Chad Hutchison: Thank you, everybody, for coming today. As Donald said, I'm the State Director for Government Relations for the University of Alaska. I've been working with the Chamber since 2004, and it's a great privilege to be here today. I want to welcome all the candidates. It certainly takes a lot of courage to run, and so we appreciate you stepping up and raising your voice to help make our community a better place. We certainly appreciate that.
And as you can see, uh, we have one, uh, empty space here. We did have RSVPs, uh, for all the candidates. And, uh, we're going to leave this space open. And if, if, uh, if, uh, one of the candidates, uh, comes at a later time, we'll certainly, uh, allow him to sit down and present his best case of, uh, for why he thinks he should be, uh, a representative on the council for the city of Fairbanks.
Otherwise, we will go forward with questions as normally planned. At this point in time, Mr. Cleworth will still be able to make his best case about why he thinks he would be the best representative on the City Council. So without further ado, we'll just go through quickly about some process and procedure as we think about this debate.
[00:01:19] So Mr. Cleworth is running for seat A with Mr. McDonald, who is, that is the open seat right there. And for seat B, we have Mr. Aaron Crook, we have Ms. Olivia Rodriguez, and we have Ms. Valerie Therrien. And we really appreciate, uh, there's, uh, names that we've seen for many years, uh, living in Fairbanks, and we also have some fresh faces, too.
[00:01:44] So we appreciate, uh, that there is a mixture of candidates this year for the people of Fairbanks to choose from. So, uh, on a preliminary basis, the Fairbanks Chamber is a non-partisan organization that advocates for business prosperity in the interior. Our goal today is to help our audience make an informed decision as they vote on Election Day, October 1st.
[00:02:05] And this is just a reminder that early voting has already started. It actually started on Monday. So if you have the opportunity and it fits with your schedule, please try an early vote. Otherwise, the date is October 1st. So let's quickly review our format. And this can be very familiar to the format you've seen over the last couple, uh, debates that we've had thus far this year, including yesterday.
[00:02:29] Uh, throughout the forum, candidates will be asked a series of questions, both open ended and yes and no. Candidates also have the opportunity to ask their opponents questions. And just as we did at the last two forums, our goal is to get through as many audience questions as possible. So that's a very important part of this.
[00:02:44] We love to see audience participation, and we hope you have lots of questions that apply to the City of Fairbanks. If you have a question for the candidates, please write them down on the question cards on your tables, hold them up, and the members of the Chamber staff will be around to collect them. As a reminder, questions focused on topics relevant to the business community will be prioritized.
[00:03:05] Please indicate which candidates you'd also like to ask the question. And also, please help us respect our candidates and the chamber by refraining from any responses other than your applause at the conclusion of the event. This allows the maximum time to hear from the candidates on the important issues facing our community.
[00:03:25] Now to the candidates. I'd like to remind you that at the table directly facing you, You have a, uh, you'll notice that there's a countdown clock, uh, and the screen indicates how much time you have remaining when your time has expired. When your time, uh, does expire, uh, please stop talking and, uh, that your time will be up.
[00:03:47] Uh, there is a little bit of flex, maybe perhaps later on in this debate, uh, if you've watched what happened yesterday, uh, if there's time left, we can have opportunities to clean up, uh, different points. I certainly want to give you as much time as humanly possible. The confines of this debate, uh, to make your best case to, uh, the citizens of Fairbanks.
[00:04:06] As I ask each question, I will indicate which of you will answer first and let you know how long you have to provide an answer. It's usually around 60 to 90 seconds. So with that, let's get started. We'll begin with a 60 second response to our opening question. Hearing first from, uh, the beginning, So we're going to begin with Mr. Cleworth. And the question is, what motivated you to run for election or re-election to the Fairbanks City Council? And you have 60 seconds.
[00:04:35] Jerry Cleworth: Thank you. And thank you all for giving us your time to be here today. That's, that's important. I love public service. I've been on the council off and on for over 30 years as a council member and as mayor in the past.
[00:04:53] I've served, I was trying to write down all the committees I served on over the years and I couldn't remember all of them, but currently I'm on fast planning, which I really enjoy. That combined with the city, I think, gives us some very good coverage on our infrastructure for the city, roads, sidewalks, that sort of thing.
[00:05:14] I love problem solving. Our city has come a long way from the late 80s when I first got involved. We had some very serious problems back in that we don't even have to worry about nowadays. I appreciate being a part of that. Again, thank you for being here.
[00:05:34] Chad Hutchison: Very good, Mr. Crook.
[00:05:35] Aaron Crook: Thank you. Well, my name is Aaron Crook. And the reason I decided to run for city council was because I love this city. This is my home. I was raised here. I grew up in the outskirts of Fox. I believe that there are issues facing this city that need to be addressed sooner than later. And like Mr. Cleaver said, I enjoy problem solving. And I think that is my main motivation running for this office, is because I want to serve the people and make sure that we can make Fairbanks a bright future for everyone.
[00:06:19] Chad Hutchison: Ms. Rodriguez.
[00:06:20] Olivia Rodriguez: Hi, you guys. My name is Libby Rodriguez and I see very familiar faces and a lot of new faces in here as well. So, thank you so much for taking time to get involved in local government. It is the most important aspect of our community. I am someone who takes a long time to decide if something's right or if something is not quite for me.
[00:06:37] So, for the last couple of years, I've been getting more knowledgeable about how the city functions. Um, I attended the Citizens Engagement Academy that's put on by the city clerk and that was very helpful. It went into detail about how budgets are spent and how the city actually gets its revenue. So after that, um, I started thinking about how can I take my professional skill set and my personal skill set to help make the community better for all of us.
[00:07:02] I'm planning on being in Fairbanks until the very end, so I think it's important to get engaged and to be able to put stuff into the community that will benefit generations. Um, the city of Fairbanks is incredibly important. I've always lived in downtown, so we have a huge opportunity here to be able to make it better for everyone.
[00:07:22] Chad Hutchison: Ms. Therrien.
[00:07:25] Valerie Therrien: I want to thank the Chamber for putting on this debate and listening to all of our answers. I'm running for City Council because I believe in progress. I want to continue to serve the community. I believe that I have the time, experience, and know how to make our community go forward in a positive fashion.
[00:07:47] I, um, believe the future is bright. Just look at the construction that's going on in Fairbanks. I think, um, the removal of the Polaris building is going to provide a wonderful center for downtown Fairbanks with new retail space, housing, office space, and a new image. And it's going to continue to improve the economy of Fairbanks, and I want to be a part of that.
[00:08:15] Chad Hutchison: Thank you, Ms. Therrien. And, uh, we're going to hear first from, uh, Mr. Crook with a 60 second response. And the question is, assuming you have the support, what's one measure, what one measure would you want to implement almost immediately upon being elected to office? 60 seconds.
Aaron Crook: I think one measure that I would want implemented if I get elected to the City Council, Is more appreciation and support for our law enforcement and our firefighters so we can work towards keeping them on in their service instead of having to continue the recruitment issue that we've been having in the city.
[00:09:10] Chad Hutchison: Thank you very much. Ms Rodriguez.
[00:09:12] Olivia Rodriguez: Assuming I have this information, one aspect that I would like to encourage with the city is a public outreach campaign. Because as I've been running for office, I've found that there's a lot of services that the city offers that the general public does not know about.
[00:09:26] So if we were able to connect the people who need these services with the people who provide the services, I think that that would be hugely successful for the City of Fairbanks because there's so much more under the surface that most people don't take the time to dig into. When people think about the City of Fairbanks, they often associate it with their garbage bill, but they don't associate it with the Housing and Homeless Coordinator or the Reentry Coordinator.
[00:09:47] There are so many benefits to the city that the general public could utilize if only they knew about it. So, assuming I had the support and the funds, I would say that I would probably start an awareness campaign about what the city does and how the community can benefit from it. And then we can all, um, better interact with the city so we understand each other a little bit better.
[00:10:06] Chad Hutchison: Very good. Ms. Therrien?
[00:10:07] Valerie Therrien: Yes. The first thing that I would like to see is a way to encourage our young folks to stay in Fairbanks. And one of the ways that I hope to do this is introduce an ordinance that would give a moratorium to builders for a five-year period so that they can build housing, um, that's affordable to the individuals in our community.
