BROOKINGS – The three candidates for mayor of Brookings found some common ground on a number of issues during Saturday morning’s candidate forum, but there were notable differences in some areas.

Patty Bacon, Keith Corbett and Don Diamond are all seeking the one-year term of mayor and offered different ideas when it came to keeping downtown vibrant, the proposed indoor recreation center, the city’s fiscal policy and how they’re prepared to serve as mayor.

Prepared to serve

Bacon said she’s worked as an advocate for many nonprofits for the past 30 years, on issues ranging from affordable housing to mental health to domestic abuse.

“I have the courage to take on the hard tasks,” she said. “I brought affordable housing to the forefront. It’s easy to talk about, but we (have to) start making some solutions and some investments for everyone in our community.”

Corbett listed all the boards he’s served on, including the Brookings Health System, Brookings Municipal Utilities, Brookings Transportation Steering Committee, strategic planning and comprehensive master planning committees. He said the city needs better collaborative strategic planning among all the key players in Brookings.

“That, along with being on the Council for seven years, five years of those as the deputy mayor, I feel gives me an upper edge on this, because I understand those boards, I understand the concerns and issues they run into day to day.”

Diamond, who owns and operates a barbershop in downtown Brookings, said he doesn’t have a resume like the other two candidates, but he hears about what’s happening in town.

“I talk to the community every single day. I’m basically here just to be a voice for the people of Brookings. I’ve been hearing their stories for the last couple of years that I’ve been open for business, and I think just being a voice for the people is going to help Brookings come to be the place that everyone here wants it to be.”

Community rec center

All three candidates were asked where they stand on the proposed community rec center.

A proposed $18 million property tax opt-out to help fund a new facility at the Fishback Soccer Park was voted down in a citywide election in April 2016, but some people say the center could and should still happen.

Diamond said he thought the SDSU Wellness Center was supposed to serve as a community recreation center and that’s why the City of Brookings contributed funds to its construction.

“But from what I understand and what I’ve observed, (the wellness center) doesn’t really help the actual community, because it’s closed when holidays are around. You’ve gotta pay for parking,” Diamond said.

“To have a new community center, I think if you have taxes go up for it and you have people paying a membership for it also, I don’t think it’s worth it for the community.”

Bacon said the rec center is not supposed to duplicate services that already exist in Brookings. There are creative opportunities out there for the city to still build something that residents want and need.

“It was an expensive venture. We did not educate our community on how that would impact their taxes if they voted for it.”

Bacon said Brookings still needs a facility where kids can play field sports in the winter months, creating healthier residents and more economic development through visitors.

“I think it’s important, but I think we have to step back and look at how to finance it with partnerships with businesses, with our community, and as little as possible coming from the community’s tax dollars,” she said.

Corbett said the community still wants a rec center, but residents don’t want to see taxes go up, and the council should take another look at the issue. The city also needs to be careful there is no duplication of services.

“One comment that’s been made to me very clearly is the high school pool is reaching its age limit. It’s going to have to be replaced. The pool at SDSU is going to have to be replaced. And instead of everybody having separate pools, maybe it’s time we had that collaborative strategic discussion about what can we do, and figure out what it will cost and how do we pay for it.”

Maintaining a vibrant downtown

Diamond said some downtown businesses “probably should move on,” and the downtown business district is sparse with not a lot of activity. Upgrading businesses with a younger population in mind would help bring the area back to its former glory, he said.

“(The community) would love downtown so much more if there were newer businesses that catered to the 25- to 45-year-old age group. That’s the lion’s share of the people who actually live in this community, yet they go to Sioux Falls or they go to Watertown to shop, because there are no places here to shop,” Diamond explained.

Bacon said downtown Brookings has had some dips in activity, “but we’ve always come back and refocused.” She’d like to see the area attracting locally owned business rather than national retailers.

New businesses and exciting activities like Downtown at Sundown will help reach all age groups to “collaborate together and have some fun together. We need to do more of those activities. We need to continue to recruit and invest in entrepreneurial opportunities for businesses to come downtown,” she added.

Corbett said the Council invests in small businesses with grants through the Brookings Economic Development Corp. Downtown Brookings is beautiful, but it troubles him when he sees a vacant building.

“Maybe some of those buildings need to be renovated. The owners need to be taken to task on renovating, and that’s something we need to look into,” Corbett said.

“That’s what we need to keep doing, keep our uptown beautiful and young, businesses starting up and supporting the ones that are in place.”

What is your opinion of Brookings’ fiscal plan?

Bacon said she thinks Brookings is responsible with its budget, but the Council needs to know that the community is on board when it considers taking on debt.

“I think we jumped too fast into the indoor rec center. We learned the hard way afterward. Many other communities saved in advance. They got businesses and individuals to invest in their indoor rec facilities, and then it brought down the overall investment needed by the community,” she said.

Bacon said more creative ways to problem solve are needed, too. She offered as an example an inflatable dome used for indoor field sports in Denver that cost the city $2 million and will serve residents for 20 years.

Corbett said Brookings is doing very well compared to other first-class communities in South Dakota. A lot of those towns are operating in the red financially.

“Right now our first- and second-penny sales tax are up 6.24 percent, and that’s 6 percent over where we budgeted. Our third penny is up 10.36 percent over last year,” Corbett said. “We need to keep (that money) and have a good fiscal policy, which we do, because that day might come when some of our infrastructure, our capital improvements, need replacing that aren’t on our CIP or CRP. That’s why we put that away for a rainy day.”

Diamond said Brookings has a monopoly with its many city-owned enterprises.

“(Brookings) should relinquish those businesses to private entities, and you can make more money that way. You could bring in more tax dollars because you’ve got more businesses coming in to the community, to vy for those open markets. So you’re building money that way over the long term,” Diamond said.

“Some of those entities that the city owns, is it really bringing money in for the city, or is it robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak? … That’s just the people talking.”

Contact Jill Fier at jfier@brookingsregister.com.