e good evening and Welcome to our candidate Forum thank you all for joining us tonight my name is Lori Higgins and I am the moderator for this evening's Forum as well as the president of the Metro North Chamber of Commerce our goal in tonight's candidate forum is to provide residents with an opportunity to learn more about the candidates and their positions on various issues I'd like to note as a resident of Blaine I cannot vote for any of these candidates we will ask four prepared questions responses will be in rotating order there will be a short period of time at at the conclusion for audience questions please use this time to write your question and submit to City personnel I am pleased to introduce the candidates for city council at large gu Anderson and Kirsten busher thank you both for being here each candidate will now have two minutes minutes for an introduction and then we will get started with the questions Mr Anderson you have two minutes for your introduction hi everyone my name is GTH Anderson and I'm running for city council the at large and I have a background in finance as well as education and so I'd like to really take that take that background and use it to to um help the city um you know manage their finances and make sure we hold the the taxpayers and and all that down I also have a background in in small business I also was a member of the Metro North chamber when I worked as a center director at Mathnasium and I've also served on on a um nonprofit board at the East Side Learning Center in St Paul and served on that for six years in which at that time I was on the committee to um find funding for the for the nonprofit so I've got a good background in in finances and numbers and I want to bring that to to the city council of Ramsey because I love ramsy and it's a beautiful place beautiful city to live in and it's a it's a great place that I um have my family here and it's just a great place to live work and play thank you miss busher you have two minutes for an introduction good evening everyone my name is Kirsten busher and I'm running for the city C Cil at large role here in the city of ramsy um first I want to thank you for hosting this um and to our community for coming out here and having a bested interest in your future and the future of our city um I'm first and foremost a wife to Kyle a mother to Joseph my 5-year-old son um and I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to raise my family here in the city um It's a Wonderful City and I want to be a play a role in why it continues to be great um in my career I've fostered economic growth I've advocated for Community needs and I've been a public servant the majority of it um my background also includes law and advocacy and child welfare working on behalf of families and children to ensure that they have support and resources to thrive I've also had the honor of working with leaders across various sectors and building many relationships that will be beneficial to our citizens um my primary focus is to keep this city great and safe um I've been committed to listening to the concerns of all citizens as I've been running and I want to do the same when I'm in office um and I believe in transparent thoughtful decision making I've spent years building relationships and advocating for community and I look forward to continuing this as your city council member I'm also on boards such as the Minnesota Children's Alliance the American Indian Family Center and the Midway men's club where I've had the opportunity to seek grants and finding Creative Solutions for funding um which I'm excited to bring to our city to make sure that we're um preventing additional taxes to our citizens thank you thank you we will now go to our prepared questions there's a two-minute time limit for each answer our first question is as follows why are you running for city council and what skills and talents would you bring to the office and we'll start with Mr Anderson so I address that a little bit in the introduction but why I'm running for city council is because I want to make sure that we keep this city um fiscally sound and make sure that I'm a fiscal conservative and I want to make sure that we keep that money and keep the taxes down a lot of what I've talked to a lot of people out there they're they're tired of their ta property taxes going up now obviously as a city we can only affect one part of that you know there's the school board as well as the County taxes but if we can keep the city taxes low or not raise them at all then we're doing a good job and that's why I'm here to use my number sense to be able to do that I also um really want to um work with making sure that we keep city streets safe and make sure that we you know keep the law enforcement um well funded to make sure that we can keep Ramsey a great place and in a safe place and another reason why I'm running I just I just love Ramsey and it's a great opportunity to get your voice heard I think the important thing is in government you need to start at the bottom and and make sure that you have a voice and it and with the way the world is right now I think getting your voice heard even at the city level is important and making sure I'm listening to the citizens and I've been out door knocking and talking to people I've been sitting in garages talking to talking to the Citi and finding out what those needs are and that's what I want to make sure that I am open and listening to the needs of the citizens thank you I'll repeat each question Miss busher why are you running for city council and what skills and talents would you bring to the office um I'm running for city council because I'm deeply committed to maintaining and enhancing our unique Community here in ramsy um I want to ensure that our police department and our fire department and other public infrastructure as well supported um I am personally endorsed by the Minnesota peace and police officers Association I've done a ride along with our police department and I am in constant contact with Chief caters here at the police department um and in addition to that I helped secure our fire department for aeds in a grant so when I say something I mean it that is something that I've done and I'm going to continue to do um and in addition to my extensive experience within government and understanding governmental systems from City level all the way up to Federal um I have also been the executive director of the Minnesota American Indian Chamber of Commerce and so I do also additionally have that understanding of finances and what it means to run a