welcome back we'll resume the portion involving City candidates thank you all to all the candidates for attending I'll go through the same rules that we heard uh at the earlier session although I think we're going to try the one minute timed answers right Dan and if that doesn't appear to work or you know maybe we can adjust as we go but let's try with one let's try for one minute okay we have more candidates we want to get through more questions uh again I thought the last group did great not talking over each other they didn't interrupt they didn't get too personal that the decorum was great so let's I know we'll maintain that here so let's let's do this let's start with the same introduction as the city candidates we'd like to hear your name where uh what you're running for because I understand we have some council member candidates we have some may mayal may orial candidates and why you're running and and a little bit of background about yourself let's start with Miss valento down in the end hi everyone my name is Hannah valento I'm running for the Forest Lake City Council and I'm running for reelection um my background is that I grew up in Hugo I now live in Forest Lake and I went to the um forest lake has essentially always been my community because I graduated from Forest Lake and um I'm running for reelection because I want to continue my unique voice on The Forest Lake City Council because as a younger female I think younger people need to be more represented um on in within our governments and in running my top three priorities are to continue following our 10-year budget plan to support Economic Development and to um figure out our internal organization because as many of you probably know we need to hire a city administrator and in hiring ing a city administrator that can create a ripple effect into our community so it's super important that we hire someone who's good and who's out in our community and um so if you want more information about me feel free to go on to my website it's Hannah valento and I also have an email so feel free to reach out and um I'm very excited and also for city council we are looking at our budget we just passed the preliminary budget so feel free to keep following and we always want your input so feel free to reach out and be at our meetings at the open forums because we appreciate your feedback thank you my name is Bruce Anderson I've lived in Forest Lake for 20 years um I'm running for mayor um this is really the wrong crowd for me uh give me some fishermen and some sports guys um but I'm running mainly because I want the voters to change how they vote I want the voters to vote for issues and specifics uh I bring up this I got this in the mail from Jessica Johnson um on her card here she's got specifics on what she'll do I've been after politicians to do this forever so you'll see that I'm totally against lawn signs but I put her lawn sign up on my property because she's actually saying specifics I hope to give you some specifics today on what I might do about certain issues um I'll briefly go about I want people to elect the best person not the lawn signs let's go back to am I done oh just you guys can finish your sence when I that's good a minute goes fast my name is Susan young um Community it's all about Community for me um I am I was a council member for 12 years um I moved I chose Forest Lake a little over 30 years ago because it is it reminds me of home um the the the geography the topography the climate the the rural area that I live in uh that's what I grew up with and that's what I wanted that's why I chose Forest Lake uh it is my forever home I'm not going anywhere um I'm running again um because I think that I have an opportunity and I have connections to build community here in Forest Lake we've got some really unique things that other communities don't have but we don't all know about them um I was the first non-b buus member of the Chamber of Commerce back in the Ted blank days um I I like that because I think that individual Citizens need to understand the importance of the business Community hi my name is Blake Roberts I'm running for mayor uh currently I'm in the my second year on the council prior to that I was on the Eda for 12 years I'm I'm an active member in the Chamber of Commerce uh Lions past president of the rotary and Lake Association I I'm running because I see opportunity in this town we've got a great City so much opportunity here that's been passed up we've missed a lot of that we've got a great downtown that is just waiting for that explosion to happen and I think that I can help that happen because of my experience in business I've run three uh small uh local businesses uh third generation and I'm looking forward to just the opportunity of forest lake to grow and Thrive hi I'm Jesse Wagner I've born and raised in Forest Lake graduated from Forest Lake High School um at a point in my life now where I have extra time so I'm looking to help serve I've currently served on the Planning Commission and I believe that by working and living in Forest Lake I've learned many of different things that people would like to see and help the community Thrive and Advance forward and uh great place to raise your kids and family thank you Mr Wagner Council you're running for Council councel for sake good morning excuse me I'm Sam husk excuse me I'm a lifelong resident of the city of Forest Lake I'm running for mayor uh I've been serving the city of forest lake in one capacity or another for the past 30 years either on the Planning Commission airport commission Eda uh this and of course the city council for the past seven and a half years and uh I'm the liaison for the between the uh city council and the school board and so I'm very involved in our community and I want to continue that work um I have the experience that it takes to get this job done and uh force is a great place and and uh uh there's some things that we can be working on along the way and we have been and some things take aot some time no question about it uh couple struggles we have going through right now is uh finding an administrator a permanent administrator that's been taking up an inordinate amount of time uh also uh our budget uh we're working on our budget okay got a cut on that one so budg we'll get to it good morning I'm Jeff lorrison I'm running for Forest Lake City Council um I've been in the community only about six years