Here's the video from the city council of Wednesday's Spearfish candidates forum, held downtown at the Matthews Opera House (a lovely space that beats the pants off an old school lunch room for a public forum). Nine clips, 32:43 in all, of incumbent Ward 2 city councilman Paul Young and challenger Mitch Moe discussing the fate of the city:
Clip by clip:
- Openers: Paul Young and Mitch Moe introduce themselves to the voters.
- Motivation: Moe and Young answer a question about what motivated them to run this year. Moe says he moved here twelve years ago from Minnesota and picked Spearfish over six other South Dakota towns. Young, son of former mayor Don Young, has lived here all his life and has been on the Spearfish council for seventeen years.
- Safety: Young and Moe wander through responses to a vague question about whether we are "safe" in Spearfish. (Don't blame the candidates, and don't blame modertor Rep. Fred Romkema. Questions were submitted to and vetted by the Chamber of Commerce before the event. Questioners, don't throw out sloppy questions like this. Be specific. Pose questions that will force the candidates to be specific. And seriously: do you think that, given an open question like this, any local candidate is going to say, "Oh my God! Our lives are in peril!")
- Annexation: Moe and Young discuss their support of annexing the Lower Valley on Spearfish's northwest side. Moe says the opposition to annexation is palpable and appears to be connected to a general distrust of government at all levels. He nonetheless says he changed his mind to support annexation after reading the city's study. Young agrees annexation is necessary but offers the caveat that all sorts of easements and activities will have to be grandfathered in.
- Pine Beetle: Nobody likes the pine beetle. Young and Moe agree that we can't let the bug eat our forest without a fight.
- City Rec Center: Moe says we can reduce the $500K shortfall the Spearfish rec center ran last year with more aggressive marketing and creative use of space. Young says the rec center is an investment, just like the City Park, that doesn't turn a profit, that the city knew going in would need a subsidy for a number of years, and that makes Spearfish "the envy of the state."
- City Hydro Plant: Asked whether the city's purchase and operation of the old Homestake hydroelectric plant at the south end of town was a good idea, Young says absolutely. He says the hydro plant keeps the town's namesake creek flowing, and a dry creek bed through the middle of town would damage the city's image. Young also notes the importance of the creek for irrigation and water rights downstream from town north toward the Redwater River. Moe says he'd gladly yield his two minutes to Young so he can learn more about the hydro plant. He admits the hydro plant is an issue he just hasn't had time to study.
- Housing: Spearfish has South Dakota wages but Hollywood housing prices (at least that's how I wish the Chamber would have phrased the question). Moe and Young grapple with the difficult question of how to make living in Spearfish affordable for all working folks.
- Closers: Young and Moe make their final pitches. Moe says he fears God; Young doesn't appear to fear much of anything.
again Cory, thanks for posting these. It was great to review to make sure I was hearing what I did.
Mr Young could be a good used car salesman, yes? People commute here from California and Minnesota on the weekends to live? And those people are looking for the affordable housing units that they brag about? Seriously? I do believe that people have second homes in or around Spearfish, but people that are commuting in those circumstances aren't living in affordable housing or looking for workforce housing. Get real.
Let's call it what it is. Because of the low paying jobs that are in or around Spearfish, more affordable housing is needed. And the more people that need affordable housing, the more that the developers can capitalize on the tax payer funded projects. That the eco devo guy (Bryan Walker) has done a good job? Sure, in getting low wage companies to Spearfish. Sheez.
Shortfall at the rec center....hmmm. Well, city entities should never compete with small businesses. Ask the 2-3 gyms/workout facilities that had to close once the rec center opened. Ask them how they feel about the city and their stance on "growing small businesses". Ask some of the businesses that were possibly going to get hammered on the new sign ordinance that was proposed - ask them how pro-small business/small business friendly the City of Spearfish has been to them.
Annexation. Wow. They did a study already (and paid big bucks for it!) that said lower/upper valley should be annexed. Why did they not go forward and just do the annexing? And now they are paying even more dollars to do an additional study? Perhaps part of the reason is that adding a newly annexed lower/upper valley would put more voters up that would have voted out Mr Young and Mr Krambeck.
Hypocrisy and irony at the same time - the same reason(s) that they are using for the lower/upper valley residents to be annexed (we are using city services and supposedly not paying our fair share) - they have many folks living on TIF lands (not paying property taxes - but will spend money in Spearfish), or, developers that own TIF land (no property taxes paid). And many other entities/organizations that aren't paying any property taxes. Perhaps if they stopped giving away the farm on TIF's, some of that tax base would be a bit better on the books for them!
As far as performance in the debate goes....hmmmm, I don't know. Mr Young, like I said, is a good used car salesman, it appears. Like Ms Boke, Mr. Moe needs to start giving much more detail as to why he would be better than Mr. Young. Again it appers, that both of them want to hold their cards close to the vest, while thinking that selling "a change" is a winning strategy. If people don't understand or know what that change will be, they will vote on the "experience" argument at the end of the day. Or not even show up......