By Kari Lucin, staff writer

The four Albert Lea mayoral candidates at Thursday&8217;s forum wanted to bring business, industry and people, especially young people, to Albert Lea, but the men have different ideas on how to do it.

After giving a three-minute opening statement, candidates had one minute each to answer questions posed by Albert Lea Tribune editor Tim Engstrom and KATE radio news director Steve Oman. The Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce helped organize the event.

Spectators of the forum sat in the squeaky chairs of the City Council chambers to listen. Some of the questions came from the audience, with many high-schoolers attending the forum for class credit.

One question asked the candidates for their thoughts or ideas for increasing recreational activities for young adults.

&8220;I&8217;ll agree that we have a large void for the teen population. We don&8217;t have a lot for them to do currently, that&8217;s what I feel,&8221; said Randy Erdman, a salesman and city councilor. &8220;Possibly with the development of the downtown, there might be something a little more trendy. And I think we should try to involve the young people a little bit more so that they do want to stay here.&8221;

Other candidates weren&8217;t so sure there was a problem.

&8220;There&8217;s so much to do in Albert Lea. My children tell me all the time &8216;Dad, there&8217;s nothing to

do,&8217; and I look in their rooms and they&8217;ve got TVs and video games, and I looked at them and said &8216;You need to use your imagination; that&8217;s all we had to play with when we were kids,&8217;&8221; said George Gillespie, local business owner. &8220;There&8217;s so much to do for the young, you just need to open your eyes and see it.&8221;

Rex Stotts, a semi-retired business operator and truck driver, had a different take on the issue.

&8220;I think we have a good park system in place right now, we have the City Arena, the skateboard park seems to be in use quite a bit of the time. I think we need to be on the lookout for new things and new ideas to bring to Albert Lea for the young people,&8221; Stotts said. &8220;I do think we have a good system in place, I think probably we need to expand on that.&8221;

John Cook, a 15-year veteran of the Army, Army Reserves, National Guard and Coast Guard Reserves, said he was happy to see the youth turn out for the forum.

&8220;We have a significant number of parks here, we have areas where they can skateboard. I think one of the areas that would work well is something along the lines of a BMX dirt track,&8221; Cook said.

&8220;About the only place that kids can hang out here is the Rock, and that closes early.&8221;

Cook also spoke about the possibility of turning a downtown building into a youth center, with pool and Foosball tables, that would be open later.

Character traits

Candidates were also asked what their strongest character traits were.

&8220;You ask me a question, I&8217;ll tell you the truth. I try to be likable, I try to like people. I don&8217;t dislike anyone, there&8217;s some people I&8217;d rather not be around, but for the most part, I get along with everyone pretty well,&8221; Gillespie said.

Erdman believed his patience was his strongest character trait.

&8220;I can be very patient and persistent. I can also be very forgiving, and agree to disagree,&8221; Erdman said. &8220;In this business, you have to grow a thick skin, because half the people think you don&8217;t know anything.&8221;

Cook cited the importance of his years of military experience in forming his own persistent character.

&8220;I had so many people that told me no, we can&8217;t do this. They found out I can&8217;t take no for an answer,&8221; Cook said, adding that he had to work with a wide variety of people very closely. &8220;I don&8217;t believe no is the answer for whether this city can grow, and I won&8217;t take no for an answer if I&8217;m elected.&8221;

Stotts said he has plenty of common sense, an ability to look at an issue from both sides and can make intelligent decisions.

&8220;I tend to look for results. I&8217;m more prone to be optimistic and look at the better side of things rather than look at the darker side of everything,&8221; Stotts said.

Past efforts to improve Albert Lea

Not all the candidates had previous experience in government, but they were asked about any efforts they had made to improve the city and about what organizations they had been a part of.

Stotts said he was involved with the Moose Club and has in the past been involved with youth baseball and youth hockey.

Cook is a member of Moose Club and the Minnesota Historical Society, and believes his historical interest would be an advantage in the downtown renovations.

Gillespie has donated time and money to a cancer research fund and is a member of the Eagles and the Minnesota Mayflower Society.

