good evening I'm Laura Helmer president of the League of Women Voters of Eastern Carver County and on behalf of the league I would like to welcome you to the city of Carver candidate Forum we thank both the candidates and the audience for attending tonight and our internet audience for viewing the League of Women Voters does not support or oppose a political party or a candidate for office League of Women Voters Eastern Carver county has a long-standing history in our community of providing unbiased candidate and issue information that is widely used by Minnesota voters regardless of their political beliefs sponsorship of this forum is a public service providing you with an opportunity to hear the candidates discuss important issues face to face the views expressed here tonight are those of the candidates and not those of the League of Women Voters sponsorship of this forum is not an endorsement by the league of any particular candidate there is never enough time to cover all the issues if you feel that your question was not addressed please contact the candidate directly after the Forum and now I would like to introduce our moderator Diana Casper Diana is a certified moderator from League of Women Voters of Eastern Carver County thank you Laura we will start the candidate Forum with opening statements each candidate will will be given 1 and 1/2 minutes for their opening statement and 1 and 1/2 minutes for their closing statement we thank our timers tonight Susie Miller and Elaine Ward Susie's got the uh stopwatch and Elaine's got three signs a 302nd a 15 second and a stop our candidates tonight will have opening statements in alphabetical order we have six candidates for two Council seats Christopher hammer Courtney Johnson christe Mack Leia oi Lori Seer and Jim wean closing statements will be in Reverse alphabetical order the order of answering questions will be rotated among the qu candidates so now we'll start with opening statements and with you please Christopher Hammer can you hear me ready okay hello my name is Christopher hammer and I'm here because I care about the future of our city my wife Julian and I moved here with our family a few a little over three years ago because we liked the close-knit small town community that Carver is but Carver is at a turning point in its history for several reasons first our booming growth from last decade has slowed down to the Great Recession we can't continue to plan our future based upon forecasts made during that population growth but we also need to ensure that our city continues to provide the services required by its citizens second we've seen a recent surge in concern over decisions made by our city council more so than almost any neighboring City we have an opportunity to work together with a populace that has a significant interest in local government and we have to utilize that opportunity third our new elementary school is going to be one of the biggest changes to the city changes to the city in its history we're going to see a large population of young children migrating across County Road 11 every day during the school year and we must ensure the safety of those children we're also likely to see a growth of home construction and we need to ensure we're ready for that fourth professionally I am in charge of disaster recovery for CH Robinson and part of my rules include risk analysis to help prevent disasters from occurring uh in the past several years we've seen several disasters including flooding and the roof issues at at the Village Hall cause significant impact to the city the city needs to ensure the ability to identify and mitigate future disasters before they occur City council's job is to serve the current future needs of its citizens within the laws that govern it and that's why I'm running for city council to serve the community we have all made for our home thank you Courtney Johnson I'm running for the Carver Council because quite simply I believe that the city can communicate better with its residents I will utilize my 15 years of experience in the field of communications to bring people together and Foster a more open and honest two-way dialogue once elected my primary focus will be ensuring kver residents are kept informed about the city's business through fre frequent thorough plain language Communications the more opportunities Carver residents know what have to know what's going on in their Community the more they will become involved which will translate not only to more inclusion but into more pride in the city where we all live in addition to my professional experience I have the knowledge from my volunteer roles with the city which will have helped me prepare for a role on city council I've been involved with the Park and Recreation board I volunteered for Steamboat committees the Steamboat Days committee and I've been appointed to the plan commission where I've served since 2014 I've demonstrated my desire to engage residents proactively in my current role on the Planning Commission when the commission worked to develop the guiding principles for the RFP for the former Bus Garage on Sixth Street I invited residents whose homes neighbor the property to share their thoughts on what they would like to see after hearing their feedback we developed principles that Incorporated their preferences I will continue to this coll type of collaborative decision-making one selected over the course of the next hour you'll get the chance to learn a little bit more about me and hopefully you'll have enough information to vote Courtney for Cover City Council on November 8th I would so appreciate your support thank you christe mack thank you my name is Christy mck and I am running for city council you know today I was looking at the mission statement that we have on our City website for our town of caror and one of the things that was on there we will be accountable to the community stakeholders and I think that that's very important another piece that was really important to me was the respecting our history while planning for our future I don't believe that you can know where you're going until you know where you've been and where you've come from so I think it's really important for us to take a look at what is responsible growth for us what is um resident aware and what we can do to make this the best community uh that we can be you know I have been in different forms of government for the last 15 years as a employee and so people know or many people know that I used to work for the city of Carver in the park and recck department but I have also a background in Community Development and building inspections I think that does give me a well-rounded uh verse in how local government can work and should work um another piece is that residents are 30 seconds residents are never more involved than they are at the local level of government once you get to state and federal you'll find that you have less involvement and I really think that local government is here to represent the people and not dictate the people and I really hope that you will vote for me so that I can represent you um as well as I can thank you thank you Leah oi good evening I am Leah oi uh my husband and I moved to Carver six years ago we were attracted here because of the small town feel having grow grown up in small towns we like the openness the Open Spaces as well as the downtown The Shops and and restaurants very close by we have um since moving here we now have two children and look forward to raising them here having a new school that they can attend a little bit of my background I have a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from North Dakota State University and ended up out of college at CH Robinson where I worked for 13 years um a lot of different experiences there sales account management is where I got my start before moving into human resources and talent acquisition I think the experience that I had there could bring a lot to the council here in terms of strategic Vision planning it handled budget management um what I would really like to bring to the council is a lot of that strategic vision and thinking about what are our current assets here in Carver how