Interviews were held Wednesday evening with the five qualified candidates interested in serving the remainder of the term for the open City Council seat in Ward 5, which will be up for election on the November ballot. Residents in Ward 5 conducted the interviews. Five candidates were interviewed, Casey Anderson, Kari Howey, David Hennings, Bob Johnson, and Joe Kresl.
The eleven-member interview committee quickly narrowed their selection down to two candidates, Kresl and Anderson, before voting 8 to 3 to recommend Kresl to fill the vacancy created by the appointment of Dale Stainbrook to Mayor. Interim City Administrator Angel Weasner said the recommendation of Kresl would be brought to the City Council on Monday, February 24. “The committee recommended, the majority vote, for Joe Kresl,” said Weasner. “He will be recommended to the City Council on Monday night to be the Ward 5 representative. We had 11 committee members who participated in the event tonight, and we appreciate each one of them for their hard work and decision-making skills. (The candidates) did a great job. It was nice to hear their comments and thoughts on the council member position and what they would like to see in the community.”
Brandon Plante wasn’t able to interview due to state statute requiring anyone who holds office in Minnesota has to be at least 21 years of age explained Weasner. “There was one who was not of the correct age to participate and hold office at this time,” said Weasner. “Hopefully, the person will continue to pay attention to politics and run again in a couple of years when they are eligible.”
Each of the candidates spoke about why they were interested in serving out the remainder of the term. Anderson said that she felt it was a good time to engage younger people in government and city politics. “I think now is a good time to throw my name out there and take advantage of a learning experience that can be used to help benefit the community moving forward,” said Anderson. “And help engage younger people in our government, city politics and things like that. So, I’m just excited to see what can happen.”
Howey spoke during her interview about the crime and drugs she sees in the ward. She said she was interested in the position because the crime in Ward 5 and the burden being placed on the taxpayers by the court proceedings need to be addressed. “I’ve lived in Ward 5 for about seven years,” said Howey. “We’ve fixed up two houses in the ward. I’m here tonight because I’ve discovered that one of the crime families in Ward 5 that we’ve had problems with in the past has spent almost $700,000 in taxpayer money on probation and incarceration. I’m here today because one, I’d like to see it end. I think the city needs to step up; that we need to abate some of these properties. And that they need to work with the county and work with the police to create a safer place for all the citizens in Ward 5. I’m just mad as hell. I had no idea until I started working with the data, how many crimes were committed. Eighty-five crimes, how much is this costing the people of the State of Minnesota. It’s just unreal, and it’s a revolving door of crime that needs to be shut in our neighborhood, and I’m just pissed.”
Johnson said he believes everyone should get involved at some time, and he figured the short amount of time left in the term was a good time to see how things went. “I think everybody should get involved some time,” said Johnson. “I ran a few years ago, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to find out on the short-term how this would go over. I had a few people come and bug me about doing it, so that put it over the top.”
Hennings said he asked himself a lot why he wanted to run for the open Ward 5 seat, and the answer was to be active and bring something positive to the community. “That’s a good question, I asked myself that a lot going into it,” said Hennings. “I guess everything I’ve done professionally has been service-oriented jobs, whether it was education, coaching, real estate, or whatever. I thought this was a way I could be active in the community and, hopefully, bring something positive to the council.”
Kresl, who currently chairs the Crookston Planning Commission, said he’s been watching how things have been going and thought it was his time to step in to try to do the best for Crookston. “I’m a lifelong resident of Crookston,” said Kresl. “I’m on the Planning Commission, and I’ve been sitting back and watching how things are going. I thought it was my time to step in and try to do the best there is for Crookston.”
