Colby Ald. Hederer faces challenge from Schnabel
Ald. Dan Hederer, who has represented Colby’s Ward 2 on the city council since 2005, will face a challenge from Matthew Schnabel on April 6.
Hederer, 58, works for the Clark County Highway Department and previously worked for Melvin Companies for 26 years. Besides serving on the council, he has also been a hunter’s safety instructor for 10 years, coaches the high school trap shooting team and sits on the board of directors for the Range Boys gun club.
Schnabel, 36, works as a mechanical designer for Complete Filtration Resources in Marshfield, a company that designs filtration systems for the dairy industry. He has worked in the stainless industry for nine years, and has held his current position for the past two and a half years.
Why have you decided to run for office in the city of Colby?
Hederer: “I want to keep the position. I enjoy doing it.”
Schnabel said he often talks to a lot of his neighbors while working out in his garage, and several of them suggested he run for the city council.
“I wanted to get involved with the city and see what actually goes on, and where another voice could make a difference.”
Schnabel said he was also motivated to run after he purchased a 4x4 UTV and was told that the city may ban them from local streets because of all the complaints made to the police department. He doesn’t like that idea, noting that Colby benefits economically from all of the area’s ATV and UTV riders.
Schnabel said he would like to work with the Colby-Abby police to come up with a solution to the complaints without completely shutting down UTV and ATV traffic to local businesses.
“I think the people of Ward 2 would like to see another voice, a different opinion. I’m very open-minded and don’t listen to just one person’s opinion. I think everybody’s opinion matters.”
Schnabel said he would also like to learn more about how the city’s zoning process works.
Why should voters choose you over your opponent? What makes you the best candidate for the job?
Hederer: “I don’t even have a comment for that. I’m not going to cut anybody down or do anything like that.”
Schnabel: “I’m open-minded and not so focused on my own opinion. I listen to other people’s opinions, soak them in and don’t just automatically assume that it’s wrong.”
What do you see as the biggest issues facing the city? What role do you have in addressing in those issues?
Hederer: “Getting business to come into town, getting some street work done. We just got a grant for $450,000 for Second Street, so I’d like to see that get done in the next two to three years.”
“We bought that Venzke property. I’d like to see that sold and maybe get a business into town and maybe get Community Drive taken care of also.”
Schnabel: When it comes to the problems with ATV/UTV complaints, he said a solution could be to put up better road signs for reminding young riders of the traffic laws.
“You’ve got to remember these are young kids.”
Schnabel said he’s also heard from some of his neighbors who would like to see more sidewalk repairs done on their streets.
“I know we just redid Fourth Street, so what’s next?”
What is your plan for working with other city officials to make sure the city’s business is getting taken care of?
Hederer serves as vice president of the Colby-Abbotsford Police Commission and chairman of the public works committee, so he works a lot with DPW Harland Higley and police chief Jason Bauer.
“I’m not for shutting down the UTVs (on city streets). Now that it’s gotten nice out, I’ve been getting a ton of complaints, and Jason’s been getting complaints. So, if the public doesn’t help out, I’m not saying it can’t happen, but I’m not for shutting them down.”
“A few people are going to ruin it for everybody. Hopefully the word’s out — if the public starts helping police it a little bit and getting numbers, we won’t have as many issues.”
Schnabel said he looks forward to working within the city’s committee system to get things done.
“It would be really nice to get our ball diamonds up to par. I know we all try our best and we only got so much time in the day, but there’s just some small things.”
The makeup of the council hasn’t changed over the years, he noted, and he would like to add a new voice.
“In my profession, I deal with daily meetings and decision-making constantly with the big projects we have going on. I sit in a lot of meetings, listen to other people’s opinions and figure out what’s best.”
Matt Schnabel
