##VIDEO ID:0CFe36oufRc## [Music] League of Women Voters Anoka Blain Rapids area welcomes viewers candidates and community members to this meet the candidates Forum the forum is for those running in the 2024 election for Rapid City Council award 4 I'm Linda Rogers for a moderator and a member of League of Women V voters Anoka Blain kunun Rapids area sponsor of this forum I live in Anoka and cannot vote for either of these candidates this forum is about informing voters it's an opportunity to hear from candidates on important issues and compare their ideas the League of Women Voters does not support or oppose political parties does not support or oppose candidates for office the League's goal is simply that each of you will vote thank you to Kun rapid CTN for recording The Forum and making it available for multiple showings and online editing is only authorized for official media reporting edited clips of candidate forums may not be used for partisan political purposes voter questions have been submitted online in advance and no additional questions will be taken from the audience during the event candidates for Rapid City Council award four are Christopher Geisler and Blake misick all candidates for this race were invited to participate in the Forum and we're happy that all candidates agreed to participate welcome Christopher Geisler and Blake misick we'll begin with two general questions that were provided to the candidates in advance followed by questions from the public submitted online we'll end with closing statements from each candidate candidates will rotate answering questions first and I've asked them to please correct me if I make an error in guiding their rotation they will have up to 90 seconds to answer each of the first two questions we'll begin with Christopher Geisler what is your motivation to run for this office and what experience or knowledge would help you serve effectively thank you well first of all I'd like to thank the League of Women Voters for hosting this forum events like this provide a critical venue for the public to get to know their candidates and I'd also like to thank my fellow candidates here for Kun Rapids for participating in this and other forums my name is Christopher Geer and I'm running for Kun rid city council award for I'm running for this seat because I believe that being involved and engaged in your community is the best way to give back to it and to ensure that it is the best that it can be that's exactly why in 2017 I joined the transportation advisor Advisory Board as a citizen representative and also why in 2019 I joined the Planning Commission here in Kon Rapids these two roles have given me a significant amount of experience working with staff ordinances law and the general governments uh of a public entity like this city in addition to that I also work as an IT technologist and IT Auditor at a global manufacturing company as my day job in both of these roles I've learned how to find consensus between conflicting parties learned how to achieve long-term goals with short-term moves and how to get deep into the details while keeping the ultimate goal in mind it's with these skills that I'm equipped to handle the business of the city serve the needs of the citizens and ensure that we all have the best place to live and work thank you Blake Miss Quick what is your motivation to run for this office and what experience or knowledge would help you serve effectively thank you thanks for asking that question and much like my opponent uh I would like to start just by um thanking everyone for having this opportunity to be here today and thanking the League of Women Voters for what they do and being able to put this message out into the community and so uh my motivation and running for this office is uh it's similar to my opponent and I believe that uh in order to have a a greater sense of community I believe public service is uh is one of those ways that you can achieve that and that's one of the main reasons why I chose to run for this position and um it's uh it's also been a big theme of mine uh throughout my uh my adult life and even as a young adult uh joining the military at a young age at the at the age of 17 and so um service has been a part of my life uh from a young age and so um I'll use that experience and knowledge to help me serve effectively uh as the next uh Rapids a for city council member Blake mck what are your goals for Rapids future my goals for the future of Rapids uh it's very simple I I've broken it down into uh three main categories uh number one being Public Safety uh I support our law enforcement 100% and uh all of our emergency uh service personnel and I believe that we need to give them the tools uh necessary to get the job done and uh number two uh I believe in um spending wisely and uh fiscal responsibility and and during tough times that we're facing right now we just need to remember um uh to use um the funds that we have available uh the best way possible and number three I I want to maintain or or even improve the city streets and parks and um being a lifelong Minnesota resident I think we can all agree that you're driving down the road sometimes and the street might not be as nice as it could be and so uh we got those potholes to worry about here in Minnesota but uh that's definitely one of the things that uh I I want to uh improve or at least maintain uh moving forward Christopher Geisler what are your goals for Rapids future thank you I think my largest goal would be prepare the city for its long-term future one consistent issue you see with local budgets is a tendency to look at things in one or maybe a 2-year timeline this can leave a city for unprepared for surprises like a pandemic or unable to tackle large one-time needs we have done well here in Kun Rapids to plan for some larger needs like the new Fire Station as a great example but we really need to think about the services our city provides to its residents our aging population has led to a significant increase in support calls to our fire department and over the last 10 years it's likely