can we focus on what we've got and really um come together as a community um and I really want to provide a true transparency and open communication with residents so that we can get the voice of everyone involved in the community thank you Lori Seer hello and thank you everyone for coming my name is Lori Seer um I've born and raised in Carver County been a resident in the city of Carver for about 15 years and I'm running because I really believe I can represent the constituents of the city of Carver and with that bring back to the council level kind of what's the pulse of the community what are people thinking and and feeling and then take that full circle and bring back to the constituents what is the council working on by offering a real transparency on what decisions are brought up and and what we see for the long-term vision and represent the constituents um with full transparency thank you thank you Jim wean all right let me start by thanking the league and Southwest Metro chamber as well as everybody who's come out including the candidates let me tell you a little about myself my wife and I have lived in Carver 19 years we have two adult children and one granddaughter everybody else on this table is younger than my children so I could be your father I am a retired engineer and I spent 13 of the last 17 years on the council with 10 of those as mayor during my time on the council the city has grown from under 12200 people to about 4,500 I a member of the Carver Alliance serve on the Carver County Library board Vice chair of the Community Foundation of Carver County and on the Metro City's board during my time on the council we have worked on working with mot on the extend 212 extension including getting the exit at County Road 11 instead of County Road 140 in chasa on drinking Pro on projects to improve the quality and quantity of our drinking water a new firehouse and Public Works building connection to the Met Council Waste Water System invested in downtown improvements strengthening City finances while holding the line on taxes and work with developers to build housing for our growing population I heard everybody pretty much say they enjoy living in Carver it didn't just happen it's the work that I did along with the rest of the council during my time on it thank you and for our first question uh Lea oi will be first and the question is this what is your view on the referendum question regarding a city manager versus mayor and Council governance for the city of Carver so I attended The Forum at six o'clock to learn a little bit more about it uh prior I I didn't have a ton of information learned quite a bit about it I we not had a lot of time to digest that I did like what I heard in terms of a city manager having a bit more control they really compared it to the operation of a business and being able to the city manager being allowed to have more control over that and more control over their employees and allow the council then to work on more legislative and policy decisions um so I do see some benefits there in the new form thank you Jim wean I'm in favor of the manager style I think I think one of the things we have to understand when I was mayor I made roughly $5,000 a year as mayor probably a little less than I could have made at McDonald's if you're making you know it's a part-time job at best you can put the effort into following what staff is doing dealing with Personnel problems as they said at the meeting uh let's get a professional in there who has the time and the skills to do a lot of those details work thank you Christopher Hammer um I think it's the right idea moving forward for the city of Carver the previous I previously I lived in Chan Hassen they they operate in that the city I grew up in also operates under the same and it it seems to work well so I like the idea thank you Lori SE yes thank you for the question I am informed on the question that's going to be on the ballot and I want to educate the voters too that it's there's a lot of talk about it's an A or B on the ballot it's actually a yes or no question so I encourage you to really look at it closely um I myself am going to vote yes if you would have asked me 12 13 years ago I would have said no I happen to have a lot of experience with working with the staff and the council a little bit just the property that I live on and I my husband and I have now taken on our third building permit and we're in the same house but I've worked with different um City staff over the years and just seen the growth but I really think the advantage to the city going to what I would vote as yes for the plan B is it frees uh the council and the mayor from the more day-to-day operations it also lets them step aside from things that can often be employment law and then it'll allows the city manager uh to handle those things so um I'm aware of the situation um I am for it um and those are my reasons thank you thank you christe mack thank you um I have a little bit of a different Viewpoint than the other candidates who have spoken already I was here earlier for the informational session on the plan a and plan B um I do believe that we already have a professional in place who is doing a fine job at um being an administrator here so I don't know that moving to the manager is necessary at this point in time um I think that we have a small enough staff yet that I think it's important for our council members to still be engaged with those staff know who they are know what they do on a day-to-day basis um that doesn't mean you have to interact daily with them but that we know what what in their work week entails I think that as we get a little bit larger the city manager position um will make more sense for us uh we do have some um examples of larger cities who have not switched over shaki has not yet wone hasn't and then we have some neighbors who already have chasa Chan Hass and Victoria I think that it is a fine form of government I just think that we should look at it in a couple of more years thank you thank you Courtney johnsen um I like everyone else sitting up here did attend the referendum Forum that was before tonight's Forum with the candidates I've also watched or attended every city council meeting in the last probably two plus years um so I saw the presentation was legitimately presented to council earlier this year um I think it's a good change for the city of Carver I um I professionally work for a fortune top 20 company so I'm very familiar with a corporate structure which this mirrors a corporate structure almost having a a board of directors and then a CEO if you will for the city which that manager serves the CEO role um I think it allows the city council and elected officials and mayor to focus on other priorities within the city and so I think it would be a good a good route for the city of Carver to go thank you and for the next question Jim wean you'll go first the question is the Carver Crossing project has been one of the most controversial agenda items the current city council has had to tackle in recent history what is your position relating to this project my my position hasn't changed I supported the project uh when it came up last year and I still support it it looks like it's a very successful facility it's bringing uh a different group of people young people starting out old people who really can't afford to live in their own house anymore and and young people that are going to be the workers if we want to get companies in here we need to provide a Workforce and a lot of that Workforce is going to live in places like Carver Crossing you can't stop at Fleet Farm and not see they're hiring they're always hiring Carver County is an expensive place to live and what we need to do is start providing jobs for the workers that we want to work here whether it's Fleet Farm or some company that's going to come in and be a Manufacturing I think most of us when we started out we would have lived in a place like Harver crossing our kids maybe not your kids when they start out they live in a place like Carver Crossing this is this is the kind of people we want to draw into Carver the future I mean I was reading in the paper today there's a town