Hastings Mayor Mary Fasbender has announced her candidacy for a third term as Mayor of the City of
Hastings. Mayor Fasbender said in her announcement she wants to continue the work she started over her first two terms.
“I’m very honored of what I’ve been doing within the city and the support that my constituents have given me in the past, and I feel that with the many conversations and many projects we have going on, I want to continue those projects and watch them come to fruition. “
“Seven years is a long time, and in my world seven years went really fast. I really didn’t have to think about it too much, for the simple fact, I think when people decide to do things like this you have to figure out why did you make the decision in the first place. I’ll go back to seven years ago, in my campaign I wanted it to be for the people, I wanted to bring people together, I wanted to be that bridge where if people didn’t feel comfortable within their community how can I help, how can we do that? I really do feel like I’ve done a good job. I’ve definitely grown from a diverse and equity inclusion portion of my life. I was a white female that had a very successful business right from the beginning of my lifetime, and I was looking through life with rosy colored glasses. Some people made me open my eyes and now I’m more receptive to how they live in a community such as our almost all-white community. So yeah, I’ve grown inside, I’ve grown outside, and I want to keep that going so people feel they are welcomed within our community.”
Mayor Fasbender said one of the main projects she wants to see to completion is the water treatment facilities in the city.
“Of course, PFAS is our number one priority and has been for the last three years. I’ve been to the Capitol numerous times with staff and we’ve met with legislators to try to get bonding dollars, sediment dollars, any type of grants that we are looking for, and successfully we’ve so far we have gotten $23 million through grants and settlements. It’s a $70 million project, and we have to continue to find any dollars that are possible. Raising our water rates was not a fun conversation, but we had to do it to get the process started. Building that first water treatment plant, the central treatment plant, is vital to the beginning of this process, we have two more to go, and we are going to keep fighting again.”
Mayor Fasbender also said there will be tough decisions moving forward regarding the budget and how the city is run, and she wants to be a part of that for another term.
“I think our department heads are very mindful and conscientious about wants and needs. What do we need to run a successful city? We need good roads, we need good infrastructure in general. Again, PFAS is number one, public safety is number one in the our surveys that we hear. We want good trails, good parks. So our seven departments that meet weekly with our city administrator, they kind of have the vision that the council has put out there in a strategic planning session. They bring those things forward, and I think we’ve done a good job being fiscally responsible. I think that’s an overused word, but I truly think that our city is doing just that. I’m very proud of the way staff and council has moved things forward.”
For more information on running for local offices, including deadlines on filing periods and what is necessary to run for office, go to this story on KDWA.com or the Minnesota Secretary of State website.
https://www.hastingsmn.gov/government-transparency/elections/candidate-information/