however I've retired from the Washington County Sheriff's Office where I've had 34 years of service in uh part of the area here was working in the community as Forest Lake is the town in the township and also in the city with the Forest Lake Police Department um I'm currently on the Eda board as well as the Planning Commission for the last two years um my wife and I enjoy the community I've been volunteering at the American Legion I'm a sons of the American Legion member there uh a board member with that organization do a lot of volunteer work with them I believe that uh you need to be in the community to create Community um in my times with the and the Planning Commission I've enjoyed that work I see a lot of potential uh coming forth and I hope to apply that into uh further being a city council member and I think I have the time to do take care of that thank you thank you Mr candidates what major issues will be your focus if elected and please be specific and how you're going to achieve your goals we'll start with Mr Anderson well there's a lot of Planning Commission members here so this is going to be kind of a shock but first thing I would do is eliminate the Planning Commission uh the Planning Commission in my opinion has stifled business and homeowners for years I actually was a part of the Planning Commission for maybe a year uh couldn't take it any longer I was on the short end of many 51 votes um I was always for the property owner um you should be able to do whatever you want on your property unless it violates three things one it can't hurt the environment it can't hurt your neighbors and it can't be unsightly or immoral otherwise you should be able to do whatever you want on your property and the Planning Commission in my opinion has always tried to find ways to say no to people instead of finding ways to say yes to people so along with eliminating the Planning Commission the other thing I would do is try to eliminate onethird to one half of all the city ordinances the City of Prior Lake has just done something similar thank you I've got three major areas improving the fiscal health of our community which is not only the city fiscal Health but our business fiscal Health we have amazing local businesses here um we concentrate on local businesses there's a way to highlight them as you work in the community there's a way to say let's support our local business as we do things in our community instead of saying oh why can't we have another Panera wrong um I want to improve the infrastructure here my public background is in public works and quite frankly no City Works without Public Works and a strong Public Works infrastructure we need to work on and completing our 20-year plan we need to be seeing what are the areas of infrastructure that we can make much better I want to build community uh I do volunteer in a wide variety of organizations because that gives me an opportunity not only to contribute in areas that maybe are not as sexy or or fun but it also helps me hear folks hear what's different opinions be involved in various aspects so uh the core uh core jobs of cities really are Public Safety and infrastructure uh I think uh we got one of the top Public Safety both police and fire departments in the state and we've continued to fund that on top of that it is uh Business Development being development friendly again opportunity of downtown we've got 130 some Acres south of uh the airport that uh developers are looking to come into Forest Lake we need to bring people into Forest Lake to support businesses we need more rooftops we need those people more people we have in the more they're going to support the schools and so my focus is going to be those three items including Aesthetics this town uh has struggled a little bit with Aesthetics Aesthetics having a beautiful place place that people want to come and gather that's your cheapest form of um Economic Development if we can do that uh beautifier our downtown people are just going to naturally want to come here I believe in Forest Lake that we need uh to continue the uh sense of community we have a great arts in the park program I've participated in for the last three years I've had a booth there and I believe that we need to draw more people down to downtown and keep going with expanding businesses we need a lot more manufacturing and so people can work in the community that they live uh right now I know lots of my neighbors have to drive down to the cities to find a good job it' be nice to find more good jobs in the community that we live thank you EXC me I have a um business background we had two small businesses in the city of forest lake and my focus is and always has been infrastructure uh one of the main items you you you got to make darn sure that the water mains are working and Sewer Mains are working and the and the streets are repaired because if you don't have the infrastructure it that just stifles uh more more development also one of the things that I keep hearing about uh over and over and over again that uh some contractors and some developers of the difficult times they're having in the city of Forest Lake coming and trying to develop in the city of forest lake so what are those Hang-Ups and uh so I want to focus on those things and uh get the thing moving so that we can move forward with development uh and make sure that we have uh shovel ready uh areas to for development but again the the the infrastructure has to be there and uh that's those are the things we've been working on and uh the study we've did for the excuse [Laughter] me minute goes by fast uh again I hate to harp on it but again infrastructure I think is a very top priority here for the city um I believe uh a successful balance of new and existing businesses um also to attract new residents uh to the community uh and also have a have these people have a voice in our community and say you know what they'd like to see or hear uh in the community for businesses is is very important uh the second would be Public Safety also being from the background of Public Safety um I'd like to see our uh community be supportive as we already are um making sure that they have the proper equipment training and retention ition of the people that we already have in the community as is police is imperative uh it's a struggle Nationwide as everybody knows uh the third item would be our Lakes our lakes in our community the health of our