[Music] [Music] good evening I'm Peggy Farm member of the League of Women Voters Minnetonka Eden Prairie Hopkins and your moderator for the Minnetonka city council candidate forum I would like to welcome all of you tonight on behalf of lwv Minnetonka in Prairie Hopkins the League of Women Voters a volunteer nonpartisan political organization encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy representatives for lwv will be available in the lobby after this forum to meet with the candidates and the audience the league does not support or oppose any political party or candidate the views expressed in this form are those of the candidates not those of the League of Women Voters it is our purpose in sponsoring meetings such as this to provide you with an opportunity to hear candidates discuss issues face-to-face that are important to you in screening questions we have made a good faith effort to include questions on topics that are of general interest where necessary we have Rewritten questions to make them applicable to all candidates forward-looking not personal in nature and relevant to this forum there's never enough time to cover all the issues in a limited time and setting such as this if your questions were not addressed feel free to contact the candidate directly this event is now being broadcast live on community cable TV and will be rebroadcast repeatedly in its entirety it will also be available by streaming video at the city website and www.lwvmeph.org individual recording and photography that does not disrupt this event is allowed tonight's questions have been submitted online and by our live audience cards become the property of lwv if the answer was unclear to you feel free to submit a follow-up question or to ask the candidate after the form because of the large number of candidates we are holding two city council forums tonight this first form is for the candidates running for Wards one and two at its conclusion and after a short break we will hold another form for the candidates for Wards three and four I will now introduce the candidates for one word one and Ward 2 of the Minnetonka City Council for Ward one we have Bonnie Burton Patsy Foster Bolton Reed Gilkey and Dana minion and for Ward 2 we have Carrie Michaels and Rebecca Shack thank you to the candidates as well as the audience for coming tonight we will begin with two-minute opening statements following that the candidates will have one minute to respond to questions submitted by the audience response order will be randomized our candidate form will wrap up with one minute closing statements from each candidate so now we will begin with the opening statements and we will start with candidate Burton hello good evening my name is Bonnie Burton and I'm a candidate for Ward one of the Minnetonka city council thank you to the League of Women Voters for holding this forum and allowing us the opportunity to tell you more about ourselves I live in the Minnetonka Mills Area with my husband Ed soltis and have done so for almost 40 years we collectively have four children and six grandchildren my sons attended Hopkins schools we're hobbyist beekeepers we keep five beehives right here in Minnetonka we support pollinators and we're very happy that our city does too the qualifications I bring to this position include extensive experience as a municipal Finance director for a neighboring Lake Minnetonka City with over 20 years of municipal government experience and multi-million dollar budget responsibilities I understand what's required to provide Municipal Services cost effectively I have an MBA master's degree in Business from The Carlson School of Management University of Minnesota with concentrations in finance and strategic planning I've also served as a volunteer election judge with Minnetonka for many years I understand elections very well and I'd like to commend the Minnetonka election staff for the fine job that they do in addition I have extensive experience serving on boards committees task forces negotiating teams I've learned that we can get things done better when we work together and that together we can make a difference I'm running for city council because I have a desire to serve to really listen to what the ward 1 residents want from their city and to represent them so that they have a voice one last fun fact around 1900 my great-grandfather Gus Burton owned a seven acre raspberry farm at the intersection of Excelsior Boulevard and Fairview Avenue which is just west of Shady Oak Road back then the area was known as Minnetonka Township nowadays it's known as Minnetonka City ward one and I would be so proud to serve as your award one council member thank you thank you next candidate Foster Bolton hi my name is Patsy Foster Bolton and I too would like to thank the League of Women Voters um so my husband and I have owned a home in Minnetonka for 30 years we have two boys that went through the Hopkins school district when we first moved here we didn't have a lot of money so but we found an affordable home and we were able to make it work and we were warmly embraced by the community after when our family started to grow and we needed a larger house we wanted to stay in Minnetonka because we really feel felt Deep Roots here and we did we stayed in Minnetonka and I volunteered for the schools and food shelves and The Battered Women's Shelter over the last several years I've been organizing around affordable housing reproductive Freedom climate initiatives and Racial equality and the last few years the city council has started the Dei commission and the street this 2040 strategic plan has included affordable housing and also the energy action plan which has taken action on the climate crisis and so when Brian Kirk decided to vacate his seat in Ward one it felt like my running for this seat kind of felt like a continuation of the work that I've been doing and one last thing that one of the highlights of this campaign has been talking to the neighbors and talking to the people in Ward one and listening to them talk about how much they love Minnetonka but also the issues that they feel like the city needs to take and I would be honored to bring that to the city council so thank you thank you now we don't see that Reid Gilkey is here seeing the audience so we will pass right by him if he does show up we will just slip them right in where we are and not have him catch up with anything he missed we'll move on to Dana minion for his opening statement good evening thank you all for coming tonight it's good to see you all um my name is Dana minion I'm running to be the candidate in Ward one to represent you in the city council first I'd like to thank the League of Women Voters thank you so much for putting this together you guys have done a great job I think it's a great forum for everybody to learn I'd also like to say thank you to Mr Kirk for doing such a great job representing the city represent the city council he set a high bar for us to follow in 2017 my wife Amy and I moved into our forever home here in Minnetonka we live there with our three dogs my first career was a form of a union sheet metal shop and I hold a number of trade credentials and licenses but in 2009 I reinvented myself and the director of ballpark maintenance for Target