1. Some automobiles in Bemidji are getting louder and drivers seem to be getting more aggressive. In the face of this, how would you promote quality of life in residential neighborhoods?
As I have spoken with residents throughout my campaign, I have heard many people raise concerns over aggressive driving and speeding through our neighborhoods. Our city has ordinances and laws on the books to prohibit speeding, deter aggressive driving and limit obnoxiously loud vehicles. It is my understanding that throughout much of the Covid-19 pandemic, law enforcement has been more reactionary with violations as opposed to being more proactive. This meaning they have responded to complaints but not necessarily proactively patrolled for offenders. For me that is the first step, to enforce the rules we have in place especially regarding speeding in neighborhoods so that everyone is safe, and we avoid a tragic incident.
I am also committed to seeing greater interaction and cooperation between our neighborhoods and law enforcement. Another positive step would be to create more neighborhood watch groups that could work with the Bemidji Police Department to address specific concerns of individual neighborhoods more proactively. Each city ward and their respective neighborhoods are unique as are some of the issues each face. I therefore would favor a customized approach led by neighborhood groups who understand their specific neighborhood and community.
2. In the past there have been campaign finance issues in city races. Are your campaign finance reports up-to-date, accurate, and in compliance with MN State Law?
Yes. My campaign treasurer and I have worked hard to ensure that our reports have been filed timely and in compliance with MN State Law. When we have had questions, we have spoken with the Secretary of State and City Clerk offices for additional clarity.
3. What can you do as mayor to help address both overt and subtle racism in Bemidji and Beltrami County?
Racism, prejudice, and discrimination are serious issues that our entire society continues to grapple with. For those of us who have experienced racism, it is difficult to describe the impact to others. Racism is dehumanizing, traumatic and can leave deep wounds in people that never fully heal. As a first-generation immigrant and person of color, I have experienced different types of prejudice throughout my life. That said, I have also been treated fairly, justly and with respect by the majority of our community. So that is the challenge, how do we bring awareness and work to end racism while acknowledging that much of our community is working hard to do the right thing? How do we create an environment where we all see each other as people, not a color, not an age, not a sex, but just as people? How do we ensure that everyone is treated equally and justly? These are complicated questions for which there are no easy answers.
I believe an important step in combatting racism requires us to acknowledge that it occurs and to personally commit to confronting acts of racism in our own spheres of influence. Although the law can be used to curb open acts of discrimination it has always struggled to change what is in another person’s heart. I therefore believe that racist attitudes and thoughts are best combatted by creating opportunities for people to interact and be in relationship with one another. When people from diverse backgrounds interact as a team, preconceptions begin to be erased, mutual understanding is increased, and we more easily begin to see each other as people not groups. I am hopeful that by creating diverse citizen work groups to address many of our city’s challenges such as homelessness, Sanford Center issues, crime and more, we can create those opportunities for interaction and greater understanding between and amongst all our citizens.
The city has already taken a positive step in this direction in conducting listening sessions with our citizens to seek input on the proposed creation of a law enforcement advisory group. I have been listening closely as our city held its initial meetings and look forward to additional community conversations on this topic and more.
4. In your opinion, what are the mayor’s most important responsibilities?
I believe that the Mayor of our city carries a great responsibility in casting the vision for our community. As the highest elected official in the city, citizens look to the Mayor for leadership and direction as community opportunities and challenges arise. Further, they have a correct expectation of the Mayor to balance the needs of our diverse populations and lead the City Council in making decisions that benefit our entire community. Further, the Mayor must be an excellent team builder and communicator as they must create an environment of collaboration first amongst the other 6 members of the City Council and expanding outwards to include city staff, legislators, civic organizations, businesses, citizens and more. The Mayor must also be future oriented, not just focusing on the issues at hand but leading the city forward to take advantage of new opportunities while anticipating problems before they arise.
The Mayor also has an obligation to ensure the City Council operates in an open and transparent manner. She/he should always remain approachable and communicate frequently and clearly with the people of our city. Lastly, the Mayor should remain true to the non-partisan definition of the role and should never act in a partisan fashion as they represent all citizens, not any particular party.
Regarding the specific statutory powers and duties of the Mayor’s office, they are outlined in the Bemidji City Charter. Per the Charter, the Mayor is an equal voting member of the City Council. Highlighted duties of the Mayor/City Council include providing policy direction to city staff in the day-to-day operations of the city, representing the city to outside constituents and upholding the City Charter.
5. If elected, what steps would you take to keep your constituents informed?
The events surrounding this summer’s curfew clearly demonstrate that when timely communication does not occur between the city and residents, speculation and confusion can become pervasive leading to misinformation and an overall loss of trust in public officials. We need an accessible city government that openly communicates with citizens across multiple platforms in a timely fashion as decisions are made and emergencies are managed. I therefore would like to institute the following initiatives:
Use technology including Zoom, Facebook, and Twitter to keep citizens informed. This would include using Zoom to continue streaming city council meetings for easier access and creating a city Facebook page where official city communication could be quickly disseminated. As Mayor, I would also look to provide a 10-15-minute podcast summary of each city council meeting highlighting the most important issues discussed for those unable to watch meetings in their entirety.