[00:10:32] The moratorium would tax only the land in the current building, but not the improvements. And I think this is one way that we can encourage our, um, community to stay in Fairbanks.
Thank you very much. Mr. Cleworth . Thank you.
[00:10:46] Jerry Cleworth: We spend a lot of our time talking about public safety, and those are the articles you read in the paper. But the key to me is to start trying to change that focus back to public works. Public works affects everyone here. Uh, the engineering, the condition of the roads. Without the work of public works and the, the shop, the repair, all the equipment, none of the other departments operate. And we haven't been focusing on that as much as we should have, I think, in the last two or three years.
[00:11:21] I would definitely like to get back to looking at that. Yeah. We take care of a lot of lane miles in our city and the main maintenance of that is is costly. And if we don't pay attention to it, we get behind on that. that's something I don't want to do. When I was mayor, we focused on infrastructure and getting ahead of the game.
I just don't want to get behind them. Thank you.
[00:11:47] Chad Hutchison: Thank you. So, for the next, uh, set of questions, actually this is going to be the first set of our candidate to candidate questions, these are always fun. Uh, beginning with seat B, so this is, uh, Ms. Rodriguez, you'll have 30 seconds to ask a question for, uh, Mr. Crook. You will have 60 seconds to answer, and if needed, Ms. Rodriguez, you will have 15 seconds to redress, and he will have 30 seconds to close. Ms. Rodriguez, uh, 30 seconds to you.
Olivia Rodriguez: Yes. Thank you. Um, Aaron, it's been really nice to get to know you over this campaign season. Um, this is our first-time meeting. I'm curious, can you tell me a little bit about your professional background?
[00:12:26] Aaron Crook: Well, for the question, Olivia. I agree with you, it's been really nice to know you throughout this entire campaign. Um, I, I graduated from our school system. I, um, spent, um, time as a barista and currently I work with special education children.
[00:12:45] This year I worked down in Juneau with the legislature. And I also have served one term, my one term on the school board policy committee. And I'm currently serving my term on the diversity committee. Thank you.
[00:13:01] Olivia Rodriguez: Yes, I mean I was wondering what skills from your professional work will you bring to the council?
[00:13:06] Aaron Crook: I think the skills I will bring will be able, is one, working together. I think the council, this council has done a really good job working together. Working together, I also think that with my work skills, having patience, because as a, I think you know as well as I do, working with social education children takes a lot of patience and a lot of grace.
And being able to sit there, because you know what's important.
[00:13:36] Chad Hutchison: Thank you. And now we are going to reverse the process. Mr. Crook, you will have 30 seconds to ask a question of Ms. Rodriguez.
[00:13:51] Aaron Crook: What would be the, Ms. Rodriguez, what would the skills be that you think you would bring to the City Council that would best show, pay attention to Fairbanks?
[00:14:02] Olivia Rodriguez: That's a really good question because I bring a lot of skills to the table. As a small business owner, I'm very aware of how budgets work and how important they are, so I definitely bring strong fiscal responsibility.
Um, as someone who works in marketing and PR and outreach, I also bring those skills to the table because I'm able to truly pull a room of people who have very differing opinions together. And then I'm also able to bring the idea of fresh energy and someone who's excited to be on City Council, not just excited to be elected to public office, but excited about City Council.
[00:14:36] I care deeply about the city, I engage with it almost daily, so I would say that my professional background, in addition to my family's background here as far as network too, there's a lot of things I could bring to the table as a council, but most importantly, I think it's fresh and refreshing energy, and someone who's not afraid of big ideas, but also values that budget.
Chad Hutchison: Mr. Crook, you can rebut. Okay, Ms. Rodriguez, do you have anything else to add to that?
Olivia Rodriguez: Um, just obviously you can tell I'm very excited, but don't let the peppiness fool you. I take this very seriously, and it's something that I've been planning for a very long time.
So, please don't forget to vote, because all these candidates up here, it doesn't mean anything if you guys don't vote. You guys are truly the bridge between the community and your local government, and local elections matter. So please stay engaged, and thank you for being here today.
[00:15:33] Chad Hutchison: Okay, very good. So for our next question, uh, we will hear first from Mr. Cleworth , and this will be a 60 second response. What can the city do that it is not already doing to attract new businesses within city limits? 60 seconds to Mr. Cleworth .
[00:15:51] Jerry Cleworth: I think the role for the city is to provide the best services that we can for the monies and resources that we have. What are the neat things about the city and I've heard it from new businesses is that they know in advance about what their tax liabilities will be to a great degree of accuracy one because of the cap itself and because the city's balanced budgets.
[00:16:16] They're not in for a shock in a year or two and they see property taxes go up on their corporate businesses. That's a real plus. And we've heard that time and time again from the new businesses that they appreciate that. We need to maintain that to the best of our ability. We've grown our budget over the years, and that's to be expected.
[00:16:44] Chad Hutchison: Okay. Very good. And if we have additional, uh, time, we'll make sure that you have that opportunity, uh, Mr. Cleworth. So, uh, next we'll move on. We're going to reverse the roles a little bit. This is for Ms uh, Therrien. Uh, the same question. Uh, what can the city do that it is not already doing to attract new businesses within city limits? Sixty seconds.
[00:17:06] Valerie Therrien: Well, as I stated before, I think the moratorium on building is an important way to attract business, but we also need to make sure that our community is safe. Welcoming to our, um, to our businesses. And making sure that the building department works, um, in conjunction with new business. Um, we can look at Amazon, Canes, um, maybe Target coming to our community.
[00:17:35] So they see that our community is welcoming to business. And I think that, um, having enough, uh, police officers to make sure that our community is safe is one of the best ways that we can ensure that business comes to the community.
[00:17:53] Chad Hutchison: Very good. Uh, Ms. Rodriguez.
[00:17:55] Olivia Rodriguez: Um, I think Jerry made an awesome point about the city needs to be stable enough to encourage people to come here because once the city is stable, they know what to expect and they kind of know what they're getting into.
[00:18:05] If we keep going up and down, it's going to be harder to predict that. Well, I do think the idea of comping someone's taxes for building in the city limits is an interesting idea. I don't, when you actually do the math, it doesn't, Make that much of a meaningful impact to push someone over the line of if they will build or if they will not build.
[00:18:25] So I think the city should and is currently talking to the general contractors, talking to people who are wanting to be invested in our community. And hear from them what they think would help them. Because tax incentives, it does take away things that go back to the city. But if it Is it a make or break for the builder?
[00:18:45] Is it just giving away free money as opposed to being able to keep something on the tax roll? So I think that the city being stable and actually talking to the people who are doing the work and are invested in our community is the best way to encourage growth here.
Chad Hutchison: [00:19:00] The question is, what can the city do that it is not already doing to attract new businesses within city limits?
[00:19:17] Aaron Crook: I, I agree with what Ms. Therrien said is we need to make sure that it's stable here. A lot of businesses don't want to move here if it's stable. So making sure that we are, there's public safety to ensure that we can cut crime and breaking and entering into businesses.
[00:19:33] But I also think another thing we need to do is stop going after our small businesses. Because that's one thing that makes them not want to move here. And I think we need to also lower taxes and reduce regulatory regulations.
[00:19:53] Chad Hutchison: Okay, thank you. So, for the next portion of this debate, it was supposed to be, uh, [00:20:00] a candidate to candidate question.
[00:20:01] In this case, uh, we're going to give Mr. Cleworth more time to either expose, uh, or, uh, uh, expand on his, uh, previous statements, or, uh, talk about anything he would like, that he thinks that he brings to the table that can help, uh, the, the City of Fairbanks. For total time, uh, uh, I'm going to give them a minute or two minutes and 15 seconds, which is normally what we would have done with the back and forth.
[00:20:25] And at this point in time, the floor is yours, Mr. Cleworth, if you want to further extrapolate some of your thoughts that I'd like to discuss with everybody.
[00:20:34] Jerry Cleworth: I think our city is in a good place compared to what I see outside. I do a lot of research on items before I come into the council meeting. When we talk about staffing, I look at the national statistics on what a city our size should have as far as the number of employees in a police department, a fire department, public works, and throughout the city.
