ABOVE: Fairmont City Council at-large candidates Monday evening at the candidate forum. From left: Incumbent Michele Miller, Britney Kawecki and Joe Kallemeyn.

FAIRMONT– A live candidate forum for Fairmont City Council candidates was held Monday evening at which point 11 of the 12 candidates had the opportunity to answer various questions. The forum, held at city hall, was hosted by the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce.

Because of the large volume of candidates, the forum was split into two parts with the three at-large candidates, Joe Kallemeyn, Britney Kawecki and Michele Miller, and two of the three Ward 2 candidates, Jodie Whitmore and James Kotewa, taking the first hour. Amber Hansen, the third Ward 2 candidate, was not able to attend.

Moderator Linsey Press asked the candidates to first introduce themselves. Kallemeyn shared that he spent two terms on the city council, representing Ward 3, about 12 years ago and that he has decided to put his name in the hat again.

Kawecki, current Ward 2 council member, said she wants to continue her work and feels like she can better serve the community in the at-large role.

Incumbent Miller said she is running for re-election because she wants to continue to focus on growth, promoting Fairmont and showing people that Fairmont is a great place to live, work and retire. In her first term, Miller said she focused on leadership and building trust with staff, along with community development, roads, lakes and budget and that those are still her priorities.

Whitmore, Ward 2 candidate, introduced herself as a life-long Fairmont resident with a background in childcare and also as property manager of the Meadows. She is also a Park Board member, Rotary member and played a hand in bringing the Adventure Playground at Gomsrud Park to Fairmont.

Kotewa said he is also a life-long resident of Fairmont and had 30 years of experience with the Fairmont Police Department, which he recently retired from as a patrol sergeant. Kotewa said he is running for the position because he still has a desire to serve the community.

The Ward 2 candidates were asked, if elected, what they would consider their greatest challenges.

Kotwea identified it as bringing the community together and looking forward to the future in a fiscally responsible way.

“Our future depends us looking toward the future, including toward the infrastructure and it’s important to re-invest in our community. Once we re-invest, other people re-invest with us whether they be people coming to the community or businesses,” Kotwea said.

Whitmore said she thinks the greatest challenge is bringing civility back to the council and getting members of the council to get along and to not go against each other.

“I think the city can move along better if we’re all on the same page or at least have the same goal and the goal obviously is to promote our town and everything it has to offer, which is a lot,” Whitmore said.

Based on what they hear in the community, the at-large candidates were asked what they hear are the three biggest impediments that keep people from locating or relocating to Fairmont and how they would resolve them.

Kallemeyn said, “the number one thing for me is, we’ve been looking the last 20, 30 years at the community center… I still haven’t seen any ground broken yet and I think that’s something we need to finish and soon.”

Kawecki said she believed the issues were housing and daycare and while she hears jobs are an issue, she pointed out many jobs are hiring but when people ask for better paying jobs, more industries are needed.

“In order to get businesses to come to Fairmont, they say, ‘alright, do you have housing? Do you have daycare?’ Guess what, we don’t have either of those so we need to take care of the problem at the base, that’s housing and daycare and guess what both of those start with the city…,” Kawecki said.

Community development, roads, infrastructure and leadership are areas that Miller identified as impediments. She said the city is on track to resolving this as it just hired a new community development director.

The at-large candidates were also asked what in the community they would spend a $1 million grant on.

Miller said she would put it toward roads and infrastructure. Kawecki said she would split the money between roads and infrastructure, housing and daycare. Kallemeyn, on the other hand, said he would put the money toward funds for the proposed community center.

The level of discord between the current council and city staff was acknowledged and the Ward 2 candidates were asked how they would repair it.

Whitmore said, “It does consume a lot of the energy for staff. The one thing that I see is that staff people aren’t happy on Mondays when they have council meetings and there is no one that works for the city on the council or on city staff that should feel that way.”

She said she thinks people need to work more together, rather than separately and that if one person has a problem they shouldn’t keep pushing it again and again.

“Another thing is the constant delays. Tabling projects… because it never gets accomplished and we’re hashing and rehashing and we need to learn to work together,” Whitmore said.

Kotewa also said that the council needs to do a better job of getting along, despite everyone having their own opinions.

“There needs to be clear goals… goals for the city employees, goals and responsibilities,” Kotewa said.

He also said transparency and clear communication is needed between council members and city staff.

A question from the audience for the at-large candidates was: what are your thoughts on building a $40 million plus community center and letting a non-profit organization run it.

Miller said she was against it and believed the city could spend the money more wisely.

“The vote was for trails, recreational amenities and/or a community center and it is unfortunate that we have not used some of that money and put it towards our parks and other projects that we could do in town instead of putting it toward one single thing,” Miller said. “And letting a non-profit operate it, I don’t really care… as long as it’s not the city. The city is not very good at running things to be honest.”

Kawecki answered that she is both in favor of a community center and having a non-profit, and specifically the YMCA, run it.

“I am in agreement with councilor Miller that I believe someone else running it and operating it is in the city’s best interest,” Kawecki said.

Kallemeyn reiterated that he is in favor of both a new community center and ice rink. He said that he personally grew up going to a community center and took part in activities like swimming and playing basketball.

“I think it’s important for a community. We’ve talked about it for years and I think its time to get it done,” Kallemeyn said,

Moving to another hot topic, the Ward 2 candidates were asked if they support the building of a new jail and justice center and what role, if any, they think the city should play in the process.

Kotewa pointed out that he had worked in the building for more than 30 years and shared that it is very outdated. He said the building itself needs to be taken care and as for a new building, Kotewa suggested the city get involved in where it will be located.

Whitmore said she supports building a new jail and justice center. She also said that she has had the opportunity to tour the current facility.

“I don’t care if it’s a criminal or not– no one should be living in those conditions and not only that, the staff and what they’re having to deal with… I am all in favor of doing it,” Whitmore said.

She agreed that the city should be a part of it, especially considering the police department’s involvement in it, but that most of the responsibility should fall to the county.

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