Arcadia mayor candidates see city issues differently

As they wrap up their campaigns for the April 5 election for mayor, president of the Arcadia city council and the city’s one-time mayor don’t see eye to eye on much.

The two, former mayor John Kimmel and council president Kevin Mayzek, both believe growing the city and protecting it from floods are vital to Arcadia’s future, but they part company on whether current city government is moving in that direction. The winner of the election will succeed Rob Reichwein, who was elected mayor following a successful recall of Kimmel in 2015 and who decided to not seek re-election.

There is no candidate on the April 5 ballot for the vacant Ward Three council seat held by Marlys Kolstad.

Mayzek has been a member of the city council, representing the second and third wards, for 10 years and is its president. He was active in the city’s recreation program and has served on numerous city boards and committees, including the fire board, parks and recreation commission, housing and building standards, board of review and library board. He has worked for 41 years at Ashley Industries and is supervisor of the service department.

Kimmel said that since leaving the mayor’s office, “I decided to focus on self-growth and went to college and earned my bachelor’s degree with three minors. I graduated last December with honors and have begun teaching in the Arcadia School District. In addition, I have two small businesses.”

Mayzek welcomes the developments that are expanding housing in the city, and supports the potential projects, such as Avalon Heights, that could bring commercial as well as residential growth to the city. 

“We need a pharmacy, a store. We need to revitalize the downtown,” Mayzek said. “Maybe we need to reach out a lot more to the right people. To push, push, push for projects that will keep people living and spending here.”

Kimmel also sees the need for more housing, but cites the city’s taxes and potential increases for a large flood control project as harming the city’s potential.

Without experienced leadership in the mayor’s office, “our community faces the most bleak financial future seen in most of our lifetimes,” Kimmel said in a statement. “It’s easy to put out signs and promise the world to get votes, but the truth of the matter is that the financial position of the city is dramatically weaker than how I left it a short six years ago.”

A pending $40 million flood control project for the city also triggered differences between the two candidates.

“The levee project for $40-$50 million is reckless and quite honestly is not what we need,” Kimmel said. “One hundred percent of collected tax dollars for this, every household will be on the hook for $30,000 plus annual maintenance costs. This says nothing about needing these funds to operate the city. Someone needs to be the adult in the room and stop the bleeding.”

Mayzek said it would be foolhardy for the city to end work on a project in which it has already invested millions. 

“We can go about this one reach (phase) at a time,” Mayzek said. “We’re going to need help from the federal and state government to make this all happen.”

The recall of Kimmel was partially driven by residents who supported a referendum on sand mines within the city limits, a measure Kimmel opposed. They also contended Kimmel instituted “meeting procedures that grant him sole authority for allowing items to be placed in (the city council’s) agenda” and he “arbitrarily and capriciously” limited comments from residents.

In response to the sand mine issue, Kimmel said:  “Dear Arcadia, I want these words I write to you to serve as my contract with you. Regardless of what garbage you read in letters trashing me, I have not spoken to any of these writers in years.

“With that as a cornerstone of my contract with you, I further commit to each and every one of you that sand mines in the city of Arcadia are not an issue,” Kimmel continued. “I will not ask for or support annexation for a sand mine, I will not ask for or support any expansion of existing operations, and I will only focus on the future of our community.”

Mayzek said the current market for fracking sand makes the issue ‘Irrelevant” and that he does not support sand mines.

Some of the objections to Kimmel’s tenure and recall have resurfaced, with city residents contending the former mayor is still unsuitable for office. Mayzek said Kimmel’s comments that some construed as being offensive to the city’s Hispanic residents drew national condemnation. “That was crazy.”

Kimmel said he plans an open administration.

“I will not sweep one issue under the rug, or allow a good-old boy network to run our city from the shadows,” Kimmel said. “I will continue to carry myself in a way that you will be proud and I will be proud. I will further make sure that if you have any questions about policy stances or issues I have raised, that I will provide proof of everything I say to you. I have not campaigned in a negative manner, though I have had a lot of lies thrown at me.”