[00:20:59] Um, [00:21:00] that's important, and to see how closely we compare with those other cities. Um, currently, in our fire department we're fully staffed. In our police department, I can't remember ever being fully staffed. It's just the nature of the business. It is hard for any of the police department anywhere to get recruits.
[00:21:21] We're doing all we can. Money only does so much though. And you can do that for a year or two and be the head of the line until your competition catches up with you and the other communities watch very closely what we do. Um, so we have to take care of that. Years ago, uh, We've done some neat things, I think, for the city.
[00:21:45] We have no debt anymore. We paid off the last two bonds we had while I was mayor. Uh, so there, unlike other cities and our federal government, where every dollar you spend, 40 cents goes to debt, you don't lose [00:22:00] any purchasing power of that. Um, that's a real plus. Balanced budgets we have 80s when former mayor Jim Hayes and I put together The ordinance to change the charter to mandate that that happened.
[00:22:16] Believe it or not, you would think that would be common sense. It's not in government. Um, we totally restored Maine, which is a real treasure in Fairbanks, especially for those old people like me who lived to it. And, uh, we did that without any bond money at all. And I apologize for the microphone here. So we've had some neat things happen.
[00:22:45] Uh, our permanent fund we established in the late, uh, 1990s. That's contributed 120 million dollars to the city. Uh, which are tax dollars we do not have to collect from all of you [00:23:00] folks. Or fees we don't have to charge. It's been a great, great help, uh, to, to getting us through the budget cycle each year.
[00:23:09] And we depend upon that. Um, I think I'll stop there.
[00:23:14] Chad Hutchison: Thank you, Mr. Cleworth . And so, with that, uh, we're going to move on to our next, uh, questions, and, uh, this will be a prepared question, and we're going to be hearing first from Ms. Rodriguez this time, with a 60 second response. And the question is, what are you most concerned about for Fairbanks in the coming years that will need to be addressed during your term, and what will you do to address it?
[00:23:38] 60 seconds. 60 seconds.
[00:23:42] Olivia Rodriguez: In three years, you can get a lot done. So it's hard for me to narrow down all the things that I would want to tackle on city council in three years. But I would say that the progression and implementation of Downtown 2040 as the city approves it, not as the borough approves it, is going to be imperative in the next couple of years.
[00:23:59] [00:24:00] Um, since I've been in Fairbanks, people have talked about wanting to make downtown better and we have an 89 page plan that has pretty much a step by step guide. It's not all perfect, but I do think that there are some nuggets in there that we could pull into it and actually contribute to change downtown.
[00:24:15] In order to do that, you need someone who's Interested in new ideas. Interested in doing extra work, which is not something that most people really sign up to do. So you need someone who's excited in there to encourage change. I think that downtown and focusing on downtown, it's the front doorstep of our community.
It should be better and we need someone to be able to focus on downtown and beyond to make Fairbanks better for everyone. Thank you.
[00:24:40] Chad Hutchison: Thank you very much. Same question to Ms. Therrien.
[00:24:43] Valerie Therrien: Thank you very much. Um, the one thing that I am concerned about is the beauty of Fairbanks and our blighted buildings that we have in the community.
I know that the council has been working on that issue. And it costs a lot of money to tear down a building when it's been, um, abandoned by a, um, owner. What we can do is try to work hard with the owners to make sure that they, um, understand that it is their responsibility to clean up the properties so that, um, the, um, homeless people in our community may not want to spend time there.
What we can do to address that is give incentives to the owners. Also spend more time talking to them, um, giving them time to address the issue and making sure that it doesn't take three years to clean up a piece of property, which it does at the present time.
[00:25:47] Chad Hutchison: Very good. Thank you. Mr. Crook.
[00:25:48] Aaron Crook: The thing I'm most concerned about is the out-migration of our residents.
[00:25:56] More and more people are leaving, and that's not what we want to see out of the city. We want people to either be raised here and stay here, or when they move here, stay here. But it's expensive. People don't feel safe, and that's why they're leaving. So what we need to do as a city, is we need to work on cutting crime, and work to make Fairbanks affordable again.
[00:26:22] Jerry Cleworth: I recently shared with you an answer on the pluses of the city, but one of the concerns I do have is we've got a very strong finance committee, and they did a projection of the next couple years, and we have some fiscal problems coming. I think it's going to take a lot of thought how to solve that.
[00:26:47] Might be a combination of things, increased revenues, fees, that sort of thing. Or looking at the budgets and trying to live within a budget in certain departments. Um, contract negotiations [00:27:00] are difficult. That's one of the most important things the council does. That consists of almost all our executive sessions.
[00:27:07] Um, and trying to get contracts that have a funding source, which is required by our code. For the three years that they're going to be in existence. That's very important. We've touched on abatements for many years. It's been very frustrating at the city to have problem properties that we're well aware of that take a lot of our time and resources and not having the necessary legal tools to handle it.
[00:27:33] But we do not have a better system now that we can work with the landowners and hopefully do no abatements and get them to Thank you, Mr. Preworth.
[00:27:46] Chad Hutchison: And so now we're going to go back to, uh, uh, the candidate to candidate questions. And this is for the candidates for seat B. And, uh, first up is, uh, Ms. Thurian.
[00:27:54] And you'll be able to ask a question, uh, for Mr. Crook. And, uh, 30 seconds to, [00:28:00] uh, to ask your question. Uh, Mr. Crook will have 60 seconds to respond. Uh, Mr. Therrien, if you choose, 15 seconds for rebuttal, and Mr. Crook, uh, you get a closing at 30 seconds. So with that, uh, Mr. Therrien, if you have a question for Mr.
[00:28:13] Crook, uh, please.
[00:28:15] Valerie Therrien: There's, uh, quite a few committees on the City of Fairbanks Council that, um, you could apply for. Which legislative committee would you want to serve on?
[00:28:28] Aaron Crook: I, I think it would probably be the Diversity Council, Mr. Therrien. The what? The Diversity Council.
[00:28:39] Valerie Therrien: Um, I had experience, um, with the Fairbanks, um, Permanent Fund Review Board. [00:28:45] I sat on that committee for six years. I've worked with the Legislative Committee for the six years I was on and got a chance to go to Juneau. And all of the committees are important and I, I agree Diversity Council is important. [00:29:00]
[00:29:01] Chad Hutchison: Very good. Mr. Crook, do you have, uh, any closing? I do not. Okay. And with that, uh, now it's your opportunity, Mr. Crook, to ask a question to, uh, Ms. Therrien. Uh, 30 seconds to you, 60 seconds to Ms. Therrien for rebuttal, you have 15 seconds, and then she has a closing. So with that, uh, please ask your question.
[00:29:24] Aaron Crook: Well, since we, since Valerie is an icon in city politics, I don't have anything I can really ask her. So, I'll ask you. Valerie, what's your favorite fare food?
[00:29:33] Valerie Therrien: My favorite fare food? Is, um, the, uh, gyros.
[00:29:44] Any rebuttal? Mr. Crook, do you have a favorite fair food? Aaron Crook: I would have to say the halibut and corn fritters.
[00:29:52] Chad Hutchison: Okay, good, strong choices all the way around. Good, okay. And with that, we have a last call for audience [00:30:00] questions. Please hold them up and have them ready to submit. Moving on to our next question, our prepared question.
[00:30:07] This is beginning with Ms. Therrien. And you have 60 seconds to respond. So recognizing that government can be a tool to meet economic needs, um, What specific policies or recommendations would you propose to address the quality and affordability of housing issues for the city? You have 60 seconds.
[00:30:35] Valerie Therrien: We need to talk with the contractors and find out why at the borough level they were unable to, um, use the, Rebates and incentives that took place at the borough. And, um, it's very important to talk to the builders. and the homeowners to see what we can do to encourage [00:31:00] more building in the community. The military needs more housing.
[00:31:04] Our young people need more housing. And I was just talking to a client today, and for some reason she had housing that was available, and it took her eight months to find someone to, um, Rent or place. So I think that there's, um, some disconnect going on in our community. There is some housing available, but there's still a lot that needs to be done.
