The Morning After - Disappointment - And Thank You

Well, the voters spoke yesterday, and despite our best efforts to come away with victory, we came up short - really short.  I finished in 7th place out of 8 candidates:

Unofficial Final Results from Andover:

2010 General Election Results
10 of 10 precincts counted

DON JACOBSON - 4293  *
TONY HOWARD - 2319
BRIAN HAUGEN - 2372
JEFF SHOEMAKER - 2315
ERIC KOHNKE - 746
JULIE TRUDE - 5477  *
SHANNEN SCHMIEG - 1429
WES VOLKENANT - 1400
WRITE-IN - 88

So, first the most humongous thank you of all has to go to Cheryl, who isn't into politics, but threw herself into this with all the energy she could muster, and provided the creative spark needed to try lots of different ways to get our message out there.  I'm posting two pictures of her "Vote Volkenant" pumpkin from Sunday below.  And Cheryl came up with the great idea of taping our literature into the newspaper boxes and on the mailbox posts on most of Andover.  I don't know if we will miss the driving around the entirety of Andover, but we had a great time doing it.

For those friends, family members, neighbors - and complete strangers - who did cast your votes for me - thank you!  Thank you very much!  It was very humbling to realize that people were casting votes for me, and putting their trust and faith in me. 

Obviously not as many people did trust my leadership, as I would have liked, but it simply means that I'm not the type of individual that voters in Andover are looking to for city leadership.  I'm a county employee, a union person.  It was pretty easy to discern that I'm a Democrat.  I favor government and solutions that call for the city to provide services to the people.

I congratulate Julie Trude and Don Jacobson on their re-election to the City Council.  I hope you both have a successful four years of city stewardship ahead.  And congratulations to Mayor Mike Gamache on his re-election, winning with about 80% of the vote.

Best wishes to my other opponents, Brian, Tony, Jeff, Shannen and Eric - I hope each of you is taking away something from the whole experience this morning, as I am.  Most of you fared better than I in this election.  The voters in Andover resonated with fiscally conservative messages that most of you preached - smaller government, lower taxes, etc.  

I found that message deeply troubling and concerning, but I'm in a minority in this regard.  And clearly last night, as the statewide results rolled in, and Anoka County voters sent many DFLers down to defeat, and statewide the Legislature went Republican, it's apparent that a lot of voters have a very different idea of what direction we should be going in as a state.  I'm sad and disappointed today - and worried for my state and country.  Too many wrong-headed people were elected yesterday.  I was disappointed for myself last night, and would have liked to have run better in the city election, but whether or not Mark Dayton is Governor the next four years, there is going to be a stronger anti-government, anti-social services, anti-tax revenue mood in charge for at least the next two years.  Government by stalemate - in St. Paul and in Washington - is a very real possibility.

Once again, I had the pleasure of meeting many of you, of getting to know my city much better, and I thank all of you who came here for participating in this process with Cheryl and I.

Working to Get Elected Andover City Councilmember

With only one more weekend before the November 2nd election, Cheryl and I dodged raindrops throughout the weekend in our effort to cover the city either by door-knocking (and dropping off literature) or by driving around the city putting our literature in newspaper boxes or mailbox posts.  Cheryl developed a technique of taping our cards on with blue - then green (our campaign color) painter's tape.  At the Candidate Forum and our door-knocking, we've received positive feedback on getting our card.  Cheryl also has a technique of keeping my head poking out of the box at you (I have photos on the same end of the card).  So, if you're tired of seeing my face around, grab our card out, read it over - and vote for me, OK?

Sometimes you get unexpected pleasures.  Off of Co. Rd. 158 today, the map listed a street named Jivarro.  We drove down this dirt road to "nowhere" and came out in front of a farmhouse - but no mailbox (we missed it back on 158).  But the farmer was an old acquaintance from the United Methodist Chuch of Anoka - Jeff Luedtke - who also formerly served on the city's Planning Commission and his was the first family to donate land to the Open Spaces project.  Nice chat - thanks for taking a few minutes with me, Jeff!

I color in our map at home as we finish visiting neighborhoods.  Most of my map is green.  Next weekend, we need to finish literature drops in SE and SW Andover - in the neighborhood just west and south of Round Lake on the west side of Round Lake Blvd, then the water tower neighborhood between Coon Creek and Round Lake Blvd., then the SE square east of the rail line to the city border, and between Andover and Bunker Lake Blvds.

I still have a bunch of door-knocking to do this week - about 650 houses - about 8-10 hours of neighborhood interaction.  I'll be in the 5th Precinct on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday afternoons, early Sunday - before we get serious about the Halloween trick-or-treaters visiting our house Sunday night - and finally, on Monday, if necessary. 

