Three candidates, and one certified write-in candidate, have filed to run for four open seats on Bethel City Council this year.
Ahead of the Oct. 7 election, KYUK has been airing interviews with each of the candidates.
Candidate Kelsi Kime is the only non-incumbent regular candidate currently running for a seat on the council. Over a little more than a year living in Bethel, she said that she’s found meaningful ways to get involved in the community and looks forward to doing more.
Kime spoke with KYUK’s Samantha Watson about her candidacy on KYUK’s morning show, "Coffee at KYUK," on Sept. 15.
The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
KYUK (Samantha Watson): Can you tell me who you are and what occupies your time here in Bethel? Yeah.
Kelsi Kime: My name is Kelsi Kime. I am pretty involved in the community in a myriad of different ways. I work for the state, but I currently sit on the public works committee as well as the public safety and transportation commission, and spend a lot of time where I can outside and with my friends, and my dog, and my husband.
KYUK: What is your favorite thing about Bethel?
Kime: Oh my gosh. My favorite thing about Bethel was certainly when we first got there, just being introduced to the community members and learning about how great everyone is. I don't think I was expecting the community members to be as nice and welcoming as they were. So that's definitely been one of my favorite aspects of being in Bethel.
KYUK: How long have you been in Bethel for?
Kime: I've been in Bethel for about 14 months, a little bit over a year.
KYUK: And why are you running for city council?
Kime: I'm running for city council because I think that while Bethel has a lot to offer me, I think that I also have a lot to offer Bethel as far as, you know, continuing to grow Bethel and creating an environment that people thrive in, as well as offering a sort of fresh perspective, if you will, on different things.
KYUK: Do you have any particular issues or anything you wanted to highlight in your campaign?
Kime: Not necessarily at this time. I think that […] the community is really great already. I think I still have a lot of learning and growing to do. So not necessarily at this time, but as things kind of move along I'm sure that I'll have some things to touch on.
KYUK: Can you tell me about what experience you have with elected positions, either city council seats, municipal boards, or committees?
Kime: I’m not sure that they're necessarily elected, but I I've been sitting on the public safety and transportation commission as well as the public works [committee], so a lot of my involvement so far with the, between those two, committee and commission, had to do with, most recently, actually, just making sure that our community members were kept safe and maintain their dignity by not allowing the “On Patrol: Live” [television show] to be filmed in Bethel. I think that was a great step forward into further solidifying the community engagement with law enforcement, even though it may not have seemed like that. But that's kind of been the bulk of my experience as far as like elected or public official office in Bethel goes, if that makes sense.
KYUK: Those committees are involved with decisions that do sometimes reach city council. Could you tell me about having this elected position, being on the other side of those things that might come up in those committees, what is the significance of that to you?
Kime: With the committees and commissions we recommend things to go before city council. It's really cool to see kind of how that happens. Obviously, we all kind of, as a committee or commission, make votes to bring things to the city council. [...] I think one of the things that I want to work on as an elected official for Bethel is community involvement within city council or any committees and commissions. Because I think it's a really, really important thing to have immediate community members involved and helping make those decisions, and helping keep me and many others informed on what is the best thing for Bethel.
KYUK: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the city of Bethel, either in the coming years or, you know, this current moment?
Kime: I think the biggest issues that come to mind are the relationships that just law enforcement in general, be it [Bethel Police Department] or [Alaska State Troopers], has with the general public. I think that's one of the more kind of pressing, kind of in your face matters. But I also think that obviously everybody knows that the roads in Bethel could have seen better days, and I think that it'd be important to address that in the coming years as well.
KYUK: Is there anything that comes to mind when you think about how the city can help address those issues?
Kime: Yes, I'm interested in exploring different ways of bringing revenue into the city to help kind of combat that problem. So I'm hopefully going to be able to explore that more in depth in my position on city council.
KYUK: And what do you think city council has been doing well in recent years?
Kime: So [I] can't necessarily speak entirely on like recent years. I know that the city council in the past, from what I understand, could have been better. I think that things are definitely on the up and up as as far as kind of the involvement and good decision making has been going. I think that right now, we're in, from what I understand, we're in a pretty good place as far as the budget goes. And I think that the city council has has been making some really great decisions to help better impact Bethel.
KYUK: What do you think city council needs to improve on?
Kime: I think right now, the city and council could improve in making sure that all of the public officials are respectful of one another's time and really kind of, you know, clamping down on that. Because unfortunately, in my experience with a couple different things, it's, you know, there's not enough for a quorum in certain committees or commissions. And I think if we the city council members kind of, you know, had the other public officials, held them more accountable, I think that a lot more could get done and benefit Bethel in a bigger way.
KYUK: At the end of your city council term, what accomplishments or progress on projects would make it feel like you've succeeded in your position?
Kime: Bigger and better community engagement with city government, I think, would be miraculous.
KYUK: You are the only candidate that is not up for reelection. This is your first time running. Being a newcomer at the city council table, what do you think that fresh perspective will bring?
Kime: I'm not entirely sure. I think I'll be able to afford maybe some ideas that, you know, weren't thought of or maybe thought that they couldn't necessarily be successful, but maybe offer different ways and how they can be, if that makes sense, and really doing some, I love research, and bringing my research to the table, and especially if it's something that's kind of out of the ordinary.
KYUK: Is there anything else we should know about you or your run for election to city council?
Kime: Gosh, I don't think there's anything necessarily that people need to know. I'm an open book. I love to be involved in the community that I set my roots in, and I just look forward to even being more involved, honestly, getting to know more people in Bethel as well. I've got my hand in quite a few different groups, and I've gotten to know quite a few people, but I'm definitely interested in kind of hearing even more voices and helping lift those as well.
