Well, I sit on the EDA loan um committee. I sit on um a few boards that um require budget input through the departments. Um I have experience in my past uh career in developing budgets. Um but mainly just making sure that you're asking the right questions. Um you're involving the right people. Um we have a core group that is very knowledgeable in the budgets. Um and remaining fiscally responsible.

And what I know about budgets is that it's impacting ultimately what the city is going to set as your tax threshold. So, every decision that we make as a city council team um would ultimately be um something that we really need to be wise and good stewards about and that's my commitment. And part of stewardship uh is knowing what you know well and knowing what you don't know well. So, when I don't have the right expertise, I intend to lean on those experts that do.

I think the addition of a third water tower is a priority, especially with severe drought conditions observed in Minnesota in 2021 and this past year. Each year since 2020, uh drought has been reoccurring. I would also like affordable housing to be made a priority as well.

As far as capital improvements, we've made great strides this year in getting the streets finally um updated and maintained. We've got the infrastructure underneath um almost completed. Um we are outgrown several of like the fire department needs a new building. It'd be nice to have a new library. Um it'd be nice to have a new city hall. Unfortunately, that costs a lot of money. Um so we have to be very cognizant of the pennies that we have and and make the best use of them.

We have a a a committee. It's age-friendly and they have taken made great strides in looking at um the aging aspect of the community and trying to uh develop resources that allow um more senior uh community members to remain in their home.

So, for the individual asking the question, 'How do we make it this community better for senior citizens?' It's important that we go to those folks and understand what their what their needs what their desires are... And as we make decisions about the improvements that we make, we also have to recognize that comes with a cost that is beyond just the initial capital improvement, but maintaining that infrastructure as well. So, if we're building out a new you know, housing development section, we also have to be thoughtful about can we also maintain that facility or that area really well as in addition, so.

For me, it's important that we maintain being a community that is open for business. And so, for our small businesses, I had a conversation that just a couple weeks ago just around how do we make it more affordable for young entrepreneurs to open up small businesses in town and continue to thrive and be a part of even the Main Street community. Um, I think back to my childhood and we all know the pizza place. There's been a lot of different, um, you know, restaurants, um, in the over a number of years. And so, I'm really interested in how do we, um, make some of those establishments more permanent pieces of our community.

It's a difficult situation when you are a small community and you are 15 miles from a big city. Um, over 1,300 people leave this city every day to go work somewhere else. And they drive by five grocery stores on their way home. Um, we have to get the community engaged in supporting all of the local businesses. Um, right now we don't have that very many vacant buildings. We have to look at other opportunities on how we can provide, um, a retail space or a business space for these new businesses. Um, but it takes a village, so to speak. We have to provide, um, support as a community to keep businesses here. Um, we're losing a business, um, by the end of the month. So, again, we have to support every business that is currently here to keep them.

Uh based on community feedback, I'd like to see businesses come into town that actively benefit the community, such as a laundromat, a coffee shop, or restaurant that serves breakfast. Businesses that employ people in the long term. Uh I'm for polling the community to ask what businesses they would support. I have the pleas- I have the pleasure of speaking with several business owners the last couple months. Many business owners would like to see more businesses come into Pine Island to expand the tax base. A common complaint that I've heard is that people move to Pine Island but work and shop in Rochester. I would like to innovate some ways to highlight highlight our local businesses and what services they offer. I would like to collaborate with city council members to brainstorm ways we can assist struggling businesses in the area, especially with the current economic circumstances. Thank you.

Uh everyone has a right to feel how they want about the data center. People have a right to be excited about it and its potential opportunities. People have a right to feel concerned about it. Um for me, I I understand that there is uh potential benefit to the city and the school. Um but it can have great consequences for the residents and the neighboring property owners. Um many of many consequences beyond a drop in property values. Um such as uh negative impacts to the environment. Um we can also uh be inability of residents to sell their homes and increased utility bills. So, um definitely I think that this is something that um city council and if I'm elected needs further evaluation into to mitigate that. So, thank you.

What I've done to understand this project is I showed up to the community engagement opportunity that was put on by Google and Ryan Companies was there as well as Kimley-Horn representatives from Xcel. And I was able to have many of my questions answered and I was able to take away contact information for each of those individuals to be able to reach out to them and understand when additional questions would arise for me. So my commitment has been to understand those concerns and not belittle them while also taking the time to research them myself.

I actually live less than half a mile from the proposed area. So, I would be impacted just as much as anyone else. Um but I agree with Dominic, you have to look at the big picture, not just pieces of it. It It would be unfortunate if someone's property value did decrease, but again, you weigh the risk and the benefit of having a new business come in that is very supportive of the community, who's looking to be very much a good uh community member.