I'm going to be on Raven and Uplander between 141st and 143rd - off of South Coon Creek Dr., then I'll be on 141st Ln, 142nd Ave. and 142nd Ln.- as well as Osage & Partridge that intersect.  I've still got to visit Quinn between 139th Ave and 140th Ln, as well as Nightingale, Partidge and Osage in that section.  After getting to the 13700 and 13800 blocks of Swallow and Raven, I'm going to spend time at the houses NW of North Woods West Park - Ivywood, 141st Ln, 142nd Ave and 142nd Ln. And I've got houses on Crosstown Dr. between 139th & 140th Aves, as well as the neighborhood south of the North Woods Parks - Crocus, Northwood Dr., 137th Ln, 138th Ave, 138th Ln, 140th Ave and 140th Ln.

League of Women Voter's Profile - Wes Volkenant

Each candidate was invited this fall to submit our profile and answers to their questions by October 24th.  I managed to get mine completed on Saturday, so hopefully by the time you read this, you can find my profile and others on line.  Tonight, only the Schmeig, Shoemaker and Trude replies were available, however.

So, I'm posting my reply here, and you can read it for more understanding of my positionsd heading into the election in eight days.

LWV Voting Guide Answers

Name:	Wes Volkenant	Please email headshot to webmaster@lwvmn.org
Election Date:	11/2/2010
Jurisdiction:	Andover
Office:	City Council - 2 seats, 4 year terms
Contact Information:
Address:	1482 - 158th Lane NW
	Andover, MN  55304
Phone:	(763) 434-1551
Cell:
Email:	cwvolkenant@msn.com
Website:
Is the information above complete and accurate?  If not, Email corrections.

Occupation:      Staff Development Trainer - Hennepin County Human Services & Public Health Department

Education:        Graduate of Anoka High School; Graduate of St. Cloud State University - Education Degree in Social Studies with History Emphasis; post-graduate Special Education certifications - LD, EMH, E/BD

What issues will the city face in the next few years?
Most would characterize these as difficult times and local government has faced the difficulty of reducing services due to loss revenue from the state and feds and property taxes due to declining home values and changes in commercial property assessments.  Andover has core services it needs to provide.  It operates a very lean budget with only about 50 city employees.  The City must generate revenue to pay for its services and expenses.  If it fails to attract businesses to the City, it will have to consider modest tax levy increases in future years to meet its infrastructure needs.  Parks need upkeep.  Snowplowing, potholes, road resurfacing and reconstruction, weed-cutting - all these things must be dealt with and paid for. 

Quickly - other issues:  safer right-turn exits into neighborhoods;  fair redistricting of precincts in 2011; looking at bringing MTC or other transit options into Andover; continuing the Open Spaces program, balancing rural and suburban neighborhood needs - as in the 2010 exemptions for December bowhunting in a neighborhood in eastern Andover.


What are your ideas to increase city revenues and/or decrease city expenses?
As noted above, I am inclined not to reduce or cut city expenses any further.  We're already lean without resorting to proposals such as Furlough Fridays which would cause suffering for our employees and their families - 20% pay cuts.  Voluntary furlough options work for those of us who can afford to furlough hours, while recognizing others living paycheck to paycheck can not.  I like the work City Administrator Dickinson has done in monitoring every piece of city equipment and gleaning extra years of service out of well-functioning pieces.

Modest property tax increases may be necessary by 2012 again (no change in the levy was approved for 2011) if revenues state and federal resources continue to be limited in our economic downturn.  By 2014 we may see the City benefitting by earlier foresight re: the Community Center and having rid the city of its junkyards.  The City should also look anew at economic development along the rail line passing through the city.  Bringing a rail-based company to the Andover Blvd. vicinity might provide some new revenue sources for Andover.


How would you balance the short- and long-term goals of the community?
This City can be tugged between many different factions; needs of rural, farm-based Andover vs. suburban commuter Andover; needs of local, family-owned small businesses vs. the desire for "big-box" retailers and chain restaurants; and the need for improved transit and transportation into-and-out of Andover vs. the costs of maintaining the infrastructure and the need to partner with Anoka county on every major arterial road passing through the City.

Andover revisits and resets its goals every year.  Its five-year plans are re-adopted after careful reconsideration.  Nothing is static - changes in planning are common. 

What won't change or go away is Andover's Vision:  "Andover, a safe, growing community in which to live and work which enhances the quality of its citizens' lives through recreational opportunity, quiet neighborhoods, civic involvement, fiscal and environmental stewardship."

My twin themes are "A New Voice" and "Embrace Andover's Future."  I hope you give me an opportunity to show you what they can mean in the next four years.