Learned of a New Candidate for Andover City Council Today - No Firm Opinions Yet - Another Law Enforcement Conservative?

James Goodrich of Andover had a parade presence in today's Andover Family Fun Fest.  I'm just starting to learn about James Goodrich and what he stands for as a candidate for City Council.  I will be supporting Val Holthus, but there will be two seats to fill this Fall.


Based on what we the candidate states at his page, we are not on the same page.  Coming from someone who has worked for the government for 29 years, I'm disappointed with his presumption about Smaller government. 

Andover has been led by conservative-minded, fiscally-responsible leaders for many decades.  Andover is about as tight a ship as you can imagine - frankly, I think its employees deserve more pay right now by continuing to do more for the residents with less. 

Our City Administrator has no waste in that annual budget here.  The current Council makes it nice for us as residents - continually reducing our City property taxes.  I'd like to see less bare bones - which frankly means more tax revenue.  Maybe our rising house values, after seven years of lower and lower valuations will lead to more revenue.



Here is information about candidate Goodrich from his web page....

http://electjamesgoodrich.com/about-jim.html


A little about myself, I've lived in Andover for 20 years, what a great town!I've worked for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office for 28 years.I've been married to my beautiful wife Janna for 23 years. I have three great kids, Zachary, Emily and Miriam. I'm a member of Constance Free Church in Andover.

I'm an avid bow hunter and competitive archer.




Why in the world do I want to run for Andover City Council? Well, several reasons. I'm going to retire from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office after 29 years this fall and I want to bring my fiscal and social conservative values to local city government right here in Andover.  Ok so what does that mean? Well, the Andover annual budget is approximately 9 million dollars and over 7 million dollars of that is gained from our property taxes. I want to make sure our hard earned money is spent wisely. 

Spending can get out of control even on a local level. I want to make sure we're conducting the types of business that local government is supposed to.  Taking care of our infrastructure, wise ordinances, smart tax increment finance for business. Good Police and Fire services.
Assessments, who likes assessment's, I don't, but they are necessary as Andover grows. So, I want to be smart about it and bring them about as necessary and give residents as many options as possible to deal with them.
Metropolitan Council, the more we take their money the more they can tell us what to do. This would be a bad thing.

The smaller the Government the more we can make our own decisions.  I look out my window and see our liberties and freedoms that made this country great flying away at an alarming rate.  I want to do whatever I can at a local level to stop this.

I'm very capitalistic pro free-market oriented. I want to provide a business friendly environment to attract business to Andover and all the jobs and goods and service's that come with it.  Including the revenue.

If we want to gain more revenue for Andover it should come from a prosperous and growing economical environment, not through raising your property taxes. This is what I call a "No Brainer"

At the end of the day I'm your representative, I always want to hear what everyone is thinking about where your property taxes should go.

Andover - 2014 City Elections Straight Ahead - Bukkila Running for Mayor

I don't agree with Sheri Bukkila's politics.  She's a conservative Republican.  I'm a progressive Democrat.  But, I have had the opportunity to chat with Sheri, in the context of our mutual employment with Hennepin County, and belonging to separate unions/associations that bargain for contracts with the County.  She represents what - and whom - she says she will represent in her statement announcing her candidacy for Mayor.  I know of at least two other local residents that I hope at least one of whom will enter this race against Sheri, and whom I will support for Mayor.  But that said, here's coverage of Sheri's announcement from the Anoka Union Herald....

ABC Newspapers:  Government

Bukkila will run for mayor of Andover

By Community Contributor

June 28, 2014

http://abcnewspapers.com/2014/06/28/bukkila-will-run-for-mayor-of-andover/

Andover City Councilmember Sheri Bukkila is running for mayor of Andover, following the announcement that current Mayor Mike Gamache will not seek re-election.

“While I’ve enjoyed my role as councilmember, winning the mayor’s race will ensure the rules are followed and the discussions are thorough to ensure we are protecting your investments in the community,” said Bukkila. “It’s my goal to keep Andover property taxes among the lowest in Anoka County. I love the city of Andover and strive to keep government ethically in check, promote fiscal responsibility and keep taxes low through new business growth.”

