This year's city election season has been much more low-key than last year's extravaganza that featured 21 candidates for Rapid City offices, including eight seeking the mayor's chair, but there are still four candidates seeking seats on the city council.

In Ward 1, which generally covers the southeast quadrant of the city, seven-term incumbent Tom Johnson faces newcomer Patti Martinson. Another candidate, Craig Kirsch, will appear on the June 3 ballot but Kirsch announced in early April that he was dropping out of the contest due to a potential conflict of interest.

In Ward 2, which covers parts of central and eastern Rapid City, incumbent Alderman Sam Kooiker is being challenged by Russell Oubre.

This year's election would have to go some to match last year's election eve for Johnson in which a man dressed as a woman was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving while helping Johnson pick up campaign signs. Johnson said he doesn't expect it will have an impact on this year's election.

"I don't think it's an issue. I think the Rapid City Journal played it for more than it was," he said.

When it comes to issues, all four candidates talked about the importance of addressing older streets and infrastructure, maintaining growth and continuing to improve the health of the downtown area, but most think water is the biggest issue facing the city.

Ward 1

Tom Johnson

Incumbent Tom Johnson has 14 years of experience as a councilman and has served as council president and as acting mayor for a period a couple of years ago when former mayor Jim Shaw was ill.

Johnson said he believes in building consensus among council members.

"I've been through a lot on the city council and I've learned a lot of things that work and some things that don't work," Johnson said. "What I've learned more than anything is how to work within the council."

Johnson said the number one issue facing Rapid City is making sure it has clean drinking water, now and in the future. Right now, the city's production levels about equal peak demand in the summer, he said, so the city needs to enhance its ability to produce water into the future.

"It's going to be an expensive proposition," he said.

Johnson noted that Jackson Springs, a source that provided nearly half the city's available water supply, was shut down a couple years ago by the state, which said the city needed to treat it first. As a result, the city faces an expensive project in the near future to build a second treatment plant at Jackson Springs and make major modifications to its existing treatment plant.

"The committee I'm on is still looking at those alternatives but it's looking more and more like we're talking about a $100 million fix than the numbers thrown out before, which were substantial," he said.

Paying for it will be a challenge. When asked how he would do it, Johnson suggested the 2012 fund may be a possibility. He said the city has built a number of community projects during the past three five-year incarnations of the program, but the next round he believes should be a "catch up" round.

Johnson said the city also needs to do more work on streets, storm water runoff and drainage, and it's appropriate to consider the 2012 program to pay for those needs.

On other issues, Johnson wants to see the community continue to grow, the council be development-friendly and employ smart growth principles. He said the city has seen a lot of good things come to fruition due to good decisions the council made in the past, such as the extension of Fifth Street south to Catron Boulevard, the creation of the .16 fund which is used to help build infrastructure and the construction of the addition to the civic center.

Johnson was a huge supporter of the project and is pleased to see that nine out of 10 skyboxes have been presold in the facility. Some critics berated the council for adding the skyboxes, but Johnson said it has proved to be the right decision.

Patti MartinsonPatti Martinson, an insurance processor with Green Tree Services, says she decided to run for city council out of a desire to do something meaningful and make the city better for everyone. She has lived in the Black Hills area for 27 years, moving here from Montana when she was about 13 years old. She graduated from Sturgis Brown High School, and attended Western Dakota Vo-Tech, Black Hills State and National American University.

She is single with no children, but has relatives who live in the area, the most important of which she said are her mother and sister, whom she considers "great people to look up to."

She is a member of Democracy in Action, a local women's political group, and moderates a blog at the sddia.org Web site. Martinson also volunteers at the Center West, a GLBT resource center in Rapid City.

"While I have pretty strong opinions on more volatile issues, I think I am a pretty good listener on more neutral issues," Martinson said. "I like getting input from a number of different folks if I am faced with a specific issue and hope I make sound judgments as a result. That strength would be transferred in being able to work with the other members of the city council."

Martinson said she believes in open government, green environmental policies and economic development. Her style is to meet and talk with individuals about their concerns to get advice and input.

"I think budget issues are the most pressing issue right now. How I would handle it is seeing how well we are using money efficiently at the present time, and making smart decisions for the future," she said. "Infrastructure is critical, and I don't think enough attention has been paid to it. Infrastructure isn't a sexy issue, but it is the vital foundation on to everything else."

Martinson said tax increment financing, an issue that has received much debate the past year, is a great tool but should be used sparingly and not relied on as the only method of attracting business or funding projects. She supports development but she believes development should incorporate environmentally sound practices.