[00:31:28] And I think that we can, um, try to encourage our builders to continue to, um, improve our community as best as possible. And one of the ways that we can do this is, um, having the Plaris building be the center.
[00:31:44] Chad Hutchison: Very good. Uh, next we'll go to Mr. Crook.
[00:31:45] Aaron Crook: Well, I agree with Ms. Therrien. I, we need to figure out what the issue is.
[00:31:55] But I, like I said previously, we need to make Fairbanks affordable. This is why I'm excited about the Polaris Building coming down. I see potential there after it's finally gone, that we could put in affordable housing for people. Because it's our job as city council members to help the community, and that would be a giant help to the community and for everyone.
[00:32:27] Chad Hutchison: Recognizing that government can be a tool to meet economic needs, what specific policies or recommendations would you propose to address the quality and affordable housing issues for the city?
[00:32:40] Olivia Rodriguez: Awesome. Thank you. So I think that the city of Fairbanks can be a hub for so many things.
[00:32:45] One of them is permitting and, um, building permits as well. So I think if we're able to streamline the process, because I'm sure those of you who have lived in the city, when you try to remodel your home, it's going Kind of a long process, construction aside, so if we're able to streamline the process to make it easier for the average people, not just builders or people who are able to finance multi-unit housing, um, structures, but for people who live here, if we can make it easier for them to remodel or build, I think that would be really strong.
[00:33:15] So educating people on how building in the City of Fairbanks works and encouraging the building department to be an asset. To new growth as opposed to maybe a deterrent because they, um, could be a little bit more streamlined. Thank you.
Very good. Mr. Cleworth.
[00:33:31] Jerry Cleworth: I think despite a lot of people's opinions, there's a lot of building going on now.
[00:33:40] My daughter and son in law have put up About 80 units inside the city limits in the last five or six years. Before they're even built, they are rented out and have a waiting list for people. The Dixon Apartments was just sold to the hospital for use by the [00:34:00] traveling nurses. And that took a lot of property that has been available off the market.
[00:34:07] There's an incredible demand and I think there's a real opportunity, and I see a bunch of bankers sitting here, uh, for loans to build that property. It would be very economic. Our building department, uh, works well with the contractors, and, uh, you know, guides them along with it, and tries to pave the way, and we try to make it as easy as possible, and still, you know, comply with the, uh, the rules and regs that we have at the city.
[00:34:36] But I'm encouraged by what I see, and I think there'll be a lot more in the near future.
[00:34:41] Chad Hutchison: Thank you. So with that we'll move to, uh, our next question and we're getting close to the end of our prepared questions and we'll get into the audience questions in a, in a few moments. And there's some great audience questions coming in so we appreciate that.
[00:34:54] Uh, this is going to be a, a 60 second response starting with Mr. Cleworth . [00:35:00] And the question is, How do you plan to balance growth with community needs regarding the downtown revitalization plan? And how much should mining be, uh, recognized as part of our city history? 60 seconds.
[00:35:14] Jerry Cleworth: Did you say mining? Mining.
[00:35:16] Okay. There's really only two ways to create wealth. One is mining, and the other is to grow something, or to harvest something. Okay. All the rest of us depend on those who do those two things. Uh, in Fairbanks, I've heard the last statistic was about 50 percent of us work for government. Another 50 percent are in the private sector.
[00:35:41] That's not a real healthy percentage, but that's just the way we are. The military is a great economic driver here. Um, mining is If, if it didn't exist, I'd be out of a job, to be quite blunt, since we sell gold and silver. So we're very dependent on that. Uh, any jewelry shop, anything of that nature. And that's what the tourists come to see, a lot of that.
[00:36:12] They want to see a part of our history. Uh, so I'm very encouraging of that. And, and, we don't have much to do with that inside city, but we sure do in the borough.
[00:36:24] Chad Hutchison: Thank you. Uh, Ms. Therrien?
[00:36:26] Valerie Therrien: Thank you very much. Um, I think mining is one of the most important activities in our community and the Mining Museum is a jewel for the tourists to come see.
[00:36:40] As a matter of fact, when I was married the first time, uh, we did some mining, gold mining, um, and, um, we can, um, continue to grow in the community through the plan, but I think that we need to make sure that mining is recognized. Um, the [00:37:00] discourse that takes place between the borough and the city council sometimes needs to, um, be reconciled, and I hope that's one of the issues that we get to work on. Um, when I'm elected this year.
[00:37:16] Chad Hutchison: Ms. Rodriguez?
[00:37:17] Olivia Rodriguez: Yes, to announce, uh, to address the balancing change with who we are as a community. I think there's a way to encourage growth from the people who are actually engaged in the community and wanting to see that growth. Um, a lot of those people are miners, or as Mr. Cleworth pointed out, are mining related. So I think when you're talking about the town site of Fairbanks and how our origin started there, it is important to include mining because, I mean, how many of you guys have seen the play at Palace Theatre? They talk about mining a lot in the origin of our city. It is an important part, so it should be recognized in how we grow because we have to recognize where we come from in order to have a strong identity as all of us together.
[00:37:57] Aaron Crook: Very good. Mr. Crook. Thank you. [00:38:00] I, I agree with what Mr. Rodriguez said. And that's because mining is part of our history as a city. We were, we're a gold rush town. And it shows that downtown with the recognition to gold mining. And even though it's outside the city, you know, we have Fort Knox. 20, 20 miles outside of town.
[00:38:23] Um, so it's important to. Talk about how gold affected us as a city. I believe that's why we moved as a city of Fairbanks.
[00:38:36] Chad Hutchison: Thank you very much. And so with that, we are going to go to our last candidate to candidate question before we move on to the audience questions. And the yes and no questions. So this is for, uh, Ms.
[00:38:48] Rodriguez. And you're up first for a question for Ms. Therrien. 30 seconds to you to ask your question. Ms. Therrien, you will have 60 seconds for rebuttal. Ms. Rodriguez, 15 seconds, uh, uh, beyond that. And then a [00:39:00] closing, uh, 30 seconds for Ms. Therrien, if you choose.
[00:39:02] Olivia Rodriguez: Thank you. Hi, Valerie. So it's my first time running for office and I'm learning so much about the process.
[00:39:08] I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about the impact of political action committees and if you've taken any political action committee dollars either this year or in previous years.
[00:39:18] Valerie Therrien: Um, yes, I have taken money from political actions committees. I have received some money from the Labor's, um, Union Political Action Committee PAC.
[00:39:31] Chad Hutchison: Ms. Rodriguez?
[00:39:32] Valerie Therrien: Yeah,
[00:39:33] Olivia Rodriguez: and can you tell me a little bit about the impact and how that has in our local elections? And if it could potentially bridge any conflict of interest when you're negotiating on behalf of the city when you receive union dollars?
[00:39:44] Valerie Therrien: Well, um, I don't think that there's a conflict because the mayor and the union negotiates the contract.
[00:39:54] If I had a personal interest in the contract, I would ask that I'd be excused from the vote, but I don't see that as a conflict.
[00:40:04] Olivia Rodriguez: Thank you.
[00:40:06] Chad Hutchison: Thank you. And now, Ms. Therrien, back to you to ask Ms. Rodriguez a question. 30 seconds to you.
[00:40:13] Valerie Therrien: Thank you. Um, I'll ask the same question I asked of Aaron Crook. What committee would you be interested on if elected to the City Council?
[00:40:20] Olivia Rodriguez: I'm so happy you asked me the same question because I really wanted to answer that one. Uh, I think I would personally be on the Discretionary Fund Committee because that is a way for our non-profits, which make our community so strong. I see a lot of you here, um, today. to be able to engage with the city and help with any extra funding that they might need to help make our community better.
[00:40:40] So I would love to play a part on the discretionary fund because that is one of the best ways the city can do to encourage growth and encourage participation from people outside of local government.
[00:40:53] Valerie Therrien: Um, yes, um, I just, um, want to say that giving the opportunity to go to Juneau and lobby for money. For the city is one of the most, um, important things that I've done on the city and working with both, um, Republicans and Democrats in the legislature to bring money home to Fairbanks is really important and I enjoy working on this, uh, the legislative committee.
[00:41:18] Chad Hutchison: And Ms. Rodriguez.
