually getting split equally amongst all the

1:17:29

counties which will benefit the outstate counties the other half is proportionate to uh there I feel like it's too much of

1:17:36

a risk uh to take that in thanks Isaac anything else Pat correct um before you

1:17:43

go Pat I noticed you're out of water in case us up here for you you good Isaac yep thank

1:17:50

you so the 10% sales tax will not um uh

1:17:55

at the state level will not exceed $150 million from the uh people at the

1:18:01

Coalition and the league they're estimating a community might see $15,000

1:18:06

to come back to a community um that is pittance compared to what you could see in a revenue and being on the Coalition

1:18:13

board and being on the league and and attending meetings where they brief this information and have been briefing it

1:18:18

since this law has been looked at it's it's pretty accurate data um as far as

1:18:24

the 12 years of unanimous records that just means that our our Council has been

1:18:29

listening to staff staff will research a project come up with a plan and and

1:18:35

present it to council to to pitch a plan and put it out there so when the council

1:18:41

has an initial plan on a problem it's well discussed it's been researched by consultants and staffs so I don't I

1:18:48

don't look at a 12year unanimous record if it's been that that that is a bad thing

1:18:55

thanks both of you we do have time for another question are you up for that you

1:19:02

better just as well okay this is great discussion by the way I just this is

1:19:07

wonderful thank you both um so our fourth question Pat you would go first I

1:19:13

believe um given the challenges of attracting and retaining talent in today's competitive labor market how

1:19:20

would you balance the interests of public sector employees with fiscal responsibility at the bargaining table

1:19:27

so I'm not sure if I'm real clear on that basically we have to be competitive in paying our employees and how do we

1:19:34

pay them enough and still be responsible to our taxpayers correct thank you a good

1:19:41

question um we have realized that over the last uh three to five years uh the

1:19:47

first instance that we saw was uh we contract out with Missouri River Energy Services for our linemen and we contract

1:19:54

every year with that so they are Missouri River employees but we pay the contract to Missouri for them Missouri

1:20:01

River approached us and said we're behind in the wages we're losing employees to other companies to

1:20:06

competition and we need to do across theboard wage increase in order to keep our local talent and we understand that

1:20:14

we understand that in order to keep that uh those those those employees whether it's a contract employee or a public

1:20:21

sector employee we need to keep those wages competitive in order to keep our talent um up to par where we need to be

1:20:28

and uh we have realized that in the wastewater treatment plant and in public works that uh the beginning salaries of

1:20:35

those um are not with industry standards in the area so when we want to retain

1:20:40

Talent do you want to get the cheapest employee or do you want to hire the best employee and and when you look at the

1:20:46

talent across the board when we do wage level studies on uh uh that that we do

1:20:52

at the at the city to look at all of the way wages and the responsibilities in the different jobs uh I feel that those

1:20:58

are competitively set and adjusted at from time to time which we are going through a wage study right now A labor

1:21:04

study and uh you know as far as fiscal responsibility when we look at that we're taking care of our labor force and

1:21:12

when we we have a contract with a union they negotiate it uh these unions are

1:21:17

all across uh whether it's Worthington Pipestone whether it's County city school um they all look at each other's

1:21:24

wages they all know what is being paid what and as far as uh making sure we get the best uh employee for the best rate

1:21:32

and and make sure our competitive labor um remains competitive for us um I think

1:21:37

that's a great thing thanks Pat so labor is a huge challenge for

1:21:45

everybody small business in particular um it it certainly appears when you look

1:21:50

in January of each year when when the city county and Schoolboard publish their wages uh of in particular the the

1:21:58

non-union employees uh there is some pretty big gaps and discrepancies in there uh on that that I I feel like the

1:22:06

city of leverne has been probably a little bit overaggressive in in some positions in other positions probably a

1:22:12

little bit lighter I agree with Pat our our best employees we need to make sure

1:22:18

they're adequately compensated we also need to hold our employees accountable uh our department heads need to be

1:22:24

accountable for being very responsible with their budgets they need to treat

1:22:29

those budgets as if that was coming out of their own personal checking account uh there are times when when that seems

1:22:35

to lack a little bit on that side of it uh some departments do much much better than others uh in that we also need to

1:22:43

be uh working with our employees and Department's heads to make sure that we are sourcing as many of uh the pieces of

1:22:51

equipment and other things that we do locally uh there are many times that we're going out of town when there are

1:22:57

vendors here locally that can provide those uh services and we need to support the businesses in our community uh

1:23:05

especially when uh they are paying above Norm uh on some of these other

1:23:12

uh um Services there on that so that's about all I have on that thanks it's a

1:23:19

it's a tough one to put on put you on the spot when you look at that when you haven't been at table with them I just

1:23:25

do know a lot of where private sector wages are and private sector wages are not near what we are in public sector

1:23:32

and so there is a gap there it's a it's a city leadership issue and that's why it's come to the table for sure yeah so

1:23:39

it's not it's not a comfortable place to be in when you're in City leadership it's these it's weighing both sides so

1:23:45

thank you for that did you have anything to add Pat sure I do you know keeping

1:23:50

our department heads accountable um that has been uh uh every year when we when

1:23:56

we maintain accountability and show fiscal constraint and show fiscal responsibility in in purchasing

