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Council candidates appear at Coffee with a Cop
McCOOK, Neb. — Four candidates vying for three seats on the McCook City Council gathered at the Bieroc Café Tuesday for the Gazette’s monthly “Coffee with a Cop” meeting. The fifth candidate, Bill Longnecker, was out of town and unable to attend.
Political newcomers Bruce Baker and Jared Muehlenkamp joined with incumbents Mike Gonzales and Gene Weedin to discuss their reasons for running for office and what they would like to get accomplished if elected. They also outlined what they perceived as the biggest challenges facing the city in the upcoming years.
Muehlenkamp told the gathering that he grew up in McCook, and then moved away. When he was living in Los Angeles, he realized that McCook was a great community and decided that he wanted to move back. “The reason I’m running for city council is because I’m hoping to bring a young perspective to McCook.” Jared said he hoped that his running would encourage others of his generation into politics, or to get involved in the community in some facet. “I’m lucky to be here, it’s a great place. I’m going to be here for the next 30 to 40 years, if not longer, so I want to have an impact on McCook in some sort of way.”
Jared said that encouraging young people to come to McCook to live and spend money was a top priority. “They spend a ton of money. If we can increase people coming to McCook, living in McCook, and attract people, the growth of McCook will then take care of itself on the tax side.”
He said that technology is an important piece that will help keep businesses competitive and bring new business to town. High-speed fiber optic internet access is available in McCook now, but the problem is the high cost, according to Jared. “We need to figure out a way [to provide fiber] at a cheaper expense for all consumers to use.”
Bruce Baker would like to see more transparency in city government. “I think a lot of our policy is formed behind doors and in secret, and I hope to be an advocate against that,” Bruce said. He went on to say that he did not think that everything the city is doing had a “nefarious intent”, but that “there are a lot of things that I think people should be more aware of”.
Baker worked as the city reporter for the Gazette prior to transferring to the Gazette advertising department in January. “I’ve attended more City Council meetings than all but two of the active City Council members, and I hope to bring that experience to the other side of the table and continue to work to be an advocate for the citizens of McCook.”
Baker acknowledged that sales tax is a “phenomenal tool for economic development to better the community”. He is concerned about the city’s budget, stating that he believes there is a huge cushion built into the budget year after year. “The revenues for the general fund and reserves are already where they need to be, but they continue to grow the general fund reserve. Over the next five years, it will be very important that we have city council members strong enough to ask questions, demand answers, and continue to stay on it.”
Baker felt that the city should have addressed the swimming pool issue the same way the municipal building was addressed. “With the city building, there was money put aside so we were able to pay it off in seven years. We’ve known for decades that the pool is a problem, yet we’ve spent down our swimming pool reserves. This year, I believe it went up by $20,000. For the first time, I think in years, I’ve seen a budget where there was some money added to a pool reserve. Even though we know this is a problem and a huge expense we’re going to have.”
Gene Weedin, a retired teacher who taught at McCook Junior High School for sixteen years, said that he really enjoyed living in McCook and he wants to give back to the community. “There are many things that we [the city council] have accomplished, but there are things that we have not yet, and I want to see those things accomplished.” He listed three things that he would like to prioritize in the approaching years.
First, he thinks the city budget will continue to be a challenge. “We need to continue to be as frugal as possible with taxpayers’ money. Taxpayers are paying a great share of the general fund and we have to look for additional sources of revenue.” As an example of one of those additional sources, Weedin cited the occupation tax on motels rooms, which he says will provide an additional $100,000 for the city this year, with more next year after the completion of the Holiday Inn Express.
Secondly, Weedin said that the city needed to look at annexation to the city. “It’s been on the back burner, but in the next few years, we need to look at where McCook can grow, both commercially and residentially.”
Weedin also said that McCook should continue to develop and prosper as an economic hub for Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas. “How can we attract businesses to main street McCook and also to the industrial park?”
McCook Mayor Mike Gonzales will have served on the city council for nine years in November. He has also served on the McCook School board of education. “When I started this, the reason was simple. This is my hometown, I was born and raised here, our family has a tradition of service to the community, and I’m carrying on what Dad started.”
Gonzales told those attending, “I’m not a politician,” to which one member of the audience later joked after reviewing the public offices he has held, “You may be in denial.”
Gonzales had several priorities for the upcoming years. The aging swimming pool was first on his list and he felt that the retirement of debt on the city municipal building would allow council to make a determination on the best way to move forward on the pool. He also said the council will need to determine the best future use for Memorial Auditorium. “When you look at how many events are held there, the space is very important to the community.” Gonzales said that at a minimum, the council should find way to add a kitchen facility to the building. “That would help immensely.”
As McCook’s motel capacity grows, Gonzales said that ball-park improvements will become more important. “With increased motels, tournaments can grow more, which brings more people to town.”
Gonzales said that keeping quality city staff is also a priority. He said that McCook has about 78 city employees, compared to York that has 106. “We have long-term staff dedicated to our city and they work hard. In order to keep them, we’re going to have to have salaries that are competitive.” Gonzales, who is the executive director of the Ed Thomas YMCA, said that hiring and keeping employees is a challenge for many businesses throughout Nebraska.
Gonzales responded to Baker’s contention that city business was conducted behind closed doors. “Our job is to come to council meetings prepared to vote and know what the issues are. That doesn’t necessarily mean we will do all the discussion there. We’ve already had the discussion. We heard the pros and cons and we are prepared. We do three readings.”
Gonzales went on to explain that council members spend about an hour at council meetings, but “that isn’t the only hour we spent that week for council business. We also work on other committees – the chamber, MEDC, ACE. We get a lot of input from a lot of different places before we make decisions.”
The election is November 6th. Three of the five candidates will join current city council members Janet Hepp and Jerry Calvin. Current city councilman Bruce McDowell did not run for re-election.