[00:41:21] Olivia Rodriguez: Love that. I hope I get to experience that sometime in the next couple of years.
[00:41:27] Chad Hutchison: Very good. And so with that, uh. I'm going to go to, uh, one more prepared question, then we'll do our yes or no's, then we'll do our audience questions. I'm going to call a little bit of an audible here. Uh, This was originally intended for Mr. McDonald to start, but we're going to start with, uh, Mr. Cleworth instead. And the question focuses on the City of Fairbanks and retirement for employees. Do you support defined benefits, which is not tied to market conditions or defined contributions, which are subject to market conditions similar to a [00:42:00] 401k?
[00:42:01] Please explain why you support your position. Mr. Cleworth.
[00:42:05] Jerry Cleworth: The Defined Benefit Plan went away, um, about roughly 20 years ago. When I was mayor, the deficit in that plan was 12 billion. It currently still sits at 6 billion, even after all these years. There's a fundamental problem with the DB program. It is an absolute legal problem.
[00:42:28] Mandate to pay a retiree a fixed amount of money for the rest of their lives, regardless of the ability of the fund to earn it. And under the state constitution, the deficit that it creates has to be funded by the state, and they pass a lot of that on to us, the municipality. Um, 22 cents for our PERS employees.
[00:42:51] Not all our people are in PERS. That's an outrageous amount of money that we complain about, but about 22 cents, the Tier 4 employee gets 10 cents. The other 12 cents goes to pay off. It is the perfect example of a Ponzi scheme, where we need new money to pay off the debts that we incurred years ago.
[00:43:13] Thank you, Mr. Cleworth. Uh, Ms. Rodriguez.
[00:43:17] Olivia Rodriguez: Yes, um, obviously Jerry's the expert. He said it really, really well. Um, I do think that being able to be competitive as a city is really important, and part of that is being fiscally responsible. So, um, Knowing what happened 28 years ago and knowing that we're still maybe almost halfway through paying that, we have to take that information and make the best decision we can for right now.
[00:43:38] So, I do think Mr. Cleworth said it best. He is the expert in this, um, as far as city finances go. So, I would agree with him.
[00:43:47] Chad Hutchison: Very good. Ms. Therrien?
[00:43:48] Valerie Therrien: Yes, um, there's been a movement in the legislature over the last few years to go back to defined benefit programs. And I think that's one way that we can make sure that our employees stay with us, is to have the defined benefit plan put into place by the legislature.
[00:44:06] It provides, um, an ability to be more competitive. and, um, provide, um, benefits to the individuals that work in our community. I'd hate to, um, see a firefighter spend five years with us and then go somewhere else in the community because they have, in the country, because they have defined benefits. Also, the same with school teachers.
[00:44:32] I think it's really important that we have defined benefits for them as well. And this is an issue that has to be decided by our legislature. Uh, so I would encourage them to look at this and they've been looking at that I think for at least the last four or five years.
[00:44:51] Aaron Crook: Thank you, Mr. Crook So, no, I do not support defined benefits.
[00:44:56] I agree with Mr. Cleworth that it's the definition of a Ponzi scheme. And if you look at the defined benefits bill that was in the legislature, with the current state of the economy, it would break the state. Which means we go into more debt. And that isn't what we want the city to do.
[00:45:18] Chad Hutchison: Thank you all for those answers.
[00:45:20] Uh, so now we're going to go to the period of, uh, this is the yes and no, uh, rapid fire portion of the debate. So you have red and green cards, uh, red is no, green is yes. And I will just ask a series of questions and all you have to do is, is hold up your, uh, card and tell the audience whether you are yes or no.
[00:45:41] Valerie Therrien: Mr. Hutchison, when I was in the audience, it was really hard to see. The colors. If you could maybe tell us who voted what way.
[00:45:50] Chad Hutchison: point well taken and raise them high. So I know sometimes these debates, they're a little squishy when they're saying yes or no, or they kind of flip them like this. I want a yes or no answer if possible.
[00:46:00] So the first one is an easy one and a fun one. Do you own a pair of bunny boots? Yes or no?
[00:46:09] Chad Hutchison: So we have two nos, we have a yes and a yes on the far end. So green yeses on the far end, two nos, red nos, close to me. Uh, the second one, this is, this is the topic of the day in many ways, and this goes to political philosophy and voting philosophy on government.
[00:46:27] Uh, it's a borough issue, but, uh, it's something that's on everyone's mind. So, how do you plan to vote on Proposition 1 in the ordinance establishing maximum allowance allowable tax revenues? A reminder to our audience that a yes vote means the current tax cap will remain in place. A no vote means that it will be modified or negated by the Borough Assembly, which could result in paying more taxes.
[00:46:49] So yes or no? And we have four yeses, one upside down yes. That works though, we understood, okay. [00:47:00] Okay, very good. Number three, are city trash services meeting the needs of the community, yes or no? Yes, we got four green yeses, okay.
[00:47:15] Chad Hutchison: Okay, very good, perfect. Number four, is the city doing enough to attract and retain employees, yes or no?
[00:47:24] Can we put it on? Red no. Maybe.
[00:47:26] Olivia Rodriguez: I know it's a tough one.
[00:47:28] Chad Hutchison: Green yes. Red no. And a red on. It's on. Or no. Okay. Okay, and number 5, do you support the addition of more bike lanes in our streets? For the City of Fairbanks. There's a no, strong no.
[00:47:45] Olivia Rodriguez: In the City of Fairbanks in particular? It's in
[00:47:47] Chad Hutchison: the, bike lanes in our streets, so the City of Fairbanks, that's correct.
[00:47:50] So bike lanes in the City of Fairbanks, we have no's.
[00:47:53] Olivia Rodriguez: Can I do this, because I need more information.
[00:47:55] Chad Hutchison: Yeah, you can, if you choose, but the audience will make a [00:48:00] decision. Okay, alright, very good. Thank you. Okay. With that, let us go to the audience questions. And these are, some of these are very timely. These, these will be, uh, interesting to hear the answers.
[00:48:14] So this is, the first one is for all candidates. Where do you stand on the issue of the Mecca's referral to the ABC board? Do you, uh, to refer or not to refer? And you have, uh, 60 seconds to answer if you choose. So we'll start with, uh, uh, Ms. Stanton.
[00:48:30] Valerie Therrien: Well, actually, the issue is whether or not they would pass on objections to the Mecca Bar's license.
[00:48:37] And I support the Mecca Bar. The, um, issue is whether or not, um, there has been too many complaints. about the Mecca Bar. And over the last few years, there's been, um, six pages of complaints. It's been reduced to 33. And I think that the Mecca Bar does a really good job of trying to [00:49:00] make sure that it's a good business in the community.
[00:49:04] They don't let in inebriates into the building. Um, they have, um, Policies with regard to that, and I think what we need to do is make sure that we have more police presence on 2nd Avenue.
[00:49:18] Chad Hutchison: Okay, thank you. Mr. Cleworth, we'll go with you next.
[00:49:23] Jerry Cleworth: There is a reconsideration filed on the action the council took at the last meeting, so we're going to be addressing this again.
[00:49:33] And, uh, Listening to people on both sides of the issue. There's a lot of hot feelings on this topic downtown. Um, The issues are not in the bar. I think the bar is well run. It's what happens outside. With the businesses that are adjacent to it. And, We're gonna hear what happens outside at that meeting. Um, I'm two doors down from there.[00:50:00]
[00:50:00] And I witness it myself. But, I'm going to keep an open mind. There are other things we can do. It's not a yes and no issue. You can put restrictions on a license. You can talk to owners about possible methodology for improving the situation. There's a lot of options, but we need to have that meeting with everybody there in order to make that decision.
[00:50:23] So
[00:50:25] Aaron Crook: Mr. Cook. I think it needs to be referred to the board. There's been so many calls for different issues surrounding the Mecca Bar, and I think it's finally time that the city does something about it.
[00:50:43] Chad Hutchison: Ms. Rodriguez.
[00:50:44] Olivia Rodriguez: Yes. Um, I think that the situation with the Mecca Bar is good for a lot of things. One, people are obviously very invested in what happens one way or the other. So, getting more community engagement and getting people interested in City Council is a plus. Two, it might have showcased a gap [00:51:00] in our process where we have an opportunity to alert an owner of if their liquor license is up or not.