"There is beauty in nature as well as in new business and both must work in harmony," she said.

Martinson supports downtown revitalization efforts and thinks the idea of "branding" downtown with a focus on the arts is a good idea that should be explored. If elected, she said her immediate goals are to get to work for the people and improve business development in Ward 1.

"My long term goals are to improve the diversity of ideas, opportunities, and of people of the city, and to make this a better place for many different people from all walks of life," she said.

Ward 2

Sam Kooiker

Incumbent Alderman Sam Kooiker says he has made a contribution to the process in a number of areas over the last six years that have helped his ward and benefited the entire city, including support for developing a water and sewer master plan, an improved consultant selection process and prioritizing important street projects on the capital improvements list.

"It's exciting to see some of the projects that I led the effort to add to the list in 2002 are now being worked on. Sometimes it takes awhile for the wheels of city government to move, but they do move," Kooiker said, citing projects on Elm Avenue, St. Patrick Street, East St. Andrew Street and the intersection issue at East St. Charles and St. Joseph streets.

"I have taken special pride and ownership in handling constituent issues over the last six years," he said.

Though the local races have seemed quiet this year due to the attention given the presidential campaigns, Kooiker hopes people realize that local government typically has more of an impact on their lives.

"I think the presidential race is extremely important but I also believe … none of the candidates are able to address local issues like local officials are. It's important people be involved and participate on the local level," he said.

Kooiker believes water supply issues related to Jackson Springs will be the biggest issue facing the community over the next two years. The city was forced a couple of years ago to stop using water from Jackson Springs, a source located west of the fish hatchery, until the water could be treated. The city has been talking about building a new treatment plant there, and making improvements to the existing treatment plant, which have been estimated to cost upwards of $60 million.

"I think it's important to have a water management plan that consists of more than just a hope for rain. I believe we're well on our way to having a good plan and implementing the fixes for Jackson Springs," Kooiker said.

But the issue will come down to funding.

Kooiker said all potential funding sources need to be examined, including the 2012 program. He said the city has already raised water rates over the last few years so additional increases should be avoided if possible.

While the 2012 fund, generated by a half-cent sales tax, has done good things for the community, Kooiker believes when the next five-year plan is created it should be dedicated entirely to existing infrastructure and capital improvements.

"I think it's critical," he said.

Kooiker has a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice/Psychology and a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of South Dakota. He is employed as an operations manager for a local telecommunications firm. He lives in Robbinsdale with his wife, Jennifer, and three daughters.

Russell Oubre

Russell Oubre, a retired sales clerk, has never run for public office before. Currently, he lives on disability payments while taking care of his mother who has macular degeneration.

Oubre said he decided to run for the council because he believes the city needs more action and less talk. He believes that Kooiker has done a lot of talking but not taken much action on the city council.

"I would be a city councilman that works for my ward," he said.

Issues important to Oubre include growth, improving infrastructure and making downtown and all of Rapid City better.

"Bring in more tourism, bring in more industry," Oubre said. "None of the, I'll call it, 'backdoor discussion.' If an industry wants to come in, let's have our meetings and publicize what we talked about. Let's not have any behind closed door meetings."

Though he is not a business owner, Oubre has been a member of the Rapid City Downtown Association for four years and is a strong supporter of efforts to revitalize downtown. Regarding infrastructure, Oubre believes the city should focus more on improving older streets and water and sewer lines, and supports the council's push to take on a greater share of the cost to replace failed private lines.

"A lot of these old neighborhoods have got retired people in them and they just can't afford to spend a lot of money to hook up to the new sewer or pay their percentage of it," Oubre said.

When asked how he would do things differently on the council, Oubre said one thing he wouldn't do is use instant messaging during council meetings and ask for votes from other council members.

"I believe you're supposed to be listening to what the public is saying, what they're talking about right there at the meeting. Not trying to do something else," he said.

Oubre said the city faces a lot of challenges. His goal is to bring in more industry and tourism.

"Once we can improve the downtown and bring the tourists to stay and visit we're going to keep things alive. We're going to bring in more people, everything will be better off," he said.

Oubre has served on a number of volunteer groups, including the Downtown Association, the Festival of Presidents and cleaning up Rapid Creek. He is a 1975 Stevens High School graduate and earned a degree in kitchen cabinetry from Western Dakota Technical Institute in 2001. He is currently taking computer science classes at WDTI.