Candidates' Answers continued from page 2B

1. What is your main purpose in running for this position?

2. Have you ever held another office, if so where?

3. What are your qualifications for this position?

4. Do you have any specific goals you are looking to achieve during your term?

5. How do you propose growing local businesses?

6. What do you think about transportation and infrastructure challenges here?

7. How would you get the community more involved in decision-making for the city?

8. There have been some safety concerns and crime issues that seemed to have increased lately- how would you address those issues?

9. What's your stance on the EPIC proposal?

10. What would your priorities be in allocating city financial resources?

11. How will you ensure that citizens are well-informed and feel confident that their voices are heard and represented?

12. Sidney and Cheyenne County has challenges and problems to fix/resolve. You're confident you can fix/resolve these problems, like the time that you fixed/resolved...?

13. How long have you been a resident of Sidney and/or Cheyenne County?

Rob Kuhns

ROB KUHNS, City Council

1. To help unify and educate citizens in order to gain a positive forward momentum.

2. While this will be my first local government position; I have held elected positions for non-profit organizations both locally and statewide.

3. I was a municipal employee for 23+ years; I believe I understand both sides of the coin, so to speak. I understand the frustrations as a citizen as well as how the budgets work, how things are permitted on the tax and/or grant side of things and red tape in between.

4. I would like to be a liaison between the City of Sidney and the Citizens of Sidney. To help make changes where needed and possible and be a voice of reason when things are more difficult.

5. The city has many different grants, programs, etc to offer businesses. We need to help business connect with our Economic Development Office as well as area resources.

6. Sidney has a great bus service. I would support replacement of streets, water & sewer when funds are available to do so. This goes back to the taxes, funding, and budgets.

7. I would like to see more open house type discussions on some of the big decisions that affect the citizens of Sidney.

8. I would make sure that our Police Department has access to the resources they need to ensure job safety and efficiency.

9. To be honest, I have not seen enough solid information on this to make a well-informed decision. I am currently doing my own research on this.

10. Working with the city set budget, the strategic plan, and all the dept. Superintendents.

11. I will listen and talk to the citizens about their visions or concerns and encourage them to come to the meetings and make their voices heard. They would be able to ask questions, educate themselves and take the next step in making changes.

12. Every community has challenges and to say that I can fix them or resolve the problems would not be fair to me or the community. I will do my very best and work as part of the community/team to confront issues head-on.

13. Almost 60 years. I was born and raised in Sidney.

Burke Radcliff

BURKE RADCLIFF, City Council, Incumbent

1. I view holding this position as a way to serve my community. I try to bring some financial acumen and some common sense to the position. I have no other reasons for serving on the council.

2. I have never held another elected office. I have served as the treasurer of the Sidney Public Schools Education Foundation for roughly the last 10 years.

3. I have a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska – Kearney. I have held various positions in accounting, finance, and compliance at three different employers in Sidney over the last 29 years. I have experience in Manufacturing (Prestolite Wire 6 years), in Multi-Channel Retailing (Cabela's 17 years) and in Health Care (Sidney Regional Medical Center 6 years).

4. Mainly I want to continue working on the strategic plan that the council and city staff prepared and complete those items. I don't have a list of things that I want done, I would prefer that we get input from the public, match those up with ideas that city staff have and do the ones that we can afford and that make sense. The small one I will call out is that I want to see sidewalks/paths that connect the swimming pool to various areas of town so that kids can get there safely. I'm pleased to say that will happen this summer.

5. There are several things that the city/council can do to grow local businesses. We provide job creation grants for businesses that are looking to expand and hire extra help. We provide rent assistance and grants for fixing up the appearance of businesses. Our economic development person works closely with other organizations like the Chamber and E3 to help local businesses in any way possible. We also try and spend the city's money locally whenever possible. Some will say that if we cut taxes that will allow local businesses to grow. I'm certainly not against lowering taxes, but in order to make enough of a difference that a business will decide to expand or grow, I don't see that as realistic.

6. What I think is that I'm thankful that the citizens of Sidney are progressive enough to vote in the ½ cent sales tax so that the city can do some infrastructure projects. 13th street, Elm Street, Forrest Street, the swimming pool, the upcoming North park, these projects would not happen if we didn't have that ½ cent sales tax paying for those things. With this money, we at least have the opportunity to address infrastructure challenges, to some degree, when they arise.

7. Good question. We get very little public input in person unless it is a really hot topic. I appreciate it when folks take the time to show up and offer their opinion about things. I guess people are either too busy, disinterested, or are willing to let their elected officials do what they were elected to do. Our meetings are on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at 5:30 PM, come join us and give us your opinion on things if you would like to get more involved.

8. I'm no law enforcement expert so I would/will stay in my lane and support the police chief and the department in any way possible whether that is giving them the funding to be able to be fully staffed or giving them the equipment that they need to do their job. Law enforcement is a difficult job and many folks on the sidelines like to criticize or second guess them at every opportunity. I choose to support them in any way that I can.

9. Property taxes are high, and I am certainly interested in something that could help that situation. I'm all for at least putting it on the ballot and letting the voters decide if this is the right option for us. I'm not convinced that the EPIC option, in its current form, is the exact answer but it could be a start towards finding a way to shift some funding away from property taxes. As a citizen, not as a councilman, I'm a little concerned that someone at the state level would suddenly oversee distributing out this EPIC tax to all the cities, counties, and school districts in Nebraska. When has that ever worked for western Nebraska?

10. I guess I would prioritize the essential functions that a city provides like police, fire, and the various utilities that make our lives convenient like electricity, water, sewer, trash, etc. Those are the most important functions that we provide. Secondary to all that would be parks and recreational options that the city provides that are still very important to our quality of life but not as essential to our everyday life.

11. The only thing that I can promise is that if citizens come to meetings or come up to me and voice their opinion about city matters that the council deals with, that they will be given serious consideration. However, please understand that just because you do voice your opinion, doesn't mean that the decision will go the way you want it to. We will occasionally disagree on things and that is okay. That doesn't mean that I/we don't respect you or your opinion. I try to make decisions on what I think would be the best thing for Sidney as a whole, and I'm sure I won't please everyone all the time.

12. I'd be cautious of any candidate who proclaims that they are going to fix/resolve challenges and problems by themselves. The council works together as a team along with the City Manager and other city staff to try and fix/resolve things. This isn't a one person show. You are part of a team that is working for what is best for the city. Council also must be careful not to micromanage the city manager and let him do his job and support he/she however we can. I would warn you against anyone who tries or claims to make it about them and what they did. As I stated earlier, I have almost 30 years of experience in working in various businesses in Sidney, in staff roles and in management roles and I try to bring some financial acumen and some common sense with me to the position. If you agree with that, then I would appreciate your vote.