Five candidates are running for four seats on Bethel City Council. This week, KYUK is airing interviews with each of the candidates.
Candidate Danny Suiter is a retired respiratory therapist. He’s been living in Bethel for around 7 years. This is his second year running for Bethel City Council.
Suiter spoke with KYUK’s Evan Erickson about his candidacy on KYUK’s morning show, "Coffee at KYUK," on Sept. 27.
Find a transcript of the conversation below. It has been lightly edited for clarity, but may contain transcription errors.
KYUK (Evan Erickson): Good morning. Thanks for calling into 'Coffee [at KYUK']. You're the fifth and final city council candidate 'Coffee [at KYUK'] interview. I know you had a limited amount of time at the Sept. 11 forum to tell listeners a little bit about yourself. So take as long as you want and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Danny Suiter: Okay, well, thank you for having me and giving me this opportunity. I came here in 2017 to work for YKHC. I was a traveling respiratory therapist at the time. Came here, got offered a job to run the respiratory department here, and did that for three years. I'm now retired. I live here with my beautiful wife and, let’s see, that's about it.
KYUK: Well, I had you as an active respiratory therapist. I didn't realize you were actually retired at this point.
Suiter: I am. Yes, you know, I always keep my license and keep my credentials, and, you know, I'm just not looking to get back into the field right now.
KYUK: But the option is still there for you, it sounds like.
Suiter: It is, yes.
KYUK: Great. So yeah, you, I think you're, I think you're one, the only one of the five candidates who also ran last year but did not get elected. I think you've probably been, you know, following council in the time since and preparing for this second run for council. What motivated you this time around?
Suiter: Well Evan, the last time I ran, there was, I believe, 67 people that voted for me. And I thought that was just spectacular. I thought that that was great, that 67 people had enough confidence in me to vote. So that kind of inspired me to not give up and give it another shot.
KYUK: That's awesome. So what do you hope to accomplish if elected to council? Just anything you want to bring up here?
Suiter: You know, I just want to get involved and to learn more about the city government and just to see how I can contribute to bring what I have: my 35 years as a respiratory therapist and health care provider, see if I can bring something to the table.
KYUK: Yeah, and was that your first time meeting some of those candidates that were at the forum that we hosted?
Suiter: No, no. I worked with Pam at [the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation]. I didn’t see her very much, about once a quarter was when I would see Pam, and then, of course, Rose just in passing, and that's it. I did not know the other two candidates.
KYUK: So now there were, you know, some of the questions at the forum, you had two minutes, and some you had as little as a minute to answer. Were there anything that you thought back after the forum, 'Man, I had a better answer for that.'
Suiter: Well, I think I misunderstood the question about what was my favorite part of the community, and I think my answer was the tundra, which – so I misunderstood the question, what my favorite part of the community is how people come together and take care of one another here. How people donate fish and moose meat to help, you know, that's given away to the Elders for free, that they don't have to do anything except just accept it and I think that's how you know the community really comes together. I see that happening also when, when we lose someone in the community, it seems that people really do step up and do the right thing and just take care of one another. And that, that was, I guess, one of the questions that during the debate that looking back, I'd like to restate.
KYUK: Yeah, and it's okay to love the tundra too, you know.
Suiter: It is.
KYUK: So are you here in Bethel to stay? I'm getting the sense.
Suiter: Yes, yes, I am. I love it here. Every time that – we do travel a lot, my family, I have family in the lower 48, in fact, my heart goes out to everyone that's suffering through the hurricane this morning. My son is in Louisiana, thankfully away from from the where the eye of the storm hit, but my heart goes out to them. But no, Bethel is my home. I love it here. I'm always ready to get back to Bethel when we're away. That's part of the reason I want to be more involved in the community. I want to have a say and, you know, help out.
KYUK: Yeah. Did you tell your son that we have typhoons out here in Alaska?
Suiter: I keep him very informed of the weather here. It amazes him how, how our weather is, but again, they were prepared for this hurricane. And he actually is in New Orleans. He's in the Air Force, and they were actually prepared to evacuate. They, of course, dodged the bullet this time. So thank goodness for that.
KYUK: So you brought up, when it came to the biggest issues facing Bethel, I think that you focused on job retention, on people, rather than coming in as contract workers, staying longer and being invested in the community. And you seem to think that people that are here are invested in their community. So do you want to flesh out any of those things? More retention? And I believe you brought up housing quite a bit. Do you have any further thoughts on those issues?