Lakes uh are the Watershed has been doing an awesome job the Lake Association as well and I'd like to see them continue that and be helpful of that thank you you as mentioned and sorry to repeat my top priorities are um the first one is to follow our 10-year budget plan and I'll expand on that in that in my last four years the first two years we didn't have a 10-year budget plan and so the city wasn't able to be proactive and so when people would come up and be like hey this road is terrible or this park um needs a new slide because there's broken equipment when when are these things going to get redone and we didn't really have an answer and so a 10-year budget plan plans out all of those things so we know that when our infrastructure is failing when we can um fix it and so we're slowly but surely working so so that things will be fully funded and like last year we approved a budget where our roads are fully funded and um the second one is economic development because as everyone almost everyone or everyone has mentioned um our downtown is just it's it's just waiting there to be a gem for everyone to go down to and to walk and then to Blake point of the Statics if we can just get that downtown I feel like we're so close and working with Eda and then the last one is the um internal organization as mentioned thank the city's budget is a key issue what is your view on City spending versus tax cuts what is the city's role in spending it please be specific and what expenditures might you seek cut we all want stuff we want we want no potholes in the roads we want all of the snow to be removed within six hours of the last snowfall um we want we want stuff to go away when we flush but stuff costs money cities can also be very effective and efficient um I've run Enterprise operations in cities that competed very favorably with any customer service or or expens ures on the private side but that comes from the top you have to say yes we are going to control expenditures yes I care about this yes I am going to watch the data I'm a data driven person and we are going to spend money on the things that are important to me that's infrastructure that's Public Safety that has to be our parks and then we need to leverage the resources of the community and help those resources be better able to serve the entire community man I beat it uh so this obviously is is the biggest issue that that Council deals with every year it's the most important really is trying to figure out where we going to put those dollars and how can we justify what is spent and what we should save on uh we have historically in forc Lake been pretty good about keeping our taxes low uh last year we did have an increase of around 14% we just last night approved the uh Levy at 11 A2 now it can go lower we have until December to lower that uh so it's that balance of trying to be respectful of people's taxes especially Comm commercial property taxes are just crazy expensive and and really they are bearing the weight of of most of the community and so it's balancing that out but you do have to spend money to make money just like in business you have to invest in the city for the city to make money and for the residents to prosper and for the city to prosper so is that fine line we will I hope promise uh the three of us on here will get that down lower than we're at at 11.5% I believe that we do have to invest in our infrastructure and stuff to get businesses in town but I also believe that we need to try and help the olding older residents in town that are on fixed income so that they can stay in their houses and not be forced out into apartments or Assisted Living we have lots of people in our neighborhood that are struggling right now with staying in their houses and uh they're having to make hard decisions on what they want to do with the rest of their life but we do still need to try and boost the for sake so I think we need to look at all aspects of what we can save money on and what to spend money on thank you at at the moment you've heard uh a lot about the budget that we're struggling with right now and it is very very important and of course that balance is a key thing you're going to hear that a lot one of the things we have to consider you know we look at the the needs and wants of the city right but we can't lose track of who's paying that bill and so uh we're trying to come up with that with that balance while we maintain our infrastructure while we make sure that we have the safety system in place police and fire department and so forth and so uh it it's really a a tough thing at the moment because when we look at the businesses when we talk about the taxes that they pay and every time there's an increase in their taxes they just P they have to pass that on to the consumer and and the prices go up and it creates inflation and so forth so we have to be very careful on how we do that at the same time we want to fix the streets and uh make sure that the sewer systems working and water system is working and police are uh doing their job and they and they by the way they've doing a great job so again um I think we've all kind of covered the same point with a lot of it here um unfortunately it does take money we're going to be spending money but we also want to be conservative and fiscal in our uh ways that we're placing our wants and needs in our different areas um again the police and fire the Public Works uh you know we've worked quite hard on our water system in the city of Forest Lake they've done a lot of work on Wells and things like that and our water quality is is topnotch um we you need some equipment and I was at the council meeting last night and uh Public Works and fire department are all asking that we do need some more equipment but I think they've done their due diligence to look into what the price of equipment is and and done the best job that they possibly could um I think we'll you know I'm not I know in being on the Eda and the Planning Commission we're we're watching things too and trying to be as helpful as we can with the budget thank you it's that Balancing Act of of trying to provide them am ities the community requests and wants but then also being fiscally responsible and as people mentioned it's it's not an easy task it's very difficult because you'd want to say yes to everything I'd love to add five more parks to the city because we haven't added a new park in over 12 years um