those calls will continue to increase as they have we need to ensure we're ready to deal with the coming changes of the next decade as well as what we have done for the last decade we also need to be ready for a continued natural growth of the City by 2050 the predictive models and City staff estimate that our population will go to around 71,000 and add roughly 60 new households per year over the next 25 years while this growth may come in fits and starts and not all at once an additional 7 to 9,000 residents will have an impact to the city services we need to plan accordingly we want to ensure that we're ready for what's coming and we want to make the path to that future as smooth and as predictable as possible for Citizens and businesses finally I want to ensure that the city is easy to do business with there are many places where undue friction has been created or where the city's code is not kept up with changes in how the world works I want to ensure that the city attracts residents and businesses to be a great place to live work and shop thank you thank you candidates we'll move now to questions submitted online by the public these responses are limited to one minute and we'll begin with Christopher Geisler what is your opinion of the current budget proposal would you make any changes if so what would you change thank you the current budget proposal in my opinion is actually very well crafted with City staff um they've taken into account the fact that we've lost a lot of P pmic funding and onetime funding over the years LGA funding has been shifting around quite a bit and in my opinion we have a pretty hard hard Pace to run with considering that a lot of our neighbors are looking at Double Digit percentage tax increases yet in the city here we've manage to keep it well below 10% I think that's a good practice I want to see us continue to do that but I also want to see us to set a timeline out for five 10 years as not necessarily committing to it but setting it long term to get an idea of what we can count on long term the one thing I do think that's missing from the budget though however is that the fire department has been asking for a training member to utilize the new resources of the investment of Fire Station 3 I think that's a missed opportunity and while I do understand uh the desire to keep that uh ask low I think that's something that could have been added Thank You Blake misqu what is your opinion of the current budget proposal would you make any changes if so what what would you change thank you and uh much like my opponent I do believe that we're on the right track and um you actually hit the nail on the head there uh speaking about the um the increases for other cities well Co rapis has virtually uh remained um uh not not unchanged but uh at at a smaller pace and uh I believe that we're doing a great job uh in that regard and um just to over the past uh few years we've we've been able to um uh what I like to say uh spend wisely and I believe that we are doing that um uh as far as the future uh projects go uh I believe that we will'll be able to tackle those issues uh as they as they um uh as they develop and so um those are some of the things I I do believe that uh we will be able to tackle those challenges as they uh present themselves Blake Miss Quick what do you know about large budgets and finances that will help you be a city council member thank you uh what do I know about large budgets and um you know to be perfectly honest uh I am a newer candidate and uh this is my first uh time in the political uh uh swimming pool so to speak and uh actually uh as a new candidate I'm not very well versed on that issue but I will definitely look into it and uh uh we'll have to research that more Christopher Geisler what do you know about large budgets and finances that will help you be a city council member part of my day job is auditing the financials and financial controls of a large multi-billion dollar Corporation that's what I do every day I work with my accountants all the time and while that budget is significantly larger than the city it has taught me a lot about how to read a balance sheet how to read a financial statement and how to budget accordingly especially with fixed budgets and that's where my time at tab has taught me quite a bit of learning how fiscal sources coming in through either uh laws or things passed by Congress as well as stable funding sources that has taught me how to really manage through and understand when we need more we have to ask for more and when we ask for more we put that on our citizens and so between being able to audit to find gaps to find Opportunities to improve in my professional day job as well as understanding how to work with staff how to work with a fixed pie of resources and get the most out of it and the best bang for our buck that's what I've been doing since 2017 again Christopher Geisler what are your ideas to help make housing more affordable for people who want to live in kunon Rapids thank you the first and best solution for making housing affordable is simply building more of it uh when you increase the supply it meets the demand which allows for Less Price uh upward pressure on pricing and that's been a significant challenge here in the city as what uh as we've seen develops developments go in that used to be in the early 2000s maybe $150 $200,000 single family homes are now going for $350,000 that's really really challenging and so my Approach like what I've been doing on the Planning Commission has been to increase the housing supply of all types some of it high density to allow more apartments and renters to enter in and start their home ownership Journey as well as meeting uh 65 plus and town homes and single family developments those are all things that we can look forward to increasing the affordability by increasing the supply within the city Lake misqu what are your ideas to help make housing more affordable for people who want to live in Rapids thank you and uh I believe that in order to make housing more affordable in Rapids um what I would say is