Nobody wants a mayor who spends their day sitting around doing nothing. A good mayor will work hard to make a good impact on their city.”

Summer Tusberg, Mayor for the Day student contest winner

My favorite part of Hastings is community. I love how we all cooperate.”

Harrison Haltvic, Mayor for the Day student contest winner

Mayor Mary Fasbender was flanked by two junior assistants at the Tuesday, Jan. 16 meeting of the Hastings City Council.
Hastings students Summer Tusberg and Harrison Haltvic were chosen as winners of the Mayor for a Day Essay Contest. The two were picked up from school Tuesday by the Hastings Police Department. Their whirlwind “term” in office included a tour of Hastings City Hall, meeting business owners and a pizza party prior to the city council meeting.
In her essay, Tusberg pointed to the importance of the role of mayor.
She wrote, “Being mayor might seem like an opportunity to host nightly pizza parties, ride around in the limo for a day and eat ice cream. But the job of a mayor is more important than any of that. Nobody wants a mayor who spends their day sitting around doing nothing. The mayor is just like the mother of the city. If your mom didn't pay attention, you will end up jumping on the bed and spiraling out of control. Same for the city. A good mayor will work hard to make a good impact on their city. For me I would start off by gathering clothes, food and toys to give to Hastings Family Service. I could have a fundraiser with games and food to raise money to purchase items and set up donation boxes all over Hastings.
“One of the challenges would be keeping the city under control. There could be a robbery happening downtown while someone's just been kidnapped at the grocery store. This might be the job of the police or firemen but the mayor needs to be calm and ensure the city that the problem is being dealt with.
“So how will I take care of how will I take control of these problems? For starters, I can prioritize them. There might be a problem that may take all day or even weeks to sort out. Maybe a big storm hit the city and the power went out or a shark swims all the way up the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico. To sum this up, being mayor is a hard job that can take you in multiple directions and lead to confusion, maybe even the thought of giving up but it's important to remember, your job is to protect control and make your city a better place for everyone.”
Haltvick stressed the sense of community in Hastings in his essay, and he had innovative ideas for new community buildings.
He wrote, “My favorite part of Hastings is community. I love how we all cooperate. For example, my brother broke his arm. All of our friends and neighbors helped. My friend's dad took me home from the basketball tryouts and our neighbor’s grandma took my brother and my mom to the hospital. This made me feel safe. And then I know that others have our back.
If I were mayor, I would try to keep our community strong and running to make sure everything is up to date and making sure no one has concerns. I also hope to make great decisions just like you.
“Okay, now the hard part. There are so many things I want to see in the future for Hastings. One thing is to see more opportunity for kids to come and do stuff like they did at the Holiday Hoopla. I want to see more spots where people can go and get together and talk with each other, like a community center. I also want to have some sort of place where all the people who really like math, can go and do math. We have libraries for reading. And so a math center would let people who don't like to read as much be able to go and do math.
“Well I hope you liked what I have stated about Hastings and to have a great future.”
The mayoral duo opened and closed the city council meeting, and Fasbender read their essays aloud.