Aaron Gibson and Crystal Tidwell run for Fairbanks City Council seat D

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Aaron Gibson and Crystal Tidwell are running for seat D on the Fairbanks City Council.

According to Gibson, the incumbent, the city has made improvements in a number of areas over the last three years, but there’s still work to be done. “We have ambulance calls that are being stacked. We have two ambulances on the road. We’re working towards getting a third ambulance back on the road which we lost in the new fire contract, and so I’d like to see another ambulance added to our Fire Department, our emergency medical services that we offer. I’d also like to see improvements in snow removal,” he said.

Gibson plans to prioritize services written in the city’s charter. “We’re actually mandated in the charter to do them, and when we’re stacking ambulance calls, when the snow’s not getting off the roads in time or the roads aren’t getting fixed in the summer time when they need to, that means we haven’t got the mandated services down right yet, and to me that’s my biggest focus.”

Gibson’s first term, he said, has been a great experience. “Some days it’s frustrating, and some days it’s a lot of fun, and it’s a lot of time and energy and learning how everything impacts everything else, because everything is connected in one way or another.”

Tidwell, meanwhile, said she hopes to give back to the community that has given her so much. “I originally came to Fairbanks over 20 years ago on vacation, and I never looked back from that. I really wanted to raise my children in a community that had good schools, economic opportunities and kind people, and I truly found that living here in Fairbanks,” she explained.

Tidwell supports improvements to public safety in Fairbanks. “It’s not a secret that both our firefighters and our police officers are critically understaffed. My background in workforce development and recruitment, I think, can add a lot to that and working with those departments. I think public safety is really the foundation of the vibrant, happy, healthy community that everyone seems to be looking for in Fairbanks, and we really need to focus on filling those vacant positions.”

According to Tidwell, she is not a politician, but a hard-working Alaskan. “I want to improve Fairbanks as a tourist destination, as a place where people want to raise their families and their children want to stay here and raise their own families here, and I want to see our community providing economic opportunities for all of our residents.”

Gibson and Tidwell will be on the ballot for Fairbanks residents in the municipal elections on October 4.

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