[00:51:05] Um, that way they can feel like they're more engaged and maybe I do think that this is perhaps an issue of fairness. There are other bars on 2nd Avenue, so that's not an issue. I think the issue is the, um, for instance, we have a law that says you can't smoke on that side of 2nd Avenue. Um, but every time you walk past the Mecca, you can see that there's people smoking on that side of the street.
[00:51:31] So, it's more, um, About asking them to play by the same rules as other liquor serving establishments on that street, too. But I think there's a place where we can hear them, they hear us, and we can all look forward to moving together. Um, so thank you.
[00:51:46] Chad Hutchison: Thank you. So for the next audience question, this will be all candidates, and this will be 60 seconds.
[00:51:52] Uh, starting with Mr. Crook. References have been made regarding the relationship between the city and the Fairbanks Northstar Borough. What would you do [00:52:00] first to help with that relationship once elected? Well,
[00:52:05] Aaron Crook: the first thing we need to make sure is that we can actually communicate with each other. That comes down to making sure that we have a strong Borough Mayor, a strong residing officer, and an assembly that actually wants to listen and pay attention to the City of Fairbanks.
[00:52:19] I think that also includes the plan between the City of Fairbanks, the Borough, and the City of North Poledam that Mayor Pruz worked on, which has been passed for 20 years. It was a good plan. I agreed with the plan, but then the borough assembly wanted more. And so we need to make sure that we can have open communication with each other.
[00:52:41] And while we may have disagreements, we need to figure out how we can fix that and get along and have communication so we can have healthy collaboration between the borough and the city. Thank you. Ms. Rodriguez?
[00:52:54] Olivia Rodriguez: I would love to see a strong relationship between the city and the borough because even though they're two distinctly different governments, they do [00:53:00] overlap quite a bit in certain areas.
[00:53:02] Um, for instance, I know that the city of Fairbanks has a liaison that they send to the borough meetings. I would love to see that returned, to have a borough member attend city council meetings. Because often, myself and a handful of citizens are the only people at, uh, I almost said student council, city council meetings.
[00:53:19] So it would be great to have the borough, um, engage a little bit more. I think that the idea of giving a tax write off for someone who is building would be more effective if it was between the borough and the city. Because when you look at your tax bill, a lot of that is I think it's something like 30 percent or 35 percent of your property taxes goes to the city and no major goes to the borough.
[00:53:41] So we could make stronger policies together if we have a common goal. Um, and part of that, as Mr. Cook mentioned, is being on the same page, having clear paths of communication that don't feel contentious because you're able to share new ideas together.
[00:53:57] Chad Hutchison: Thank you. Ms. Therrien?
[00:53:58] Valerie Therrien: Um, yes, [00:54:00] um, one of the things that you do at the City Council is spend time at the borough as the city representative.
[00:54:07] And we get to do that three times every year. And I think that's a really important, um, Opportunity to encourage the borough and the city to work together. Also, we also spend time with our lobbyists in November December about issues that the city wants to have them work on. It used to be that the borough and the city worked together on that, um, meeting, and I think that if we could have a joint meeting before our lobbyist goes to Juneau, and we're on the same page, I think it's going to help, um, make a better relationship between the city and the borough.
[00:54:51] Jerry Cleworth: Mr. Cleworth . We did have a pretty good relationship up until some years ago. When a former Borough Mayor [00:55:00] got upset with our City Council for making a decision he didn't care for as being a Board of Appeals for the Planning Commission. The City has always been the Board of Appeals, since any of us can remember, from the Borough's inception in 1964.
[00:55:14] But he took that away. He also wanted to take away our ability to name streets. He rethought that, thankfully. Um, last year, the Borough Assembly Including Mr. Cash. I don't know, maybe I had to take off here and thank you very much, Jimmy. Uh, they voted to restore that right back to the city, which is where it should have been.
[00:55:34] It wasn't just the council complaining. It was our public works department and engineering also. Appeals need to come to those who are professionals. They can look at these situations for conditional use permits and things like that. I have a problem with the resolution or the ordinance they passed last year, which limited the council members participation on the council.
[00:55:55] You literally have more rights by going out and sitting in the audience [00:56:00] than you do sitting on the dais up there with them. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Clearworth.
[00:56:05] Chad Hutchison: So, moving on to the next audience question, and we'll start with Ms. Rodriguez. What would your number one priority be with the Alaska State Legislature?
[00:56:15] 60 seconds for this question.
[00:56:17] Olivia Rodriguez: Hmm. That's a really good question. And I feel like being more knowledgeable on it as far as talking to people that already are working within the city, to hear from them directly. Um, I think where I sit right now, I would not be able to answer that without more information.
[00:56:31] Chad Hutchison: Okay. Um, Ms. Therrien?
[00:56:34] Valerie Therrien: Well, I think the number one issue facing the community is education funding, and although it's not a city issue, it certainly helps the quality of our community by having, um, good schools, which will encourage more business and more individuals to come and live in our community. So I think that's our number one priority.
[00:56:59] Jerry Cleworth: Thank [00:57:00] you. Uh, Mr. Cleavers? I think the number one priority is, again, going back to the subject of the Defined Benefit Plan. The plan that's in front of them down there has two major problems that they haven't corrected from the original one. One is what they call the discount rate. That's the rate they hope to earn on that fund, the pay through benefits.
[00:57:22] They're currently looking at 7. 2%. I don't know about you, but I don't know how you can always make, for the rest of your life, 7. 2%. If you go into a recession or depression, You're going to go into debt. They need to fix that if they're serious about a DB program. Also, it's based on the high five years, including overtime.
[00:57:44] It should not be that way because some people make as much at the city in overtime as they do on the base salary. So that greatly skews the program for those who are entitled to overtime. That's one of the main reasons that we went deeply into debt years ago. And they need to [00:58:00] indemnify the cities. If they go back to a DB program, they should indemnify us from any increases caused by that program.
[00:58:08] Aaron Crook: Thank you. Mr. Crook. Well, I think My first priority working at the legislature would be working on cutting crime in Fairbanks because it's a fundamental right for you to feel safe in your home, in your neighborhood. And it is a fundamental right for you to feel safe while you explore your city. You shouldn't live in fear in a town that you grew up in.
[00:58:37] Chad Hutchison: Thank you. And this next audience question is timely, and it's a two part question. We'll start with, uh, Ms. Therrien. This is a 60 second, uh, response, and I'd be happy to give you a little more time to, because this is a multi, uh, question. It says, number one, Are you in favor of city, of the city placing fines upon property owners having vacant buildings?
[00:58:57] And the second part is, Should a property be [00:59:00] deemed a nuisance just because it's vacant? And so I can break that down, uh, if you'd like to start with the first one. Uh, are you in favor of the city placing fines upon property owners having, uh, vacant, uh, buildings? Uh, yes or no? Uh, we can give you 30 seconds.
[00:59:14] Valerie Therrien: I don't think that that's going to help resolve the issue with vacant buildings to put fines in. I think we need more communication. I also, um, think that, um, property is not considered a nuisance just because it's empty. It could be that the, um, property owner is remodeling the property and getting it ready to rent.
[00:59:37] And, um, I think that the whole issue of nuisance properties and abatement is one of the issues that the city is going to face for a long time. And I'm very proud of our mayor working, um, with a contractor to deal with a hotel downtown that burnt.
[00:59:57] Chad Hutchison: Very good. And because that's a two part question, if you want to [01:00:00] expand on that for another 30 seconds, you're welcome to do so.
[01:00:02] Okay. Uh, so next, uh, Mr. Cleworth , same question. Are you in favor of the city placing fines upon property owners having vacant buildings? And should a property be deemed a nuisance just because it's vacant?
[01:00:15] Jerry Cleworth: No, I am not in favor. We had three ordinance that came before us. We passed one of the three and that was on abatements.
[01:00:21] The vacant properties ordinance was postponed. Many of us, I see Count June sitting here and the council members and Lonnie was here. We have a lot of concerns about that and there was a a fine or a fee to be paid for registering those properties with the city? We said no. We want to encourage them to register.
