Tom Wiemiller: I’ve lived in
Winsted all my life. I’m 55 years old, married to Mary for 33 years, have
two children. I’m a master electrician for a large company in Chaska. Previously,
I owned my electrical contracting business in Winsted. I retired from the
fire department after 25 years, and was an EMT with the ambulance service
for 16 years.
I filed because I love Winsted. I’m proud of our city,
its growth, and I want to be a part of its future.
I’m a member of the American Legion, was in the Air Force
four years, and served eight years on the city council.
Gary Lenz: I graduated from
Trinity in ’70, and am married to Jody. We have a new baby girl . . .
I’ve been on the city council 12 years, for three terms,
and this would be the fourth. I was on the personnel committee; was involved
the last time we did a city hall study; was liaison to the planning commission;
was a founding member of the lake association and was its president; and
was president of the C&C. I’m an electronic technician.
I’m running again because I enjoy the job and working with
people. Several issues are city hall, industrial development, and the new
school. I hope my experience will bring success.
Jeff Albers: To this point,
like a majority of city residents, I’ve sat on the sidelines and second-guessed
what the council could do for us. Winsted is a growing community and there
are big issues on the horizon. It’s time to get off the sideline and get
into the game.
A series of yes/no questions were asked:
Are you in favor of a municipal swimming pool?
All said yes.
Would you favor a junior/senior rec center funded by
public funds?
Albers – no; Lenz and Wiemiller – yes.
Should the city have its own police department or share
services with the county?
All said have its own.
Would you favor changing the speed limit so all city
streets are 30 mph?
All said keep it the same.
Lenz: No, I voted for it in
the first place. It does take a lot of time, and there are expenses. We
do deal with the public, and there is a risk included. Some of us were in
a lawsuit, and the $1,000 a year doesn’t come close to what the liability
is. Also, there hadn’t been an adjustment for eight or nine years.
Wiemiller: I would definitely
keep the pay level as it was adjusted for the same reasons Gary said.
Albers: I don’t think it’s
a big issue, not a lot of dollars. I have thought of donating the whole
salary to charity and leaving it at that. I probably wouldn’t be able to
convince the whole council of a change.
Lenz: We have a de facto policy
that if we attract industrial development to Winsted, if the city provides
incentives, we want to recoup that amount in five years. We are looking
for that payback in five years. It’s tough to quantify by jobs and social
impact.
Albers: Industrial growth
would be nice. Hopefully, the new administrator will be able to aggressively
go after bringing companies into the city.
Wiemiller: The industrial
park is definitely a gold mine in the future. If we can get industry in
this town and turn it to our favor in five years, that’s the thing to do.
The administrator needs to aggressively work on that.
Albers: No specific industry.
It would be nice to see something bring a lot of jobs and be environmentally
friendly.
Lenz: I don’t know what segment
it would be. I would hope it would have a wide spectrum of jobs manufacturing,
management, and professional to make a nice mix in our community.
Wiemiller: I wouldn’t want
to pick one out. Tomorrow, I would choose the ones we have and be thankful
we have them. Some are moving out, and it’s important we keep industry attracted
here.
Albers: Open access, an open
door policy. Anybody who wants to can talk to me in person, by phone, or
write me a letter. I will respect their opinions, though I might not always
agree with them.
Wiemiller: I’m here to listen.
Call or write to me.
Lenz: The same. But I don’t
like anonymous calls or letters. If someone has an opinion, I want to know
who it is. Then let’s talk.
Lenz: At a lot of meetings,
outside of the reporter and the elected people, there’s nobody there. We
need feedback, and it’s nice to know people are interested. If there’s a
hot issue, they come out of the woodwork. When more people attend, we can
tell how people are reacting in the audience. If every citizen came to two
meetings a year, that’s not too much to ask.
Wiemiller: Having a packed
house makes it interesting. At least you get a general idea how people feel
and react. It’s a good way to make decisions, with input. At a lot of meetings,
we try to do our best, think we made a good decision, and then out on the
street it’s “Why did you do that?”
Albers: I’ve been on the sidelines,
and I’m ashamed to say I’ve never been to a council meeting. It’s a good
idea to participate. Whether I’m elected or not, I plan to make more effort
to attend. It’s very important for the council to be educated on each vote.
Lenz: I said several years
ago when we worked on this I feel city hall belongs downtown. Whether we
renovate it, I’m about 50-50 with a slight edge, that if possible, we should
try to preserve it. Not everybody likes the architecture, but it does have
a character to it.
If it works out, if the numbers come back – $1.3 million
is high, maybe we won’t be able to do all the bells and whistles. If not,
I’d rather see it demolished and still have the property in city hands.
There are so many wild cards in this. My second preference
would be if the public school closes, and I don’t want that, but it would
be an option to look at.
The Niro building is my personal last choice. I hope it
stays on the tax rolls and we can find a business to fill it up.
I would want to keep city offices and the library downtown,
to keep people coming downtown.
Wiemiller: I lived here all
my life and to imagine Winsted without city hall . . . Wait for the report
to come back and see if we can get some re-use out of the old building.
If not city offices, then maybe a community center or library. I definitely
want to keep the city offices downtown, too.
Albers: It would be nice to
preserve the building. It’s so much a part of the community. But I have
to ask myself “At what cost?” $1.3 million is an awful lot of
money for city offices. Maybe we need to have the private sector investigate
it, see if we can get a private investor to take it over and restore it
to what it once was.
Lenz: It’s public knowledge,
I have no problem with that. People are entitled to that, and I’m glad they’re
interested.
Wiemiller: Many of the bills
are repetitious and there is a per line cost. We post all the vouchers,
it’s available at the clerk’s office, and each council member has a copy.
It’s not meant to hide anything, just a cost saving.
Albers: I like the idea of
minutes in the paper, and wouldn’t be opposed to printing the bills either.
Albers: Within reason. On
a major expenditure, if we can get it for $10,000 less outside, that doesn’t
justify getting it in town.
Lenz: For small items, we
allow employees to get it locally and use good judgment. And if it’s over
$25,000, we have to get bids anyway.
Wiemiller: As much as possible
locally, unless it costs more or we can’t get it in town.
Albers: Winsted is a great
place to live. I’d like to be a bigger part of it.
Lenz: This could be my fourth
term. I’ll stand by my record and what I said tonight.
Wiemiller: When I made the
decision to file, I thought about all the monthly meetings. Sometimes it’s
not easy to make a decision. I’ve been in service 25 years to Winsted. In
’87 when we had the centennial, I really felt good in the community choir.
I really feel good about what Winsted is today. We live in a great town,
and I enjoy being part of the town.
We make decisions – some are popular, some aren’t. I always
kept in mind who elected me and I will do that again. A good point tonight
is to shop locally and support Winsted businesses.
Also running for council seats are Bonnie Quast and
Lyndon Rubel. Rubel did not attend the forum or send a response.
A statement from Quast was read:
I am sorry I will not be able to attend the political forum
Oct. 27.
Because of a medical assistance request from a friend,
I will be out of state from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3 mid-morning. My reservations
for this trip were made prior to my knowledge of the forum and therefore
I wasn’t able to change anything.
I do invite anyone with questions to call me. I appreciate
your consideration regarding my absence.
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