To continue to have open dialogue. I mean, everybody has the right to a difference of opinion. Um I think that there's um been a disconnect um within the city. Um It's hard to say. People are going to feel very passionate of one way or the other about the decision about in this case, the data center. Um will we ever overcome the divide? Hopefully, we will in a very respectful manner. Um but it's going to take time and it isn't going to be just um the council versus the city. It would just have to be a collaborative between the whole community as a whole.

Uh pretty much as addressed in my opening statements, if elected, uh I intend to be more engaged with the community and innovating ways to um get in get important information out. There's folks that don't go online at all. There's folks with mobility issues. Uh I don't think that um town hall meetings have been a a a good method of getting information out. And even Facebook can be challenging for those who don't use social media. So, I think that um the challenge here uh is really just more community engagement with city city leadership. So, thank you.

What we must do to uh continue to build trust or regain trust, I believe is what the the question um posed is really my responsibility, if elected, is to lead in that. Uh I have to be engaged with the community in conversations and and have to engage in those things in respectful ways. Um so, that looks like sitting down with somebody and being willing to have a conversation and really ask yourself, what if I'm wrong in this situation? And that's important for each of us, that we might recognize that in a particular situation or conversation that we're having, that we could be perhaps incorrect and have our minds changed on something.

So, education is incredibly important. That's how we grow in knowledge and um that's how we raise up a next generation. And so, um we have four children of our own. Uh we actually have made the choice to educate our children in our home currently. Um but I grew up in the Pine Island um school system and um because we educate our children in our home does not mean that public education is not important to us. We have many friends and uh families that we know whose children are a part of that and uh they they lean on that particular um or you know, facility and and folks um teaching there to help raise up their children and grow them in knowledge and understanding. And so, I would certainly be interested in doing whatever we need to to make sure that that um facility is well supported and that the staff um that are a part of that facility are also well supported to do what they need to do.

The school has always been kind of the core of this community. Um I graduated there, our son graduated there, our grandkids Several of our grandkids went there until they moved. Um It's a highly respected school. They do They offer many opportunities for the the youth. Um I think that the school and the city council have a great working relationship. The city as a whole and the school have a great working relationship and I would just continue to foster that through open communication.

So, I think that to address rising costs that basically affordable housing needs to be the priority. Thank you.

So, scarcity of housing and child care child care, did I hear correctly? Yeah, so for me the important thing there is that we understand what that looks like for those particular families that are challenged with that. I think the idea of affordable housing is a fantastic idea. How we facilitate and do that needs to be done really thoughtfully. It's not something where we can just you know, sort of throw money at a project or problem and and hope that it improves it. So, we we must really understand the problem there. As far as child care goes in the community, perhaps there's opportunities to work with the economic development group and see what we could do to create opportunity for others who might be interested in opening child care facility. And you know, going back to thinking about how we work with the local school facility as well and create opportunities there for you know, after school programs and such that might support families who are making that transition from work to home and may need a little bit of buffer assistance there.

Housing, it'd be nice to be able to sit down with a builder and look at what affordable housing means. Many people say affordable housing is not $425,000. It's got to be lower. But we need quality safe housing. And that requires working with the builders.

I think if you were to ask people about that question not related to the data center, you'd probably hear something about e-bikes, e-scooters. I think that is a new and prevalent challenge that many of us are encountering. There's also I think responsibility there from the city to help provide guidance for that while ultimately realizing too that we need to engage parents and family students to make sure that we help those young children understand how to get around on those safely. Um and so I think that there's work to be done and we're seeing that all across the nation as um you know, technology has led in that. Um I think another concern that I have that I see is our ability to engage with one another in meaningful and challenging conversations and walk away and still love and care for each other. I think that that is um very important for us, very critical for us um regardless of what the issue is. Um I think a third piece is making sure that um some of our local services like our EMS and fire teams and police um are well supported to continue to keep this um a safe and thriving community um especially in the hours while we're asleep.

For me um that's based on the community, uh what needs are not being met um and I want to be um I want Pine Island to be financially solvent um but I also want to protect the interests and assets of the property owners, homeowners, and business owners. Uh I want to honor the fire department and law enforcement and ensure they feel supported by the community and have the resources to do their very important jobs. Um I have a lot of respect for the men and women that serve and protect Pine Island. Um so they they will always be a priority for me. Thank you.

I think the EMS um for Pine Island, the fire fighters, uh firemen, um Pine Island covers 132 square miles um our fire department is responsible for, which is pretty large for a small town. Um Looking to get more people interested in becoming a fireman. It's strictly voluntary. Um looking at better ways that we can um get people to apply to become a fireman or first responder. Um e-bikes is a big issue. We hear it all the time about um lack of regulatory um procedures on how to handle the e-bikes. Um We have not had a fatality yet, but I envision that we're going to have some someone either die or get hurt. So, looking at how we can um provide better guidance about e-bikes. And the seniors in this town um really need more um opportunities for housing um and other resources available.

