Mitchell City Council election: Three-way race for Ward 3 seat to be decided June 6

Jun. 2—EDITOR'S NOTE — The profiles of the Ward 4 City Council candidates seeking a three-year term on the council were placed in alphabetical order.

MITCHELL — A trio of candidates with vastly different goals and outlooks on the city are vying to fill the vacant seat of Ward 3 on the Mitchell City Council, which has been held by longtime council member Dan Allen.

The race will be decided on June 6. Ward 3 includes the northeast section of the city.

Jason Bates has been dedicated to running his downtown business over the past few decades, but now he's ready to take on a leadership role on the city council.

After longtime Ward 3 Councilman Dan Allen announced he was not seeking re-election, Bates saw it as a "great opportunity" to serve his constituents in Ward 3 and make their voices heard on the eight-person council.

"I'm coming in with my ears open. I don't have an agenda. I just want to make a positive difference on the council," Bates said of his motivation for entering the city council race.

The Mitchell native is a graduate of Dakota Wesleyan University and Mitchell High School and has raised his family in the community. In 2021, Bates threw his hat in the ring for the mayoral election and was defeated by Bob Everson. He said his mayoral run provided him with a valuable learning experience that gave him insight on how to represent the community as a whole.

As the lone downtown business owner among the field of candidates in Ward 3, Bates knows the challenges that small businesses face. Getting more community support to revive Main Street is a vital step toward increasing the city's sales tax revenue and giving people a reason to shop local, he explained.

"I'd like to see more events downtown that give people a reason to come. Not just downtown businesses, but all local businesses, could see more support from the city," he said.

Bates suggested moving First Fridays on Main to Saturday — a move he said would attract more people to the events at a better time.

"Rather than scheduling First Fridays on a Friday night when most businesses on Main Street are closed, I think they could move it to Saturday afternoons when businesses are open. Why not do First Saturdays?" Bates said.

While the long history of algae woes that have plagued Lake Mitchell is an area of concern for Bates, he said the city's plan to work on reducing the phosphorus upstream in the Firesteel watershed and looking at ways for in-lake solutions are positive steps toward a cleaner lake.

"I think we have the potential to have a great lake. I would love to see a restaurant and boat docks — the kind of lake that brings people to town and spend time and money here," he said.

The initiated measure on the June 6 ballot that would allow the city to sell eight lots along the lake to help fund future lake improvements has Bates' support. He pointed to the lake lot initiated measure as a "great idea" to avoid taxpayers having to fund future lake restoration work.

"Anytime we can come up with ways to do big projects without putting on the backs of taxpayers is great," he said.

Another challenge that Bates hopes to hone in, if elected, is finding ways to create more activities for all ages. Bates believes more entertainment options will help spur more growth at a time Mitchell has seen very little of it.

"We need to draw people that have the skills for the jobs that are hard to fill here. We need more activities. If someone from New York is looking at moving here, and they search online and see we have a nice lake and activities for all ages, we can get those workers," he said.

With several major multimillion-dollar projects looming, Mike Bathke believes Mitchell is at a pivotal moment that will set the stage for many years to come.

Bathke said the big decisions facing the Mitchell City Council will require good leaders to make sound decisions that have the entire community in mind and not a "select few." That's why the longtime Mitchell resident and local business owner is vying for a seat on the council.

"I look at what's financially in front of the city of Mitchell, and it's huge. We have an opportunity to do the lake or do the secondary water source that will actually help the city grow. We have to have adequate water to grow our tax base and get people to reside here, which will ultimately help us fund bigger projects like cleaning up the lake," Bathke said.

The Plankinton native has called Mitchell home since moving to the community in 1991 for a job at a local cement plant. He and his wife raised their children in Mitchell.

A $25 million lake dredging project and potential $60 million secondary water source agreement, Bathke said, are prime examples of the big decisions the council is facing. Although Bathke said he isn't against dredging in the future, he's concerned about taking on a $25 million project that will be funded through a 30-year state loan with a roughly 3% interest rate attached to it while the Firesteel watershed is still discharging phosphorus into the lake.

"The lake won't grow Mitchell, the secondary water source will. I want to see the lake clean as much as we all do, but doing it at a cost of roughly $40 million with interest included when the wetland hasn't even broken ground is concerning. We can't get big businesses to come here without having enough water," he said.