[01:00:43] We want to know what are vacant. And we want to encourage them to come in and give us the rights to go into a building if we need to go in. Currently the process is, if we know that there is a vacant building that has been broken into, or people are living in there, We have to contact the [01:01:00] owner and find wherever they are, and if they're outside of the state, that's difficult.
[01:01:04] Hopefully this makes it a lot quicker for us to respond, and to take immediate action. But that ordinance isn't coming back until December, I think, if I remember right. So we have a lot of time to work on that and make it right.
[01:01:19] Chad Hutchison: Very good. Ms. Rodriguez, do you want me to repeat the question, or would you like to just answer?
[01:01:24] Olivia Rodriguez: Sure, repeat it please.
[01:01:25] Chad Hutchison: Uh, are you in favor of the, the first part, are you in favor of the city placing fines upon property owners having, uh, vacant buildings, and then number two, should a property be deemed a nuisance just because it's vacant? And you have 30 seconds, uh, for each answer, however you, however you choose to answer that.
[01:01:40] Olivia Rodriguez: Awesome, thank you. No, I do not think that just because a building is vacant, that it should be, um, designated as a nuisance property. Being designated as a nuisance property is a very long process, um, if you just have, you know, a Some stuff in your yard, you're not going to be designated as a nuisance property.
[01:01:57] There's a very hardcore checklist that, um, says how [01:02:00] many times did the fire department have to go, how many police calls in the last six months, or six weeks, too. Um, so, being vacant alone does not qualify you as a nuisance property. I do think it's a good idea for the city to be aware of empty buildings, but I do not think the fine is an incentive to report that you're empty.
[01:02:18] Um, The city would like to be aware of empty buildings for safety reasons. Um, you don't want people in your house if you're not in your house, if no one's in your house. Um, so being aware of houses that are vacant, a positive. A fine to let the city aware that they are vacant, not
[01:02:35] Chad Hutchison: a positive.
[01:02:35] Olivia Rodriguez: Thank you.
[01:02:37] Chad Hutchison: And Mr.
[01:02:37] Crook, uh, do you want me to repeat the question or are you ready to answer? Okay. So, I don't
[01:02:44] Aaron Crook: oppose, I mean, I do oppose Putting fines for vacant building on vacant buildings because I think that that will just cause more issues between the city and its residents. And just because a building is [01:03:00] vacant, I don't think it should be declared a nuisance.
[01:03:04] Because, like everyone said, we don't know what's going on with it. It could be a nuisance. Someone about to move in for rent. It could be remodeling. So I don't think it should be considered nuisance just because it's vacant.
[01:03:20] Chad Hutchison: Mr. Crook. So for the next audience question, we're going to start with Mr.
[01:03:23] Cleworth, and you're gonna have 60 seconds to respond. And the question is, Anchorage is publicly beginning the discussion of establishing a special sales tax levy to be dedicated for investments for an economic development and quality of life projects. Thank you, Mr. Crook. Do you support Fairbanks having this same discussion?
[01:03:45] Jerry Cleworth: A general sales tax has been voted on literally ten times by the borough and the city. The answer has always been a resounding no. It carries with it a lot of difficulties. I'm proud of the [01:04:00] city's revenue stream. Um, one of the questions a news minor asked, I went into detail when that article comes out.
[01:04:07] Our property taxes are only about 35 percent of what we collect. We have a lot of different sales taxes, but they're specific ones. Alcohol, tobacco at a wholesale level, gas excise taxes, beds, hotel, you know, bed taxes. Um, they make up a huge part of our budget as well. But a lot of people pushing a sales tax are hoping that that will reduce another one, which for us doesn't do us much good at the city.
[01:04:36] Um, and that usually doesn't happen. We've tracked communities with sales taxes that start at 1 or 2 percent. They only go one direction, and that's up. I've never noticed, and I've done a lot of research on that, one community that ever rolled it back, ever. Thank
[01:04:52] Chad Hutchison: you. Very good. Ms. Rodriguez, we'll go to you.
[01:04:55] Olivia Rodriguez: Thank you. I do think that if the public is interested in something, it's always [01:05:00] worth the discussion. Whether or not that goes all the way through or not, that is a different story. Personally, I do not support a sales tax in Fairbanks because it's permanent. Um, as Jerry pointed out, once you start, you can't exactly stop.
[01:05:12] So I think that if, People want to have the discussion. There's always more information to learn. Open discussions are a key part of our local government. Where I sit right now, I don't think it's a good idea for Fairbanks in particular.
[01:05:25] Aaron Crook: Thank you. Mr. Cook? So, like Mr. Cleaver said, I'm, I'm proud of the revenue stream that Fairbanks has.
[01:05:34] I personally don't support bringing a sales tax to Fairbanks. It's like Mr. Auger said, it is permanent. But like she also said, I'm open to conversations because conversations can help us figure out if we, if this comes up again in the future, it can help us find where we need to compromise at so we can work together.
[01:05:59] Chad Hutchison: Very good. [01:06:00] And Ms. Therrien?
[01:06:01] Valerie Therrien: Um, special sales taxes, um, cause problems in the community. If the borough doesn't have the same sales tax, uh, that the city had, it's going to cause a problem. I'm not in favor of any sales taxes at this time. The community has overwhelmingly voted against them and I don't think a general sales tax is going to work.
[01:06:25] Chad Hutchison: Uh, we have two more audience questions and then we'll move into the closing statements of the candidates. And, uh, Ms. Rodriguez, you will be first on this, uh, audience question. And the question is, homelessness and substance abuse are a challenging problem in Alaska communities. How can the city help address these issues locally?
[01:06:48] You have 60 seconds.
[01:06:50] Olivia Rodriguez: Thank you. Yes, it is a huge question, as I'm sure all the candidates here can agree. We get this question a lot. I think the city has excellent resources. Um, that kind of goes back [01:07:00] to community member education. Um, so, so people know that they have those resources. They have peer to peer support with the homing and housing, homeless and housing coordinator.
[01:07:10] The, um, reentry coordinator. And then, um, Bryn Butler does amazing work over there, too. By actually going and talking to people one on one and letting them know all the resources that are available. So I think that the city can do a better job by better partnering with local nonprofits who have a similar mission.
[01:07:27] So that we're not duplicating efforts. So that when someone at the city is talking about this issue, they can immediately know who would know that answer and call and see how other people can get involved and help. So I think the city has fantastic resources available to it. It might be a matter of looping in more people so that we have a stronger system community wide.
[01:07:48] Aaron Crook: Thank you. Mr. Cook. I think we all agree that homelessness is an issue. In the city. But, [01:08:00] like Mr. Harding said, there are a lot of resources for the homeless individuals in our city. As you know, we have the Fairbanks Rescue Mission, which operates very, very effectively and very, very well. And then also, Hope Link operates a warming shelter during the winter.
[01:08:20] Time to get people so we can get people off the street so they don't freeze stuff, but dives into the negatives here in Fairbanks. So we need to see what we can do as a city to provide resources to those components so we can get people off the streets to where they can live, where they can get something to eat and be warm and not freeze.
[01:08:44] Thank you,
[01:08:45] Chad Hutchison: Ms. Therrien.
[01:08:46] Valerie Therrien: Yes, the city through its grants proposals has provided quite a few individuals that work on this issue at the city. We have a crisis now coordinator, a housing and homeless [01:09:00] coordinator, and a re entry coalition coordinator. And they have, um, Helped over hundreds of people find homes in the community, and I think that we are confident that we're going to find a warming shelter for the individuals that don't have a home during the wintertime.
[01:09:19] It's, it's crucial that we find this. And I also think, um, the of the emergency services patrol has to be funded, whether or not we can get the legislature to give us some money, um, in the, in the near future in January, we hope that that could happen. We also have extra funds from the bed tax money because bed tax Funds have increased significantly and maybe we could look to that to help make sure that the emergency services patrol gets funded.
[01:09:53] If not, we're going to have to go ahead and, um, change the parameters on the contract proposal. [01:10:00]
[01:10:00] Jerry Cleworth: Thank you. And Mr. Cleworth . As a community, we have to take, we have to have a basic safety net for people. That consists of the food bank and the rescue mission and Mr. Coghill, thank you for your work there. The rescue mission also has been providing us people for cleaning up the downtown area.
