BROOKINGS – Candidates for three of the open seats on the Brookings City Council faced questions Thursday night in an open forum.
They all answered seven questions that varied from funding the Humane Society to challenges the city is facing.
Four people are vying for two, three-year seats on the council. Patty Bacon and Nick Wendell are the incumbents, and the challengers are Verna Longville and Nick Schmeichel. Longville was absent due to a prior work commitment.
Two people are vying for the one-year council seat. Holly Tilton Byrne is the incumbent, and Joey Collins is the challenger.
Spending
The first question from moderator Carey Bretsch pointed out the councilors will be on the front lines advocating for intelligent spending of city resources. Each was asked to explain their philosophy.
“We do have some pretty big-ticket projects that folks in this community have indicated they’re interested in,” Bacon said.
Overseeing the budget process takes about a year, she added, and they would see the 2019 budget for the first time in June.
“We take several months to look very thoroughly through every department there,” Bacon said. “We do have a certain amount of money that is in our CIP and that’s for our long-range projects. Right now, we are paying off some things … We know that the indoor rec center is of interest to folks. I don’t believe it was voted down because nobody wants it. I believe we didn’t take the time ahead of time to look at all options we have in financing, not just opt-out. We will be looking at that and the 20th Street overpass in coming weeks.”
“I love that the budget is online. I have looked through it,” Schmeichel said.
You have to look at the bottom line, while keeping in mind expenses like the 22nd Avenue construction and a potential overpass on 20th Street South, he said.
“It’s talking to the community and making sure what programs they really want. Sometimes you have to be critical and you have to make tough decisions sometimes. I’ve had to do that with my business and I think I can do that with city council as well,” said Schmeichel, who owns Sideline Productions.
“Our investments, they need to be up and we need to keep our expenses down. That has to be a top priority,” Collins said.
“And one thing we need to worry about, too, is where are we gonna find money for all these projects? We have different things that we want to do, and I think it’s important that we need to listen to the community to find out which is the most important and go from there. We need to set solid goals to optimize our distribution of the resources that we already have,” Collins said.
“I’m big on sustainability, but I like to move forward and I like to be aggressive in moving forward and I like the idea of economic stability. Every time something comes up, I’ll investigate in depth everything that has to do, all the expenditures and how it benefits the city of Brookings,” Collins said.
Tilton Byrne said being on the council for the past year was the first time she’d looked into the city budget.
“It was a very enlightening experience,” she said. “One of the best ways we can improve our bottom line is to have more of the public engaged in that process. And to hear more feedback from the public.
“If we were able to hear more of the public voice, we would have a better guidance on where to spend those dollars and how to spend those dollars and that would make them stretch even further,” Tilton Byrne said.
Wendell said when he was elected two years ago, “I was really committed to taking a thoughtful approach to decision making, (making sure) that I was well informed on that topic. The budget is one of those areas that I really tried to understand as best as I could because there are a lot of priorities.”
Brookings has an opportunity to embrace two concepts: infrastructure, which Wendell called “a top priority” due to all the development, “but at the same time, we have to invest in quality-of-life initiatives,” he said.
“I’ve appreciated striking that balance between investments and infrastructure and those vital services we have to provide, and quality of life,” Wendell said.
Advocating for others
Another question was how the candidates will advocate for those underserved or marginalized.
“We do have a large population that we need to look into and help as best we can. It’s not just a problem for one person, it’s a problem for all of us,” said Collins, who served as a police officer.
“Investing in people that live here in Brookings, it’s not just only a good thing for us, but it’s also good for our economy as well. I think we just need to figure out ways and come up with different ways of approaching how we can help out,” Collins said.
Tilton Byrne has attended the National League of Cities, which brought up an equity plan, “a well-thought out strategic plan,” she said.
“It’s fortunate that we have a wonderful Human Rights Commission and I think we need to continue supporting the work that they do,” Tilton Byrne said.
“Most importantly, we need to continue to do outreach as city council members into the community so that we are hearing a wider range of voices” because people on the edges aren’t always able to come to council meetings, she said.
“We as city council members have the responsibility of going out in the community and making sure that we are talking to as many people as we can, so we can hear a wide array of voices,” Tilton Byrne said.
When Wendell started Big Blue Birthday Box to give presents to youngsters, he didn’t expect to learn things.
“It just opened my eyes to folks living all throughout our community that I had not seen before,” he said.
Those “diverse threads” can present a challenge when people react with bigotry to those who are different.
“I’ve often reached out to those folks directly to better understand their experience (of being targeted) and how community leaders can help,” Wendell said.
The council passed an inclusivity resolution recently.
“It’s important for elected officials and leaders in the community to speak in a way that makes all the members of the community feel like they’ve got a place here,” Wendell said.
“I have worked very actively, serving the underserved population in this community,” said Bacon who was on the Human Rights Commission for six years, as well as creating and serving on the Affordable Housing Task Force. She said she’s worked with low-income families for most of her professional life.
The Affordable Housing Task Force will present a report at the council Tuesday night, recommending a two-tier approach for the community and city.
“We will be prioritizing some of those,” Bacon said.
“One of the things that has really disturbed me … 30 percent of working people live in poverty in Brookings. We don’t like to acknowledge that, and we don’t like to deal with that,” she said, adding that two people both making $12 an hour can’t make a living.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Bacon said.
Schmeichel said a problem that is important across the country is mental health, and Brookings recently established a Mental Health Task Force.
“I’m glad we’re addressing that,” he said.
“Working in the community, the biggest thing that I see from city council is there needs to be an open door. Everybody should be able to communicate,” he said, offering his phone number and other contact information so folks can reach him.
“Everybody’s ideas working together is how we’re gonna accomplish these goals. This is a very, very important thing, but it’s not gonna be solved by seven people up here. It’s gonna be solved by the entire community, so I think we need to work together on that,” Schmeichel said.
The forum will be rebroadcast on the City of Brookings television channel (channel 9 on Mediacom, Swiftel, and ITC) at:
• 9 a.m. Saturday, March 10
• 2 p.m. Sunday, March 11
• 6 p.m. Monday, March 12.
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgriener@brookingsregister.com.
Register photo: From left, Brookings City Council candidates Holly Tilton Byrne, Joey Collins, Nick Schmeichel and Patty Bacon listen to Nick Wendell answer a question at a Thursday candidate forum at the Brookings City & County Government Center.
