There’s only one contested race for Fairbanks City Council this year; that’s for Seat C, and both incumbent Sue Sprinkle and political newcomer Hannah Ekalook want to claim it.
Sue Sprinkle has served on the council for three years, or one full term. At Friday’s League of Women Voters of the Tanana Valley candidate forum, cosponsored by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and KUAC, she said she’s enjoyed working on local issues, like staffing at the police and fire departments and trying to foster economic growth.
“I think working with my administration has been a real joy,” Sprinkle said. “And I don’t want to leave. You’re going to have to drag me screaming. So, I have three more years in me if I’m brought back.”
Hannah Ekalook is going after her seat. She said Friday she wants to see the city do more to address homelessness and addiction, and that her children inspired her run for local office.
“I want them to be able to find reasonable and affordable housing. I look at my kids, and I think, ‘Fairbanks has got to do better. We have to do better for the next generation,’” Ekalook said.
The candidates fielded questions about homelessness, policing, voter turnout, budgeting and downtown revitalization.
Sprinkle touted an ordinance she cosponsored that passed last year in a unanimous vote. It gave the city more power when dealing with dangerous or nuisance properties.
The measure allows the mayor to designate a property as blight, and it also established required remedies and an appeals process.
“If we get our arms around that, make them better, we bring housing back into play. We get people in homes. It expands the property tax base. It brings money to the city. It’s an economic driver,” Sprinkle said.
Ekalook said she believes there’s a path to downtown revitalization through increased community collaboration.
“I think partnering with larger corporations to help support local businesses and our tourism seasons, I think collectively coming together as a community and working together on those things is going to be what’s vital,” Ekalook said.
The candidates were also asked about their priorities in the budgeting process, and what alternative ways the city could make money.
Ekalook said she thinks that could come through community fundraisers “so that there’s an active part for the community to get involved. If they’re worried about the city, if they want to know more about the city, stuff like that is, I think, where that needs to go.”
Sprinkle said she thinks taking care of citizens is an investment in its own right, and one that pays off.
“If we take care of people with their housing and their food and general safety, we would spend less in policing, we would spend less in having to incarcerate and what not,” she said.
Early voting began Monday and runs through Oct. 2. Election day is Oct. 7.