Election 2018: Rolbiecki runs for re-election

1. Why did you file to run for mayor? I filed to run for Mayor again because I believe I still have benefits that I can contribute to continue to improve upon the progress we’ve made over the past couple of years. Now, I have gained a couple years of experience in the position and look forward to continue to make strides in the areas we’ve worked on the past couple of years. More importantly, I still have the ambition to continue to serve.

2. What is your concept of Minneota running its own Ambulance Responder service? I’ve been very close to this topic for the past several months and can say with confidence that this was the best option born out of unfortunate circumstances. The ability for Minneota to continue to run an ambulance service based here was not a viable cost option for you as taxpayers. Let me stress that no area of the State ever goes without ambulance service. It’s a matter of what kind of service you get and where it comes from. In the case of the City of Minneota, that meant that ambulance service came from Minneota or Marshall. If Minneota chose to have no service of any kind then our ambulance most likely comes out of Marshall. The decision we had to make is what (if any) type of gap would we choose to fill the 13 minute or so response time it would take to come from Marshall. The decision was made to fill this gap in response time coverage via a City first responder service versus nothing at all.

3. Do you see any future business growth in the community? I believe so. There is opportunity in the Schott’s building, and it will be interesting to see what may materialize there. It’s nice to see the recent resurgence of business interest in the City. The City has taken many steps that facilitate new businesses in the community. These things may not necessarily fall on everyone’s radar. Steps taken recently include abatement of taxes, loans to businesses, grant funding to improve current businesses, transfers of loans to newly acquired businesses, and assumption and payment of current loans to name a few. I’d encourage all new and prospective businesses that are seeking assistance to reach out to the City to see what can be done to assist, as we’ve often found that many people are not simply aware of the things that are available.

4. What do you feel needs the most attention in Minneota? There are several important issues that all deserve attention. We prioritize based on need and impact as well as costs and funding available. Sometimes vital things get delayed but it’s not because they aren’t viewed as being important, it’s a combination of things. A perfect example would be the Adams Street sewer project that occurred a couple years ago. The replacement of this was on the capital improvement plan as being needed, but was second on the list behind a bigger sewer project that was deemed to have a greater need. This project was pushed up because there was grant funding available that would cover 50 percent of the cost.

This pushed a more needed project further back, but only because it made more sense to do so.

The main issues that are top of my mind at the present time are:

•The successful implementation and funding of the first responder service.

•The pool. This will require large dollar outlays and we are up against a hard timeline to complete them. So, in the near future some difficult decisions will need to be made. •Infrastructure. This is the largest investment a city makes and impacts everyone within the city. These projects also tend to be very expensive so careful planning is important.

These projects fall near the top of my priority list because they are the issues that come first in the timeline. It’s important to have a fluid plan because circumstances may change at any time and we need to be able to appropriately react.