Field I see so many parallels with the things that I do there every day whether it's streets Bridges infrastructure items that position has just so many parallels to what we see here every day I worked with a rare with a variety of different departments and the diversity is amazing the company and the the number of people that I work with whether it's internal organizations whether it's contractors corporate partners and different government agencies to help us with our transportation needs and our different issues that face our community I routinely find myself in a way that I'm able to mediate between the different parties as far as getting everybody together trying to farm a good solution for everybody's needs and everybody's happy um since being approached to run for this I've met several city employees many of you constituents many volunteers what a great group of people and other the candidates there are so many wonderful people in this city oh sorry okay get going there's so many wonderful people in this city and I've just enjoyed meeting everyone the fact is is that we might not all have the same ideas we have the same plans but I have the ability to kind of pull people together and make things go for everyone I've got the stop sign but reach out thank you very much just want to remind you to please speak up so the mic can capture your voice and the recording and the people in the audience can hear you better next we'll hear from Carrie Michaels hi my name is Carrie Michaels I am running for Ward 2 city council I would like to thank the League of Women Voters the people in the audience and the people who are watching at home I am a hockey mom to a six-year-old free-range child I've been married to my high school sweetheart for 13 years who is a civil engineer I'm a Frontline nurse for 17 years and I published in the anesthesiology Journal I have a highly developed sense of genuinely caring for people I believe all neighborhoods should be safe and accessible I'm proud to have had a hand in the Plymouth Road Trail and sidewalk through this experience I have learned how to work effectively with City staff and get improvements that are needed in our neighborhood I will be persistent in in with my negotiating skills to advocate for Ward 2. furthermore I have graduated the police Citizens Academy and the city Citizens Academy I have volunteered With Friends of Minnetonka parks and I've listened to our neighbors just going around and door knocking and the biggest concern that keeps coming up is Safety Not only on our sidewalks and biking trails but also with crime thank you next candidate check thank you good evening I'm Rebecca Shack I'm the current council member for Ward 2 in Minnetonka and I'm running for re-election I too want to thank the Lee for hosting us tonight this is a a great Forum every year and I am glad to be a part of it I'm a lifelong resident of Minnesota I have a degree from St Thomas a business degree from St Thomas and my law degree from William Mitchell I'm a small business owner and an attorney and a qualified mediator my husband Michael and I have lived in Minnetonka since 2013. we have a three-year-old giant doodle named Magnus and you'll see us out on the trail at least once a day my service to Minnetonka started in 2017 with my role on the Planning Commission and the 2040 comp plan committee I joined the city council in 2018 and I'm proud of all that we've accomplished specifically establishing a sustainable funding source for ongoing Trail development seeing through Pub the public safety facility expansion and improvements for our police and fire beginning restoration work in most of our Parks but particularly Colin Nature Preserve overseeing deliberate growth and Redevelopment which has kept Ridgedale thriving as a regional destination and a community Gathering space establishing the sustainability commission and maintain all while maintaining AAA Bond rating as a leader though the work is never done my goals for the next four years include supporting programs and policies that ensure Minnetonka is a welcoming place for all continuing to support smart Redevelopment to diversify our housing sac and make more affordable housing opportunities continue to support our police and fire departments by working closely with the Chiefs to ensure that they have the resources they need to keep Minnetonka safe thank you for your vote on November 7th thank you now we move into the question and answer section of this forum and we'll be beginning with candidate Shaq and I decided to start right up with the question that everybody seems to be asking do you support the repeal of ranked Choice voting why or why not I thought you might ask that question um you know the issue of ranked Choice voting is in the hands of the voters I'm going to support the outcome of the referendum to me it's a little unfortunate that so many resources continue to be devoted in the city to relitigating this issue when I think time and money could be better spent on making policy and running the city that said regardless of what type of voting we have in Minnetonka I'm going to run a positive issued based campaign and as a council member continue to make informed and engaged decisions the method of how we get voted into office doesn't change that said I'm looking for an uh permanent outcome out of November 7th thank you next candidate minion and speak up into the microphone please how's that [Music] I'll support what the voters defend that they decide that they need I think both ways work just fine I think that as long as everybody plays fair and and like Rebecca says keeps a Clean Campaign we roll with the situation that we have it's um it's pretty straightforward what people decide I'm happy to support candidate Burton thank you for that question you know I like new ideas but not every new idea is a good idea and such is the case with ranked Choice voting what concerns me about this is that there are no voting machines currently in existence that are certified to count rank Choice votes after the first pass it makes it a non-starter in my opinion if the vote goes to a second or third iteration they're counted by hand and kept track of on an Excel spreadsheet imagine that the Minnetonka Charter commission comprised of experienced people like former mayor Karen Anderson and current mayor Brad we're some emphatically rejected ranked Choice voting after an extensive study they recommended that the city council not adopt it but instead of following its own experts advice the city council ignored the study and put it out to a public vote in my opinion the Minnetonka city council abdicated its role as the informed leadership Body by this action I would support repealing ranked Choice voting vote Yes to repeal thank you next candidate Foster Bolton I would vote no to repeal I think that number one I'd like to give Frank Choice voting more time to succeed it's only been in existence through one round of Elections and I also think that it saves Minnetonka money by not having to have a primary um and also it saves the candidates money I mean it takes the money out of um politics I mean I wouldn't have to raise money I mean people like me who don't have a lot of money I would have to start campaigning in May and then start another