Suiter: You know Evan, there's a lot I have to learn about the housing issues and whatnot, but it is still something that is at the forefront of what I would like to learn more about. It's always retention when you have traveling – I'm going to speak from a traveling therapist. You do three month contracts. You come here and you know what you're doing by the third month, and then it's time for you to move on. And that when you have a person that's here that normally signs a two or three year contract and is paid money to come to fulfill that contract. You, once you have them trained, if you can provide them housing and we provide a good wage, that goes without saying. But if you can provide them housing, it helps the situation. It makes people think ‘I could live here.’ So it's very, that's a forefront issue for me.
KYUK: Yeah, did you have issues yourself when you moved here, finding housing?
Suiter: Well, yes. I moved three different – [Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation] though, they bent over backwards because of the need. I always had a place. But yes, I went from the little smurf housing, which is up by the post office. I think I lived there for six months before I got into the 800 Building, which was, I mean, it's right there. It's perfect. I lived there for a year and, you know, it's probably the best gig in town as far as rent and boarding.
KYUK: I'm not familiar with the 800 Building, which building?
Suiter: It's on the campus behind the hospital. Therefore, it's smart, because you have people that live there. You even, if we had a three day storm, like a snowstorm, you would still be able to staff the hospital with people that, granted, they have to get across the parking lot, but that's as far as they have to go.
KYUK: Which can be, which can be quite dangerous, just because of the ice –
Suiter: It can be, it can be. People have fallen on the ice. But that's, that's, it's a smart concept, you know, you try to put the people in that building that that you're going to need in an emergency.
KYUK: Now, you said you've traveled around a bit. Have you been extensively around the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta? Have you taken any insights from places you visited as far as how communities are run?
Suiter: Yes, I've been out to Tununak, beautiful village. As for how they do it. I don't know. I mean, it's, it's, I know it's expensive and hats off to the community leaders that keep these villages functioning. Tununak is out on the Bering and they're just isolated. I've been upriver probably as far as Akiachak and really haven't had any interactions though that I could bring to the job.
KYUK: Oh yeah, well, yeah, and I just, that's just the question I've been asking candidates. So how do you plan on gathering feedback if elected? To find out what the city's residents are really interested in changing?
Suiter: Well, this is a great forum right here, Evan, it's easy to do. I know you do have call-in shows. I'm available. If someone sees me and has something that they want to ask me, please do.
KYUK: And this is a tough one, but something you got to ask is: what do you see as the long term economic future of Bethel to keep the economy sustainable here? Do you have any ideas about that? Is that on your mind, when you think about the person who wants to stay here long term, what Bethel looks like in the long term?
Suiter: Well, I'm very optimistic about it. I've been here seven years. I've seen Bethel grow. It seems to still be growing. I feel like our aircraft industry is phenomenal. I think we should encourage that. And with my son in the military, we have the Air National Guard stationed here. I believe we should encourage more military spending here in this region. We're becoming more and more on the radar, as far as the global scene, with the air incursions into Alaska from Russia and China, it makes sense to me to have more military investment here, and I think that would help Bethel. We also, you know, we have a congresswoman that's here from Bethel, that represents the whole state of Alaska in Washington [D.C.]. That's a positive for us. It's just that helps us to sell our city. And I'm very optimistic about the future of Bethel, and I want to be a part of it.
KYUK: And when you talk about strengthening the military, would that mean, like, strengthening the Guard? I know there's an effort to recruit more people. Is that what you're referring to?
Suiter: It is, and also, you know, we have the area here for training exercises. I don't, that gets a little bit over my head as far as what they would do, but the facilities are already here, and it's right there at the airport. That's, you know, it's always exciting to see military aircraft land here in Bethel. I'll say that.
KYUK: Yeah, a lot of activity at the airport, at the runway there. Yeah. So we just have a couple minutes left. This is your chance to take as long as you need here to just tell people how they might make a more informed decision when they go to vote for their city council candidates here at the Oct. 1 election coming up, which was also the [Regional Educational Attendance Area] school board elections.
Suiter: Well, I'd like to thank the other candidates that are running in this election. It's not many people are willing to take the time and the effort it takes to run for this office. Just like to say, you know, I think it's a really good list of candidates. People should get out and vote and let their voices be heard. This is your chance. We had a really low turnout for this last year. I hope the numbers will improve. And just I'd like to ask for your vote for city council.
KYUK: Thank you. And if you're elected, can we expect to see you at every council meeting?
Suiter: You will.
KYUK: Excellent. You're in town, you're around, you're available for a chat anytime it sounds like, and it sounds like you want this pretty bad.
Suiter: Yes sir.
KYUK: All right. Well, thanks so much for joining us for our fifth and final city council candidate 'Coffee [at KYUK']. Danny Suiter, we really appreciate you calling in.
Suiter: Thank you Evan.
