Voters in Ward 3 on the northeast side of Fort Dodge will narrow down the field of candidates seeking to represent them on the City Council on Tuesday.

That council seat will be open because Councilman Dave Flattery is running for mayor.

The candidates are Todd McCubbin, Dennis Mernka, Jeanette Moss and Caleb Pokorny. The top two vote-getters will advance to the Nov. 4 general election.

There will be one polling place open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m Tuesday at the Fort Dodge Community School District Central Office, 109 N. 25th St.

The candidates were recently interviewed by Messenger Editor Bill Shea. Those interviews are presented here.

Todd McCubbin

Address: 2990 15th Ave. N.E.

Education: Master’s degree form Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Bachelor’s degree from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake; associate degree from Iowa Central Community College, graduate of Fort Dodge Senior High School

Occupation: Businessman

Why do you want to be on the City Council?

“I’ve always had an interest in politics, and it never seemed to be the right time. So finally, this year when Councilman Flattery decided to run for mayor, I talked to my wife, Joyce, and she said, ‘You know what, this might be the right time to put your hat in the ring for City Council.’

“I truly think I can help make a difference in continuing the good things that this community has done over the last 20 years and I think I can help make a difference in correcting some of the stuff that just hasn’t been done so well.

Why did you decide to run for a ward seat?

“A lot of it was knowing that Councilman Flattery was stepping up to the mayor’s race.

“I love that community. I have three kids and four grandkids that live in Ward 3. Being able to represent them was a big deal for me.

What would be your No. 1 priority if you are elected?

“I know a City Council seat doesn’t have a lot of influence on property taxes. But they do make decisions that affect them, so I think addressing property taxes is No 1.

“No. 2, would be infrastructure and roads. It’s amazing the amount of roads in town that still need to be addressed after having a road improvement plan for this many years. The amount of pipes that freeze in the wintertime — it’s way too much. You see holes in the middle of the street in January because the infrastructure is just not where it needs to be.

“The city engineer has a plan of this road needs this, this road needs that. They’ve done the assessments. They know what needs to go where. But being involved in those decisions, saying this is where I think things can happen and happen better.

“I really should have said first and foremost is public safety — having a fire department, EMT services and police funded so they can do their job and do it well. We do need good police officers, good firefighters and good EMTs in order to keep our community safe.

“Economic development — I think that’s where I really shine only because I’ve used TIF, I understand what tax increment financing is. I understand what it’s like to build roads. We built a road in front of Fort Frenzy 15 years ago. I understand what it is to be a small business owner downtown and own buildings downtown. I know what it’s like to be a landlord even though I’ve almost sold all of those. I think that experience in business, financing and government programs is something nobody else who is running would understand as well.

What would you propose to do about deteriorated and abandoned buildings in Fort Dodge?

“Every few years, we do a GO bond, general obligation bond. I think we need to make the abandoned buildings and deteriorated houses a part of a GO bond at some point in time. To say let’s dedicate instead of $100,000 a year to buy abandoned houses, let’s put $1 million into the next three years to say we have this much money and we can start doing something about these abandoned buildings.

“I kind of want to focus on downtown. We have the Federal Building, we have Fair Oaks, we have Warden Plaza, and we have the building on the 1100 block of Central that just burned. I think we need to look for something to address those buildings. If it is possible to rehab them, rehab them. But I think after this many years it might be a better option to just find a company to tear them all down. I know that’s a big spend. I know that’s a lot of money, but I think tearing those down would really help improve the overall appearance of downtown and the community as a whole.

After those buildings were gone, what would you do with the resulting vacant lots?

“At first, I’d put grass in them. And then I would try to find developers to put stuff there. Some of those spaces are actually prime spaces to build things. The Warden would be a great lot to build whatever on. It could be a sculpture park like Des Moines has until we find a business to go there.

“Where fair Oaks is a prime corner as far as traffic coming in to town to put a retail space or even housing again.

“Downtown where those buildings burned across from where Daniel’s is, you could build there, you could open it up.

“There’s a ton of things you could do once you tear those buildings down, but right now they’re just an eyesore.

What would you propose to address the homeless problem?