uh In Minnesota where the population is aging and they can't afford to do a lot of the things they want to do we want to bring young people in thank you Christie Mack thank you yes uh carbo Crossing was quite an interesting time um in our local government and as a community I do think that with the 68 new units that we have up there I think that that is sufficient for that type of housing for right now I think we have bigger um things to look at coming forward here looking at senior living um Senior Living that really is geared towards that age group so that we can have true life cycle housing here from um start to finish and I do think that we should look at single family moderately sized homes that are affordable not everyone wants a shared wall excuse me um and possibly with with yards and things where their their children can play in their own uh private property so I think that CRA Crossing has uh been put in place to fulfill a need that we do have here in the city of Carver and I do think that we should move on from that now and start looking at senior living facilities and some other options too thank you thank you Leah oi thank you um so going back to that project um I forthcoming I was opposed to the um building in as it was um presented I had worked with a few other residents and spoke with various council members um I was seeking a smaller building um and are breaking it out into some Town Homes um providing a little bit more space um my opposition was really focused more on density um and not having super high density out here on the Prairie um that said um we we went through the process with the council um and the I welcome all of the new residents um to that building it's not something that um just because I or opposed it in its um form at that time um certainly welcome all of those residents I you know I'll point out currently there is some opposition in chasa and in v and in Victoria to some large apartment buildings um part of the reason again we moved out here is the lower density living and um as we move forward I would like to continue to to look at options that provide a little bit more space um in the community thank you Courtney Johnson so I didn't buy my first home here in Carver I couldn't I couldn't afford it I had a condo in downtown St Paul which was more in my price range at that point of My Life um for that reason I support diversifying the housing stock in Carver I would love to see Carver be and I'm sorry if it sounds morbid but kind of a cradle to grave City where you can be born in Carver your kids can come back after high school or college they can start families here and the housing Supply will meet their demands um I am proud to be part of I mentioned in my opening statements the RFP the request for proposal process of the former bus garage site um The Guiding principles that we aligned for that was to have a strong preference towards Senior Living choices um and we were looking for something that was more Universal Design and that means um something where you can age in place wider doorways more accessibility um I think Carver needs to see a little bit more divers diversity in the housing stock I think Carver Crossings was the step in the right direction if that was the first step although controversial to get us into diversifying our housing stock I think it was the right step thank you Christopher Hammer so the the complaint a lot of residents had last year was too big um I think that was one I was on board with also 68 units if I remember right seemed like a lot for Carver now having said that since it's been built it's been filled as far as we've heard um so moving forward that the best thing we can do is hope for the success of that project and and similar projects um ideally I'd like the council and the city to work more in partner with the community so that we don't have a situation like happened last year where a significant portion of the community was um against a project over in the gym and it got pretty testy in there that night um but it seems like it's been a success so far and we want that in the future thank you Lori Seer can you repeat the question sure the Carver Crossing project has been one of the most controversial agenda items the current city council has had to tackle in recent history what is your position relating to this project yeah so certainly it was a controversial topic and just a process for the city to go through and there wasn't as much transparency as I think a lot of us would have liked and there's different reasons for that too but part of it is for me I knew there was one building but I also had done some research and realized there will eventually be three and that was part of my concern was not really understanding how many buildings L how many units they're going to be able to put on that size of property and what a developer can do uh as far as go and ask to move the property lines you know variances vacate easements there's different types of things that really take um a team effort um as far as the planning of it so it really goes back to the initial planning and just having transparency to the residents of what could be coming up so those are things I think could have been done different but there's a lot of things I really like also is the city did it in the right order and that we had the infrastructure I I think any development you need that infrastructure first so that definitely uh was taken care of I also really liked that it did get a lot of community engagement there was quite a bit of momentum I'd like to see that momentum build up again and as far as where they're at right now late last week I heard from a friend whose daughter uh is eligible there are four units open so I think it'll slowly uh build out the rest of the property but it was needed thank you for the next question chrisy Mack will go first and the question is would you consider passing a municipal ID for undocumented people if the Minnesota legislation excuse me legislature does not pass driver's licenses for immigrants the safe roads legislation sure would you consider passing a municipal ID for undocumented people if the Minnesota Legislature does not pass driver's licenses for immigrants the safe roads legislation I think that as a citizen if you are going to vote in a community that you should show your ID um if you are going to be um going to the DMV you're going to drive a car you're going to have insurance you need to have a license I think that is important for um Fair voting practices where everyone is accounted for and uh we don't have any of the issues of um misappropriating votes into different places and different communities if there is not that in place where you have to prove your identity and who you are at the time of voting so yes I think that you should have to show an ID have to have some type of um form of a documentation whether it's a passport or whatever it might be that you're a US citizen and you're registered to vote thank you Lori s can you repeat the question sure would you consider passing a municipal ID for undocumented people if the Minnesota Legislature does not pass driver's licenses for immigrants the safe roads legislation okay if I understand the question that it's asking more more about a driver's license I'm not real clear on if it's meant more for it's an ID is I understand like a state issued ID from the Department of Motor Vehicle um would I uh if the question is if I would pass that no that is not at the city level that's at the state level I don't see that on the ballot right now for State decision um but to me that's something more that would be legislation handled at a state level I know there's other benefits to having a state ID that's often issued by the Department of Motor Vehicle that often is something that can make somebody eligible for maybe health care benefits or other things so there's I think more to the question if it's something just to be able to drive a car that's a different issue if it's something to vote if it's something to show that they're eligible for other um benefits or other programs um I don't see that handled at the city level that should be handled at the state level I am for Less