Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of five articles featuring candidates for Brookings City Council.

BROOKINGS – Dr. Isaiah Crevier is running for a seat on the Brookings City Council because he believes in Brookings and thinks the town can tackle anything, as long as everyone does it together. 

“I’ve had a passion for Brookings pretty much my whole life,” Crevier said. “The future for Brookings is very bright. With everything that’s happened in the last number of years, we do have some building to do, but we just need to do that together. And if we can do that, then there’s almost nothing that we can’t handle.”

Two three-year council seats are up for grabs April 13. They are currently held by Patty Bacon and Nick Wendell. Joining them on the ballot are Crevier, Nate Holden and Nick Schmeichel.

Crevier grew up near Elkton, the third of 12 siblings.

Homeschooled, he graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in biology, minoring in chemistry. 

“After finishing four years at SDSU, we did our 10 trimesters at chiropractic school in Minneapolis, … just under four years there,” Crevier said of becoming a chiropractor.

He and wife Julia have three young children.

Crevier did a six-month internship in Waterloo, Iowa, and came back to Brookings and started Champion Health Chiropractic in June 2017.

Crevier has served on the boards of the Brookings County Youth Mentoring Program and the Downtown Business District Committee, of which he has been chair and vice chair.

Having spent a lot of time in Brookings as a child, Crevier enjoyed the different amenities, such as the parks, sports and athletic events, including being a Jackrabbit fan.

“(That) is why we wanted to move our business to here,” Crevier said.

“We’ve seen how Brookings has been flourishing over the last number of years,” Crevier said.

“I’ve been watching different organizations like the Chamber of Commerce the last number of years, Brookings Economic Development Corporation, the city itself; we’ve seen a lot of really cool changes and really desired to be a part of Brookings’ growth long-term, so I’ve had a desire to run for the last, about two years or so,” Crevier said.

He feels being a small business owner has helped prepare him to serve on council, especially managing people and finances, and communicating with clients.

“We have to wear many hats,” Crevier said.

“With that comes a lot of decision-making,” he said. “Challenging decisions … that affect us personally and that affect some of our clients, as well; and so when we make those decisions, whatever decisions we make, we do have to live with them, and so I believe one of the biggest qualifications for me being on city council is being a good decision-maker because you have to weigh so many things into the balance.”

“Brookings has been doing a pretty good job of organizing and structuring itself as a business, so we just need to make sure that there are really good decision-makers at the top,” Crevier said.

Council members have a tough job.

“No one council member knows everything. I think the biggest attribute of a council member is being accessible, approachable and actually listens to those impacted,” Crevier said. “Then making the best decision once we’ve listened to everyone who’s involved.”

“I think the most valuable thing to remember when it comes to city council for all of us is that city council is not involved in a lot of the day-to-day actions of the city. They are for policy, and from that policy the city is run,” Crevier said. “Sometimes it does take diving into the details, but there’s also a lot of trust built up between those people who are in leadership positions and the council, to make sure that we’re making the right decisions.”

One of his priorities is the budget.

“We’ve got to make sure that we have money to spend in the future,” Crevier said. 

He noted the city was expecting a huge shortfall due to COVID-19, but “thankfully, we did not see that happen, which was fantastic.”

“We’ve got to create healthy ways to help stimulate Brookings’ economy again because everyone’s been affected by COVID-19. I’ve been affected partially, but there’s a lot of other businesses and manufacturing (that have also been affected),” Crevier said. “If we can increase the amount of sales that actually happen, then that will help increase the amount of sales tax that the city brings in. If the city brings in that amount of sales tax, then we, in turn, can actually have a more open budget and actually plan to spend for those certain needs that we have in the future.”

COVID-19 has affected everyone in a variety of ways, he said, “and because of that, we’ve seen a lot of division, I feel, in the community. And I want to help repair that and build it better.”

“We’ve got to find a way to come back together and unite Brookings. Because if we don’t build together on this, then the entire community suffers. And when the entire community suffers, then the individuals suffer. So we’ve got to find a way to help support those individuals in need, and we do that by helping unite the community and that ultimately will help bring Brookings back together,” Crevier said.

He’s looking forward to the future.

“It’s bright. I love this town,” Crevier said. “We can do so much in this community.”

“Amazing community members, community partners, large businesses, small businesses, big entities,” Crevier said. “If we work together, we can actually create something that’s even brighter.”

The council’s role is to listen, he said.

“We have to listen to our community members, and that’s all of our community members, not just parts. We have to make sure that we have money to spend in the future and for that, we do need to stimulate Brookings’ economy,” Crevier said.

The city needs to work with SDSU, Daktronics, Larson Manufacturing, 3M and all of the other large industries that provide the workforce because they play a big role in the community, Crevier said.

Communication is key, he said.

“That, in turn, is gonna allow us to make decisions better and faster because we’ll have all the information that we need, so if we can open up communication and actually solve problems faster and better with these other large entities … then, in turn, we will also see us move forward faster and actually build relationships,” Crevier said.

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.