Clear Lake mayor candidates talk about city issues at forum

You can watch last night’s Clear Lake candidate forum by clicking here

CLEAR LAKE — Three people are vying to replace longtime Clear Lake mayor Nelson Crabb in the upcoming November city election.

Mark Ebeling currently serves on the City Council and is Mayor Pro-Tem, Brian Foddrill is a local attorney and small business owner who currently serves on the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission, while Ryan Melhus is a Clear Lake native running for public office for the first time. The candidates participated in a candidate forum last night at City Hall co-sponsored by Northiowanow.com News and the Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce.

The three were asked what in their mind it means to be in the role of mayor of the community and what they’ll do to be a good leader.

Mark Ebeling: “It’s an important position being mayor of Clear Lake because you are being the face of the city. You do not have a vote, but you’re the one that’s going to go to those meetings to prospective businesses that are looking to locate here, and that’s a very important position. I look forward to that opportunity.”

Brian Foddrill: “The most important part for the mayor to me from what I’ve gathered in talking to people leading up to this is you really need to be there for the people. The people are the city, and you need to listen to them and be available to them so that when there are concerns or needs that everybody is feeling heard. The people want to feel heard. I’m not going to sit here and say that we can satisfy everybody and every need, but as the mayor in that position, I think that’s the number one thing that the mayor can do is be available.”

Ryan Melhus: “The shoes I don’t think can be filled personally for 20-plus years of service to the community. I don’t think they get filled. I think new shoes are put on for the city and the people, and as mayor, I personally think you are there for the people, you are there to service the people and you act kind of as the conduit for their ideas and concerns, and you just try to do your best to serve the people. Be approachable for people, and just be there as much as you can.”)

Candidates were also asked what is the single most important issue the Clear Lake city government should currently be addressing.

Brian Foddrill: “Generally with this community, the focus that I intend to have is the growth, and when I say growth, I mean smart, sustainable growth. It is a big problem. It’s a big problem everywhere in the country right now. The cost of living has gone up significantly, the median income has not kept up with that, especially in generational gaps. The further down you go, the harder it is for those generations to live comparatively to their parents and their grandparents.”

Ryan Melhus: “My number one thing would be obviously the housing and getting people affordable housing, affordable taxes, opportunities to thrive obviously with jobs and growth. As a child growing up here in the 1980s and 90s, I remember things such as the bakery and Unisys, things like that, jobs that people could have that were able to have affordable living, being able to live their dreams with their family and friends in a town that they wanted to live in such as Clear Lake.”

Mark Ebeling: “I do want to touch on housing, because everyone seems to want to talk about it. It’s unfortunate that we live in a desirable place. People want to come here, therefore real estate prices go up. So if we want affordable housing, that’s going to cost money to put in the infrastructure to do that, and a lot of people are going to move here, and then the charm of Clear Lake will be unrecognizable, it will be gone. So what’s the right mix? I don’t know what that is, but those are things that worry me.”