that uh we need to uh give a some more incentives uh to those uh and especially uh those that may be firsttime home buyers uh I know that uh the federal government has uh a program and I believe uh this don't quote me on I believe that the state of Minnesota has a program as well and uh it would be nice uh for Rapids to have something similar to that and I think that would be very helpful in um in building up uh that situation again Blake Miss Quick what do you think of the city's current sustain stainability offerings and practices are there changes you would like to see thank you and uh the city's current sustainability practices uh like uh like any City uh what you strive to do is you you want to move forward and you want to be able to uh have something greater than what you had in the past and so um I believe that this is a very important topic and when you when you look at the the money that's being spent this way uh what you're really looking at is uh is the future of Rapids uh you you don't want to be replacing um uh infrastructure every few years because we're not uh sustaining or we're not uh maintaining uh those items and so it it really comes down to um making wise choices in those areas and making sure that that stuff is available uh for for our future uh residents Christopher Geisler what do you think of the city's current sustainability offerings and practices are there changes you would like to see well I first of all I'm excited that that we have a sustainability staff member on and the sustainability commission has been working with them and making great strides to improve what's going on in the city uh the fact that we've achieved step five of the green step cities the fact that we are Solar Smart certified uh the fact that we've updated some of our local ordinances to accommodate new and changing things on either rooftop solar or EV charging or the fact that we're even getting recommendations for uh developers to consider not require just consider these opportunities uh those are things that I think are great within the city that are forwarding our our ability to be more sustainable as a community as a whole one factor of sustainability though that I think we should focus on is resiliency and we can see that down south right now after the impacts of the weather down there climate resiliency is a key thing that Minnesota needs to prepare for not necessarily a hurricane but severe freeze and warming Cycles can damage our infrastructure significantly both water and Road and I think that's an area where we could go deeper again Christopher Geisler how do you plan to engage with and represent all members in our increasingly diverse Community thank you first of all has been simple as door- knocking and connecting and having conversations with them and being available uh I pride myself on being available for E through multiple methods for communities but also getting out in the community I think events like summer in the city are a phenomenal way for every area or every city every area within the city to meet with their council members meet with City staff and do an events like that I think also being available at other community events like our fourth of July celebration like uh mov in the park and other other activities really help just let people know that you're there and you're available to them but those face-to-face conversations are really the best way to be there and be available um and that's what I would seek to do like Miss Quick how do you plan to engage with and represent all members in our increasingly diverse Community thank you and uh yes this is something that I look forward to doing and uh I believe that uh my opponent actually hit the nail right on the head again and I agree completely uh with the the different events that we have going on in Kun Rapids uh that is a great representation of what uh the community is all about and uh I attended uh a few of those events over the summer and it really was a a great uh time and a good get together and you do get to meet uh key people from the city uh council members uh as well as uh different people uh from uh any from the fire department to uh to the police department and so I believe it's uh the continuation of those events and uh and adding uh you know possibly um some different types of events that we might not be used to uh and uh I believe that definitely is the way to um engaging with the community and here's a Twist on that previous question Blake misick regardless of who wins this election the city council will be comprised entirely of men how will you ensure women's ver voices are heard on the council thank you that's a great question and um we uh it's unfortunate actually that uh we do not have uh any uh women and uh you know the famous quote of uh woman's intuition and uh we could use that on the city council for sure and I guess um we could hold uh we could hold some different events and and actually uh something geared more towards the uh the feminine uh uh persuasion and uh definitely look forward to um representing uh both uh male and female and um and U anything in between and so uh yes uh I believe that uh it uh it is unfortunate that we do not have uh uh any um females in the upcoming uh elections but uh I do believe that we can still uh have that uh touch and reach that Community Christopher Geisler regard regardless of who wins this election the city council will be comprised entirely of men how will you ensure women's voices are heard on the council thank you it is unfortunate that both of our uh women's city council members are retiring or moving on uh to other activities and we we will have an all male Council uh regardless I do think that uh I would like to see more candidates come forward and I would love to engage our citizens if who are interested in pulling them forward and that's one way to get better voices heard but I also don't see my answer as being any different of connecting with the community because the community is the community it doesn't matter who you are doesn't matter you're expressed gender doesn't matter