South Haven has crowded election field

South Haven’s proposed wastewater treatment plant will be an election issue as opponent Dave McNertney, supporter Gene Edwards and a third candidate seek the mayor’s job in November.
McNertney, city council member Edwards and business woman Joy Nistler have filed for the two-year post, which will be vacated by longtime mayor Marilyn Gordon.
Gordon has filed for the four-year council seat that Edwards now holds.
Incumbent council member Sandy Swanson wants another four-year term, while newly appointed member Sue Thwing and Eileen Ranta, Nistler’s sister, compete for a two-year council seat.
South Haven residents will vote Tuesday, Nov. 6.
City clerk-administrator Carol Banken said the mayoral race has more candidates than she’s seen in her six years on the job.
McNertney lives south of the city, but he said he planned to move into a South Haven apartment this week to comply with the residency requirement.
McNertney said he’s been in the area for nine years and owns property in South Haven.
“I have a vested interest in how the community’s being run.”
He’s vigorously fought the condemnation of 40 acres south of town for the planned wastewater stabilization ponds and spray irrigation system.
The 40 acres are part of a 150-acre parcel owned by his business partner, John James, and on which McNertney has an option to purchase.
McNertney wants to develop the 40 acres into a wholesale greenhouse operation, and he has said he’ll be forced to move his business if the condemnation goes through.
He and James have appealed a December decision by the Tenth District Court in Buffalo that the condemnation was necessary and lawful. A ruling by the Minnesota Court of Appeals is awaited.
The planned wastewater stabilization pond system is “a huge mistake,” McNertney said.
The University of Minnesota Extension Service and the United States Department of Agriculture have said an on-site or soil absorption system could be built for only $1.5 million, he said.
If he’s elected mayor, he would try to get the city council to back away from the stabilization pond system and implement the soil absorption system, McNertney said.
He charged that city engineer Larry Anderson and lawyer Mike Couri recommended the stabilization pond system so they can make more money.
“We need to be looking at the needs of the community . . . not the profitability of the engineer and the attorney,” he said.
Anderson and Couri denied McNertney’s charge.
“It’s not true. It’s ridiculous,” Anderson said. “We’re professionals and we don’t select the alternatives based on what the profit might be.”
Couri said the council acted in the best interests of the citizens, “and the soil absorption system is not.”
Because of the porous, sandy soil around South Haven, the soil absorption system would be a potential pollution problem, he said, likening it to a big septic system. The stabilization pond system is “better for the longterm needs of the city by far.”
“I think Mr. McNertney is in large part the direct cause of the city incurring additional legal fees,” Couri said, “by contesting at every step of the way the city’s establishment of a sewer system.”
Edwards also rejected the charges.
The city holds the engineer in high regard for sticking with South Haven during the sewer project, he said, and it appreciates the work both Anderson and Couri do free of charge.
Edwards, who has been a council member for six years, said he’s running for mayor because the sewer project needs to be finished.
He believes the planned sewer system is the way to go and would try to see it to conclusion, Edwards said.
He added that some townspeople wanted a change of leadership and asked him to run.
Though he and Mayor Gordon may wind up changing jobs, Edwards said they hadn’t discussed running for each other’s positions.
Nistler said her main issue is the water. “It stinks so bad you can’t even drink it or brush your teeth.”
She’s for a sewer system but didn’t like the way the council took the land for the treatment plant.
Nistler and her sister have just opened a shop in Nistler’s home selling specialty and novelty items.
Gordon has been South Haven mayor since 1994 and a council member since 1990.
She and Swanson are running unopposed, but voters can write in other candidates.
Swanson is seeking her second four-year term.
The council appointed Thwing early this month to serve until the end of the year after John Haller resigned in July.
She or Ranta will be elected to serve the remaining two years of the term.
Ranta said she’s always been interested in city business and has more time now that her children are older.