government so that's why I would pass that on to the state level thank you Courtney Johnson I'm going to ask you to repeat the question again too okay would you consider passing a municipal ID for undocumented people if the Minnesota Legislature does not pass driers licenses for immigrant which is a part of the safe roads legislation um I'm going to respectfully decline to answer that question it's not an answer it's not a topic that I feel prepared enough to make an answer on my email is Courtney for Carver counil gmail.com I'll do my research and get back to me if you guys want to shoot me an email I'll absolutely follow up I'll also follow up on my Facebook page and on my website which is all Courtney for Carver Council okay thank you Christopher hammer for municipal ID I'm not entirely sure where it would be useful since it'd only be recognized in the city of Carver I'm not sure where we would use that um from a cost perspective issuing idas is significantly expensive to be able to print them and all the other process associated with it I don't see a feasibility for a city to do that especially when the state has a process for issuing identification cards really it's a that's a state's rights States resp responsibility not municipality municipality's responsibility Jim wag simple answer is no this is a state legislature function uh I realize they have a history recently of not doing their job but maybe what we need to do is put the pressure on them for for them to do their job we shouldn't take it over take the pressure off of thank you Leah oi I also feel that but that is an issue that should stay at the state level I think if you start to peac meal various communities doing that you get a lot of inconsistency I also would have a just a huge ton of questions on how we would even Implement that at this local level I don't think that's something even probably feasible for us to get involved in okay thank you Courtney Johnson um you'll be first for this next question what is your take on the master facilities plan of April 2014 specifically as how it relates to a future city hall um so I think um we're all thrown for a little bit of a curve this spring when Village Hall was deemed unsafe um I have been part of the um the committee that's comprised of both elected and appointed officials and members of the community um the community space visioning group who is working on coming up with a plan for a new community space um I think that the process that we're going through with that is very thoughtful um involving residents sharing their thoughts um and kind of starting really from the drawing board on figuring out what we're going to do with the issue of replacing this Village Hall so um I think that we have a lot of work to do I think it's really important that this is communicated thoughtfully and thoroughly with residents to let folks know where things stand and what the process is um and when elected that's something that I will ensure is done thank you christe mack so you know what I would like you to repeat the question sure what is your take on the Master's facility plan of April 2014 specifically is how it relates to a future city hall okay I agree with Courtney when the Hall and Jim um was seemed unusable that really put a wrench in our community activities downtown I think that um having a building for those opportunities is important for our community and for our residents for for different um whether it's sports or political meetings or the Lions Club um funky Minds those kind of groups I just think that that is important I do believe that we should look at an option for that in the downtown area if it's deemed not feasible in the downtown area that it is found somewhere within our city limits that we um bring that sense of community and Recreation and items like that back into our own town um I also think that looking at City Hall our city hall is ready for an upgrade uh I don't know when it comes to funding how that will all work itself out but I do know that as we grow our city staff grows which means our needs for a new city hall are going to grow we have other buildings in town that we're going to need to look at too we have a public utilities building um downtown that is no longer in use that has space opportunities available as we grow also we're going to need to look at our fire and rescue and where and how we house them as well so if we are looking at um city hall and our gym and um Hall facilities I think that we should look at moving forward with some of these buildings in a very fiscally responsible way thank you thank you Jim wagan we were we were discussing this at the other night in a committee um certainly our facilities that we have for City Hall are being squeezed we need a bigger city hall the loss of our village hall is really impacting the community uh eventually we're going to need a probably a community center which includes a city hall and a community Center type facility with gym meeting spaces for the community but I think right now we're not ready to pay for that and anything like that we can't keep downtown because of the river and the Bluffs there is really no space downtown what I would suggest in the short term is we take our Village Hall put the money in it about $650,000 upgrade it take out the gym use some of the space for City Hall and meeting space fix up the downstairs which also means make it uh accessible so everybody can get down there use that for about 10 years maybe a little less maybe a little more and then eventually work on a new building someplace out of town um and then event then we can decide what to do with it either sell it or potentially use it as a a youth area thank you Leah oi um so I've also been involved in the the recent meetings in the focus group um the question specifically did ask about the plan from April 2016 so I will point out that that I think that has um changed and evolved a bit since then um my stance um is that I do believe we need to come up with a plan for Village Hall first before we would move forward with um any additional buildings downtown or elsewhere the it's been a big loss to the community not having a central meeting place you understand City Hall is bursting at the seams um I would also support the I guess the renovation of the existing Village Hall in that you know six to 700,000 range um adding some additional offices I would also throw out potentially looking at um part of the gym being preserved or changed a bit to still offer a location for Fitness classes or um you know tot time play playtime um those sorts of things looking at some different ideas ultimately I would I just would like to see um fixing our current Village Hall and then working on a longer term strategic plan for what that eventual City Hall and uh potential new Village Hall could look like and give us a little bit more time to plan for it fiscally how we might pay for that I just don't think we can currently afford something in that five to 10 million range okay thank you Lori s yes as far as the sorry as far as the village hall and what's kind of become our community center is I would like to see the city make a plan and act on it it's enough time is gone um I would also would like to see a little more data especially now that this time has gone we could use that to our benefit and look at structurally where was the building at then and where is it now you know has it deteriorated you know what is what is the change does that kind of help us with an idea of what the risk is with the uh structurally soundness of the building so do that and then make a decision act on it part of the council is you're going to have to make decisions that aren't popular but you have to be fiscally responsible so if they can get the building to do two things for under $750,000 I would support that and those two things are make it safe structurally sound and also the handicap accessible and then from there decide on its use and build that into the long-term Vision but I definitely think a decision needs to be made and then take care of having a structurally sound handicap accessible and go back to use thank you thank you Christopher hammer for the master plan we've seen with