campaign after the primary so I think there are a lot of advantages to ranked Choice voting and I still have to you know in order to win you still have to get 51 of the vote so um but I support what the voters want so thank you thank you and last candidate Michaels rain Choice voting is a good example of bad Minnetonka city council decision making a more and more unnecessary spending do you realize that taxpayers spent over 75 thousand dollars more than we did on the previous mayor in and at large races in 2017 these costs are spelled out in the charter commission's report that my opponent rejected when she voted to put it in on the ballot on 2020. during during the pandemic furthermore is complicated and confusing why else would the city have to send money on mailers to educate you us residents on how to vote with ring Choice voting voting should be simple transparent rank Trace voting is neither is confusing complex costly and I'm not for ranked Choice voting I'm asking you to make me your only choice and then they sent out this mailer to everybody in the city this costs a ton of money and I'm up thank you for our next question we'll begin with candidate Michaels what suggestions do you have to improve Public Safety in Minnetonka specifically do you support hiring more police officers as recommended by the city's consultant so I do I have been in contact with the police chief over the last couple of years and I would like to keep this an open dialogue and going on with um they're so using their social workers and so forth I do support um having our police bully funded we have an issue of crime in the area and that's the reason why we have everybody showing up yet last night the thing is is both Deb Calvert suggested that the crime is low and then um Rebecca Shack also second that and to say that we have low crime is just not true crime is still elevated it's it's lower in one year but it's not over the last five years crime incredibly increased during covid time thank you next candidate check thank you um I obviously uh last night we addressed the issue of crime and but more importantly and and we did not have a full audience for this we addressed the issue of the police department our police Chiefs ask for five new officers and one new sergeant to be hired in the next year I support that I support our excellent Chief and our great police department and if they're telling us that they can do a great job better by having an additional shift of officers on then I believe them so we will move forward with that I trust my colleagues will as well and we will continue to push the County's attorney County County Attorney's Office sheriff's department and Judiciary to work as partners with us to help us address crime concerns in Minnetonka thank you next candidate Foster Bolton um everyone deserves to feel to feel safe inside and outside of their home and um I think that the Minnetonka police I have heard nothing but really good things the response time has been amazing um and it's it's it is heartbreaking to see that video uh and especially when children are um victimized and I again want to equip the police in whatever they need to do their job with excellence and I I would even encourage I mean I didn't realize that that the five more officers were proposed but um I think that that seems reasonable and also expand on the social worker idea that maybe we can get the right people to respond to the right situations like maybe get domestic abuse people that are trained in domestic abuse and mental health professionals to work with the police as well thank you candidate Burton there was a standing room only crowd in the council chamber last night to hear testimony about increasing crime in Minnetonka as part of this it was surprising to me to learn that policing is apparently done on a complaint basis so my friends and neighbors if you see something say something there is a public safety master plan in the works the 2024 City budget calls for a levy increase of about 2.25 percent to fund the first phase of this plan I support the police and I support this plan which calls for the hiring of five additional Patrol officers and one Sergeant with equipment I also support the re-establishment of appropriate juvenile treatment centers at one point in time I was a social worker with the Hennepin County boys school the juveniles there were very tough I recall that one had bludgeoned an elderly woman with a baseball bat to steal her purse years later I encountered this man in downtown Minneapolis he seemed delighted to see me and he was living his best life or so it appeared so sometimes incarceration can leave its Mark in a good way thank you and last candidate minion can you hear me now uh that's a great question if you look at the plans that the city's already invested as far as in looking how they can augment their their abilities and their inabilities it's laid out pretty simple and the leadership has already done a great job of putting a plan in place I talked to the chief he said that they respond to 42 000 calls a year that's a big number but one of the challenges we have is that we are a cul-de-sac City that might necessarily be a buzzword that people recognize but when you're trying to get a first responder from point A to point B and there's not a straight line a really good way is what that study suggested is put more boots in the ground disperse the model a little farther make them more accessible I really like the chief's attitude towards the budget he put money out there for social worker and then he forecasted for the future as far as how that role changes and I can see that role a good word for that role is Pivot I can see that that role developing over time so we think now I hope to see it change over time there's a lot of good information in that study thank you be moving on to new questions starting with candidate minion what are your concerns or comments about the Mills Church affordable housing rezoning proposal that's a great question in fact I don't know if Ellen's here tonight but I still owe you a phone call I was a little frustrated many people reached out to me about this many people this is my neighborhood that you're talking about directly we're just down the street I uh I'd reached out to the city a number of times to try to get answers and the fact is that this answers that the city has are not a finished plan but it was Grace to be able to sit down with the Pastor Dave and he's an amazing guy and I encourage everybody before you make a decision to sit down with him the plans that you know of the plans that you see are not the plans that he has in place now he has a great plan he's listened to two different groups of people in two different times that heard the people's objections and made a really good plan that will address everybody's objections from traveling on the street to how things look to even water in the previous surfaces so I'd absolutely support it I think he's a great guy a great play and I think he'll make a better Minnetonka if you're worried about taxes it'll also create a better tax base source as well thank you next candidate Burton I support affordable housing but not at the Mills Church area this is one key issue that prompted me to seek office a desire to explore the feasibility