you're expressed orientation Faith whatever you're a member of our community and so I view it as hearing from my citizens hearing from my constituents it I I don't who you are what you are who you believe in how you vote does not matter to me because you're if I win you would be my constituent and I would seek to represent you so my first thing would be to have a conversation no matter what Christopher Geisler would you support workers both public and private in Fair negotiations and in the process of unionizing their workplaces uh unionizing is one of the great rights that this country has given our workers and staff whether it be Municipal staff whether it be businesses within the city itself I I I believe that if a Workforce dis has decided that they want to unionize and that is the best use of their uh collective bargaining power then I believe that they should be supported and allowed to do so and that is a conversation between the staff and the staff of that business and the OWN ownership uh with regards to the city staff if they decided to organize uh that would be also something that I would be open to considering I believe that when it comes to negotiating a contract and working with two different parties something that I do in my day job I put it akin to both of us have three cards and together we need to make a poker hand that wins and that's how negotiations should work in a productive and happy environment as everybody comes together to find the best solution for all parties involved and so yes I would support like Miss Quick would you support workers both public and private in Fair negotiations and in the process of unionizing their workplaces thank you and uh first thing I have to say is yes and uh I'm a former uh Union member myself uh and being a part of the 120 as a local there in Blaine and I was a part of the union for about seven years as a uh a semi Class A uh semi- driver and uh yes I believe that uh it's important to support that and uh I believe in the workers uh right to unionize again Blake misi will you accept the outcome of the election results win or lose uh yes thank you and uh this is an important topic uh I know um more and more people have been uh uh having less Faith uh in the in the results and uh I believe that uh that that's unfortunate but uh win or lose uh I I will accept uh um the outcome of this race and I believe it's important to to uh maintain um uh that um uh that sense of uh we'll call a community for lack of a better work word but uh yes uh I I I believe that in order to move forward and to have what's best for the city of Kun Rapids uh yes I will accept uh the outcome um regardless of what that may be Christopher Geisler will you accept the outcome of the election results win or lose absolutely uh I believe that inoka County and Minnesota as a whole has a great elections process our staff here have done very well to bring educate our election judges the league itself has provided phenomenal resources for folks to understand how the elections process works here not only in the city but in the county and the state as well uh the fact that we have paper ballots with machine tabulation means we get faster results with a actual record of what happened and that is the best way to get this done um so I would absolutely accept the results and I believe that we have the processes in place to ensure that everyone who votes will have their vote counted Switching gears Christopher Geisler research on toxicity of pfas has been in the news what are your ideas to keep kunon Rapids safe from the threat of pfas uh forever chemicals are one of those topics that is extremely challenging and that's where I actually I'll hearken back to our sustainability commission and funding them and resourcing them in ways to divest of the cities in uh putting pfas either in the community in our resources in our infrastructure wherever possible is the best way to solve that problem I also think some awareness could be uh sent out there are a lot of Alternatives now that are just as good um to those forever chemicals and I at in the long term I do think that coming up with Public Service public advisory and programs to help people realize what are the risks and what are the viable Alternatives that are not cost per itive uh would be the best use of the city's resources Lake misick research on toxicity of pfas has been in the news what are your ideas to keep Rapids safe from the threat of pfas thank you and uh yes the threat of pfas it uh it has been um in the news lately and uh I think um I think knowledge is half the battle so I think uh what would be uh the best thing is to just uh to to uh gather some Awareness on this topic and actually uh just try to make sure that the city and and uh not just Rapids but uh but but sure uh it makes sure that the population is aware of this and uh I believe that that uh knowledge or knowing is is half the battle and so if we can spread the awareness and just let people know that this is out there and that it's it's uh it's the real deal and that um just by that alone I believe that uh we can definitely uh keep uh the city of kunon Rapid Safe we have time for just one more question Blake misick how can you best leverage your skills to affect positive change in local politics thank you and uh how can I leverage my skills uh well I'm going to lean a lot on my military service uh I was in the Army for 12 years I was deployed three times overseas and uh during those deployments uh I learned how to think and I uh and I learned how to act on my feet and uh those things have helped me quite a bit throughout the years and uh are definitely going to help me here uh in service to the city of Rapids and um the one thing that I that I would like to say is that um uh that service has been uh a part of my life since I was young and that uh this really um this is it's really a great honor for me and and a great opportunity for me uh if I do end up uh uh with uh this position uh in November and so uh I would just like to say that I will use that knowledge uh accordingly and uh uh uh hopefully