FAIRMONT– The six Martin County Commissioner candidates, two running for each of the three open seats on the Nov. 5 general election, had the opportunity to introduce themselves and answer questions on Tuesday during the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce’s candidate forums.

The candidates include Joe Loughmiller and Michael Schutz for District 3, Billeye Rabbe and Tyler Ask for District 5 and Kevin Kristenson and Michael Anderson for District 1.

Moderator Chris Pierce first asked the candidates to introduce themselves.

Loughmiller said he is a long-time resident of Martin County, having moved here about 25 years ago. Loughmiller is a swine nutritionist with a PhD in animal science. Loughmiller said he has served as an elder for his church’s congregation, on the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Board, and as a Boy Scout leader.

Schutz grew up in Fairmont and upon graduating high school, he joined the Navy, where he spent 15 years and seven years in the Army. For the last 19 years, Schutz has worked for the Truman Police Department. Schutz lives in Fairmont, is the vice president of the Lakeside Cemetery, a volunteer Boy Scout leader, member of the VFW, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans.

Rabbe, a long-time resident of rural Martin County, said that growing up here has not only shaped her life but her values. She said she has worked as a public servant in the county throughout her professional career, including as a high school educator in Trimont and as an extension officer through the University of Minnesota

Notably, Rabbe worked as the Director of Prairieland for many years and has served for 18 years as a supervisor on the Rutland Township Board.

Ask is from the Trimont area and has been on the Martin County Soil and Water board for the last decade and currently serves as chairman. Ask owns farm land and is a pork producer, as well as a small business owner.

Kristenson lives near East Chain where he farms, though he spent several decades as a teacher in the Fairmont Area and Granada-Huntley-East Chain school districts. Kristenson farms to this day along with his sons.

Michael Anderson also grew up locally in Blue Earth and went on to Minnesota State University-Mankato, where he studied law enforcement. He has been in Martin County since 2000 and is employed with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

The candidates were first asked to identify an issue in the county and how they could help solve it.

Schutz said he thought he could help solve the infrastructure problems in Martin County and also help keep the county safe and secure.

Rabbe said she believes that the issues just need to be identified and dug into.

“We have to solve all the issues. We have to come up with a good solution. We need to be five people working together and coming up with a good solution for problems,” Rabbe said.

Ask identified the roads as a main issue and said he could work with County Engineer Kevin Peyman to figure out how to get the roads in better shape.

Looking at budget cuts is something Kristenson said he could help with, along with roads throughout the county.

“With agriculture, every school in Martin County has an ag program… I think those things will help run a good county and Martin County is a good county and a good place to live,” Kristenson said.

Anderson said he recognized several issues the county is facing including failing infrastructure.

Loughmiller noted that Martin County has the fifth oldest population in the state of Minnesota and because of that, he thinks that there is a need for Human Services to support the aging population and help with retirement funding. He said that housing and EDA play a part in that, too.

Next the candidates were asked what county programs, departments or services they think funding should be maintained or increased.

Rabbe said she thought the budget needed to be looked at so that taxes did not need to be raised, though she said the proposed justice center needed to be looked at. She did not identify a specific department that needed more or less funding.

Ask said he thought that funding for roads and infrastructure needed to be increased. He noted that the early summer flooding this year created more problems for the roads and ditches.

Kristensen also identified roads and infrastructure in general as a target area. He said he thought the county could look at identifying different funding streams.

“We cannot maintain unless we get more funding somehow– and I’m not someone who wants to raise taxes,” Kristenson said.

Anderson said it was hard to pick one department that needed more help but that they would all need to be closely looked at.

Loughmiller shared that he’s been impressed with the current county commissioners and what they’ve done, but that he did think the roads and human services needs could benefit from more funding.

Schutz said it would be hard to run the county right now on the current budget without raising the levy. He said in order to generate more money the county should focus on bringing more people and jobs to the county.

Of course, the hot topic of the proposed new jail was thrown at the candidates as they were asked if the taxpayers should be asked to foot 100 percent of the bill if state funding is not granted.

Ask first responded to the question and said he thought a new jail needs to be built but that it “doesn’t need to be a Taj Mahal.” He said the county should take a conservative approach when building it.

Kristenson said in talking with law enforcement, he believes it’s a need and that it will need to be funded by tax dollars.

“I’m not an expert on that and I’m learning more as I progress here but it is a need and it’s been a need for 25 years. Finding a funding source between the federal and state money, I don’t know if that’s a possibility,” Kristenson said.

Anderson commented that if the issue would have been addressed 12 years ago, they wouldn’t be contemplating it now.

“I think the best thing we can do is look at everything and whatever’s in the best interest of the tax payer is what we do,” Anderson said.

Loughmiller said there are three options and that doing nothing is not one of them. He said the current facility could be remodeled, which would still leave it small and inadequate. Another option he said is to build a jail and law enforcement offices for $35 million using jail bonding. Finally, he said the county could build the jail plus courts for $50 million.

“I certainly think that option two or option three… is one of the options that I would be willing to support,” Loughmiller said.

Schutz said he thought the county could explore the option of outsourcing inmates as he doubted the county would get any state money. He said if the county had to bond, it needed to consider the interest rates that come with it, too.

Rabbe said she has toured the jail and acknowledged that it’s a complex problem.

“Do I support law enforcement? Absolutely. Do I support higher taxes? Absolutely not,” Rabbe said. “Something has to be done but it’s costly and how do we do it. We need to come up with some money for what needs to be done.”

Another question the candidates were asked was what county government could do to help stop the loss of population.

Kristenson said they need to increase the amount of jobs in the county.

“If we can keep young people coming back… maybe it’s a tax break if they want to start a business… I think that that will be extremely important to the success of our community,” Kristenson said.

Anderson agreed that jobs need to be a focus.

“We spend millions of dollars fixing our schools and investing in our children when they’re here. We do a poor job investing in bringing them back to stay here,” Anderson said.

He said he felt like some kind of incentive was needed to bring people back here.

Loughmiller said he felt that housing, specifically for first-time home buyers, should be looked at to combat the issue.

“I’d also like to see us continue looking for ways to promote state aid for vocational education,” Loughmiller said.

Schutz said more people need to be brought in to the county, but that the county and certain cities need to be cognizant of their projects.

“We don’t want to tax people out of Martin County and I think that’s one of the big things people look at– why are we going to stay here,” Schutz said.

Rabbe said, “what is it they say, we export our biggest resource– our kids.”

She mentioned the county’s internship program with Minnesota Valley Action Council and also said the county’s tax abatement program is an excellent incentive for those who want to build a home.

Ask said that tax abatements should also be offered to businesses, not just those wanting to build homes.

“I look at the Trimont Town Center and how great of a job that turned out to be for Trimont with grants… it’s successful,” Ask said.

The entirety of the candidate forum can be seen on local public access channel 13. A full list of dates and times it will be broadcast can be found at fairmontchamber.org/events/forums