GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) – Midterm Election day is set to be a big day for the future of Grand Island Leadership.
Mayor Rodger Steele did not face an opponent in his first run for mayor, but now he is going up against former Central Nebraska Regional Airport Operations Security Manager Doug Brown.
Here’s a look at the two candidates’ resumes.
Mayor Rodger Steele – Incumbent candidate for Grand Island Mayor.
- Steele started political career as a city councilman.
- He ran unopposed in 2018 to become Grand Island’s 47th mayor.
- He runs his law office on South Locust Street.
Midterm Election day is set to be a big day for the future of Grand Island Leadership.
Doug Brown – Candidate for Grand Island Mayor.
- Brown spent 20 years in the US Navy.
- He retired in the early 2000s and moved back to Grand Island.
- Brown worked at CNRA as the Operations Security Manager.
- He retired from CNRA at the end of September.
First responders are a hot topic for both candidates in this elections. Mayor Steele worked with the city council to form the Police and Fire Stabilization Fund, and he told Local4 News that’s not all.
“You know as far as law enforcement and public safety, we’ve laid the foundation for great public services, I’ve increased police pay, uniform allowance and benefits, and we have a bonus for their service, so we are doing very well recruiting right now and we are getting a very positive response to all we have done for police and fire,” Mayor Steele said.
Doug Brown disagrees and said more can be done for recruiting, and helping those who are already serving the city.
“We really need to concentrate on the lack of police officers, it’s gotten to a crisis situation,” Brown said. “The police officers now are even working on their days off, they’re called in and they have to be on call constantly, so they never really get anytime off, and you know what that does to morale when you work seven days a week. So whatever we have to do is we have to get together and figure out how we’re going to solve this.”
Mayor Steele also wants to see further small business growth should he be elected for four more years.
“We have a very dynamic small business community and we are doing things like the festoon lights on Third Street to create attractive places were businesses want to come, we’ll continue with that during my second term,” Mayor Steele said.
Brown is a small business owner with his wife, as they own and operate the CNRA café “Afternooners”, and he said small businesses make up a large part of the economy in Grand Island.
“70% of all businesses, maybe 80%, of businesses in Grand Island are small businesses,” Brown said. “You know we need to help them grow and build, and there are a lot of them that struggle, it takes years to get a small business going. We need to work with them and get programs going so that we can help them out and be successful just like all the big businesses.”
Both Brown and Mayor Steele said they want to improve accessibility to the Mayor’s office should they be elected.
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