there's no lives on the line here in the in the city council but uh yes uh having to uh work quickly and work under pressure is something that I'm very familiar with Christopher Geisler how can you best leverage your skills to affect positive change in local Politics as I've mentioned earlier a lot of my skills already are serving the community uh at the transportation Advisory Board I sit with an a board of 36 people from all around the Metro of all different political Persuasions coming from County City citizen modal and I'm seen as somebody to ask questions to and to get into the policy wonky details of how things are working I've served on the executive commission there I've uh helped write the transportation policy plan for 2050 that's coming forward and I've gotten into the nitty-gritty details and those are the skills and experiences that I have to make sure that the city operates as effectively as possible of getting into those wonky deep details and making sure that they work for our citizens and for our businesses I also have the experience of working with the financial dollars to the level of what the city handles that's something that I do every day and that I've worked with uh over many many of my seven 15 years working at manufacturing company I understand how to make those things work and how to connect to get to the goals we want it's time for our candidates to take a breath because we'll be be ending our Forum now with closing statements Christopher Geisler will begin thank you Linda and thank you again to the league for hosting this in other candidate forums I also want to thank the other candidates that participated not only here for Pake as well as the other forums for the city I encourage everyone to watch these forums uh for all Races that you can vote for and I would recommend also that everyone consider other resources like vote411.org the profiles in the newspaper metromorph chamber of commerce's webs uh website and NPR voter resources these are all great great places to learn more about candidates on your ballot Before You cast your vote you can also find out more about me and my campaign on these resources as well as on my website vote.com I'm Christopher gisler I'm running for Kun raford city council W 4 and I ask for your vote I will be I will bring to a close to a decade of experience serving kunon Rapids and volunteer roles at Tab and Planning Commission to the city council I will use my professional skills and extensive experience to ensure our city will operate smoothly and efficiently for the next four years from zoning to planning to budget and it security you can count on me to bring my skills to bear for you and for the city you can vote early right now or on Election Day November 5th thank you and Blake miss sck your closing statement thank you and I just want to uh mimic what my opponent was saying I I would like to thank the League of Women Voters for holding this forum and and and having uh this opportunity to be here today and uh I in my uh closing remarks here uh what I just I would like to hit the three topics that I really wanted to to hit home and basically it was uh Public Safety is one of the things that that I'm very passionate about and definitely 100% behind our our law enforce forcement and our our Emergency Services personnel and uh secondly the fiscal responsibility and just choosing to spend wisely as we move forward and and in Rapids uh we've done a a very good job uh actually and so uh it's one of the things that I look forward to contributing to and uh thirdly uh definitely would like to maintain or even improve our our city streets and our parks and so uh um I look forward to uh being a part of the city council and uh I would just like to finish with my my website is Blake forc 4.com and thank you and uh don't forget to vote League of Women Voters thanks the candidates for speaking to voters about issues and for running for Rapid City Council word four thanks audience members viewers and those who submitted questions find links to all forums at lwv ABC C mn.org general election is Tuesday November 5th and early voting is underway you can vote early at Rapids City Hall or the enoka County elections office please see the Rapids website for more information you can register to vote update your registration find information on voting options and find your polling place online all at MN votes .org or the Minnesota Secretary of State website you can also register or update your registration at your polling place on Election Day if you're interested in League of Women Voters visit our website at lwv ABC mn.org women and men age 16 and older are welcome to join your vote is your voice make your voice heard by voting on on or before November 5th [Applause] [Music] --------- ##VIDEO ID:KaS7vBYL1o4## [Music] League of Women Voters Anoka Blain kunun Rapids area welcomes viewers candidates and community members to this meet the candidates Forum the forum is for those running in the 2024 election for Co Rapid City Council ward two I'm Linda Rogers Forum moderator and a member of League of Women Voters Anoka Blain K Rapids area sponsor of this forum I live in Anoka and cannot vote for any candidates this forum is about informing voters it's an opportunity to hear from candidates on important issues and compare their ideas the League of Women Voters does not support or oppose political parties does not support or oppose candidates for office the League's goal is simply that each of you will vote thank you to Kun rapid CTN for recording The Forum and making it available for multiple showings online and editing please note is only authorized for official media reporting edited clips of candidate forums may not be used for partisan political purposes voter questions have been submitted online and advance and no additional questions will be taken from the audience during the event candidates for Rapid City Council award two are Peter Butler and Don willson all candidates were invited to participate in the Forum and all candidates agreed to participate however Peter Butler's mother-in-law