Starting today, the Austin Daily Herald will be running a series of articles that hopefully help area residents make informed decisions on primary election day, which is Aug. 10. Two city races — mayor and City Council Ward 3 — currently have more than two competitors, meaning they will be part of the primary process, which will whittle the respective lists down to two. The Herald sent questionnaires to the three Third Ward challengers and the four mayoral candidates. From now until Friday, the Herald will publish what the candidates had to say, with one response per race running each day. Feedback and discussion are encouraged, as both are vital to a healthy democratic process.

Gordon Anderson, mayoral candidate

Q. Facing budget problems, the state has decreased Local Government Aid in recent years. How should the City of Austin deal with reduced LGA funding and should it reduce its reliance on LGA funding? If so, to what degree?

A. My opinion is that the city of Austin should live within its means. The city must not spend more money than it takes in. I believe that the city in the past has spent money because it was there. Biking and hiking trails are nice but not as important as rebuilding roads and bridges. It is always a good idea to ask people what they need, not what the mayor and the council thinks the people want.

Q. If the city needed to make emergency budget cuts while you were mayor, what specific cuts would you make?

A. I would cut those items that are not real services, which the city doesn’t need to provide to the people. I would like to hear from the people of Austin on where cut should be made. The citizens’ ideas are very important to me.

Q. The city has a new fire chief and, soon, a new police chief. How should the mayor and council collaborate with these new department heads to make sure their departments operate effectively?

A. Each department head should be given complete control over the department he or she is in charge of. The mayor and council must supervise and review how the department is functioning. Is its operation at the standard of quality the people of Austin expect?

Q. Immigration — both legal and illegal — is an issue in Austin. What policies, if any, would you change? And what, if anything, would you do to address workers being employed with fraudulent identification?

A. Immigration has been a problem for many years in Austin and the in nation. In Arizona, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting Arizona from enforcing key parts of Arizona state immigration law known as Arizona SB1070. She wrote, “The federal government must take the lead on deciding how to enforce (immigration law).” The state of Arizona has filed an appeal with the U. S. Ninth Appellate Court. Regardless of who wins, the opinion will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is possible the U.S. Supreme Court could make a decision within a year. I, as mayor, will enforce the decision of the U. S. Supreme Court and Minnesota laws that are enacted to enforce the court’s opinion.

Q. A large lot remains vacant downtown following the 2009 fire. What, if anything, should the city do to facilitate redevelopment of the property?

A. This is a question I don’t have all the information about to make a good decision. I would like to know what the owner’s position is. What can the City legally do with the property? What would other people like to see done with this land on Main Street?

Q. What role should the city play in redeveloping the vacant retail spaces such as the former KMart and CashWise sites, as well as others along 18th Ave. NW?

A. I have a lot of questions about both the CashWise and Kmart sites. What do the owners plan to do with these buildings? Are they to be torn down with new buildings built? Are there going to be new tenants in the buildings? Are they to be sold to a new owner? Are the buildings going to become vacant eyesores? I would like to see new tenants or owners use the buildings for manufacturing concerns.

If the owners plan to allow these buildings to become vacant eyesores, I will do what I can to change that status, with whatever legal powers the city has to correct the problem. One idea is to tax them at their full market value. This would be the same tax rate as if they were a fully operating retail store.

I have talked to several people who have worked in the Oak Park Mall and now rent elsewhere in the city. They’ve informed me that the rent was too high for them to have a business located in the Oak Park Mall. I suggest that the owner have realistic rental fees as like property in the Austin area. If not, he should pay real estate tax as if the property were 100% rented.

Q. Why do want to be mayor?

A. I believe that I can do better than what has been done in the past to move the city of Austin into the future. I know that many of the ideas tried in the past have failed. I will put into action new ideas and concepts that will improve the lot of the average person living in Austin. I do listen to other people’s ideas and many times find their ideas are better than what I had believed.

Q. What skills do you have that you think are unique and make you stand out as a candidate?

A. I have a family history in Minnesota which goes back before the revolutionary war. I was born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1942. I attended grade schools in Duluth and Zumbrota, Minnesota. I graduated from John Marshall High School, Rochester, Minnesota in 1962. I attended Rochester Junior College for one year. I retired and relocated to Austin in August of 2003. In 2005, I returned to college at Riverland College. I have earned over one hundred college credits and earned an AA degree.

I learned the printing trade and was a working supervisor for over twenty years. My last four years were as the second and third shift plant manager. At this position I was responsible for the operation of the entire plant and all production during the second and third shifts.

I believe because I have worked in and supervised people in the real world of industry and commerce. I have more experience working with people than one who has never been a supervisor or has never had to worry about deadlines in real world production. I needed the support of many types of people to meet the production goals of a company in business to make a profit.