of designating and preserving Minnetonka Mills as a historic district in 2019 it appeared that this failing Church decided they wanted to sell off some of their real estate to assure their survival the original idea involved partnering with a group to build a multi-family apartment building on a two-acre lot this the fact that this is one of the oldest and most historic sections of Minnetonka was not part of the calculation at that time the entire concept was inappropriate for the location and the neighbors and residents in the area were justifiably concerned about the project in 2022 Mills Church partnered with Habitat for Humanity to revisit the project the most recent iteration includes three I'm sorry 12 three-story town homes and two single-family residences it is still far too much project to fit into the church parking lot which is what it's planned for neighbors and residents have stood 50 deep at city meetings to voice their opposition they've put up signs they've circulated paper and online petitions I completely support their efforts thank you next candidate Michaels I am a for affordable housing but I am not for the Mills Church my husband is a civil engineer and we have looked at the project it would look odd there it's the it's three so it's a three-story um Townhomes that they're hoping to put in there is not just this one level houses that are right around in that area not only that but then they would have to also change it from R1 to a r1a so they'd have to rezone it in order to get what they actually want but the area is all R1 in sing or single level houses one of my friends who actually lives right around there is um is also I have the five or 15 seconds sorry um he also has said that um the people that have moved into their in the other affordable housing are actually not um sorry I gotta stop thank you candidate check thank you so as of last week when I checked the website there was not currently an application pending for any project at this site I don't know if that's changed but if there is an application I haven't seen it yet as a universal rule I simply cannot and will not commit to an up or down vote as a council member on a project that's pending that I haven't seen specifics nor reviewed staff recommendations or most importantly heard the community's comments about the specific project my position on this project is no different I can't tell you today if I'm in favor of this project or not I can say that I understand the neighborhood concerns I do I'm also very um enthusiastic about affordable housing so when this comes before us no matter what it will be a very difficult decision thank you and last candidate Foster Bolton um if if the project were to come before the city council and I was sitting on the city council I would vote in favor of the project affordable housing the there's 46 000 jobs in Minnetonka and of those forty six thousand five thousand of them actually work in Minnetonka now not everybody wants to who lives here wants to live here but everybody who works here wants to live here but the ones that do should have an opportunity to build it to build a life here and these are the these are the teachers these are the people that are building our roads and painting our houses and building our decks and they deserve um the right to live in with dignity in Minnetonka and I think that the Mills church is just one small step in bringing affordable housing to Minnetonka it's 12 homes on a parking lot thank you thank you moving on to the next question we'll start with candidate Foster Bolton do you support the recommendation to increase next year's tax levy by 7.75 percent and what ideas do you have that could reduce taxes in Minnetonka um when I um being out in the neighborhoods I I property I'm I'm not really sure about Levy taxes and stuff and what I'm hearing from the residents is that as long as they feel like they have a say in where the money goes um the taxes the property taxes here are in the middle ground it's not like we pay like huge sums of of money for taxes and um I think that Minnetonka has a lot of resources and as the city council we're stewards to distribute those resources effectively and efficiently and I would you know I think that sustaining the parks and the trails is is a great resource um just keeping the native plants there and uh I don't have a lot of experience as you can see in taxes but I'm willing to learn and listen thank you thank you candidate Michaels we need to spend wisely and be respectful of our residence family budgets total cost to date for the Ridgedale Commons is eight million dollars 8.5 million was budgeted so some of this is still remaining for the final work from 2018 to 2022 9.9 was received in park fees the park fees are restricted to the park development and enhancement maintenance fees are paid by the tax levy each year for these years is about 3 million taxpayer dollars for the Commons park uh in 2018 through 2022 how many malls does the taxpayers need to revitalize and and bail out thank you Canada check I do not take the job of taxing our residents lately I realize everybody but particularly folks with fixed income every dollar counts for those folks it would be easy for me to sit up here and say I have a magic solution that will reduce property taxes and keep Services the same but I know that would be a lie the dollars and cents we study the budget from year round and we make financial decisions tough financial decisions every week what I can say is I carefully review all major financial decisions we press staff to limit spending and secure other funding sources and partners in order to keep the levy down I know that we had to pass a preliminary Levy last night which will be the cap of what the levy can be going into 2024 but that it will not be 7.7 percent I am almost certain of that so no I support a lower Levy than 7.7 percent thank you candidate minion so many good questions I absolutely would promote this Levy we that were here last night saw a large outcry of people and Community for a number of of safety issues the number that I took away out of the meeting last night was 10.50 a month I don't want to raise anybody taxes I don't want to pay higher taxes but when you look at the effect of being able to put people on the street augment all of our services for it's a cup of coffee in a fancy coffee shop the other thing is is that I don't think people were able to hear last night is that one of those offices one of those officers that will be taking on has a three-year Grant that's going to be paid for by other people I would absolutely continue and I have such a great respect for AAA rep Bond rating for our managers in our city right now they're working hard to reduce that money as far as what's going to come out of our pockets they've done a great job grants basically Grant thank you finally candidate Burton overall I think that we all should be pretty proud of minnetonka's finances there's something to be proud of they've got a AAA Bond rating they've won awards their annual audits are always clean last night as my colleague mentioned the city certified is preliminary Levy at about 7.75 percent this is a state mandated step that they must take in the in the budget process they can lower the levy but they