business and how best to ensure that our fiscal decisions are ones that make sense for our community members and I'm making sure that they make sense for our community members by reaching out to them and hearing their needs through like my my friend here door knocking calling texting whatever I can whatever way I Avenue I can get to hear people um and in addition to that I I just believe in fostering collaboration so I'm someone that I've as I mentioned built a lot of really good relationships on many levels of government and the best way to ensure that we're getting needs of our citizens is by reaching out to those folks on different levels of government and I've built those relationships so I know that when I go to their door to ask them for that help they're going to give it thank you thank you we'll now move to question two and we'll begin with Miss busher what do you believe is the greatest need of the residents of ramsy and how would you go about advocating for this need um I think as I've mentioned that I our our Public Safety and our infrastructure is super important we're on this swing of growth and so to ensure that we're on the side of you know our infrastructure not collapsing around the capacity um we need to make sure that our our fire department and our our Police Department are well funded support they have enough people to keep us feeling safe they have the equipment and support um along with our city we need to make sure that we are welcome and inviting creating a warm atmosphere for people to want to be employed here um and so in addition to communicating with our police and fire departments I've also taken the time to sit down with many of our um city employees to ensure that you know what's going on here makes sense uh they're the subject matter Experts of our city and we are here as city council folks to make sure that um you know things work well and then um in addition to that I want to share that I've also worked for the inoa county attorney's office and so not only will I ensure that our Public Safety departments are functioning well but we are working and collaborating with our county level um workers so the the County Commissioners the county attorney's office and the County Sheriff's Office to take care of things once they get to that level um and I also want to protect just like the feeling of the ruralness in our city I I love that we have so many Community spaces we have a lot of um Parks um and you know it's a great place for our families to grow up but we also need to have more youth activities we need to have more Gathering spaces um and we need to make sure that folks have a way to get there and a reason to stay here in the city thank you thank you Mr Anderson what do you believe is the greatest need of the residents of Ramsey and how would you go about advocating for this need couple of things that I've heard when I've been out talking to people is that that they are tired of their property taxes going up and that's one thing I want to make sure we try to do is hold hold the line on those property taxes and that is being fiscally sound with with the money making sure we're not overspending making sure we're not getting funding things that don't need to be funded and and making sure that we're taking care of you know the things that a city should take care of the infrastructure and and the the police and fire make sure that we take care of those but we don't need to have all this extra stuff if it's not within the budget let's keep the taxes down and stop you know spending that extra money and and don't raise them anymore I just don't think there's a need to do that I also think another thing that a lot of people are interested in is making sure and one way you can do that is is broaden that tax base by getting more B businesses into here and people want to see that growth they want to see less of the apartments going up and more of some businesses some businesses that people can then go spend their money locally we'd like to see more of these um Mom and Pop small businesses in here as I said I was a member of the Metro North chamber and during that time I met a lot of small business owners and talk to many many of them and you know it it's a circle out there as a small business owner but it's great to have those locally so people can shop local and give their dollars to those small businesses thank you very much thank you moving on to question three and we'll begin with Mr Anderson transportation is a concern for many ramsy residents if elected what would be your priorities when it comes to Transportation infrastructure improvements for this area well I know that the roads are there is already a plan in place to take care of fixing all the roads in ramsy and I will continue if I'm on when I am elected on the city council I will continue to see that through to make sure that we continue with that process but with that in mind we want to make sure that we continue that process with a with a um common sense in in mind and make sure that we're taking care of that and making sure that we're staying within budget because the I think the roads are a top priority I've heard a lot of people that that complain about uh the number of roads out there that have potholes and various things like that and I think the it's great what they're doing with Highway tan and getting that Corridor going and I think that's going to help um as well with that but even some a lot of the local roads have are are in disrepair and and it's nice that we have a plan in place to repair those and I and I will continue to make sure that that happens when I'm on the council thank you Miss busher transportation is a concern for many ramsy residents if elected what would be your priorities when it comes to Transportation infrastructure improvements for this area when elected um I will ensure that we're still supporting that the completion of Highway 10 um like so many folks that had sat in the seat before me um I want to ask all of you to continue to support those businesses on Highway 10 um it's vital that we're showing support to them during this hard time and it also shows that when new businesses are looking to come here we're attracting them by showing that our citizens are heavily invested in these businesses and they want to see them succeed as well um and I have support from local businesses like dck a Willie McCoy and many others because I've ensured that along the time that I've been door knocking people I'm door knocking those businesses too because although maybe you're not going to be able to vote for me cuz