1:24:03

equipment um a few items that we go over and uh purchase outside of the city

1:24:08

limits are because they have a certain certain requirement or a certain need that's why that those items are

1:24:13

purchased if you'd go out to CNB John Deere or if you'd go to Titan um and

1:24:18

realize what the equipment how much equipment is purchased through them um it is immense and uh our businesses in

1:24:25

lever um know that we purchase everything we can through them um some

1:24:30

of the contracts are State bid uh that we can try to take advantage of but uh

1:24:35

um as far as purchasing uh equipment locally um I think we've done a very good job of uh handling that so um

1:24:45

making sure that uh um we spend our dollars wisely and uh make them go as

1:24:51

long as we can or as far as we can that's our that's our goal thanks I don't have anything else to add yeah

1:24:57

it's good stuff thanks you guys so um with that we are going to go ahead and

1:25:04

just wrap this up I guess I we have closing remarks coming up here um we

1:25:09

would like it so I believe Isaac will go first on closing remarks but I would

1:25:14

just ask if you would focus your closing remarks on why you're the best candidate

1:25:20

for Lever City leadership I um it with an eye toward our previous discussion

1:25:26

but I kind of think this is a chance for you to to talk about you and without

1:25:32

having to a require rebuttal so let's stick to stick to why you're a good

1:25:39

leader well I I'd like to start out by saying that we do need the city of lever

1:25:46

to uh get back to its City Charter our city Charter uh stands for a strong

1:25:52

Council which means our c Council needs to lead and we need to have the council members be far more engaged than what I

1:26:00

have witnessed in the last year and a half two years um much of the discussion is led by the mayor the mayor's role as

1:26:08

I see it is one of support you support the staff you support the council uh you

1:26:15

listen to all the citizens but you really encourage the citizens to talk to their council members because the

1:26:21

council members have the vote the mayor does not the vote the other place where the mayor has a huge role on that is the

1:26:28

connections outside of the community um and it's the connections whether it's through the Housing Partnership whether

1:26:33

it's through um League of Minnesota cities and some of these other organizations political connections and

1:26:40

people need to understand and know that while I'm a numbers nerd I also have a

1:26:45

lot of connections out there as well that can uh really uh do well to

1:26:52

advocate for the city of lever we've got a one wonderful City and thank you all for just being part of a just a

1:26:58

wonderful City we have to remember at the end of the day this is about you as the residents it's about you as a small

1:27:05

business owner this is not about us as candidates we are here to just strictly help to guide the ship and we need to do

1:27:12

a very very good job with the dollars that you entrusted us with and we just

1:27:17

need to support efforts uh throughout the city and throughout the area uh the

1:27:24

best that we possibly can for the for the future of leverne thanks Isaac Pat why are you the

1:27:33

best one for the job well as uh my past military record is being a chief Master

1:27:39

Sergeant the Air National Guard uh for nearly 40 years and uh my deployments

1:27:44

overseas leading people directing people putting Solutions together and uh uh

1:27:50

fixing problems uh in IND us um I've had that capability to lead and uh

1:27:56

collaborate and and putting a team together to uh make things work being

1:28:01

the mayor kind of follows that U putting a city council together um the mayor the

1:28:07

mayor leads the mayor puts U forth a huge part of collaboration of all the

1:28:13

nonprofits the Civic organizations the school the county and uh the mayor uh

1:28:18

makes recommendations to all the boards and commissions so you are setting up your team from day one

1:28:24

um maybe maybe somebody might not think you lead but you lead and you put your team together uh the contacts that I

1:28:31

have made as a city councilman for eight years learning the process learning what the city does how it operates uh has

1:28:39

been enormous and so when you can get people to work together for the common goal and uh um for common issues to put

1:28:46

things together um that that makes a lot serving on numerous boards and commissions the lever Eda um the daycare

1:28:52

board the L initiatives for tomorrow um and being a graduate of the Blandon Community leadership program

1:28:59

understanding what it takes to make a community tick um learning the the fabric of a community and and working on

1:29:06

those nine points of a healthy Community as a mayor you need to be working on all of those nine points of a healthy

1:29:11

Community with your Council every single year we do visioning sessions every two

1:29:17

years to maybe three in the city we determine the goals we work with City staff we work with our councel those

1:29:23

goals are not set by the mayor those goals are set by the city council staff

1:29:28

and everybody so when we talk about um what we need to do I feel blessed to be

1:29:33

the mayor and I would like to continue to serve thank you thanks both of you

1:29:39

this has been great great discussion I think that will wrap up our our

1:29:45

candidate Forum here thanks for running thanks for your investment in our community I'll just

1:29:52

put a little um reminder to the the viewers that early voting has started um

1:29:59

the city of lever voters can will all vote at the same place right at the high school so that's something to keep in

1:30:06

mind and we will be posting additional information on how to vote and how to

1:30:12

how to be part of this process and I'm just going to give a quick pitch for our team here in the studio um it this was

1:30:19

this was great fun to do this but we had great support so we have Cade win and Wyatt Ben steenberg and Heather

1:30:26

Johnson it's it's been great thanks a bunch Isaac good luck good luck to you

1:30:32

too yeah [Music]