Village Hall it's significantly more expensive for us to be reactionary over proactionary so you know the master plan is a proactionary plan to to to do something and and be able to fundraise for it appropriately and build a solution that hopefully lasts longer than the 60 years that Village Hall lasted um so we need to make sure that whatever this plan is meets the needs for the city of Carver for more than half a century and like Jim said it probably means whatever we do with it it's probably not going to be downtown because not enough space not enough parking you know in 50 years we could be a 10,000 or larger person community and there's not going to be enough parking for a city hall or Community Center downtown so we need to look at that as a master plan of ensuring that the growth for this building that we build wherever it may be has room for the city in the future thank you laor s you'll be first in this question please describe your views of the Met Council and its role with the city of Carver as far as the Met Council I really don't have any work experience working with them I pretty much have what I've read in the newspaper um or listen to on the news but I had something very interesting and that I've been to some Republican meetings because endorsed by the conservative Republicans within Carver County and they asked me what I thought the population was in Carver and I said well I thought it was between four and 5,000 because that's what a met Council and they started laughing because so often we get bias information um so as far as my view on the Met Council I feel like they often go to cities with their agenda and definitely it's a entity within the government to work with and partner with but I would have a lot of tough questions for them if I was on the council on what would the city of Carver gain in partnering with them on future things because they're definitely an asset for the infrastructure which that's what is needed first for any development especially the any commercial Industrial Development so if they could be a partner for that I would encourage that but I would also have tough questions for them on what do we gain because they're the ones who are going to want something from us thank you thank you Christopher Hammer so the metrop Metropolitan council is not just Carver issue there's a lot of cities that have problems with the Metropolitan Council forcing things down their throat it's a body that of of government essentially that's appointed by the governor that's unelected you know they have too much power under one committee that is has no oversight other than whether the governor likes them or not um so I would love to see some restriction some election restriction put over the Metropolitan Council to help re them in because they have too much power in terms of Carver thankfully they haven't put in too much they were you know helpful with some pieces I think 212 and in the bus stop um but I think Metropolitan wise the seven County area I think they have too much power too much unrestricted power thank you Courtney Jensen so the issue with the med council is that they they make the rules they govern our city but yet we don't have anybody there's no representation the folks are appointed um versus elected and this board wields so much power I've seen the Met Council um throw up hurdles for the cup of Carver Redevelopment our coffee shop owned by the ostes here in Carver um um their growth projections are debatably accurate um the numbers that they sometimes come up with leave a lot of folks in the city city staff elected officials appointed officials scratching their head as to where they get those numbers um so that is a difficult relationship that said that's the system that's in place those are the rules that we have to play by so it's a matter of massaging that relationship and having as good a working relationship with that group as possible because until at a higher state level that is changed and we have some elected representation on the med Council um we've got to work with them thank you Jim wagan first of all if we didn't have the Met Council we would be building a 20 or $ 30 million sewer plan because they now take our sewage and we didn't have to build that plant we got rid of the old plant the med council is responsible for planning in the metropolitan area and somebody has to be is it perfect no way doesn't have it has a lot of power in some ways but in a lot of ways it doesn't have power it can't really Force cities to do things it can do things to make them want to do that such as the Carver Crossing uh the bus uh bus station you know those were some incentives that we got to go along with they what they want but we can either have the population kind of just spread out and spraw or we can try to control it and keep it at a usable level Carver County in particular has very good rules that you can only build one house outside of a city you can only build one house per 40 acres pushes the population into cities otherwise we could grow like Scott County is where people are building on five acre lots and the and it would be a sprawl we couldn't we would have been eaten up already with the current population in the county and that's one of the things the M Council tries to help prevent thank you Leah oi um so the Met Council you know obviously they um excuse me ultimately I think that the Met Council should be comprised of some elected officials um and be rep more representative of the entire metro area I stories that I've heard and and things that I have read on them there are a lot of communities particularly on the skirts that have really felt that things are being pushed down their throats um I think they at times can hold cities to the fire um to get what they want and it could come down to um so yes they do provide the the water and sewer but they could also withhold that if we're not doing what they want and I don't think that's a good working relationship to have um there needs to be a little bit more of a balance of power there um ultimately we do to continue to work with them yes but I think if we can push at a local level and enough of the different communities are pushing that could hopefully Drive some change at the state level um I also would have some concerns over Southwest Transit um in terms of the light rail coming out to Eden Prairie and the effects that that could have on on that I think it's a pretty successful entity that we have out here it's just another area of the Met Council where I I question their Authority okay christe mark thank you um to me the Met Council has a rather biased agenda and opinion U that they Place onto local cities and we must abide by it and by I say must abide by it if we don't abide by it we basically have sanctions or penalties against us for not doing that so of course the incentives to us are going to outweigh those those penalties that we're going to incur by not following the Met council's um directive I I don't know that again as most people up here have said is that they should have that much power over our local um government and our own Community I do see that there is some benefit obviously Jim mentioned with the sewer and things like that but however we are if it's we're taking one thing but we have to take all things then with them and get to dictate over us what we are going to do with our um with our city that way I also agree that their growth Pro projections are um often inaccurate and yet we are then um we must abide by what they expect for us when it comes to how we manage our growth by those growth projections that are often incorrect um I also think that um five acre lots are not necessarily A Bad Thing some people want those Hobby Farms and that's okay too um I think that that can be done through the townships and through orderly annexation agreements as that happens for different types of building that we want to have in our area so again with met Council I think that we unfortunately have to meet their requirements and maybe the gains that we are looking for are not um are not what our vision was thank you thank you and then christe maku our first for the next question Carver downtown residents are being