“I think we really need to find a way to address mental illness and substance abuse with them. This isn’t something I can do at City Council, but I think finding a way to build a jail. I don’t want to treat them by being incarcerated but I think having the space to encourage them to get the treatment they need and the tools they need to be successful with both their mental health and substance abuse issues is important.

“We need to work with the county to help get this space so we can treat these people because to be fair even the question of mental illness, homelessness and the jail are all county questions. That’s something that the county supervisors need to work on along with the City Council. I think that teamwork needs to be there.

What would you recommend for economic development?

“I think we need to continue to improve the reputation that Fort Dodge has. It has come a long way. Anybody who lived here 10 years ago and came back to look at it today can’t believe the difference and how much our community has changed for the better. I think we need to continue that.

“We need to continue to try to reach out to these companies we’re shooting for — restaurants, retail, all those things.

What would you recommend to improve public safety?

“Continue supporting our police officers in any way we can to do the job to the best of their ability and focus on improving community policing — being in the public, being in the public eye, creating positive relationships with the people of Fort Dodge.

“I think at some point in time we need to examine how we would use more police officers. I think at some point in time to improve what people think of Fort Dodge we may need to look at that again.”

Dennis Mernka

Address: 1001 Kramme Drive

Occupation: Retired Fort Dodge Police Department lieutenant

Education: Fort Dodge Senior High School, Iowa Central Community College

Why do you want to be on the City Council?

“I’ve been active in the city for over 36 years. Over that time I’ve seen how the city developed, how it’s changed, some for the better, some for the worse. I’m to a point in my life where I retired. I have more time, more dedication. I’ve been approached by people about running for City Council. I gave it a lot of thought over the last year and just came to the conclusion that I want to help the city just become better — more prosperous, better downtown area, safer community, more transparency in city government, especially when it comes to City Council.

“I’m just pretty much seeing some stuff in the city that I don’t agree with. I think if it was handled a little bit better that city might not be in the red so much.”

Why did you decide to run for a ward seat?

“I actually went out into the neighborhood and started talking with some of the people. Other than one person, everybody talked to me whether they were Republican, Democrat, I still got invited into their house and talked to them. A lot of people were concerned about what’s going on in the city. A lot of them had concerns about our area over there.

“I just felt getting into the City Council to begin with, it would be better to do the ward rather than the whole at-large I just thought that Ward 3 would be a better position for me.”

What would be your No. 1 priority if you are elected?

“Downtown area — they keep saying that they’re revitalzing it, making it look better, attracting businesses down here. Personally, I have not seen that. We still have the Snell Building with half of the block cordoned off because of the falling bricks. You have other buildings downtown that are vacant, caught fire several times.

“Those are things that I think should be the top priority. It’s making the downtown area look better. Hopefully, by doing that we’ll bring retail businesses down here. Just driving down here today, I noticed there’s three vacant buildings in the 800 block of Central that look terrible. The building across from The Messenger has bricks falling off.

“At one point, the city was putting the black tarps in front of the buldings and trying to make that look better. I think that would look better. I’m not sure where that program went.

“Different kinds of money could be spent in different areas downtown, making downtown more inviting not just to people but to businesses that may come to town. They keep saying the downtown is the heart of the city — well, we need to put some money into it then.”

What would you propose to do about abandoned and deteriorated buildings in Fort Dodge?

“For example if a house burns down and someone buys that property and they want to tear it down. In order to tear it down they have to tear up the water and the gas to the middle of the street to cap it off, and that’s at the expense of the homeowner or whoever bought the property to tear it down. We need some kind of exemption for that. Maybe cap it off at the sidewalk or where it comes into the house. That’s a big cost to somebody that’s tearing down a house that’s burnt totally down. If you don’t want to do all that, you have to rebuild the house in that same spot within a year’s time. Well, not a lot of people can go in and do that within a year’s time. We need to change that a little bit, whether it’s by city ordinance or city code.

”The South Junior High, the Warden Plaza — I’m not sure why the city went in and took ownership of those buildings. Why they took ownership is beyond me.”

What would you recommend to deal with the problem of homelessness?

“I met with Brian Bidleman, the director of the Beacon of Hope. He assured me that the Beacon’s mission is not to bring in outsiders. He assured me that they don’t go to Illinois, to Chicago, to bring people here. Everyone there has some kind of local connection.