Conduct regular press conferences on city issues and create an annual virtual town hall meeting to be held in conjunction with the Mayor’s State of the City address.
Post Covid-19 conduct periodic door knocking by ward along with each individual ward councilperson for greater grassroots feedback.
Lastly, the Mayor of Bemidji has not had an actual office in city hall for many years. I would change that and maintain an office with regularly scheduled office hours so citizens could make appointments to visit with me electronically or in person.
6. What is the appropriate way to respond if a resident calls you to complain about a city employee?
The Bemidji City Charter clearly outlines the relationship and responsibilities that exist between the city council and the city manager. The city manager is the Chief Executive Officer of the city who appoints the department heads and is ultimately responsible for the performance of city employees. In short, the city manager is the only direct employee of the city council and all other city employees report upwardly culminating with the city manager.
Further, as most city employees are union members, formal discipline is governed in part by the terms of the contract negotiated on their behalf by their respective union. Thus if a resident were to call me with a complaint about a specific city employee, I would be legally required to involve the city manager immediately so that he could work with the citizen to resolve the complaint in compliance with city employment policy and union contract provisions.
If the complaint were regarding the city manager, I would need to follow city employment and human resource polices, engaging the other members of the city council as appropriate and required. Citizen complaints need to be taken seriously but there is a prescribed process that needs to be followed so that the complaint is addressed properly, and city employees are treated justly.
7. In your opinion, what is the single most important problem facing the City of Bemidji today? How do you think the city should tackle it?
I believe that the greatest issue facing the City of Bemidji has been and continues to be poverty. Our community has struggled with poverty for decades and the economic disparity between those doing well and those struggling seems to be growing yearly.
In reviewing U.S. Census data, 27.2% of the people in our city live in poverty and the median household income in the city is $34,112. Both statistics being markedly worse than the numbers for the state as a whole which are 9.6% poverty and $68,411 median household income. Neither of these two statistics having markedly improved over the past 15 years when adjusted for inflation.
Many of us are not surprised by these statistics as we see the evidence of poverty throughout our city. From increases in homelessness and crime to the lack of jobs that pay a living wage, we see many in our community struggling just to make ends meet. When we consider the potential long term negative economic impact of COVID-19, it is likely that rising unemployment may only further increase poverty in our city. Further, these poverty statistics do not even include those who are barely living above the poverty line.
Our city needs to have a vision for recruiting and home-growing companies in targeted sectors such as manufacturing and high-technology that can provide more and better employment opportunities for all our citizens. Employment opportunities that pay a living wage including benefits such as health insurance and retirement. This means actively recruiting targeted companies with a history of being good corporate citizens to expand in Bemidji and creating a climate in our city government that encourages, supports, and champions entrepreneurship and innovation.
Our city also needs to work in partnership with education institutions such as Bemidji State University, Northwest Technical College and non-profits to make job skills training available for all our workforce so that citizens who have lacked opportunities in the past can access these new jobs.
Lastly, the city needs to take a leadership role in positively impacting many of the social concerns intertwined with poverty such as homelessness, alcoholism, and drug abuse. It troubles me greatly that our city avoids direct involvement in combatting many of these issues while profiting from the sale of alcohol and liquor licenses. I believe that if our city is willing to profit from alcohol and invest in a new $4M city owned liquor store, then it has a duty to positively impact the social issues arising from alcohol abuse. I would therefore support allocating a certain percent of these profits to be used directly to address these social issues.
I would also support employing a dedicated grant writer within the city that could assist all city departments in pursuing both public and private grant opportunities. These grant opportunities potentially bringing in previously untapped revenue to the city in addressing homelessness, affordable housing, and other social concerns linked to poverty.
8. What is Bemidji’s most unique and valuable asset? What can the city do to make the most of it?
I believe our city’s most unique and valuable asset has always been the diverse people who make up our community. We are blessed to have so many innovative, creative, courageous, and hardworking people whose daily pursuits create the very fabric that knits our community together. In my life, I have traveled the world visiting nearly every continent and have not found any other group of people possessing greater talent or determination than I find here in our community. Although I know that our city is not perfect, I am proud to call Bemidji my home and am continually inspired by the many contributions made by our community members.
Talent and work ethic need stability and opportunity to truly bloom. If we truly want to unleash the potential of everyone in our city, we must have city government working actively to ensure that Bemidji is safe, secure, financially stable, and ripe with opportunities for everyone. This means creating an environment where everyone feels safe, solving many of our city’s longstanding financial challenges and fostering a culture that encourages innovation and investment. This is especially critical for our youth as they are the future of our community. We need to make investments in them, our community and ourselves. Having career opportunities and a supportive environment available upon graduation promotes Bemidji as a thriving place that our graduates feel they can grow with and contribute to meaningfully.
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