FAIRMONT– The four Ward 3 candidates and two Ward 4 candidates for the Fairmont City Council had the opportunity to answer questions and share their vision for Fairmont during a live candidate forum on Monday evening.

The four Ward 3 candidates include incumbent Randy Lubenow, Terry Riggs, Edward Paschke and Tom Winter. The Ward 4 candidates include incumbent Wayne Hasek and Todd Smith.

Upon introducing themselves, Riggs gave a brief overview of her employment history, which included 13 years at 3M in New Ulm and work with a variety of people in Fairmont including pregnant women, students in the ALC and people with disabilities, all of which helped teach her about human nature.

Now retired, Riggs said she is ready to engage in a new adventure.

Lubenow said he has served as the Ward 3 representative for six years. He said some of the challenges he has worked on during his time as a councilor are aging infrastructure including roads and bridges, Veterans Park improvements and housing and daycare opportunities.

Paschke said he wants to make improvements for Ward 3 residents and that he was interested in getting involved in city government in order to listen to the residents.

Winter shared some of his past community involvement, which includes being a member of the Sons of the American Legion and a board member of SMILES in Mankato.

Turning to Ward 4, Hasek said he has lived in Fairmont since 1993 and is in his second term on the Fairmont City Council.

Smith shared that he has lived in Martin County his whole life and has background in construction work. He said he feels that there are a lot of issues in Fairmont that he could help resolve.

The Ward 4 candidates were asked to share the top three priorities they would focus on if elected.

Smith said working on streets, getting decent city administration and more housing would be his priority.

“I feel like we haven’t had a decent city administrator in 30 years. I feel the one we have now isn’t doing the position well because he refuses to even have a meeting with me after three months of being here. I don’t know what the fear is at city hall,” Smith said.

Hasek also identified roads and infrastructure as a priority but noted that it’s not an easy overnight fix.

Three ways to repair the discord among the council were asked of the Ward 4 candidates.

Smith said there’s “definitely always a 3-2 vote… I think that falls back on leadership.”

He said he does not believe that there are enough work sessions and that the council members are working independently on what they want instead of on what the citizens want.

Hasek acknowledged the discord among the council and said that he wasn’t sure if there was a majority on the council anymore.

The Ward 3 candidates were asked how they think sales tax dollars should be reallocated given the current pause on the proposed community center project.

Winter said he thinks tax dollars need to be put into the city for “other things… that are more important.”

Riggs pointed out that the money has to go toward either trails, recreation or a community center and given that, she would put the money toward Gomsrud Park as the city is already working on improving it and looking for funding.

“That park is used by so many people in town,” Riggs said.

Lubenow said, “In November of 2016, 3,032 people or 61.19 percent of those that voted, voted for a community center/recreational amenities and trails and parks. If you look at our city, we have more parks than any city I’ve ever lived in our size or seen in our size so I think we’re doing a good job taking care of our parks.”

He said what disappoints him is that he had gone door to door back in 2016 ahead of the vote and that back then people thought a community center was something that the community needed.

Riggs responded to Lubenow’s response by pointing out that the year he referenced was eight years ago and that a pandemic has hit since then.

“Should we not take the pulse of the citizens and let them tell us if we have that support? My biggest fear is if we build a community center and it doesn’t float, then the city gets stuck with the building or a private group gets to sell it and keep that money,” Riggs said.

Lubenow in return responded to Riggs and said that the agreement says the building won’t belong to anyone other than the city of Fairmont.

“Why are we allowing one citizen, that doesn’t live in the city of Fairmont… file a lawsuit telling 3,032 people that they made a mistake when they voted for a community center?” Lubenow said.

When Paschke had the opportunity to answer, he said the council needs to find something else in the budget that the money could be spent on.

Moving on, Ward 4 candidates were asked, if elected, what steps they would take to get the city on firmer financial footing.

Hasek said that he believes the city is in a good financial position but that the council needed to watch the taxpayer’s money. He alluded to agreeing with Rigg’s assessment on the community center.

Smith said more housing and industry would help and he also said that that Fairmont has a “built in ATM” with the lakes and parks.

“I don’t understand why we put such regulations on using these parks. We need to get more outsourced groups doing things to bring things to our town like New Ulm does,” Smith 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