“They’re a faith-based system They work on programs. They work on getting jobs.

“Brian is very willing to sit down and talk with the city.

“A lot of it boils down to why can’t we try to approach these places and say ‘What can we do to help you help us deal with the homeless problem downtown?’

“A lot of it boils down to mental health. We used to have a person who worked with the Police Department who was great at getting the homeless people connected with services they need. That program went away because of funding. I would like to see us get a program like that back.”

What would you recommend for economic development?

“Definitely, they’re doing a good job out there by Cargill. The city’s doing a good job with the Growth Alliance on the industrial park.

“I think right now we need to focus on some more retail. We used to be the retail hub for the northwestern part of the state.

“We just need to follow through on Corridor Plaza and try to get more businesses in there.”

What would you recommend to improve public safety?

“I still believe that we need more police officers. I’d like to see one or two more officers on the day shift and one or two more officers on the night shift.

“I think overall they’re doing a decent job with public safety.

“As far as the county vote on EMS, that has me concerned because I heard Fort Dodge Fire wants to build a new station by the old KVFD on Highway 169 to cover the southern half of the county. I just feel like Fort Dodge Fire is trying to take over that whole area. I just don’t want to see Fort Dodge absorb all that money when it should be going to the county.”

Jeanette Moss

Address: 2905 Dodger Drive

Education: Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, associate degree from Iowa Central Community College

Occupation: Substance abuse counselor

Why do you want to be on the City Council?

“I see a homeless and addiction problem in Fort Dodge. I think that the best people to work with substance abuse are people that have experienced that themselves, and I have. I also have experienced homelessness. I got myself off of addiction and out of my homelessness and if I can do that for myself, I can do that for other people.

“I have helped thousands of people start their recovery path. And in addition to that, I also have education. I have my Master’s degree in business, organizational leadership as a business degree but it’s the kind of business degree that helps people.

“We may need a 501(c)3. First of all, we don’t have a homeless shelter for women. I know there is a lot up against us that I need to figure out how to solve. I have this passion to come back and fix Fort Dodge. I was addicted here, so I kind of feel like I owe Fort Dodge something to fix that. I was homeless here and I was addicted here.”

Why did you decide to run for a ward seat?

“I don’t think there’s a big huge difference between running for a ward and running at-large. I think if you’re there for the right reasons, you can help, whether you’re at large or in a ward, And addiction and homelessness affects all corners of Fort Dodge.”

Addiction and homelessness are obviously your No. 1 priority. What would you propose to do about those issues if you are elected?

“I definitely can tell you that I maybe can make better use of some of the things we already have established and work with some of the people who are already working to combat this, but maybe don’t have a Master’s in business.

“We need a homeless shelter for females so we can take care of those most basic needs that they have — food, water, shelter so that they can then start to decide if they can get clean and sober and get involved in some sort of program to address addiction or mental health or both. Sometimes it’s dual.

“I don’t want to touch tax dollars to do all of this I would like for it to be through grants and I would like to do it through 501(c)3s in addition to just offering more support to the people that already have these structures in place. I’m going to use plans in place and work with people who are already doing stuff in this direction. If we need a 501(c)3, we could start one.”

What would you propose to do about abandoned and deteriorated buildings in Fort Dodge?

“I don’t know if we have an option. I can’t force anyone who owns a house to do something with it anymore than you can. I’m not sure it’s a City Council issue. We can’t start telling people what they have to do with their homes.”

What would you recommend for economic development?

“We need to keep taking these grants that are proposed to use them for Fort Dodge so we can restore what we can.

“Of course, businesses are going to be a priority. Even though I am running on the homeless problem and the addiction problem, I wouldn’t be saying, oh, we don’t need these grants because they’ll give them to someone else, a different area, a different town, is going to take those if we don’t. I wouldn’t be saying no to all help for the city.

“My purpose is also to extend more help and services to the most vulnerable parts of Fort Dodge so they don’t feel left behind.”

What would you recommend to improve public safety?

“If we got more police officers, that might help a little bit with it.

“Also, as we get people more housing that might help. Not having a place to live makes you more vulnerable for things to happen to you, for you to be exploited

“Also we have folks that have poverty and might commit more crimes.”

Caleb Pokorny

Address: 2709 29th Ave. N.