can't increase it from this point on still the levy was higher than I expected so there's always room for improvement I hope the council will find cost savings as they work through the draft budgets this fall and get the final Levy down to a more affordable amount three to four maybe five percent especially since general fund reserves are at about 58 percent of annual expenditures this translates to 29 million dollars there's room to buy down the levy I am also interested and concerned about utility rates which have increased a lot over the past few years and may be challenging for seniors on a fixed income I would like to consider what options could be put into place for them thank you for our next question we'll begin with candidate Burton please describe your approach to equity and inclusion equity and inclusion Dei I understand that Dei policies promote empathy understanding cultural awareness and in my opinion we could all be a little more empathetic and understanding would you agree therefore I see Dei as being a positive concept even as we acknowledge that the heavy lifting was already done by the federal government decades ago for example the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination the affirmative action programs of the 60s the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 and of course most of all the equal employment opportunity commission the EEOC which enforces federal laws that prohibit discrimination in employment so there's no single law right now that creates Dei nonetheless I think that internal policies and initiatives to promote diversity equity and inclusion are important thank you candidate check thank you I strive to make Minnetonka a place where all people feel welcome when I'm out door knocking I've encountered a few people who have expressed me directly that they have concerns about how they are being welcomed into this community by POC folks a transgendered woman all said what is what is Minnetonka doing to have my voice be heard well we are so excited to be sitting our first Dei Commission in January and we passed the ordinance in I believe August and we have a wonderful Dei coordinator who's hit the ground running to make sure this commission is um hearing all voices and making sure that Minnetonka is becoming a more welcoming place for all thank you candidate Michaels so when I think about Dei I think about actually having empathy and actually going out and caring about people that is my job all I do is care about people regardless of your religion your sex or your gender it's it or what race you are and every single day one of the biggest things I definitely want to put through and especially over by The Greenbrier and right by Hopkins High School is there's a lot of minorities that live over there and people that are not even from this country and they need a safe walking path to get to school I want to make sure that we actually get that so in there right on Cedar Lake Road and slow down the drivers that go through there the the um our constituents have complained about how unsafe it is over there thank you candidate minion thank you there's a lot that we can do here there's so many different layers so many different approaches so many different directions but first we just talked about a levee we're going to be hiring more people on board let's make sure that people have a fair chance when they come into the city to actually work from different perspectives the other thing is how about educating not only our city staff but using things like Minnetonka matters in our website to help explore different people's backgrounds in a positive way let's promote the good things about everybody instead of just a certain groups of people um I think it's just important to try and think about this as maybe a slow moving thing but if we continue to encourage people we can turn continue to encourage positive attitudes it's not going to happen a second but we can certainly work at it and continue to build it's going to take time but we will get there thank you candidate Foster Bolton Minnesota has some of the biggest racial disparities in the country in education wealth income and health care and that needs to change both in the vision statement and the mission statement minnetonka's statements include welcoming plays for all and an inclusive place um and and that includes making an effort to include and represent people who have been historically scapegoated ignored and pushed to the sidelines and I think this commission the Dei commission is a great step in moving Minnetonka toward a more welcoming place and I look forward to working with and learning from Jace Alexander the coordinator of the Dei thank you thank you we'll begin with candid Fester Bolton for the next topic Minnetonka does not have a rental licensing program what benefits and or drawbacks do you perceive in implementing rental Licensing in the city well I think rental licensing I mean is protects the the renter so it protects the person renting from having their rent raised you know without notice I think it just has you know keeps the checks and balances for the property owners to maintain the property and to make sure that the renters are living in an um you know livable place I think right now we have a suggested um you know there's not a licensing requirement but it's suggested and I'd like to to I support licensing rental licensing thank you thank you candidate minion it's a great question too uh rental licensing has good positives and it has negatives the reality of it is is that um what do we want to get out of it do we want to increase the quality of our housing I think that's something we should actually come from from a direction of having a better inspections department that maybe goes and looks at the facilities I don't know that we necessarily have to have a licensing option or to actually get it dialed in that way I would encourage the growth of a program that would generate the the landlords getting together and starting educating people my family's been in rental property for years and one of the best things that I've seen is when the city comes together and helps educate landlords to do things like background checks it is an amazingly powerful tool when you just take a few minutes to check on somebody's background so I'm not a big fan of the rental licensing because I don't see an upside to it I know it sounds good but I do believe in better inspections on houses that are for rent oh thank you thank you candidate Burton I understand that rental licensing is fairly common in a lot of the metro area cities and I believe that this is a topic that the Minnetonka city council is considering at this point in time my familiarity with rental licensing is such that it would allow for some code review if you will building inspectors would go in take a look at the building if something wasn't the way it should be that's their opportunity to let the building owner know that they need to have it improved and fixed this ultimately protects the city it protects the renter it keeps everybody healthy as it were and the city can also monitor its rental stock it can monitor its housing stock and there's some value to that as well thank you candidate Michaels I agree that um it would be nice if the city