BROOKINGS (9-28-26) — The Brookings Regional Growth Alliance hosted a Brookings City Candidate Forum this weekend. Each of the five candidates spoke briefly about various issues facing the city — including economic development.
Challenger Al Austreim… “Industry creates jobs, jobs will spur housing, housing will increase our population and the population brings retail. Target and Aldi didn’t drive through Brookings and say, ‘hey this is a good community. Let’s build here.’ No, they looked at spreadsheets. They looked at sales tax numbers, population, how far of a draw — so we need to have jobs, we need to have housing so that people can fill those jobs.”
Incumbent City Council Member Brianna Doran… “The biggest thing that will work for a city council to go through is smart growth. So when you talk about development, we look at our comprehensive 2040 comprehensive master plan. We look at land use plans. We look at that healthy mix of housing to workforce to retail to economic development growth. So when we talk about opportunities and challenges, we want to make sure that the projects we have in the works now are bringing to fruition smartly.”
Incumbent City Council Member Lisa Hager… “Economic growth means working to attract the major retailers like Target and Aldi that our citizens desire while also making sure that our small businesses have the support they need — like the downtown improvement grants. Additionally we must work with private developers to ensure we have the housing to meet our workforce’s need and retain our young professionals and young families. Community vitality focuses on Brookings being a place where you can bring your dreams and in fact thrive.”
Shawn Hostler is a current Brookings County Commissioner seeking a seat on the Brookings City Council… “I’ve served on the Brookings Economic Development Corporation Board and now currently with the new formed organization — the regional growth alliance. So economic development is very important to me. Economic development isn’t something that happens overnight. It’s something that takes years and years to plan, to recruit, to bring those businesses into our community. But we also need to do it wisely.”
Challenger Wade Wantoch… “I hope to come to the council with the attitude of the working class — not with an agenda from a particular industry, or business or hopes of furthering anything else. My goal is to make a community that I have fallen in love with a nicer place —because it is a nice place, but there’s always room for improvement.”
Two three-year seats are up for grabs on the Brookings City Council. Election day is November 3.
— Brookings Radio News