Education: Bachelor’s degree from University of Nebraska, graduate of Wahoo High School, Wahoo, Nebraska

Occupation: Stay-at-home dad, farmer

Why do you want to be on the City Council?

“We moved here five years ago and obviously brought our family. We’ve got four kids. We really enjoy raising our family here.

“I feel like the city has made significant progress and has taken on quite a few projects just since we’ve been here and I just want to make sure we maintain that momentum because I want Fort Dodge to be a place where people feel like it’s a good place to raise their families.

“I love the community. The people are incredible. I want there to be more of a positive impression that people get when they think of Fort Dodge.”

Why did you decide to run for a ward seat?

“I enjoy my neighborhood. I think there’s a lot of really great neighborhoods throughout Ward 3 and I would like to represent those people. If there’s any specific needs and concerns from those residents, I want to be accessible and I want to carry those concerns forward.”

What would be your No. 1 priority if you are elected?

“Coming in as an outsider that has never been in political office before, I think it is going to be working with the existing council and the potential newcomers identifying where’s the best places that we can as a city spend our time and resources where there is the best return on investment. The council needs to identify programs and projects that provide the most benefit back to the residents.

“There’s a lot of concerns around abandoned buildings and vacant buildings, not just downtown but residences throughout town, so figuring out what is something we can do to start to reutilize some of those properties and assets to best serve the residents of Fort Dodge.”

What would you propose to do about these abandoned and vacant buildings?

“I know specifically about downtown there’s a lot of different programs, tax incentives, grants that are available. I know some of those can be hard to obtain. I think that we can maybe devote some more resources into exploring some ways to obtain more funding to tackle some of those projects. Another concern that I hear from residents is around the city budget and there’s concerns about the buildings but it takes money to fix up buildings like we have here so I think spending resources in identifying help that we could get to turn some of these buildings into useful properties.

“And it may just be figuring out what is the best use for some of these buildings. I know in the past there used to be a lot of shops, restaurants and stuff in the downtown area. Is that something that residents want? Are we willing to drive traffic downtown? Is it more housing? I know there’s a lot of studies, a lot of things we need to look at, to identify what is the best use of limited resources.

“And again it always comes back to return on investment.”

What would you propose to do with the former Fair Oaks Middle School and Warden Plaza?

“Fair Oaks to me is a tough one. I don’t know how much money it would take to get that to a usable state, so I don’t know if I can make any statements about what the best use for that would be. That would be something I would have to look at more.

“I think the Warden — you’ve got to get the windows fixed and just secure it. Get it sealed

“Both those buildings were built when asbestos was pretty common, so there’s going to have to be some way to address or mitigate anything with that before anything else really can move forward. So if we can get to that point we’ll have to look at what is the best use for it, what makes the most sense, and unfortunately for some of these buildings the best use might be demolition.”

What would you recommend to deal with the problem of homelessness?

“That’s another concern I’ve heard a fair amount about. I think the first thing we have to do is approach it with dignity and respect. These are people. They’re human beings.

“I don’t want to believe that anyone is choosing to live on the street. There are many causes. I think we have to start by looking at what are the root causes. There can be any number of them. It could be somebody just needs assistance finding a better job or a better career. It could be that someone needs mental health advocacy, drug rehabilitation There are any number of programs that are already available. We can probably do a better job of directing people to those programs.

“If they want the help, I think we need to be able to provide access to the programs that can help them get their lives into a more stable situation.”

What would you recommend doing for economic development?

“I really think that the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance does a great job just working with businesses, reaching out to businesses trying to identify future businesses to come into town. We’re going to have to continue to do that, but also this comes back to just improving the overall image of Fort Dodge, making this the place that employers look at and say ‘Yeah, it would be easy to hire people to work here.

“We have a lot going for us. We have a very low cost of living relative to other places. As a kind of regional economic hub, we have a lot of retail businesses. There’s not really anything we have to leave town to get.”

What would you recommend to improve public safety?

“The police had their Case For Eight awhile ago, and I supported that but it didn’t go through. So I think finding what is the right amount that we need to be spending on public safety. It’s always going to come back to what is the best use of the dollars to benefit the most people.

“I definitely understand the need to have strong fire and police forces, not just in Fort Dodge but also countywide.”