Group starts write-in campaign

Former Ranier mayor Dave Trompeter is leading a door-to-door campaign to support reelection of Oerichbauer and Klocek. His motivation is that they would support annexation by Ranier of the French and Jameson additions and Three Points North.

Trompeter said that annexation would increase the city’s tax base while keeping it independent.

“I feel they have direction and will support annexation,” said Trompeter. “They know the financial status pretty well.

“We are all squeezed financially and because of that we have control over the water lines in Jameson and French, but we don’t officially own them,” he added. “Technically, we cannot spend Ranier money to repair those lines and have no authority to tax them and because of that I think the direction is to annex these places.”

Both Oerichbauer and Klocek have agreed to serve another term if elected.

The three candidates that filed for the two 4-year Ranier City Council trustee seats are Norris Klesman, Tom Hall and incumbent John Walls.

The only candidate who filed for mayor is Edmund Woods Jr., 52, who served as a Ranier trustee from 1988 to 1992.

Woods said he was surprised to learn about the write-in campaign. He made his decision to run for mayor after Oerichbauer announced that he would not seek another term, and there were no other candidates to support.

The effort is more about personalities than about the issues, said Woods. This is not a time to use fear to hurry the city into decisions about direction, he said, but rather it is time to pause and look at options.

Woods said Trompeter and others may be trying a last minute fear-factor ploy.

“It is a big disappointment to me if that is what he is doing,” Woods said.

Woods, a local builder with a degree in accounting and business, said that in addition to helping put in the waterlines, he has experience with waterline management from past work.

The write-in petition says the annexation would increase the Ranier population for support in state and federal funding applications to recover waterline replacement costs.

Woods said that many issues need to be explored before just simply deciding whether to pursue the expansion issue. He feels that residents of Jameson and French additions may prefer joining International Falls, with its existing infrastructure more adequate to immediately absorb the neighborhoods.

“As far as I am concerned, French and Jameson should stay with the county,” he said.

Woods is concerned that the city would need to hire several more full-time employees and build more facilities for maintenance should it triple its size through annexation.

He is concerned that the city would not only lose its charm but would see its property taxes go through the roof to pay for new street signs, paved roads and expanded services.

Oerichbauer said that annexation is a simple question of economics and that the city is now too small to continue operating independently.

“We have 100 people paying taxes and that doesn’t get us very far,” he said. “The annexation of the Jameson and French sections is just an option, but I would support it.”

Oerichbauer said that he intended to step aside to allow for new leadership after serving eight years on the council, with one term as mayor. He agreed to serve another term as mayor if he won a write-in ballot after several phone calls from residents.

“I was asked if I would do it and I said yes,” said Oerichbauer.

Trompeter said that he did not feel the make up of the council would be bad if Oerichbauer and Klocek did not return, but said this is a time for the retention of qualified individuals that have experience working on these issues.

He added that the vote would express the will of the city to support annexation. The city would also have a referendum if the annexation process were to ever move forward.

“The vote will tell if people want to pursue that way or not,” he added. “At least this gives them a choice.”

The write-in flyer notes that annexation will relieve a limited tax base that will soon see higher costs for services to residents. It states that revenues from the municipal liquor store and pull-tabs are not enough to provide the services alone.

The flyer also calls for a large waterline replacement project in French and Jameson addition as soon as possible after 20 breaks in the past year alone. Without ownership, the flyer said grant money will not be available for replacement because the lines and easements are outside of Ranier.

“This is the future of Ranier,” Oerichbauer added. “If this doesn’t occur then Ranier dries up and disappears as a city.”

Woods disagrees and wants more cost-benefit studies. He said that government grant money will be hard pressed in this economy regardless of the annexation. Ranier has some leverage with the water issue and he said those options should be explored.

The city is responsible for the repair of the lines and Woods said International Falls only treats and electrifies the push of the water to Ranier with little expense and a lot of profit.

“I don’t think this has been thought out at all about what will be required and what we need to do,” Woods said.

Klocek could not be reached for comment Monday.

Walls said that he did not have any opinion one way or the other on a write-in campaign, but said that it would be better for the election to have more choices.

“Whatever the town wishes for is what it amounts to,” he added.

Trompeter is concerned with disqualified ballots. To write in a candidate, the name must be spelled correctly and the oval to the left of the name must be filled in or it will be invalidated.