I would love to redo the um some like some of our Parks I'd love to invest more into downtown and redo all of the roads and that need redoing and who wouldn't want that but it's about remaining fiscally responsible and kind of weighing those pros and cons and it's just it's not easy it's super difficult and we are just trying to get there with making sure like I said last last year for the budget we got roads fully funded which is huge because one of the biggest complaints is roads and then next it's it's Parks we're slowly but surely getting there but again it's one of the biggest complaints that we get so just ensuring that it's that Balancing Act when I went to the University of Minnesota I was an economics major I did my thesis on economics of lower developed countries city of forest lake is not a big city it's the answer is pretty simple but you got to think out of outside the box let's bring in more money let's bring in more money let's the city earn more money because we want to spend more money to make things nice uh just a couple examples are municipal liquor stores and that doesn't mean to put other liquor stores out of business it's just to be competitive with other liquor stores uh City of Lakeville for example does Municipal liquor stores and uh they make six figures off of their Municipal liquor stores uh second of all this is uh again way out of the box but everybody knows their auto and home insurance has skyrocketed um Progressive Insurance had a net in of $ 6.86 billion the year ending uh June 30th 2024 um how about our own city-owned Force Lake insurance for its residents and communities where we provide lowcost insurance and it's sold by local Insurance Agency thank you what is your position on filling the Open City administrator position what factors what factors are you considering bad question yes I'll restate what's your role or what's your position on filling the Open City administrator position what factors are you considering and how will you measure your decision start with Mr Roberts so this has been a a really uh challenge as uh councilman husnik mentioned for us to to land on someone um this is such an important decision we the previous administrator we had for almost 6 years really failed the city to be quite honest with you and set us back at least 10 years that is why it is so important to have this done right we went through a search process did not land on the greatest candidates some people on the council did want to go with one of those individuals I was uh uh viewly against that uh so we we stepped back got a new search firm and we have new candidates coming forward uh it's it's still not an easy process and if we're not if we don't find someone this time that's okay if we have to go back to the drawing board we're going to have to do that and we're going to judge this based on their past where they've been if they're Pro business their previous communities if they worked at similar Siz communities that that forest lake has and what their track record is there are a lot of people that are out there that that have great track records of bringing business and to town and their cities that they've been at and we need to find the right person I would have to agree with Blake on this one that we do need to find somebody that is uh fit for the job and has a great track record and will come to town and help grow the community and help grow the businesses and attract more people to come to town thank you this has uh taken up most of our summer try to find somebody to uh be permanent and it's been a really tough job um the first pool of candidates really no one could really decide on one that was the problem with it and and uh so we decided to move on our part of the problem has been our interim uh there's been some issues with that where she's in then she's out then she's in then she's out the problem with that is we had really good candidates say I want nothing to do with it and so I'm really concerned about the fact that uh uh we're down to such a small pool it's down to a couple people here and so hopefully in the next week or so uh we can uh fix things to the point where we can actually attract a couple more candidates at least to give you an idea what you're looking at and who who to who to try to hire and uh because it is a extremely difficult job and and uh minute ago I asked asked Linda Matson I what are you doing next week maybe looking for a job I don't know I was kidding her but I know this has been quite a hard topic for uh the current Council I know they've spent a lot of time and due diligence uh doing work on that uh looking into it the city also has put a lot of time and effort into it trying to find uh a good qualified candidate and I I do uh respect that and I think that um it's hard to find a decent candidate uh there's so many people out there looking for uh different jobs within the the city and administrators and stuff like that um but I think also we need to do a thorough background on them and and check their references and look into their past services and and make sure they're the right fit for our community and be Progressive in our community thank you this has been probably um the most challenging thing on city council maybe to date um and and one of the most important DEC decisions that we have to make because we have to look at as most people have mentioned their backgrounds um how they'll be within the community we want someone who is involved in the community who's going to our events who wants to potentially either live in the community or live close by um someone who in particular within the um City internal organization will support our current workers our current workers and employees have had a difficult time with our previous City administrators and they need a good leader because in order for for it to create that ripple effect and that positivity going out into the community we have to start internally and that's within our um our staff and it's already a difficult thing to get staff to come work for Forest Lake so essentially just trying to change that narrative and with that is finding the right right City administrator and I'm hoping we'll find someone soon but it has been a challenge but we'll get there I'm GNA go against probably what everybody else has said which is kind of what I do um I don't know how much the council and the city has spent on Consulting fees to find a city