Mayoral, Commissioner candidates speak on the issues

FAIRMONT - Six Fairmont mayoral candidates and four Martin County Commissioner candidates, two from district two and two from district four, answered the questions facing the community’s future at a forum in the Fairmont City Council Chambers on Tuesday evening.

Each candidate had one minute to answer questions presented. If a candidate wanted to rebut an answer, they had two opportunities to do so.

Running for mayor are Peter Bode, Logan Kelly, Krystaline Krumrey, Nathanael Landsteiner, Jerome Niss and Todd Smith.

Multiple questions were taken from the audience. The first asked the candidates to name three strengths of Fairmont. The lakes and school district were both nearly unanimous answers. In particular, Landsteiner and Smith highlighted the vocational programs as a strength. Niss, Kelly and Landsteiner also said the people of Fairmont themselves are a strength.

Several questions also elicited similar answers from the candidates. Regarding the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) funds, all six candidates vouched for some form of a recreation center to be built using the money. Smith split from the rest by suggesting some other business needs to be handled first.

"I think we need to take $2 million and give it to the hockey association and let them come up with the balance of a $10 million arena," he said. "Give them the compressors, let them move on, but with the stipulation that their $400,000 a year they have in pull tab money, go in a separate account with the city, and the city wants that money, and we get this thing done together."

The situation between the city, the fair board and the Fairmont Youth Hockey Association was the next question on board. Most agreed with the current contracts being honored, but Smith offered a disagreement on 2004 Cooperative Agreement for the Ice Arena.

"There was supposed to be inspections on that building every six months," he said. "I data requested, and there was none. There is no record of any inspections done at that building. The contract says the city owns half that building, but I don’t know why the city’s in this business of hockey; all the other schools around here do not want anything to do with hockey if they have to pay for it. So why are you, the citizens of Fairmont, paying for this hockey when everybody else is freeloading on it?"

Bode stated that the city needs to honor the contracts the city signed and entered into, whether they were done by people they didn't like 20 years ago or not. Smith then cut off Bode's answer, telling Bode to not put words into his mouth. The forum continued afterward with Bode finishing his answer.

On the question of where the city could cut spending, Krumrey, Smith and Landsteiner supported potentially firing staff. Smith and Landsteiner specifically made it the opening of their answers. Bode, who had been the city's planner and zoning official from 2019 to early 2025, openly disagreed with these answers.

"If they’re elected mayor and they say that, understand, they don’t have that authority for one, and they will never have that authority for two," he said. "They’ll be opening the city up to lawsuits, and they will cost the city a lot of money. I think it shows that they’re unprepared to be mayor, quite frankly. Those are outrageous comments."

Landsteiner offered up his final rebuttal to counter Bode's point.

"If we have 80 percent of the city staff that is dead weight, then it is irresponsible to not consider the option of letting them go," he said. "You’re right about one thing: the weak mayor and the weak council don’t currently have the power to do that, which is why we have to amend the charter. Strong council, stronger mayor, so you have one person to blame when it fails. This is what’s necessary."

Each candidate was given time for closing statements. The row between Bode and Smith continued, with Bode opening his closing statement by addressing Smith by hand.

"They can vote for the candidate of chaos, who will continue to waste more money, like he did destroying the community center project," Bode said.

Smith cut in again on Bode's time, telling him he was skating on defamation and to watch what he called him. The forum then concluded with no further incidents.

For the Commissioners forum, Dan Geronsin is running against incumbent Jaime Bleess in district two, and Julie Laue is running against incumbent Richard Koons in district four.

A big question was about the Law Enforcement Center (LEC), which is now 52 years old. The plan to build a new justice center is not moving forward, but an estimated $6.3 to $7.2 million is needed to keep the current building operating. Moderator Chris Pierce also said a pipe disintegration recently resulted in extensive water damage to computers.

Bleess said it cost them $40,000 in damages from one pipe, which broke as they were installing one garbage disposal. On potentially building new, Bleess said he wants to find a sweet spot so they are not just pouring money "down the hole" but also not hamstringing future generations with this problem.

Laue also said they faced a choice whether to upgrade and take care of the current building or build new. Either way, she said it needs to be taken care of so it is safe and appropriate for the law enforcement officers that work there.

Koons and Geronsin, on the other hand, leaned toward not building new. Geronsin said it was the main reason he ran, as he sees a new building as not feasible for the taxpayers. In his own answer, Koons said it would take a lot, unless there was state funding, for him to even consider a new building. He also offered a rebuttal to Laue's safety concerns.

"We passed the last two tests when they came and tested our facility at 99 percent efficiency, 99 percent safety," he said. "We had flying colors in our test. Yes, we have things that need to be repaired, but these things were things that have been left undone for a lot of years."

A broader question asked what specific issues commissioner candidates believe they bring expertise to work on.

Laue dedicated her answer to the Law Enforcement Center Issue. Koons did as well but also discussed working on the cost shifts from state and federal funds onto individual counties.

Geronsin said he is new at this, and he is here to figure it out and learn the job to save money for the county and people. Bleess, referencing gas prices and inflation, said his expertise is identifying revenues so they can long-range plan for the future.

Bouncing off of this was the final question, on how commissioners would balance rising county operational costs with minimizing tax burden on land and homeowners.

Bleess said their main goal is to minimize tax burden. He said the commissioners are always trying to minimize spending and provide the highest level of service with the best value for your dollar. Geronsin said he agrees with Bleess, and he could not say how he would do it because he is still learning.

Koons said year after year he fights like a mad dog to keep the levy as low as they can. Laue said it is a team effort to accomplish this, and she has experience with annual budgets as a former member of the Fairmont School Board, increasing assets and decreasing expenses as much as possible.

To watch the forum, visit fairmont.org/forums/ and click the link that says Live/Recorded Broadcast: Click Here.