A strong advocate for property rights and common sense codes and enforcement, Bukkila added, “I believe government shouldn’t get in the way of homeowners and prosperous businesses, but rather be there to ensure that residents and businesses are unencumbered by unnecessary fees or permit approval processes.”

Bukkila said her 26-year work history, most recently as a career law enforcement officer, labor negotiator, coach and mentor, provides an in depth ability to work through difficult legal and social issues. Bukkila also said her civil and criminal history, whether in the courtroom or patrolling the streets, gives her personal experience with ordinance and statute enforcement and an understanding of the difficult time ordinary people have navigating government systems. Bukkila said she also believes in positive, constructive discussion and inviting residents and community partners to have a voice in the city’s government and she believes her no-nonsense style of leadership will help the council cut through the clutter and come to practical solutions.

Bukkila is an 11-year resident of Andover and has served on the Andover City Council for six years.  She has been married to her husband Brett for 14 years and has two sons.

 

City Council Meeting Observations (9-7-10) and 12th Wedding Anniversary Weekend and Labor Day Activities

I attended the City Council meeting last night. The 2010 property tax maximum levy was passed at 0% last night. We received a good explanation of how that impacts us in Andover. The average decline in home value from 2010 to 2011 is 8%. Now, if your home value declines by more than 8%, you should see your share of property tax to the City go down in 2011. If your decline is less than 8%, you may experience an increase in your property taxes next year. It's expected that homes valued over $400,000 may lose more than 8% value into 2011. Homes under $250,000 may see less than an 8% decline in value, so property taxes could increase modestly for those owners. The City will receive the same amount of revenue in 2011 as it received in 2010, by not increasing the percentage of the tax levy.


At that point of the meeting, the Council was not opening up for questions or comments from the audience. They approved the 0% levy unanimously. I did have two potential questions to ask. I was hoping they might share what the preliminary expectations are from Anoka County and the two school districts - Anoka-Hennepin and St. Francis - but they didn't. I also read in the Administrator's report that after department consolidations and layoffs, a priority if money becomes available would be to rehire/replace one Public Works position that was laid-off. I would be interested to know from David Berkowitz what the impact of losing that person has been, and whether the City considered that position essential enough to efficient operations to have looked at a 0.5% or 1.0% max levy position, before completing the budget process and approving the budget and final levy amounts in December.

Personally, I'd have preferred leaving the room open to look at those modest amounts of property tax levy increases, if not doing so has a detrimental impact on city operations. But the question was not asked last night, the issue was not addressed last night, and only the Council members and Administrator know if and how it has been previously addressed.



Over at my Facebook page (Wes Volkenant), I've posted photos from our Labor Day 2010 weekend.  On Sunday, Cheryl and I celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary.  We were married September 5, 1998 in Highland, Minnesota - near Lanesboro and Preston in SE Minnesota - in the same church that Cheryl's grandparents had been married 75 years before.

We drove over to Osceola, WI on Sunday, and took a train ride!  It was the Osceola and St. Croix Valley Railway, and we took a 45 minute trip back into Minnesota over the St. Croix River to William O'Brien State Park - and then back again to Osceola.  Monday, we had tickets to see the Twins at Target Field for the first time this year!  The Twins won 5-4, behind Jim Thome's monstrous 480 ft. HR off the flag pole in Right Field.  It was rainy throughout the game - I have photos of us sitting under our ponchos during the intermittent drizzle and sprinkles.

We also keep working at the campaign.  My business cards are ready for pick-up today.  My lawn signs are finally approved and in production.  I sent off my campaign literature to the printer yesterday.  I'm working on ads.  We're deciding if we'll have hand-out gifts, like pens or pencils.  I'm printing a few shirts for my door-knocking weekends and evenings.  I've answered questionnaires....

And, Why Am I Running for City Council?