died suddenly he is attending her funeral out of state he has sent answers for the two opening questions and a closing statement and I will read all of those it's good to have you here Don willson thank you for having me we'll begin with two general questions that were provided to the candidates in advance and those will be followed by questions from the public that were submitted online and then we'll end with closing statements from each candidate candidates have up to 90 seconds to answer each of the first two questions Don we'll begin with you okay I'm in the hot seat what is your motivation to run for this office and what experience or knowledge would help you serve effectively well Linda my motivation to run happened when I did my research on the man who is now my opponent I found he is proudly endorsed by a defund the police political action committee he's worked for the government for eight years and he's only lived in Rapids a little over a year Rapids needs our police we need a leader who understands our city its culture and its Heritage and a leader who represents the people not the government Katie and I have raised two sons in Rapids for the past 13 years we felt the impact of our property taxes and our insurance is doubling in that time period so we feel the pain everyone else feels as an adjuster and estimator and a budgeter I work with largescale produ projects daily and I can make sure that our city is not wastefully spending our money and I can educate legislators on why our insurance costs are rising and how to bring them down I've been a youth sports coach for 24 seasons I know these programs are the foundational building blocks of our kids and our communities so we must promote them and we must keep them funded I'm also a major supporter of law enforcement I know these I I know you can count on me to never defer their funds or defund them or defund them entirely those officers are our real heroes as a lifelong pet owner and nature lover you can rest assured knowing that I will never support tearing out our Parks natural lands or Wetlands I believe I'm the best candidate because I bring a Common Sense family values and fiscal responsibility to our city council and you can get all of this at www.coach.com thank you here is Peter Butler's answer to the question what is your motivation to run for this office and what experience or knowledge would help you serve effectively I am running because I believe we need thoughtful optimistic people who are motivated to listen and work for everybody local government focuses on on so many crucial day-to-day services and I want to make sure we have people who can be committed public servants in these roles Kun Rapids has a chance to turn the page to the next chapter of our City's story and I believe I can contribute something long lasting my wife Sammy and I bought our first home in Rapids and we're hoping it'll be our last my experience in my day job as a budget director for the Minnesota Department of Human Services has prepared me in several ways including managing budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars understanding laws and ordinance writing fiscal analysis working with people I disagree with leading negotiations and navigating the confusing aspect aspects of government my experience is outside of work with the Rapid sustainability commission and volunteering with the reading bridge program at the Crooked Lake Library have also brought me into the community to hear and witness the lives of our neighbors it doesn't matter if you're 9 or 90 I want to serve you my North Star is remember that I am only here because of all the people who believed in me I don't forget where I came from who helped me and how that type of community made me what I am today I will bring those values to this role as I am committed to making it a Rapids for everyone Don willardson what are your goals for Rapids future well my goals are simple I plan to use my expertise in construction estimating and budgeting to ensure City projects are priced fairly I also want to help local entrepreneurs and Builders de redevelop locations like our Northdale Shopping Center where our beloved Jensen was located adding businesses there will help promote local job growth and commerce and I think we can all agree this would be great for our city in addition I'd like to give young people an affordable home ownership option by encouraging Builders to help Rapids become a Pioneer in the tiny Home Market this helps our young people build their first homes build wealth through equity and used as a stepping stone to a bigger home I plan to vote against any government high-rise Apartments because this doesn't provide Freedom or build personal wealth for our citizens I'm also against the med council's agenda of trying to add 14,000 more people to the city of Rapids by 2040 the only way they will do this is by building high-rise living and I oppose this because it will cause the need for a new water treatment facility cause severe traffic New infrastructure will be needed it'll cause increase crime and increase the need for more First Responders all of this means more taxes on everybody we have the best law enforcement and firefighters in arounds so I will keep them fully funded I'm a common sense man with a common sense plan who wants to create or wants to help Drive businesses create jobs give a give people affordable housing options and keep our city beautiful beauti F and safe thank you here is Peter Butler's answer to what are your goals for Rapids future I want Kun Rapids to be for everyone and make it the best place to live in Minnesota this includ includes keeping Rapids affordable for families investing in our City's infrastructure for the next 60 years in a sustainable Manner and delivering strong Public Services like police fire and Public Works Minnesota as a whole isn't growing very much and we have an aging population across the state including inun Rapids this means we'll be in fiercer competition for residents with our neighboring communities which could impact our tax Bas businesses