Q. What other issue or issues are important to you as a candidate, and what policies do you favor in these areas?

Other issues include: making our downtown a very vibrant and exciting area of the city again. Find merchants and other entrepreneurs to start businesses in any of the many rehabbed buildings on Main Street. Make our entire city more accessible and inviting to all people. Austin should be very proud of our many diverse cultures. Their ethnic cultures, customs, dance, and food should be celebrated by all downtown, allowing all people, including children, to enjoy, have fun, and understand other people.

John P. Martin, Third Ward incumbent

Q. Facing budget problems, the state has decreased Local Government Aid in recent years. How should the City of Austin deal with reduced LGA funding and should it reduce its reliance on LGA funding? If so, to what degree?

A. The old ways of operating government are changing whether we like it or not. Other council members roll their eyes at me when I say that. Some city leaders and council members think we should return to “business as usual.” This is exactly the attitude Austin does not need to continue with. We need to look at LGA as something we’re lucky to have, but never view it as an entitlement or think that it will go on forever at the same funding level. Realize no matter which party is elected to the Governors’ office, LGA most likely will not return to the level we’ve seen in the past. We should prioritize the most important services that would benefit the most people, and also develop an improved evaluation process for efficiency within each department. I believe Austin has the best finance director in the whole state. I believe we should utilize his expertise more often.

Q. If the city needed to make emergency budget cuts while you were on council, what specific cuts would you make?

A. Since a large portion of Austin’s budget is employee wages and benefits, and we have eight different bargaining units to negotiate with, it is in the best interest of the city and the unions to ensure Austin is financially stable. If an emergency budget cut were necessary, it would be wise to negotiate temporary changes in contracts. Always encourage our employees to search for grants. I also would like to take this opportunity to say if a citizen becomes aware of a grant opportunity to please contact the city. Another area that could be cut in an emergency would be what the League of MN Cities calls “service creep monies.” This is funding for non-essential services. Some of this funding is viewed as a sacred cow & untouchable.

Q. The city has a new fire chief and, soon, a new police chief. How should the mayor and council collaborate with these new department heads to make sure their departments operate effectively?

A. I firmly believe we hired the best person to operate the fire department. I believe our great firefighters have already developed a fantastic working relationship with our new chief and that is a HUGE factor in effective operations! This is one of the most positive changes Austin has seen in a few years. Now that the new police chief has been selected, I hope they can hit the ground running as the fire department has. Our city administrator has indicated to the city council that we should not have a lot of contact with the new department heads. I disagree with him. I don’t want to seem unapproachable, and I don’t want them to be unapproachable.

Q. Immigration — both legal and illegal — is an issue in Austin. What policies, if any, would you change? And what, if anything, would you do to address workers being employed with fraudulent identification?

A. First & foremost it is a complicated issue that the federal government has ignored. In the big picture, BIG BUSINESS benefits from that type of policy and who gains profits from that? BIG BUSINESS. However, so do POOR FAMILIES from many other countries like Guatemala, Nicaragua, etc. Austin must not make the same mistakes Arizona and Nebraska are making. I believe in the near future we must implement finger printing and eye retina scanning, then cross reference with Social Security numbers. The federal government needs to streamline the immigration process.

Q. A large lot remains vacant downtown following the 2009 fire. What, if anything, should the city do to facilitate redevelopment of the property?

A. Austin does not currently have the funding to inject into that project. This could be a great way for citizens and some departments to come together and get murals painted on the walls.

Q. What role should the city play in redeveloping the vacant retail spaces such as the former KMart and CashWise sites, as well as others along 18th Ave. NW?

A. Austin needs to streamline all the economic development players that are currently in place. We know we most likely are not going to hit the home run and get an employer of, say, 100 plus employees. There is true growth potential in small business from the start-up to the currently operating small business. One of my pet peeves is people who never plan for the future “what-ifs.” I tried to bring that fact to the jail process when they thought they needed “x” amount of space for the courthouse & “x” amount of space for parking. So, to be honest with you, I don’t know what to do with the CashWise & KMart buildings…more jail space?

Q. Why do you want to be on council?

A. Four years ago I started working on one of the most swept under the rug issues in our city. Some citizens, employees, and myself continue to strive for a positive change. Two years passed, new council members were elected, enabling more change. But there is still more change needed. I cannot tolerate our city being run in the “good old boys club” fashion. I prefer no cover-ups, just straight forward truth and honest hard work at trying to achieve the lost accountability within Austin’s city government. Transparency in government is very important to me.

Q. What skills do you have that you think are unique and make you stand out as a candidate?

A. I am a working class resident from Austin. My family is here. I tell it like it is, which doesn’t always go over that great with the rest of city council.

Q. What other issue or issues are important to you as a candidate, and what policies do you favor in these areas?

A. I would really like to see more citizens attending council meetings. I believe I am the biggest proponent of that at council meetings. There recently have been changes made regarding citizens input. I voted against the changes because I believe they discourage people from participating freely. Improvements still need to be made in that area. The bottom line is we need much, much, much more input from citizens. I get a lot of calls from my Third Ward constituents. I appreciate it because otherwise things get slid under the rug.