could keep better or access to like the rental properties and everything else we have lived in affordable housing when we were younger and um to say that it was in the best conditions would be not true um we it was nice when we lived there because we were able to watch over some of the other um residents that were living next door and if they had flooded out the kitchen we could at least um go and talk to the the um the manager and actually get it fixed so I agree that it would be nice if there was other eyes on the rental properties too to double check and make sure that they're living up to the standards and that everybody can have a nice home thank you and last we'll hear from candidate check thank you I think rental license licensure is generally a good thing but what I know for the City of Minnetonka and we've been talking about it is that it's also an expensive thing and it's not necessarily something that pays for itself so it wouldn't cry require additional inspectors and it would require additional administrative staff to manage and I think we're headed in that direction we want to be careful with the budget we want to be careful with the folks that we're hiring so we don't find ourselves in a difficult financial position so where we talked about starting as a council and I think it's a fantastic first step is to have a rental registry so we can take inventory and know exactly how many rental units we have in the proper in the city and what the situation is before we take that next step towards licensing thank you for our next question we'll begin with candidate Shack what do you see as the key natural resources management issues in our Parks if elected what are your plans to address these issues anybody have Buckthorn um obviously invasives are the are the biggest problem we have in our parks and invasives are complicated and they're perpetuated by climate change they're perpetuated by um dogs wandering through on on informal trials and so we that's something we have to tackle we are so lucky in Minnetonka that we have a robust natural resource of Staff one of the biggest in the metro area if not the biggest and we have a tremendous resource in our friends of Minnetonka Parks they are out there every week helping us tackle this we need to leverage them we need grants we need all the help we can get to get a handle on the invasive invasion of Minnetonka parks thank you candidate minion that sure if maybe it's here from some of the volunteer stuff but I still are mitching what a great great group of people uh what a great way to build community but yes the invasive species are a big part of the parks we have 54 beautiful Parks we have a great trail system we need to continue to take care of it and I really think the volunteer the core volunteer group what a great group of people we need to continue to augment them support them obviously we have City staff that we've recently put on as far as the parks and our environment are going that they're working closely together but I'd really like to see anything we can do to support our volunteers and our Park system to continue to go after the evasive species a lot of other things are in really good control a lot of our our equipment is in nice shape but if we don't keep an eye on it the it's going to take things over thank you thank you candidate Foster Bolton yeah I would second everything um council member Shack and candidate minion said about the Minnetonka climate initiative and Friends of the Minnetonka Parks I mean these people have been I mean they have 150 people at their disposal and they have been in action around preserving the um parks and the trails for years and they also have they have expertise the people on their staff and in their groups have written books on native plants and I would really like to partner with them to make their initiatives and their ideas not just good ideas but actually work them into the plan and make them you know not work thank you candidate Burton Park's a natural Green Space are soothing to the soul aren't they my husband and I like to walk we love that we can endlessly explore parks in Minnetonka a new one almost every week we have our favorites we like lone Lake because it's challenging topography and there are pickleball courts there and we like the Burwell house because it's very close to our home and there's pollinator Gardens there and we just know that our our honeybees are over there helping themselves to nectar and pollen the city's natural resource master plan suggests that there are four main things that need attention budgets Buckthorn deer management and climate change if elected to address these issues I would listen to knowledgeable groups such as friends of the parks and be aware of their concerns I think it's important to provide for an allocation of adequate resources funding I would like to continue solid support of the deer management and harvesting program and climate especially drought is going to have to be considered going forward I'm intrigued by the controlled burn Concept in some areas but if the drought years continue there could be deadly consequences thank you finally candidate Michaels so I've been in contact with Cullen Nature Preserve and also the friends of Minnetonka parks and there is a fracture within the system as far as between the city staff and our Parks boards that I think that we definitely need to fix and have them work collaboratively together I think our Park boards work really hard but I think that they forget about the people that volunteer and do the hard work too and so I like to try and make sure that that we can get them together thank you for our next question we'll begin with candidate Michaels what is your position on oh I can't see now all right what is your position on the use of cannabis in outdoor spaces public and private accessible by the public so my I would like to hear more from more constituents mainly because I see that as a medical professional I see the benefits of medical marijuana and I see the disadvantages of it too I it is it does affect the lungs and the fact especially if it's smoke that's pretty um congruent with cigarette smoke so that that is a huge issue with me so I would like to hear more from constituents and see what other people are thinking that in just the other day I was at our athletic center in the man behind the counter couldn't even stand up he couldn't walk he couldn't do anything because he was high and when the manager came by was trying to shake him and get him aroused I checked him out make sure that he's his vital signs were still okay but there is a heavy smell of marijuana off of him thank you candidate faster Bolton um I have to be honest it you know I I could go either way um I don't have I mean I I think that you know like smoking cigarettes um we shouldn't you know shouldn't be having to be exposed to second-hand smoke um and I too would like to hear more from the constituents um I haven't really heard much about it I think it's still so new um that you know there just hasn't been I mean I haven't had an experience with somebody being too high to function and I do realize that there's benefits there's medical benefits to pot um but again I have very little experience in that so I'd be willing to listen and hear what