hit with ever increasing flood insurance premiums what would you do or what could the city do to help the situation well I live in the downtown area and I currently have water in my basement so I understand this dilemma very well uh I do choose to live in the downtown and I know that this is a possibility I choose to live in the downtown for the quaintness and um what I like for a home so I choose the downtown area I understand with the rising uh insurance rates I've had Neighbors who have actually decided to move they've decided they don't want to take on that burden of those uh flood insurance levels any longer I know that certifying our own Levy is going to be millions and millions of dollars however I think that it's something that we should start taking a look at and setting real plans in place on how that can be done I'm not sure if there's grants out there or how we can work it out with FEMA I know that um even working with FEMA becomes more difficult as the rates go up and they have more more flood issues in different areas that they also have to reimburse and take care of um flooding in this town has happened obviously for many years which is why we have an uncertified Levy right now was to help that out um we do have a gem downtown it is a very desirable Place being that I live in the downtown I often see how many people are down here for the shops for the restaurants and um the establishments there in the area and I think that it would be unfortunate to take the chance of losing that so I think whatever we can do in the future that it may not be the immediate future but in the future to certify that Levy is important thank you thank you Leah oi um so it is certainly a complicated issue um I stated before I I love our little downtown um the historic district is pretty unique there has been a lot of work by a lot of residents the carar in the Minnesota to preserve that and and it would be very unfortunate um to allow that to go by the wayside it's something I believe we need to continue to focus on um it again it's it's going to be a very costly measure so it's something that is going to take time um and a lot of planning there um in the downtown master plan that was rolled out earlier this year there was a a long-term idea presented to take out the Levy here um behind the church here and put in temporary flood walls um without knowing anything about the the cost of those um I think looking at something like that um for the future rather than trying to certify the existing Levy um would potentially be a good option I being from North Dakota in the Red River Valley um I have myself lived through many a flood um and the temporary flood balls have been implemented up there with great success um there are also the issues with Spring Creek as well um separate from the existing Levy but I I it's an important issue I wish I had the solution but I think it's something we need to get on the radar and begin longterm planning for okay thank you Lori s yes I think this is something that there needs to be just ongoing conversations and really look at getting it recertified um you know how did chasa accomplish that look at some of the other neighboring communities um that may have had similar situations and there is grant money out there um and really look at how can this become a priority and how do we go after the long-term vision of having this recertified and just really build that into the plan which as much as we can do planning for every area of the city especially with this because there's ramifications for those that can't get flood insurance or those can't afford it or more importantly those that are trying to get a mortgage to purchase one of those properties so what's happening is if someone wants to purchase property on the flood plane they may not be able to get a mortgage so they have to pay cash so then you're going to have an investor who's going to you know not really have that same type of you know personal investment uh in our community and that's going to be likely then a rental property and kind of take away from our quaint homes take away from the occasional stores and just give our character that we currently have so there's more than just the stability or that sense of security but also having it recertified plays into allowing homeowners to get a mortgage to become home homeowners and then to have the insurance and also just for those businesses to invest um and ask them to you know continue to contribute thank you thank you Christopher Hammer so I grew up on the Mississippi down in Eastern Iowa and uh in my lifetime down there we've had five or so 500 year floods so it's only getting worse um we have to do something to protect our historic district and and if that means fixing the levy or or temporary flood walls floodgates that kind of thing it's something I think we as a city should look at whether it's the city investing or looking for grant money or or or private sector money I really think we need to look at one of the other things that a lot of towns have done successfully is if there's houses that are not historic houses that if floods are repetitive sometimes they vut those houses and repurpose them to Parkland or something like that and you know it's unfortunate that you know someone gets bought out from their home they get bought out at a reasonably fair price and and moved somewhere else but that is an option um for areas that I think are would be outside the historic district we want to protect the historic portion of Carver but the part people outside we may not be able to thank you Courtney Johnson um so the question about the flood insurance is a good one and I had those questions um when I met with the city administrator Brent Merck last week um right now the city is working on a cost benefit analysis study with the Army Corp of Engineers um that study alone is $500,000 the Army Corps will pay for the first $100,000 of the study and then after that it's a 5050 split between the city and the core um then once that is done it's kind of up to the results of that to see what it would if it's what the cost of benefits are of um certifying the levy but the cost of certifying the levy could be 10 to 12 million dollar so we're talking a substantial investment um I love our downtown I think it needs to be protected from flood waters um as a Red Cross employee and volunteer I've seen the destructive um Power of flooding and I think it's um important that we do what we can but I think it's that that cost that really is going to play a role um with it being so phenomenal I'm sure there's some grants out there but when we're talking millions of dollar do I'm not sure how much of a match we would be able to find thank you Jim ween while I was mayor we had floods I filled sandbags and I piled sandbags so I'm kind of more closely involved with this it's going to be very expensive to build to certify the levy and I doubt if the cost benefits are there we'll have to maybe look at some other solution Maybe we can provide flood insurance for the homes uh would probably require bonding initially to set up a fund and then hopefully uh collect enough from the residents at a lower rate than they're paying now to provide the insurance for we probably can do certain things to better performance from the levy that we have today which has held up good for 50 years better than the Village Hall but uh it's not going to be an easy fix and and and the problem is if the Lev is not certified people still have to pay flood insurance maybe we can we're working to get the rates lowered we're working with the uh FEMA to get lower rating for the city which will help lower the rates but it's not going to be an easy solution we we're going to have to come up with something very creative to fix it overall most of the houses that we're concerned about are historic so we can't buy them out we can't move them it's no quick fix thank you our last question and Christopher Hammer you'll be first the 212 Corridor is one of the higher traffic regions in the West Metro if elected what would you do to Spur business development in Carver particularly along 212 well I think that's the important thing the city needs to work on is