So at 54, I'm fulfilling one of those teenage dreams I had - to run for public office. The dreams including winning office and doing a good job of serving the public. I hope this has a happy ending. It will be very challenging. I had expected to run for office at a time it appeared the incumbents would not be in the race. But instead, I am one of eight candidates, and both incumbents chose to run again, as well. So it will be difficult for us newcomers to break through, but I am going to try and make a case to change the current makeup of the Council.


I read a comment at Facebook from a one-time acquaintance who stated that he fears our turn to Socialism. Well, at the City Council level, the issues and the dollars and the number of lives impacted by government intervention - or lack thereof - is at a much smaller scale than at the state and national levels. Liberals and Democrats are not politically strong in Andover, but voters in Andover certainly don't need to fear Socialism, nor do they need to fear Democrats serving on their Council. Government can do right - by the people and for the people - lest we shall perish by our own insensitivities to the needs of the general welfare of the citizenry, which government is there to serve and respond to.


I am a Democrat. I am a public employee, working for Hennepin County. Earlier in my life, I was a public employee as a school teacher, here in Anoka-Hennepin and elsewhere in Minnesota. I am the son of a woman who proudly - and magnificently - educated Minnesota students for 39 years, and was a public employee to the day she had a heart attack at age 62, on her last day with her students before retiring, and never saw one day of her retirement. I am the son of a long-time federal employee, a veteran of the Marine Corps and a 27-year US Postal employee. My wife works in Ramsey County. I believe in government - in good government. I believe in the service good government brings to its citizens.



Part of my thoughts as a candidate goes back to the basic necessity of government in our lives, no matter what the Peggy Scotts, Chris delaForests and Debbie Johnsons of this area may think. You get what you pay for. And frankly in Andover, that's pretty bare bones. We have really good employees in Andover, but with pay freezes, cuts in staffing - they're spread pretty thin. I'd like to see us pay Andover employees properly (restore those frozen pay steps), and re-fill some of those positions (do you know that if you go to City Hall over the lunch hour, that they have to juggle who covers the front desk, who's available to help you, and sometimes have to ask you to come by later, because the only person who can help, isn't available?), so we don't seem so small town. We're a good-sized bedroom community of 31,000+ for heavens-sakes.



And Andover feels incomplete. We need to partner to finish things - we still have poor roads north of Bunker in much of the city. There are no right-turn lanes off of many key roads - like Hanson, like Andover Blvd, like 181st, or like Crosstown. Can't we get the County to at least remark shoulders and post "Right Turn Lane" signs on these artery roads? Why is there still no Clocktower near City Hall? Isn't there supposed to be a restaurant over there, too? Why is there no MTC line into Andover, especially not along Bunker, or north up Hanson to City Hall? I'd like to see us reach partnerships with the agencies or businesses that can get some of these things finished.



Recently the City had to talk to some of its citizens about the City's inability to afford to go around collecting tree limbs and brush that had been gathered following one of our many storms this summer. I appreciated that some members are looking at partnerships on such things as shared wood chippers between communities, that could allow them all to be more responsive to the community's needs. Concerns over the city water supply, dealing with requests for height variances, quelling neighborly disputes that identify unknown acreage issues that play out against city rules or ordinances - these are the types of real, everyday, city-level concerns that I'm prepared to step in and encounter, and contribute to the resolution thereof.



Most of our parents didn't have the beautiful, large homes and acreage so many of us enjoy in Andover. Our property taxes are hardly out of line - in fact, my mortgage has gone down a bit each of the last three years - without a refinancing - because the property taxes choices have made it so. The Democratic candidate for Governor wants to shift some of that property tax burden away from the middle class to the wealthier Minnesotans. That may impact many Andover households if he's successful. But if he and the Legislature are successful in implementing this change, it is also the City's responsibility to begin to address the services, those employee functions, that City infrastructure, in the next four years, and let us progress forward, instead of finding ourselves idling in neutral. Let's work to complete Andover, and keep it the attractive vision of a community that drew many of us to move here the past 10-15 years.