Erdman referred to being a City Councilor, a member of Destination Albert Lea and noted he&8217;d been involved with the Port Authority before it was spun off from the city government.

Development

All the candidates agreed that Albert Lea needs to attract new businesses and invest in development.

Cook said Albert Lea had suffered for over 30 years from declining population and said Albert Lea couldn&8217;t survive unless it brought in new businesses.

Gillespie wanted to take a look at developing the area around Exit 8 on I-35 and said reducing the tax base now would not be a good idea.

Erdman said he believed investing in the I-35 corridor and making the city entrances more attractive would help.

Stotts emphasized the need to bring in new businesses while maintaining working relationships with existing businesses to help them grown.

Bringing businesses to Albert Lea

How to bring businesses to Albert Lea was a trickier question to answer.

Gillespie wanted to use his connections to the University of Minnesota to try to bring technology industries to the city.

Erdman said becoming a more attractive community would attract businesses.

Cook said he believed it only takes one large name-brand business to locate in a town to garner attention for the town.

Stotts said he wanted to work closely with the Economic Development Agency and the business center and investigate the possibility of making Albert Lea a wireless city.

The old Farmland site

Candidates were asked what they felt should happen to the old Farmland site.

&8220;They&8217;re still monitoring for pollution issues down there,&8221; Stotts said. &8220;I&8217;m told that possibly they&8217;re close to finishing up on that. In the meantime I would like to see at least some landscaping done.&8221;

Cook wanted to get the community involved in the process, and said a band shell in that location might draw people into the city.

Gillespie wanted the city to join the area to the Blazing Star Trail and create a river walk.

Erdman said he&8217;d like to make the area into a destination point with a walking path and businesses such as Gander Mountain.

Getting community input

Candidates were asked how they&8217;d get the community involved.

Gillespie cited his campaign efforts in visiting with community members and giving them all his contact information, and stated he would be available to citizens and keep them informed.

Stotts said he&8217;d have an open door policy if he became mayor and would ensure people had access to him and could get a response from him in a reasonable amount of time.

Erdman wanted to appoint a broader section of people to boards and committees, embrace diversity and keep broadcasting city meetings on the government channel to keep people informed.

Cook said he&8217;d work with the citizens and do his best to make sure every individual in the city is aware of the city&8217;s plans, in business expansion and downtown expansion as well.

Smoke-free

Many governmental bodies have passed no-smoking ordinances for workplaces, sometimes including bars. Lately, Albert Lea has also been discussing the possibility of banning smoking at city parks.

&8220;I&8217;m not totally in support of the city, or any government agency, coming in and telling a business what to do,&8221; Stotts said. &8220;That bothers me. I think the issue should be left up to the individual business, and they&8217;ll suffer the consequences themselves. I probably wouldn&8217;t be opposed to smoke-free parks.&8221;

Cook seemed to agree with Stotts.

&8220;I don&8217;t believe it&8217;s the purview of any level of government to be telling a business owner what to do,&8221; Cook said. &8220;I do smoke. Smoking is a choice, and if they decide that the parks are smoke-free, that&8217;s the city&8217;s place, because the city does own them. The city does not own any business in town. We have a choice whether or not to go there. If you don&8217;t like cigarette smoke, you do not have to go there.&8221;

Gillespie agreed with Stotts and Cook to some extent, saying that he&8217;d hate to pass an ordinance that would put bars out of businesses.

&8220;Adults have a choice to go in there. Children don&8217;t,&8221; Gillespie said. &8220;I wouldn&8217;t be opposed to a restaurant with a bar atmosphere being forced to go smoke-free, but I can&8217;t dictate to a business owner that I have not invested with, how he should run his business. As far as parks go, if there&8217;s children there, let&8217;s not smoke, pure and simple.&8221;

Erdman was in favor of a ban, but cautious about the city&8217;s involvement.

&8220;Smoking, secondhand smoke, is hazardous and I would be in favor of some sort of ban,&8221; Erdman said. &8220;I do believe, though, that the state or county should move forward before the city does.

As far as smoking in parks goes, I believe that&8217;s more an issue of litter, people are careless with their cigarette butts. I would be in favor of some sort of ban.&8221;