Securing a secondary water source stands as one of the most crucial plans for the future of Mitchell, Bathke said. The city has been exceeding its maximum daily capacity of water more frequently in recent years, which has prompted city leaders to explore an additional Missouri River water supplier to position Mitchell for growth.

And bringing growth, job opportunities and more activity options for all ages are Bathke's key goals, if elected. To spur economic growth, Bathke suggests the city create an industrial park in a high-traffic area with infrastructure near to attract businesses.

"We don't have an industrial park. We had the opportunity to have one by the Pepsi building, but we had no infrastructure," Bathke said. "We have a group that has raised a lot of money to fund a large portion of pickleball courts, so let's get that built. It's crazy how popular it is, which means there's a need."

As an owner of a concrete company, Bathke said it's provided him vital experience in understanding budgets and how to pinpoint areas that have returns on investment. The subsidy funding the city council doles out to some local nonprofit organizations each year during budget time, specifically the Chamber of Commerce, are among the decisions that Bathke said haven't shown a return on investment.

Some leaders are adamant that Mitchell has a severe lack of housing options and have deemed it a crisis. While Bathke agrees there is a need for additional housing options, he doesn't believe there is a crisis-level shortage, pointing to homes that have sat on the market for months to a year. To bring more housing, Bathke said using tax dollars to fund housing developments is the wrong approach to building affordable homes and suggested private developers are more equipped to handle housing needs.

"I don't see a housing crisis. I see we need some more housing options, but not a crisis like we've heard people say. The private developers are doing that," Bathke said, pointing to the handful of housing developments in the early stages that are being led by local developers. "Let the developers do it, not the Development Corporation or other organizations."

Kimberly Lofgren entered the Ward 3 city council race with no agenda and no "axes to grind."

Rather, Lofgren said she is committed to improving the quality of place and life in Mitchell. And she believes serving on the council would provide her that opportunity.

"I'm not going to come in swinging a sledgehammer. I really don't have a platform I'm running on. I really just want what's best for Mitchell, which really all boils down to quality of place," Lofgren said. "Having things to do, and having a good, clean city is what I want to see."

Since graduating from Mitchell Technical College and later attaining a graduate degree from Dakota Wesleyan University, Lofgren and her family have called Mitchell home.

As the chief financial officer for the Mitchell Area Chamber of Commerce, Mitchell Area Development Corporation and Mitchell Main Street and Beyond — a group of local nonprofit organizations that work closely with the city of Mitchell — Lofgren said it's helped her understand the process of getting projects and plans approved.

Advancing progress on the Lake Mitchell restoration efforts and revitalizing an aging downtown are two key areas of focus for Lofgren, who said working on both would enhance Mitchell's quality of life and bring more sales tax revenue to the city. The city's plan to build a 35-acre wetland in the Firesteel watershed and proposed $25 million dredging project both have Lofgren's support.

"I like that we have a plan for the lake. Agree with the lake lot sale or not, at least they came up with a way to fund part of it. Before we bought the Kelley property, it was just, 'Talk about it and kick the can down the road,'" Lofgren said.

While reviving downtown Mitchell is something Lofgren dubbed as a big challenge, she said it's a possible feat. The city's progress on the streetscape project is a sign of momentum for reviving Main Street, Lofgren said.

She pointed to the 0% interest revolving loan fund through Mitchell Main Street and Beyond and the downtown Business Improvement District (BID) tax as two vital mechanisms that will beautify Main Street and chart a new path forward. The BID tax has been in effect since 2019, which is designed to pool funds together for downtown property owners to tap into for exterior upkeep.

"I'd like to revitalize it, of course. I feel like we keep kind of pushing it back. I like that we are doing it in stages," Lofgren said of the downtown streetscape project. "Main Street is still one of the best places for entrepreneurs to grow a business. We call around to find out what square footage price range is for vacant places like spots on the south side (of Mitchell), and Main Street spaces are cheaper compared to many others."

Although Mitchell saw the slowest population growth among the top-10 cities in the state from 2010 to 2020, the latest U.S. Census report showed, Lofgren isn't letting the stagnation dampen her outlook on the future. Over the past three years, Lofgren said there has been progress on key projects that's worth celebrating.

"We found a funding source for the lake. We have a plan for the lake. We have a plan for infrastructure replacement. We are doing good things on Main Street to revitalize it. We need to celebrate our wins," she said, noting the record-breaking sales tax revenue Mitchell collected in 2021 as another win worth celebrating. "We don't celebrate our wins. It's so easy to be negative."