Workforce and what our sense of community is like we're going to need to work together to address these issues in our community my commitment is to be accessible listen compassionately to everyone and be available to work with all our neighbors to ensure everyone feels welcome and has a shot at a Wonderful Life it means finding opportunity ities to bring new businesses and workers to H Rapids investing in more housing opportunities and focusing on Redevelopment to achieve that we need predictable budgets thoughtful City Planning updated infrastructure and we need to never lose sight on what's important keeping families in kunon Rapids for Generations I want our city to flourish especially after so many difficult years it's an opportunity to move forward in a New Direction I love living here and I know change can be challenging but part of a leadership is figuring out how to maneuver through times of change and uncertainty my goal is to make sure Kun Rapids come out comes out stronger with a vision of how to bring our community together over the rest of this decade we'll move on now to questions submitted by the public responses are limited to one minute Don willson what is your opinion of the current budget proposal would you make any changes and if so what would you change well Linda I think with the rising costs and inflation the way it is the lack of our labor force and the rising costs of everything across the board I think that we really need to sit down and go through the numbers thoroughly and thoughtfully to try to figure out where we can make Cuts we can't do things like you know defunding our police or deferring their money elsewhere so we need to be very conservative in the way that we approach these things and we need to make sure that we're planning ahead we recently had a situation where the city had a problem where we've had uh tree debris and removal that's been building up for over 40 years this was a problem where that was kicked down the road for 40 years and all of a sudden we needed to increase our budget a half a million dollars this year in order to plan to remove that stuff those are things we need to plan ahead on but we also like I said need to Crunch the the numbers we need to go through them thoroughly and we need to find Cuts where we can find Cuts without infecting things like our law enforcement and our firefighters what do you know about large budgets and finances that will help you be a city council member well in my day job I currently do I deal with very large projects uh when commercial buildings burn down and things of that nature so I have to deal with how much they estimate to fix those problems how long it's going to take I also deal with things like uh additional living expenses for people's homes and now these are these are budgetary things that approach into the millions of dollars where we have to be able to make sure that we're not being wasteful with it and that we're not overcompensating and we're not underestimating the time frames to get them done when things like that happen people are out of their homes businesses are out of their jobs and we have to make sure that we can get them back into their homes and back into their jobs quickly I don't feel that being on city council is different we're using taxpayer funds and we have to use them wisely and we have to plan accordingly for them what are your ideas to help make housing more affordable for people who want to live in Rapids well that's a great question being in the construction industry I deal with all sorts of Housing and I hear people say a starter home is 2,000 square feet well it's not uh spending four and $500,000 for a new build home is not a starter home for anybody tiny homes is a great alternative method for people for young people to come in and build wealth and actually have some Equity driven homes where they can build their wealth in the home have the sense of personal freedom and responsibility and use those funds to to build uh their own dream homes so I think Rapids needs to be a Pioneer in helping young people find affordable housing in the100 to $200,000 range and that can be accomplished by using the tiny homes which is a new build Concept in the real estate Market what do you think of the city's current sustainability offerings and practices are there changes you would like to see well we we recently had the the city put in um some bike Lanes in which is proving to be from the citizens not a very not a program that everybody likes it seems to be a dangerous approach I think when you're dealing with sustainability um we need to make sure that we're taking a good sensible and fiscally conservative approach but we also have a major epidemic going on in our city with regards to our trees and the loss of them due to the ashbo and the oak WL and this is something that I love about our city because our city does provide for those new trees on boulevards but I as a personal homeowner I've lost what 13 trees in a matter of roughly 10 or 12 13 years so it's something that we do need to make sure that we have sustainability down the road now I also think that there are potentials for things like hydrogen in the future I'm not a big uh electric vehicle guy as that's not proving to be correct and it's cting City's money so again we just need to be fiscally responsible and do our homework before we just willfully nailul go and spend the city dollar how do you plan to engage with and represent all members in our increasingly diverse Community well that's great um as a former Banker I actually uh won diversity Awards for being a member in Rapids that um actually provided the most housing for our diverse Community for minorities specifically I don't think there's anything different amongst people we all seek wealth and prosperity so we should all be included I'm a man of the people and I love all people so I think it's important that regardless of your race your religion your Creed your sexual orientation I believe every member of society matters and I believe that everybody every person's vote and opinion matters