other people have to say thank you candidate check thank you I'll say frankly I agree with much of what was said by um candidate Michaels on this issue I think it's complicated it's nuanced the one thing I don't think we want to do is re-criminalize and even though it's a different kind of penalty have our Public Safety folks trying to monitor smoking in the Parks or in public places there are benefits and so I think we we have to thread the needle on this and listening to what people in the community what what how they're feeling seeing how other communities are handling it checking in with the league of Minnesota cities and getting some advice from them I think we can come up with something that makes a lot of sense but we shouldn't rush into anything thank you candidate minion our legislatures kind of left us in a spot the fact is is that THC has no regulation on it if you get a gallon of gas you know exactly what the octane is because it's federally like regulated federally inspected THC doesn't have that I don't know that we can make a solid answer with having out having all the facts to that we could go down a long road long story short I would leave it up to voters if they really want to do this I'd say absolutely but I'd want to hear from experts to know how far away you need to be if somebody's going to do that I create a specific area in the park or public space with a very well marked science designated the distance away so that anybody can be able to tell and see and be able to make a clear decision how to stay away and be safe we want little kids running in a park and then having a problem so um I would like to see much more regulation much more in testing and the experts involved and be able to make good decisions but I leave it up to voters but if we end up doing that in the public places I think we need to make sure that we have a clear understanding of how far away people need to be thank you thank you candidate Burton as a former asthmatic I just don't want to breathe anybody else's second-hand smoke whether it's cigarette cigar vaping cannabis no their right to smoke ends where mine and everybody's right to fresh air and breathing starts so um I would be in favor in terms of city parks and and at least locations around main entrances of the city buildings and that sort of thing I just think that it's inappropriate and that uh any City regulation about it should mirror tobacco and alcohol um if we don't allow smoking in parks of cigarettes then why do we allow cannabis perhaps a town hall meeting would be suitable I'll get some public input through a town hall meeting and just to comment too regarding secondhand smoke with cannabis there are children in parks and we need to protect them from that as well thank you thank you for our next question we'll start with candidate minion please tell us about any endorsements that you have sought or have received I guess I'm kind of romantic I looked at this as coming into it as we'd self-funded that's really great until the bills start coming in I've been approached by a National Organization for full endorsement I learned a new term called we will pack you out so I believe the regulations are is that they can give 650 dollars and they'll sit down with 14 different individual martians into that organization and will give me a large amount of money well I appreciate that offer they'd also put 14 people in the district to knock on doors for me um just not for me so I've got uh got a website if people want to support that's great but I'm not accepting endorsements and I'm not seeking endorsements thank you candidate Burton I have neither sought nor have I received any endorsements for city office I have received contributions from friends and family and neighbors and that's the extent of that for me thank you candidate Shack thank you the most important endorsements for me are from the folks who have worked with me in the past or seen me work I've been endorsed by our state legislator Patty acum who I worked had the privilege of working with on the council I've been endorsed by our current mayor Brad weersam current council member Deb Calvert former council member Susan Carter and several boards and commission members all folks that I've directly worked with I've also sought the endorsement of the Minnetonka climate action and I I received their endorsement and the endorsement of women winning thank you candidate Fester Bolton I received endorsements from Brian Kirk the council member that is vacating this seat and um Bob Ellingson who was the council member in this seat before Brian I also sought and received um endorsement from the Minnetonka climate initiative and sought and received and the endorsement from women winning as well thank you finally candidate Michaels well my biggest endorsement would have to be my husband and of course all my neighbors um so this is a Grassroots campaign I've worked really hard and got out there and talked to fellow neighbors and just around so I have been getting funding from Neighbors and myself but otherwise no other endorsement oh and my son he's right there as we go door knocking he goes vote for my mommy thank you I won't move on to another question we'll start with Canon Michaels what would you suggest to do to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists so this is actually my jam my husband is a civil engineer so I have um just from listening to him and asking him questions because I I always see a need and one of the things is is definitely especially around McGinty I would like to see more better walking and biking paths especially around there and also over by Hopkins school there is a way that we can slow down the traffic through there and I have some really great ideas also on I believe is Sheffield there that has become I think it's called Sheffield curve it has become a a way for people to get across the city fast and I think that we can also control the the speed limit in that area too and I have great ideas for that thank you candidate Foster Bolton this is another way we can combat climate the climate crisis too if we can make Minnetonka more walkable and bikeable and connecting you know neighborhoods with shops and schools I mean I see these kids walk home from West Junior High on Baker Road and it terrifies me there's no sidewalks and the um just seeing these young kids who are you know obviously aren't paying attention walking through the streets that's not safe um so and I think that you know again like I said at combats climate the climate industry says that we can make Minnetonka more walkable and bikeable thank you candidate Burton in Mexico to control traffic they use something called topes topes is basically a speed bump it forces you it forces vehicles to slow down and go a lot slower obviously that's not a feasible solution for us here the concern for pedestrians and bikes is Big we try to we feel as though we're taking our lives in our hands when we try to cross the Minnetonka Boulevard to get over to the Burwell house I agree with my colleague that Baker Road is scary scary for adults to be on never mind children so we need to maybe find those areas that need to have some Trails some sidewalks something put in to provide some safety for them thank you Canada check thank you so