administrator I'm not sure but the city everybody talks about the budget the budget the budget how much money has been thrown away on Consulting fees um my idea is you hire a one of the best kids right out of college we're not Los Angeles we're not New York we're Forest Lake you get the sharpest kid coming out of college to take the job he'll work starting for a lot less and because it's his opportunity he's going to put everything he's got into the job so I'd go completely different and not waste Consulting fees and hire the best kid out College the mayor and Council are the policy makers they are the board of directors of the of the business that is the city the city administrator is essentially the CEO they need to be a dynamic leader they need to understand the business of a city the legalities of a city financing of a city and they need to be able to motivate employees um they need to be Community oriented one of the biggest gaps in the last 15 years is we have not had administrators that have been involved in the community that are part of rotary that are part of lions that show up to important events in the city they're are part of the city and have a passion for not only leading a city but for the city that they are leading as a as a CEO it's an important position yes you need to find the right candidate uh I will full disclosure 10 years ago that was my absolute dream job this is a great place there's a lot of things in Forest Lake that the perfect administrator or a very good administrator will bring to the community okay we are nearing our conclusion but we have just a little time so we're going to give you a quick 30 second spot for a conclusion why should the Forest Lake voters vote for you let's start with Mr Wagner I believe I'm a good candidate as I've got some experience of living in force Lake and working in Forest Lake and I've seen pretty much everything in Forest Lake and raised my son there and uh I have experience I run a small business out of my garage and I also uh work as a uh continuous Improvement technician and believe that we can help solve the look through things and find the five waists of the what we're spending money on and stuff and thank you I think I make the best candidate because of my experience I've been uh in a very facet of the local government for the past 30 years one form or another also I'm a former business owner we we uh finally retired a couple years ago uh after way too long but uh uh we know the ins and outs of the business and we and so U I think uh my experience with the city of forest lake and living here my whole life uh is a benefit to everyone I believe my uh my strength uh being on the Planning Commission and the Eda has brought a good attention to the community um my commitment to community Through uh the American Legion uh events there uh being involved in other events within the community I believe you have to be involved in the community to create community and I think um I have a a listening ear and an open new voice and I'm willing and looking forward to being uh involved in the community more I think I have the time and the energy to work with it thank you I think you should vote for me and I hope you vote for me because I bring a unique voice to the city council um with my background being in government and um I have experience in um city government state government and tribal government and I think it's just a unique perspective that I can bring on the council and currently serving on the council I hope that continuing into a second term we can continue those positive strides that everyone in the Comm Comm so desperately wants and that our community it desperately needs to thank you my chance of winning are one in a million so what you're saying is I've got a chance famous from a movie who else would wear an old golfer hat except I want to show you who I really am I'm not a politician um I just think that who do you want to sit down with if you've got if you're homeowner and you want to sit down with somebody because you got an issue at your house who do you think would really listen to you who do you think would really be the guy you want to talk to and that's who you should vote for thank you I was raised to contribute to the community that I want to live in uh to to help you don't complain you do what you can to make things better um I I know how to leverage Community Resources to help the entire city and to help the entire community I know what makes cities work and what makes them don't work I have an absolute passion for being an elected representative of the folks in Forest Lake I love this community it's my forever home I want to help make it the best that we all can be so I love this community I've got friends and family that say what are you doing why would you want to do this I said I wish I could drive to this city and not have see all the opportunity here uh Force lake is on the cusp of a city that is going to continue to grow be a great City if you want this city to be different than it has been and and something actually to happen I'm your candidate you can go to Blake for Forest Lake uh to learn more about me and I would welcome your vote in November thank you to all the candidates for attending remember the election is November 5th for everyone out there find your Precinct register make sure you vote thank you Nan well considering this was an idea and I had no idea how I was going to make this all happen uh I really have to give a shout out to Paul Peterson and LV uh when I called them and said they all said yes uh he helped me with this so I think we have most of our folks coming in all right so uh they can hear me anyway so what I I I do want to just say thank you to our esteemed lineup of candidates for sharing with us today it's really important that we have the opportunity to meet with you and and and hear what your heart is and so again to all of you I thank you also to our guests and our moderators to split rocks as I said uh Paul and I made changes to how we were going to operate uh yesterday and so again thank you and to you our Forest Lake Gary chamber members and guests just thank you for being here uh I love the fact that you are passionate about what's happening in your communities and in your state and with that again thank you so much for being here have a wonderful day and enjoy the rest of your campaign season [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]