On Nov. 8, Moorhead residents will elect one member to the City Council to represent each of the city’s four wards.

This week we talk with Ward 3 candidate Joel Paulsen, who is running for his term against Matthew Kammerer. The Extra was unable to talk with Kammerer despite numerous attempts to reach him. We also speak with Steve Gehrtz, the incumbent in Ward 4, who is running unopposed a second term.

Joel Paulsen

Joel Paulsen has worked with Red River Valley communities in his role as a civil engineer for the past 15 years. Now the lifelong Moorhead resident has thrown his hat in the ring as a candidate for the vacant council seat in Ward 3.

“I always felt I would run someday,” he told The Extra from Japan, where he and his wife Nichole spent two weeks earlier this month, along with Okinawa. “Moorhead is on the precipice of significant growth. My experience with other cities facing similar issues and problems would add a new dynamic to the city council based on my experience in knowing what has gone right or wrong in other communities.”

Paulsen is senior project manager with Bolten & Menk, an engineering firm based in Fargo. For the previous 10 years he worked with Kadrmas Lee & Jackson as municipal group manager. His profession has given him up-close experience with the kinds of challenges – financial, technical and political – that are common among other cities in the region. He currently serves as Barnesville’s city engineer; in the past he filled a similar role for Red Lake Falls, Warren and other cities. He has also worked on many Fargo flood control projects and several past Moorhead paving initiatives. The registered professional engineer has earned certification by FEMA as a flood plain manager.

Paulsen, who is 36, says his candidacy is “not really a reaction to any current issues.” Instead, he calls himself proactive. “I’d like to take what Moorhead already has accomplished and move forward in a concentrated direction.” Among his primary interests if elected: “Obviously, the budget. How do we keep taxes at bay and still provide the same level of service … or even better?”

He advocates stronger asset management for city buildings, infrastructure and equipment – “replacing things when they need to be replaced, instead of waiting until they fail,” he explains. “It’s costly to wait for things to break, then fix them under emergency conditions.”

The Paulsens have four children – 12, 10, 8 and 6 – all attending Moorhead schools. The couple met at Moorhead High. Nichole is a nurse in the family birthing unit at Sanford.

Steve Gehrtz

With 15 years in construction management on his resume, Ward 4 council member Steve Gehrtz pays special attention to Moorhead’s growth and the factors that affect it.

“I’m proud that we’ve had very robust residential and commercial development,” he says of the city’s building boom during his first term on the council. “Two years ago, when we got Stone Mill Pond back from previous developers, we were flooded with empty forfeited. Now, all of them have been sold, and there are houses and apartments coming up all over.”

He points to the dramatic increase in city building permits. When he was elected in 2011, the city issued 160 building permits – 80 for single-family residences and 80 for multiple units. By 2014, the numbers had nearly tripled, with 180 single-family homes and 269 multi-family units. 2015 was even higher — 197 single-family and 308 multi-family units.

What’s made the difference? An improved economy, of course, but also another major step by the council: Flood control. “When people build in Moorhead, they don’t need flood insurance,” he notes. He adds, “The diversion is still important to our community, and we need to continue to advocate for it. When one of our cities does well, we all do well.”

He also cites the two-year property tax abatement on new construction forged by the council, the county commission and the school board, which was recently renewed for another two years.

Residential growth, he observes, is a key to the city’s growth. “More residences bring more restaurants and more businesses,” he notes. “When I came onto the council, there were no businesses at all in the MCCARA Industrial Park in southeast Moorhead. Now, there are only one or two lots left, and we’re talking about expansion.”

Gehrtz Construction Services is currently engaged in building the 5th and 6th grade addition to Horizon Middle School and the new elementary school nearby. It recently completed security upgrades at Reinertson, Ellen Hopkins and Asp Schools.

A native of New Rockford, N.D., Gehrtz and his family have lived here for 20 years. He and his wife Elaine have three adult children.