so no matter whether you agree or disagree or you're Republican Democrat independent libertarian green party it makes no difference the voters have a voice they should be heard and we should make sure that we listen to them and their opinions and their concerns would you support workers both public and private in Fair negotiations and in the process of unionizing their workplaces I absolutely support All rights to work this is something that I've not knocked on the doors and I've had people tell me oh you're this you're that I want people to strongly know that I support the right to work no matter where you want to work or who you want to work for if you want to unionize more power to you if you want to own a small business I firmly support you the right to work is a god-given gift that each one of us has no matter whether you're personally disabled or whether you're a billionaire the right to work is your choice and I fully support every person's right to work the way they choose they want to do do their work so yes I support unions I support small businesses I support entrepreneurship I support people want to work for big corporations and utilize their resources will you accept the outcome of the election results win or lose 100% I will accept them I firmly believe that our election judges and Rapids do an excellent job at their at their work so I firmly support them I firmly support the results of the election and to be honest with you if you're going to challenge an election it's going to cost you a lot of money I'm just a regular Joe I don't have the kind of money to go hire lawyers and do all that stuff to go try to fight some silly election results if it's close it's close then there's a mandatory recount if it's not close and Peter wins the race I gladly tip my hat and I will happily shake his hand I think we have time here for one more question how can you best leverage your skills to affect positive change in local politics well again I firmly am my friends and family have described me as a as an independent Democrat Republican um It's Kind of a Funny thing in my family because I believe in everybody's right and I think that if we can come together as a society and we can talk out our problems and work through them we can be we can build a better environment for all of us I think that there's way too much partisan politics going on and I think that our government divides us along with our media we need to come together as a community that's what community is I have members of my sports and youth programs that are phenomenal people some are Democrats some are Republicans some of them don't vote it doesn't matter to me we share a common interest in their children and their future and I think that's the way we should treat our society it's time for closing statements we're there already and we'll give you a breather here is Peter Butler's closing statement and then we'll have you yours I first want to thank the League of Women Voters and Mr willson for allowing me to submit written responses today so I could be with my wife and her family at a funeral to celebrate the life of my mother-in-law I wish I could have been here to answer all of the questions asked and I will post responses on my Facebook page later this week because voters deserve to know my thoughts on these issues this election isn't a me or my opponent though it's about you it's about the life you want in Rapids and what you want for your parents kids and grand kids my wife and I bought our first house here hopefully it's going to be the last home we ever buy the decisions I'd make as your council member will be decisions I'd have to live with for the decades that Sammy and I live here I don't take that responsibility lightly because it matters for all of us it would be an honor to earn your vote and your trust and I promise I'll do everything I can to make prun Rapids the best place to live in Minnesota Don willson your closing statement well thank you Linda um I would like to give my condolences to Peter Sammy and your family God bless you during this trying time uh losing a loved one at such a at such a young age is very difficult but I do believe that I am the smart vote and I am a man of the people not the government I plan to keep our city beautiful safe and safe so Recreation can be abundant and I desire to give people the opportunity to live free and build wealth I'm eager to create local jobs grow personal wealth and keep spending down I support keeping our fully our First Responders fully funded with the best equipment and I'm a supporter of our vibrant senior community and our youth sports and recreation I don't believe creating Prosperity is a bad thing and neither should anybody else so vote with confidence by voting for me coach Don willson to be your next city councilman and know that I like to keep my voters informed so visit my website www.coach.com for more information I'd like to thank everybody for learning about us and watching this tonight I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for giving me the the the power to get through this and I want to say God bless all of you and have a great evening League of Women Voters thanks the candidates for speaking to voters about our issues and for running for  Rapid City Council award to thanks community members viewers and those who submitted questions find links to all forums at lwv ABC mn.org general election is Tuesday November 5th early voting's already started and you can vote early at kunon Rapid City Hall or an NOA County elections office please see the co Rapids website for more information you can register to vote update your registration find information on voting options and find your polling place all online at mnvotes.org or the Minnesota Secretary of State website you can also register or update your registration at your polling place on Election Day if you're interested in League of Women Voters visit our website at lwv ABC mn.org women and men age 16 and older are welcome to join your vote is your voice make your voice heard by voting on or before November 5th [Music]