you don't live here I'm representing you and I represent everyone and so um I want to take care of that and um I also want to make sure that we're enhancing our our road networks making sure that those potholes and things are taken care of and we're starting to really get these roads into good repair and I don't want us to get behind again and so um making fiscal like decisions that are smart for other things to ensure that we have room left in the budget for our roads and our infrastructure um we want to make sure that the RO routes are safe for pedestrians and cyclists um and making sure that um we also have improved public transit options for our elders as many others have mentioned as well before metr Mobility is something that we should see come here um I would love to uh focus more on the varying ages of our community and making sure that it's a safe place for people to not only raise a family and start one but be here through all cycles of life and that their families get to stay here with them throughout that time um so I'd also love to see that bridge to Datt and like the mythical bridge that everyone keeps mentioning so I would support that thank you moving on to question four and we'll begin with Miss busher what is your vision for the city's development over the next five years um something that I've kind of mentioned multiple times is that I just want to ensure that our you know our city our public works department and our Public Safety departments are being supported well funded and given the opportunities to have enough employees to keep us going through this growth period um I want us to also once again preserve our rural spaces keep this city feeling almost like less City likee it's it's a Haven we're outside of the Cities we all get to feel warm and safe in our homes when we wake up and um you know know that there's parks nearby that are well taken care of um and I think that we also need to make sure that those that are sitting in these seats care for every human in our city like I said I'm here to represent every person um I don't care who you are and if you voted for me I'm going to represent you when I sit in that seat and I am going to ensure that you have a seat at the table to talk about your future and what you want to see in your city um I want people to want to come here to raise their family and to welcome opportunities for business um and I also would love to see our youth connected to more Hands-On potential for work like trades so we can have our youth starting to see ways in which that they could build and grow in our city too and then um you know making sure that in order to try and bring in some of those restaurants and businesses we're being smart about the rooftop growth in our city as well thank you thank you Mr Anderson what is your vision for the city's development over the next five years I mentioned this before and I I want to see more businesses in here I want to make sure that we broaden that tax base by getting more businesses in here small businesses would be great to have have in here it's great that we've got a lot of open space here in the core it'd be nice to have more small businesses shopping areas where you can go restaurants where you can bring your family get a nice uh local meal I know one thing one thing my son and I we do we take we we will take day trips to different cities and towns throughout Minnesota and one thing we always make a point of whenever we eat lunch we eat lunch at a local at at a local restaurant we don't eat at a fast food restaurant we don't eat you know we we can eat there at any time we eat at a local restaurant and I want to see more of those small local restaurants here here in ramsy where we can you know on a Saturday morning take your family there for breakfast and and do those types of things I want to make sure we get that that's that in there as well and I I want to see kind of a a stop to the uh increase of the Apartments built in here I mean it's it's we've got quite a few of them now but I want to make sure we're preserving some of that green space as well I want to make sure that we keep that green space nice I love the uh I I love the parks that we have here um I've been out shooting videos at different parks and talking talking about the parks and and various ideas that I have and I and and I think it's important to keep that so we keep that a great place for all of us to enjoy thank you we will now move to audience questions each candidate will have one minute to respond did I get a closing we'll do closing statements at the end okay yes so um so the first audience question and we'll begin with Mr Anderson on September 5th 2024 you all participated in a forum run by the League of Women Voters how do you feel about spending the taxpayers money to do this form again just because a few people in the city want to be able to edit the answers they don't like well um edit the answer I I guess redo the for I I guess I'm unaware of of any issue that that that was presented I don't edit it I didn't take it I just posted whatever they had and you can go watch it if somebody edited it that's that's not up to me I guess if somebody Edits edits those types of things they shouldn't be doing it on tax dollars definitely not they want to do it from the personal perspective and do it that's fine but there's really no need to do that just you know run it as a normal so people can hear everybody's choices and and vision for the things so you know but doing it on taxpayer dollars definitely not not the right thing to do thank you I'll repeat the question for Miss busher on September 5th 2024 you all participated in a forum run by the League of Women Voters how do you feel about spending the taxpayers money to do this form again just because a few people in the city want to be able to edit the answers they don't like um so gar and I have had the opportunity and the pleasure to do two of these with the League of Women Voters that have um provided us this space for free no cost to the citizens here um a neutral platform to share answers and responses based on questions provided to them from citizens um there was ample opportunity to submit questions as well as wonderful advertisement and immense precedence it's something that all cities participate in for their local um elections and um I'm honored to have had the opportunity to do that anytime I'm given the opportunity to speak to my constituency I will take it and I'll be happy about it and so being here tonight um thank you thank you for letting me be here tonight to talk to you all um and I