is bringing in um services and and companies that that cooperate with each other you know we already have a large retailer we don't necessarily want to bring in a competitive retailer we want to try to bring in grocery or or something like that um so that's what the city needs to work towards and utilizing we have a nice commercial District up there north of 212 you know I'm I live in the Spring Creek neighborhood just south of 212 I don't want to have a giant orange glow directly across highway or County Road 11 from me where the L monry school is going I'd like to keep it north of the highway and that's you know we need to plan properly and work with companies to bring in services or comp or sales companies that work together um perhaps even commercial office jobs things like that that that would work well in that space um without significantly impacting residential portions of the town thank you Leah oi um so so first I I guess I want to point out in in my mind kind of the reality that because 212 is still a new highway there's a lot of undeveloped land before you even get to Carver um and so we will be fighting for a while yet um competing against Eden Prairie Chan hen and chasa as Things fill in there um obviously that will continue to come but I think that does give us um some time as a community to plan again really strategically engaging um a broad and diverse group of people from the community to include um Civic groups business owners faith-based organizations um a variety of people that come together to create um a longer term plan looking at what are our existing assets so let's sort of get our house in order first um and you know what can be done to sell and to Market our downtown the school um that proximity to 212 um the river the shops downtown and those things so getting those in order marketing those really bringing together a sense of community um and then even past that um so ultimately I think this planning would go far beyond the comprehensive plan um and then ultimately still having a group of community members who will longterm continue to look at that plan and how we are meeting it and just benchmarking thank you christe mack could you repeat the question please sure the 212 Corridor is one of the higher traffic regions in the West Metro if elected what would you do to Spur business development in Carver particularly along 212 thank you I think that the 212 Corridor is a great area uh right here in Carver that we can really utilized for commercial industrial growth I think that we have put in great infrastructure there Levi Griffin Road with mil SLE Farm is Prime and ready for the next business to come in there I would like to see new business uh in that area not at the detriment to downtown I think there's an opportunity that both can survive um I do think that um our staff our city staff and Consultants should be actively pursuing and uh recruiting different businesses uh to come out here to see what we have to maybe find a home for them uh in our in our town I think we have a great opportunity up there for that and as um as residential and Commercial growth grows Westerly as we as we come out here in the next number of years I think that we will see something coming in there and I just think that we need to proactively work towards that and recruit some businesses and then again we have the infrastructure ready for them to go when they get here thank you thank you Lori say there yes so as far as 212 being a prime real estate area in the hi traffic region to Spur development I think for years we thought something would be put there and it's really going to depend on market conditions um I think the city is doing things to recruit and if I was vote on Council I would support that and continue to try to recruit and look for what does the market demand that a business would be willing to take the risk to invest in our community but I think this really goes back to having it all planned out um which they've done the right things already and that we have the infrastructure there but really to be able to plan where do we want to have a community built around something or do we want the developer to come and build around our community and I think that second is what we'd really want to be able to say this is our vision this is our community we want you to build around so when the right partnership comes for a retail or commercial different services to be able to say yes we're ready for you and this matches our vision but not have someone dictate and say we want to come here but rather for us to say yes we want this here that's what I look for for that Prime real estate and just really expand our commercial and Industrial and services opportunities thank you thank you Jim wagan when I was mayor I encouraged people to look at the comprehensive plan to see what's planned for the future we did a very extensive comprehensive plan 10 years ago little more than less than 10 years ago cost hundreds of thousands of dollars the reason we have infrastructure where it's needed is because it's in our comprehensive plan we will get some of that development a grocery store when we have more rooftops we will see other development out there when the industry makes its full recovery it's still I think it's still down from the U bubble burst of 10 years ago we're just starting to see our houses selling again to some extent we need to be patient we also need to give some consideration of what we want what kind of development do we want I don't think we just want anything grocery store certainly I think everybody in Carver would like to have a grocery store I think we'd like to have some industry that brings jobs but if you're going to bring industry like that you need workers that's one of the thing we get from Carver Crossing so these these are things that don't just happen you plan for them you get ready for them and then you just have to sit and wait until it comes thank you Court brne Jensen um so last month as part of my role on the Planning Commission I participated in the Urban Land institute's navigating your competitive future workshop and what that was is it was a two-hour Workshop where a bunch of experts um with real estate background um gave both members of the Planning Commission and also members from city council um a evaluation of the current and future needs that the city will see uh based on what I got from that Workshop I think that the best thing that we can do to Spur commercial development in the city of Carver is to really um reinforce and support residential Development A lot of these big retailers that we're looking for the grocery stores the Meyer the hi ve um are looking at rooftops and daytime populations within the city and we're just not there yet in Carver um I think that the time will come for larger commercial development but we just need to be patient thank you and now we'll have closing statements by our candidates a chance to summarize uh qualifications and positions and going in reverse alphabetical order Jim wean you're first uh I think we've had a good discussion here tonight uh a lot of the things we've talked about I've been involved with over the last as I said 13 years that I was was on the counil I have experience in all these things I have experience with the floods I have experience with growth and growth projections that were unreasonable and then I have experience with dealing with a bust and we came through it all okay because we had a council that put the effort in paid attention to what's going on and prepared for things and I want to continue that I want to see Carver continue to grow I want to see it to grow not just grow for growth sake I think we want to plan for a community that's has diversity in it of housing has businesses coming in and all those things and we also have areas for recreation we leave Open Spaces that people can have an enjoyable community and we've been doing that for quite a while and I want to continue doing it and I have the experience a lot of the things I heard tonight from the other people sitting at the table shows that they really don't know what's going on they haven't looked at the comprehensive plan they haven't done a lot of the