[01:10:19] You see him out there doing that. And when we did removal of some of the homeless camps, they helped with that. Um, you've heard from others here about the resources that we have at the city. Those are resources we've never had before. Uh, and we're taking advantage of that. Uh, the homeless coordinator works with people individually on identifying housing that's available for them.
[01:10:45] I, I'm on Second Avenue. I work with a lot of homeless people. I see them daily. Uh, as they share with me their needs and what they're hoping for. So one of the main problems is some of them simply do not [01:11:00] want to avail themselves of some of the facilities that we have. They don't want to be, have any kind of restrictions.
[01:11:07] And that is hard for me to convince them they really should seek shelter and work actively to do so. Thank
[01:11:13] Chad Hutchison: you, Mr. Cleworth . So, uh, last question, one of the most important things that the City Council does, this is about budget. Uh, we've been orbiting this, this, this discussion. So this is a little more detailed.
[01:11:24] Uh, Mr. Kirk, you will be first. What are your budget priorities for our city? What are the areas that you want to cut, preserve, or add funding to? You have 60 seconds.
[01:11:34] Aaron Crook: I think the main part of the budget that I would want to add funding to is for law enforcement and for those who help our community. I would have to take a deeper look at the budget than what I've looked at before I made decisions on what I would want to cut.
[01:11:55] Chad Hutchison: Thank you. Mr. Aaron.
[01:11:57] Valerie Therrien: Thank you. Um, I've had the opportunity [01:12:00] to work on a lot of budgets and my priority would be to make sure that we have enough personnel to fill the duties that the city provides. Government is really basic. It's garbage pickup, it's um, firefighters, it's police officers, it's public works, making sure that our sidewalks are clean so that individuals can walk on them in the wintertime.
[01:12:26] I would, um, like to maybe add some more, um, firefighters emergency, um, Paramedics to the budget if we can afford it, because the overtime is just so expensive as we've seen just recently in the newspaper.
[01:12:43] Jerry Cleworth: Thank you, Miss Clearwater. I've worked on a lot of budgets and created a lot of them at the city.
[01:12:51] Well, Mayor, My first priority is always to take care of the basics. And I tend to focus, as I said earlier, on public works. [01:13:00] We have to have those people that you see every day with garbage pickups, simple things like that. They have to be taken care of. We have to have the mechanics to fix the police cars, to fix the ladder truck when it goes down.
[01:13:14] To fix the garbage truck when it's not running. If you don't have those people, we can't provide services elsewhere in the city. So you take care of the basics first, you see what you have left, and you expand out from that. Um, that's important, and it's, it seems like a simple concept, but it's, it's not totally embraced by a lot of people sometimes.
[01:13:36] They have very different focuses on what we should do. But, um That's been kind of my history on how I look at a budget and try to live within them. Ms. Rodriguez.
[01:13:50] Olivia Rodriguez: The city of Burbank has the luxury of having a really, really set of diverse income streams. So, luckily, Part of our charter is having a balanced budget year after year.
[01:13:59] So, [01:14:00] as far as cutting, I think the city of Fairbanks already runs a really, really tight ship, and they're already doing a great job. If I were able to add funding, I would want to look at dispatch in particular, because our police officers are doing an amazing job, but the people who pick up that first phone, they're also very important, and they're often overlooked.
[01:14:18] In order for us to be a stable city, we have to be able to rely on our public works, too. I'm sure you guys remember a couple years ago, when we were having some issues. And a new snow plowing downtown. Now that has been resolved, it's easier to get downtown, it's easier for people to engage in local businesses to help our economy go.
[01:14:34] So I think that if the City of Fairbanks budget is as solid as it is right now, I think that it might be worth looking at our support staff to make sure that they feel as appreciated as the people that you think of off the top of your head right away when you think of city operations.
[01:14:51] Chad Hutchison: Very good. And with the interest of time, uh, what we're going to do is move to our closing statements.
[01:14:56] Uh, each candidate will have one minute. We'll start with Mr. Crook. [01:15:00] And, uh, pitch yourself to the voters of the City of Fairbanks. Uh, make your best case and why should, uh, the voters vote for you? One minute.
[01:15:09] Aaron Crook: Okay. Thank you to the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce for hosting this important forum. And thank you to the Westmark Group for providing the venue.
[01:15:19] It's been a great opportunity to share my vision for this city. Fairbanks is a place with incredible potential. And I see a future where streets are safer, our local businesses are booming, and more people choose to raise their families and retire right here. I want to ensure that Fairbanks grows into a city where we can All prosper where opportunity is abundant and where we build a community that we are proud to call home.
[01:15:50] I humbly ask for your vote on October 1st to help make this vision a reality. Thank you for all coming and [01:16:00] thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Miss Rodriguez.
[01:16:05] Olivia Rodriguez: I think Fairbanks is at a really, really important crossroads right now. There are a lot of different directions we can go, and there are perhaps some directions we should have gone a couple years ago.
[01:16:14] I think it's a time for someone who's excited about the city, um, all parts of the city. Someone who has the energy to do the 7 a. m. finance meetings, to do the very long city council meetings, and someone who's excited about Fairbanks potential. We've had leaders who have served extremely well in the past.
[01:16:31] And it's time for the next generation to stand up and take our spot in that. I humbly ask for your vote on October 1st, because I think that I'm the best person for the job. A lot of you guys know me professionally, and you guys can probably attest that I care, I work hard, and I always deliver. So please vote, no matter who you're voting for, early voting has already started.
[01:16:51] So, but please don't forget to vote on October 1st, to have your vote. Thank you.
[01:16:56] Jerry Cleworth: Thank you. Mr. Cleworth . Thank you. [01:17:00] Um I bring to the table a lot of institutional knowledge, and I'd just like to share one story with you on that. Years ago at a finance committee meeting, there was discussion going on, and I could see the chief financial officer was upset with me.
[01:17:18] And I said, what's the matter? He said, well you keep talking about balanced budgets. There's no requirement for that in our code. Or in our charter. I said, yes there is. And the city attorney sitting there is saying, no, there isn't. So we all walked down the city clerk's office. I, I showed them the year in which the voters actually put that into the charter, but somehow it had magically just disappeared.
[01:17:43] And none of us could ever figure out how that happened. You need to have some institutional knowledge. I'm really available. I am on 2nd Avenue. I'm there 9 hours a day. I have people from all walks of life that come in and tell me what I should be [01:18:00] doing and what I'm not doing. Um, and I think they appreciate having that availability.
[01:18:05] Thank you. Thank you. And Ms. Therrien.
[01:18:08] Valerie Therrien: Yes, thank you very much to the chamber and all the audience for listening to us. We need leaders who are going to propel us forward in a positive way. I have deep roots in this community. I have experience and I know how to hit the job running. Um, I know how the city departments work.
[01:18:27] Um, and I have shown through my past service that I work hard for our community. I recognize the wishes of both sides of an issue and I work hard to reach common ground. I'm excited about the economic potential of the Polaris building becoming a focal point of revitalization of downtown. With retail space, housing for our community, restaurants, and even maybe a courtyard, either, um, so that we [01:19:00] can, uh, enjoy the sunshine, or maybe an arboretum at the top of the Polaris building.
[01:19:05] Fairbanks is experiencing a growth in business and I'd like to be able to work with them to encourage them to continue to stay in our community. I would appreciate your vote. Thank you.
[01:19:19] Chad Hutchison: Thank you. And before we conclude, I want to thank you all for joining us today. We appreciate the candidates time and insights, their experience, their perspectives.
[01:19:30] And we appreciate the thoughtful questions that came from the audience. Those were, those were good. They were timely. Your participation is vital to our democratic process and shaping our community's future. As we progress, I encourage everyone to reflect on the ideas and perspectives that were brought forward and shared today.
[01:19:47] Remember, your vote is your voice and every voice matters. Let's continue to stay informed and involved in our local governance and please be sure to vote on October 1st. And please join me in one final round of applause for all these [01:20:00] candidates who had the courage to raise their voice.
KUAC appreciates corrections to typos in the above transcription.