understand the question of the concern of this coming from taxpayer money whereas the legue of Women vs ones didn't um and not in not entirely knowing where this came from in the budget I can't speak to where where it did so I can't I can't answer that I guess thank you thank you moving on to the second audience question and we'll begin with Miss busher in financial terms only please describe why you believe the tax levy or franchise fee is a better Road funding source the the franchise fee is something that came into play prior to me running um and it's not something that I can say would be better or worse at this point because we have now moved on to a place where we've gotten away from it at the time did it make sense and was it trying to accomplish the same goal that the the levy was doing yes um do we need to make sure that we're looking at what's happening right now when we're making financial decisions and did the people who are on Council think that that was the best choice in that moment yes um do people make mistakes are humans failable yes um but I think it's something that we need to continue to look at and see if it needs to be changed if it's working now and our our roads are being fixed I guess we call it a win right um if that wasn't the case then I'd say it was a failure but I think that it's something that as as a community we continue to learn and grow from the decisions we make and how to make them better um and everyone needs to that we're all coming from a place of of good thank you I'll repeat the question Mr Anderson in financial terms only please describe why you believe the tax levy or franchise fee is a better Road funding source I do not think it's a better Road funding source the franchise fee is a regressive tax it'll it'll it'll put more burden on the taxpayers and that is something they don't want and so going out there with a levy that puts it puts it back to the voters where they can vote for vote for whether they want that increase or not but a franchise fee is just they will slap that on there and and it's a regressive tax and you'll end up end up paying probably end up paying a lot more than you would have otherwise so I definitely don't think it's a it's a better source for funding thank you our third and final audience question is as follows and we'll begin with Mr Anderson what are your thoughts on the following the bigger the government the smaller the individual I am under the firm belief that we need to have less government smaller government and let the people th this country was founded on the the idea that it's it's a government for the People by the people it's people serving other people and listening to the needs of those people and and following that and government at the federal level right now has become a huge Behemoth with a lot of red tape a lot of bureaucratic nonsense and I think we just have to have less government and at the city level we can we can do that we can just deal with what the city has to deal with and not have to get into a lot of bureaucracy and that and that's where I stand on that thank you Miss busher what are your thoughts on the following the bigger the government the smaller the individual um as G was stating I actually wrote this down as you asked me the question but for the People by the people so we should be here in our seats making sure that the folks that are on the ground doing living life every single day are able to live their best life um it should be less punitive we shouldn't be creating policies that um are invasive to our citizens um and we should make sure that we're focusing on things that jurisdictionally matter so at the local level like I've hit on so many times it's Public Safety it's Public Works it's infrastructure it's our local businesses and creating a sustainable economy for our citizens um and making sure that we're truly listening to them sing every single day saying what do you want what do you need um and at the basis of everything as long as we're caring for our community we should be a sound government thank you we will now go to a one minute closing statement from each candidate and we'll begin with Miss busher um so kind of reiterating everything I talked about you know I have a background uh a legal background so I know that when I'm coming to the table as a city council person um I'm going to be making decisions that make sense for us not only fiscally but also legally um I'm always available I have provided my phone number email address um and various methods of communication to folks as I've been outdoor knocking um and I want to be this that same available person when I'm on Council um and I've also mentioned that I mean what I say and I say what I mean my priorities on my um literature is Public Safety like I said I have the mppoa endorsement I've communicated with our Public Safety I have a legal background um I want to see rural sustainable growth communicated with our um folks here at the city to make sure I'm I'm seeing the directions that we're doing we're going to make that sustainable growth and keep our spaces um and I want you to know that you matter you are the subject matter Experts of your life and I should be here to uplift and raise and support you and to advocate for you and that's it thank you thank you Mr Anderson you have one minute for a closing statement first of all I want to thank everybody for coming tonight I enjoy doing these forums it's a great opportunity for me to give my point of view on on some ideas and again I want to reiterate the fact that I'm a fiscal conservative I've actually been recommended by the Senate District one Republicans uh you know obviously it's a nonpartisan but everybody everybody leans one way or another you're there in this in this world in day and age there's no moderates at all you you are either leaning left or you're leaning right and you need to you you need to figure about out which side you want to lean on but I will listen to everybody I am an I am a fantastic listener and I've always been a wonderful listener I've I even as outdoor knocking somebody had an issue with their yard and I took it to the city council and and they're already working with that that citizen to to try to resolve that issue that they've had so even with me not even on the council yet I've had an opportunity to work with citizens to try to resolve an issue thank you thank you this concludes our Forum I'd like to thank our candidates and CJ luck the equipment operator for making tonight's event possible please remember to vote honor before Tuesday November 5th thank you again