things that need to be thank you Lori s so in closing comments thank you for putting on the uh debate and for those that attended and those online who will view I believe that I would be a very good candidate if I was honored and with the privilege of receiving enough votes just because I really care about the community and I've seen the growth that we've had and what a difference it is when it's planned out and how citizens react when they feel engaged when they feel like they were listened to and I feel like I would be very good with listening to that and I may not be able to act and vote the way somebody wants and I realize I'm not always going to vote to make everyone happy it's just it's a tough position where you're not going to make everyone happy but one thing I know is I would vote fiscally responsible Ways part of it is because I'm a Conservative Republican so you would know where I stand on things you'll know my values and Views but specifically for our city I would vote on What the residents are saying and what we need for the longterm strategic planned growth and provide transparency on what decisions are coming up uh within the city I also really feel that this is just a great time in that we could go so many directions but we really need to have it planned as far as where our growth is going to be and what the city can afford I also just think that I would work well with the staff and City city council I know one thing is I will vote not always what my peers would want but definitely What the residents would want thank you thank you Leah oi thank you all for taking the time to come here tonight thank you to the League of Women Voters um everyone out in Virtual land um it's been a a fun evening um learning from the other candidates as well um it has been a really long-term dream of mine to serve at a local level it was always about finding the right community once we um finally settled down and and found a long-term place we pretty quickly discovered that Carver was that Community um I um as I've gotten involved the over the past few years a little bit more with government or with the local government um I think we have a a solid group of leaders that have brought us to where we are today but I also think that the community could benefit with um some New Perspective I I have seen over my years years in my corporate career where bringing a fresh set of eyes um at issues can really add a lot of value I definitely would commit to True transparency I'm a pretty open book um people are always welcome to come and talk to me I share Lori's sentiments that we're not always going to agree I would not always um necessarily vote with what an individual how they might want me to vote but I will always open dialogue and communication um I want to be a voice for the residents and I really want to bring some more strategic thinking and long-term planning um to the community and do it in a fiscally responsible way thank you christe mack thank you and I would like to say thank you to my fellow candidates and thank you to everyone who attended tonight I have really enjoyed my time here with everyone and listening to what everyone has to um say and comment on I am going to to refer back to the mission statements that I spoke about at the beginning of tonight and I do believe that we need to be accountable to the community and I hope to as your new council person be accountable to the community for the decisions that I make and that we make together and this is also about planning for our future and we are in this together this is our future this is not mine or not yours this is ours and we need to really work together to make sure that that future is the brightest and best that it can be here city of carber for our families for our friends for our children and for our grandparents who might still be here because we have found a senior living facility um space for them and they can we can work live and play and retire together in this community I hope that I will be able to represent you and represent this town and um its views and I hope that I can do that for you in the upcoming four years so if you would please do me the honor of voting for Christy MO your next election thank you thank you Courtney Johnson thank you to the League of Women Voters for hosting tonight's candidate Forum it's important work that you do and I'm appreciative of you for hosting this event thank you also the audience for attending and for everyone who's watching online hopefully over the course of the last hour you've learned enough about me to be able to confidently vote Courtney for Carver City Council on November 8th if you still have questions I'll be here until the building closes and I'll also like to invite you to invite you to join me at coffee for the C with the candidate which is going to be this Friday morning at cup of Carver I'll be hanging out from 6:30 until 10:00 a.m. so if you want to swing by on your way into work or at some point during the morning I would love to get to know more about you um share a little bit more about me and hear what the issues are that you think are the most important please feel free also to take one of my handouts if you haven't already which are on the table on your way out it includes my email address website and Facebook page all three of which are additional ways you can get in touch with you if you have any questions or want to know where I stand on issues um finally I think it's important to have a candidate who isn't afraid to ask questions that's me I don't hesitate to ask questions and do my homework to ensure that I'm prepared to serve the residents of Carver I'm the prepared informed candidate I will be a fresh voice on the Carver City Council and I certainly hope you'll vote for Courtney Johnson on November 8th thank you and Christopher Hammer first I want to thank our moderator Miss Casper and the rest of the League of Women Voters uh representatives for being here and putting this on tonight um thank my fellow candidates and our and our audience uh and those watching at home this is what the political process is supposed to be like a bunch of people coming together respectful of each other even if they have different opinions and working together unlike our presidential debates for anyone that's watched those um we all are here because we want the best for our city and any one of us I think would be a good representative on the city council so you know it's a matter of who you like who you like what you've heard research the time you know spend the time online research about the candidates and their opinions um I'm here because I want what's best for my family in this city and the future of this city and I think they all all F candidates can stay the same but um that's all I got thank you for your time thank you very much again I would like to remind you that the views expressed in this forum are those of the candidates and not those of the League of Women Voters sponsorship of this forum is not an endorsement of any candidate by the League of Women Voters but now for our closing statement here is President Laura halmer thank you Diana League of Women Voters Eastern Carver County would like to thank you all for coming tonight and our internet audience for viewing we would especially like to thank our candidates for being part of the democratic process by running for office and for being willing to serve your community the league also researches issues to important to our members and to the health of our communities if you interested in finding out more about what we do and how you can also make a difference please pick up a membership brochure at the registration table or visit us at www.wv mn.org membership is open to both men and women aged 16 and older you can find more information about candidates and about voting at mnvotes.org or and lwv mn.org this forum is being recorded and will be on the internet at the city of Carver website links to all the candidate forums and additional voter information can also be found at our Facebook page for League of Women Voters of Eastern Carver County again thank you for coming and most importantly remember to vote on November 8th [Applause] know