Well, we've talked with the deputies on multiple times. Um We're working with the school's resource officer for education. Um You can't legislate parenting, so to speak. So, working with the parents. Um And legislation has to decide what really constitutes an e-bike. Um Who's Who's allowed to ride it? Who's not allowed to ride it? Um but really just a lot of education needs to be done.

I so much agree with you, Delina. I'm not sure we can legislate parenting. You know, there's uh certainly a component there um where we do need to engage those who we might consider to be um underage drivers in what it looks like to properly participate in activities on the roadways designed currently many for cars. Um we certainly may have um you know, biking paths and things of that sort as well. I know the Douglas Trail is frequented by e-bike wheelie riders and and scooters um all over the place. And so, here's what we need to do is we need to work together as a community to understand how do we maintain a really good thing because that can be a useful piece of transportation that we don't need to, you know, sort of just, you know, do what California did and go squish all of the e-bikes and e-scooters um and just say this is a bad thing. We won't we won't we won't deal with it at all. Um instead, we need to uh figure out how do we leverage the technology and make the best use of it. I don't know all of those answers. As a nation, we are struggling through understanding what that looks like. So, we need to work with others even beyond our community to understand how do we do that best?

Well, we have to work with the willing. Um and so, that means that we have to make ourselves available for businesses, and then we need to vet them out and see is that a business that we want to bring into our community. Um and understand are they going to be someone that ultimately benefits our community? Are they going to be able to, um you know, pay off debt as an example and things of that sort. I think one thing that I'm really excited about that's not a big business is an opportunity for a coffee shop um and a place to have breakfast because I love coffee. I love to sit down with people and have a conversation. Today, we can do that at my house. So, if you're interested, um show up some morning we can have a cup of coffee. Um but, I would be interested in creating an opportunity where we can engage as a community um before we get started with our work days and be able to have conversations with one another, get to know each other, um and engage with one another in that way.

Yes. Uh for me, I really like to attract businesses that provide a good number of jobs and long-term jobs. Um I've done some research, um, about ways that others have been successful in attracting businesses. Um, so I'd like to see if there is any adjustments that can be made with tax or fee reforms to promote business growth. In San Francisco, their mayor implemented a program called the first-year fee program where the cost of initial registration fees, initial license fees, first-year permit fees, and other applicable fees for qualifying businesses were waived for the first year. And this program was a big success, and as of 2025, more than 11,000 businesses have enrolled in it. So, uh, in addition to, um, you know, supporting businesses here and supporting, um, economic growth and job opportunities, there needs to be strategies in attracting them as well. So, thank you.

I think we need to look at what's the space available, first of all. Do we have the space to actually invite businesses to come? ... but right now I don't see that we have a lot of available space. So, until we can manufacture that space, it's going to be hard to attract someone.

I'm not really a fan of that. I I'm not quite sure why that incentive needed to be offered to a corporation like that. Um I I certainly wouldn't have made that call. Um I wouldn't support that call, and I think uh that's something you know, that we should definitely be more careful about uh in future business um dealings and proposals. So, yeah, that's my thoughts on that. Thank you.

Can you Can you repeat the question? There were some numbers referenced in there that I think Yes, what do you see the role is for tax abatement? What is your opinion about giving or committing 85% of the city's tax abatement allotment to Google until 2055? And first of all, I need to dig into the question there and make sure that that is a factually accurate representation of the tax abatement agreement. Um I genuinely don't know that to be true. Um, if that were to be true, what I do understand is that Ryan Companies has also committed to 100 million of infrastructure improvements as well. And so I think there's a question around does Google need a tax break? And perhaps the answer is no in that question I think is really what somebody's getting at there. And I'm a proponent for wealth creation rather than wealth distribution. And so I think that being able to attract a business may require that we provide a tax abatement much like was provided to Ryan Companies. And Google happened to be the suitor that is leasing that property is my understanding of the agreement. And so I think that we need to use tax abatement to attract businesses in some situations. And where we do that, we need to be thoughtful and wise about. As far as that being you know through 2055, I need to dig into some of that for sure.

Tax abatement and TIF, there are different types of tax incentives that um communities are allowed to offer. Um Again, I I would have to do some checking about the 85%. Um but I think that we stand to gain. Most businesses when they come into a community are not looking to provide the school with money. They're not looking to um provide any extra. They're just coming to open a business and hopefully the community supports it. So I think we tend to Hopefully we'll gain more um from them by offering the abatement than we would normally get. Um I'm not opposed to it. Um Again, I I would have to do some checking about the 85%.

I think one of the important thing to note too, Dwaina mentioned TIF as an option. So, for this particular use case, my understanding is that TIF is not actually an opportunity that could have been used to attract this business. And so, I think that's another important detail to dig into is tax abatement is maybe not always the best way to solve problems and TIF may be a better option in some instances, but in this particular instance TIF was not an option that could be on the table.