Hunstiger seeks top-elected city office

by Dave DeMars

news@thenewsleaders.com

Kurt Hunstiger is a man who exudes excitement and enthusiasm about working for Sauk Rapids and being a part of the community, which is why he is running for mayor in the upcoming primary.

“I’ve been training for this for a long time,” Hunstiger said. “The last time I actually had the application in my hand and I didn’t apply for it.”

When asked about the reason voters should choose him as their mayor, Hunstiger recited a litany of boards, commissions and work in which he has been involved while living in Sauk Rapids. Hunstiger has spent 22 years involved in city government and 10 years on the city council.

“I’ve been on every committee and thing I can be on in Sauk Rapids,” Hunstiger said. “I know budgeting, I know HRA (Housing and Redevelopment Authority), Planning Commission, Joint Powers Board. I’ve been on sub-committees – I mean every sub-committee that Sauk Rapids has and some special ones like the bridge sub-committee.”

He doesn’t want to brag on the fact, but he has the experience and the historical knowledge to do the job. Being new to city government, it takes a year or two to learn what is really happening with budgeting and planning and all the other areas of government, Hunstiger said. He said he feels he has that knowledge and he has paid his dues.

In Hunstiger, voters would get a man with plenty of experience and enthusiasm to do the job, he said.

“I never thought I wanted to be a politician, but I thought, now is the time,” he said.

To those who are skeptical about a long, close association with government, Hunstiger says he wasn’t born and raised in Sauk Rapids and if there is a “good ol’ boys” network, he hasn’t seen it and he is not part of it.

“I take no funding for my campaign, I don’t owe anybody any favors, I don’t own a business here and I don’t work at a business here. I have no conflicts here,” Hunstiger said.

What the job entails

Hunstiger said when a person gets elected to a position, or sits on a board or commission, he or she should put forth his or her best efforts and use the best judgment to do what is right for the people who are served in the city. For Hunstiger, serving on the council or in the position of mayor is a position of trust, and the job is spending the tax dollars wisely on projects and services that best serve the public need.

“Our job is basically roads, sewer, water, police, fire, parks, trails. It can be political at times,” he said haltingly. “I wouldn’t say political, I’d say it’s hard. And the hardest thing you do is when you assess people.”

One might think people would ask for the city to provide such things as clean water, good streets and sewers, but Hunstiger says they usually don’t. Most people don’t think that far ahead. That’s part of what the council and mayor have to do.

“If you look at our 10-year plan, we’ve got our 10 years all mapped out already,” he said. “We know exactly where we are going, and usually, unless something major happens, we know where the funding is going to come from. I live by that 10-year plan. We know what projects are coming up.”

The planning and anticipating the future are necessary so the assessments and taxes are spread out. Too many projects at one time cause conflict. For example, having two major streets torn up at the same time makes it difficult for people to get around, so it’s necessary to time projects so they don’t interfere with daily life of the city.

Sometimes things do become political. Building the bridge was an example of when things got political. It involved two cities, two counties, a township and the state, and no one could agree on a plan since they all represented different constituencies. That is when the art of political compromise is most valuable, he said.

Projects and taxes

With the bridge completed, the council has focused on improving the downtown area and has moved on to the “Up-the-Hill Project” – a widening and improvement of Second Street, stretching from Third Avenue to Highway 10 – as a kind of continuation of the growth for the central corridor in Sauk Rapids. That is political since it also heavily involves Benton County.

But in Hunstiger’s eyes, the “Up-the-Hill Project” is a good one and one that had been planned 10 years ago.

“The nice thing is we didn’t have to bond for it either because whatever we spent on the 21 homes that we took, that was part of our plan,” Hunstiger said.

Operating without a plan is poor management, Hunstiger said. He made reference to the building of a new water-treatment plant many years ago when he first sat on the council. When asked where the money was to build it, he was told it had been used for other projects.

“That’s bad planning,” he said. “We earmark money and we stick to it.”

Operating with a plan and a budget allows for keeping tax rates and the need to bond for projects at a minimum. So far, the council has done a good job of controlling the city portion of the tax bill, Hunstiger said, adding city taxes have been fairly flat but he quickly said the city can only control its portion of the tax bill.

On the possibility of a new city-built field house, often referred to as the “Storm House,” Hunstiger was careful in his answer.

“It was approved by the voters, but there was a lot in there that was approved,” he said. “I’m OK with it because the voters approved it, but I want to see how it will affect us down the road. Now they are talking about costs down the road for maintenance. We are not going to give them (the school district) a $5- or $6-million building unless we have some kind of joint-powers agreement.”

Hunstiger is wary of bonding to build the field house since it will not provide any income until 2018. He would prefer to see some cash flow from the half-cent sales tax before bonding for the building. Once the council turns the building over to the school district, the council will not receive any funds from it.

Hunstiger said he feels the “Up-the-Hill Project” needs to be finished and next the council should set out to develop the property on the other side of Highway 10. There is a lot of property on the east side of Highway 10, and he said he feels once the present project is finished, there will be an opening of the property to the east to developers and the industrial park.

There have been a few large industrial companies who have looked at Sauk Rapids as a site, but they backed away at the last minute. He expects more apartment buildings will be built.

“There are a lot of people who want to live over here,” he said.

He says he would not characterize Sauk Rapids as a bedroom community in the same way as Sartell, but there will definitely be more development done. The city has a plot of land further east that could be used for an industrial site, but a large business or industry needs to move in so the city can afford to run utility services in that direction.

His one major goal is to provide services to the residents in the most cost-effective manner by providing the equipment needed by police and fire. He said he believes the fire department is pretty well staffed and equipped, but some additional officers in the police department are needed.

He says for a city the size of Sauk Rapids, we are somewhat under-staffed and need about two more officers. That will cost about $200,000 after all the costs are figured in.

“The police department has seen us adding people in the last few years, and there is a reason for that,” he said. “As the city grows, I don’t think they kept up with growth, so that’s one of my goals.”