By Bruce Karnick

[email protected]

Lifelong Hastings resident Ian Martin formally announces his candidacy for Hastings City Council. Martin most recently served as Vice-Chair of the Planning Commission and prior to that was a member of the Heritage Preservation Commission since 2014. He will be running for one of the At Large seats currently occupied by Lori Braucks and Mark Vaughan.

Martin stated that he feels Hastings is ready for a change in leadership at city hall. “We’re experiencing growth in town we haven’t seen in over ten years yet our tax rate in the city is increasing.”

Martin was critical of several leadership decisions most notably the approval of over $25,000 for a compensation study for staff. “We’ve known that key leadership positions have been underpaid for quite some times with several being over 10% under what their counterparts make in other cities. That data is easy to get from the League of Minnesota Cities, we don’t need a consultant who happens to be a former city employee put it in a pretty presentation to the tune of $25,000 to tell us something we already knew.”

Martin also spoke of a new, crew cab pickup for the building official that was approved. “City hall should have pool vehicles that are retired city vehicles that can still function safely and adequately for the relatively low use they see. At my employer, our office folks share pool vehicles, typically former squads, that don’t cost anything but the maintenance on them. Why did it have to be a brand new, full-size crew cab pickup truck?”

On a broader scale, Martin said his goals if elected would be to strengthen our public safety departments.

“It’s no secret I’m pro-police” quipped Martin, whose father and uncle both had prominent careers as officers.

He stated his goal to start would be to add staffing in the form of Community Service Officers that can handle transports, found property, code enforcement such as parking complaints and other tasks that can free up sworn staff to remain on our streets to combat crime and bolster public safety.

Martin also stated he would champion and support another study on the possibility of a full-time model for our fire department as it is becoming very difficult to staff the paidon- call positions. “The last study was done over eight years ago and much has changed. Our call volume continues to grow yet our department is the same size; this should be a focus as our response area is one of the largest in the state”.

Lastly, Martin stated that a more citywide leadership approach needs to happen as the focus has been ‘far too much’ on downtown and the riverfront.

“I love our downtown and want to see it continue to thrive and grow but we can’t let that hinder growth, development and beautification of other parts of our great city,” explained Martin. “Our park structures are years behind replacement schedules, why?”

Martin and his wife reside on Greystone Road in Hastings with their two dogs. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Law Enforcement and a Master’s in Public Administration from Metropolitan State University. Martin is employed at the Metropolitan Airports Commission as an Operations Agent and prior to that served as a police officer. For more information, check out the Ian Martin for Hastings City Council on Facebook.