we have a trial program that has I I believe it's about 40 missing links of travels it's 90 million dollars worth worth of trials that we have programmed but not funded to be built in Minnetonka we are constantly we've in in 2018 uh we plan we passed a franchise fee which is a sustainable funding of trails going forward that's obviously not a not enough that will still take us 30 years to build out all of the trials so we need to partner we're partnering with three rivers to deal with the Baker Road issue and we've sought several grants from the state we have a trial going in on Hopkins Crossroad and Hillside which will go to tanglin the high school and the middle school so those are really important to focus on how we can get those built also I'm out of time but we have some Dynamic speed signs coming next year and those really help slow things down as well thank you finally candidate minion there's a lot of different ways to approach this I believe what what was just discussed was uh 84 million on page 56 don't ask me why I remember that but um that's going to take time and it's a great program it's in place to develop it but it will take time one of the things that's kind of dear to my heart is that we live in Baker and there is a home there for children and parents that are in a tough spot it's really hard to watch those kids and their attitudes their body language when they walk from that home to the school I know this isn't the only spot in the city but one of the things I'd really like to do is work with our City plow trucks because Baker is a great world it's well traveled it has the salt and the fuel and everything just down the road there's a lot of trucks it'd be great if we could work with somebody in the City Works drop that Wing plow before those kids walk into school I think that's a really quick easy answer to get us a little farther down the road to safety and yes they continue to build on those little Trails thank you thank you we have time for one final question we'll begin with candidate Burton what is your favorite thing about living in Minnetonka and What needs the most work I'm delighted that we can have our beehives here when I when we first decided to do that I called the city thinking there would be a permit or maybe they wouldn't even allow it and they said no no this is great I would just tell the neighbors and so we do we bribe them with honey so so that's probably something that I think Minnetonka was really ahead of the curve on I love it what needs work gosh you guys are pretty well you caught me unawares I right now I can't offer any any suggestions for improvement that's okay well then move on to candidate minion so many great things basically the end of the day we really like our lot we like where we live we like our neighbors we were blessed to have great neighbors but it's the trees it's the environment it's being able to live in a city within the Beltline of the Twin Cities and still feel like you're have your own little piece of heaven and that's it's not just our lot it's the entire city we're really great as far as having the natural resources we have as far as things to work on when I decided to run I had a certain idea of find a problem Define the problem Define a solution and move on I was so wrong of what I'd be hearing from people I've talked to so many people who are just pent up people who are just I think coming out of out of coven people are have a lot of anxiety long story short this is a great run City we've got great city managers great city council and they all care I would find ways to encourage the website Minnetonka matters different things like that to get people to start communicating asking questions of the city the city wants to help they want to be there hopefully we can raise that anxiety and help people feel a little better thank you candidate Shaq I love Minnetonka I love Minnetonka the natural resources the trails I can get a 10 mile run in and never leave the city and never run on the same Trail twice it's fantastic I wish that more people could live here I wish that more people could afford to live here we've got a tall task in making this a place where we honor what we all have and love and keep that the entity preserved and making it a place where we can welcome more folks and make affordable opportunities for them thank you candidate Michaels so the things that I love about Minnetonka so 10 years ago when my husband said hey will you come up to the Twin Cities because I'm originally from Rochester I said oh I don't know it's Gotta It's gotta feel like I live out in the country I can't live within a city it's just not me and so he had found Minnetonka for us to come and move too so I love the Wide Open Spaces I love the fact that it feels like you live out in the country and the clearing clean air you cannot get the Clean Air anywhere else and that's because of all of our parks and wide open spaces and the accessibility to work in downtown I I am like I said a level one traumas I work at a level one trauma so I have to be within 30 minutes of work in order to get to it the thing that I would say is our biggest issue is safety and that's in crime and our like having walks or our sidewalks and trails that we need to get better on that thank you finally candidate Festival um I I love Minnetonka too I love my neighbors um I've trained for seven marathons in Minnetonka and it's the same thing I mean I can I can run you know do a 20 mile run and not repeat the same area um I feel really lucky and I think that um the thing that we can work on is Minnetonka can be a leader in the state in terms of climate action and I think we have the resources I think we have the expertise I think we could do great things and I think we could we could beat Hopkins in St Louis Park I mean I think that they're leading right now and we could we could really move forward on that and it would be something that we could be really proud of as a city thank you now we'll do our closing statements in the reverse order of the opening statements so we will start with candidate Shaq thanks again to the League of Women Voters for having us and for all of you for being here and everybody who's going to watch this in the future Minnetonka has a strong history of leadership and Legacy of providing a broad range of services for the community while continuing to be fiscally responsible as a council member I'm committed to carrying on the legacy of those who have served before me and ensuring Minnetonka manages our continued growth while maintaining the resources that make us a desirable community in which to live and work I am fortunate and I mean that to have had the opportunity to serve Minnetonka and I would be honored to continue for the next four years thank you for your vote on November 7th thank you candidate Michaels so I would like to thank everybody for our coming here and listening to all of us I'm sure it's getting kind of late for you guys um the thing that I would like to let people know is that I have a genuine caring for people I really care about I don't care about your age your race your gender or your religion I will be there for you I will listen and you can also look me up at m-i-c-h-e-l-s the number four minnetonka.com and if you also want to just get a hold of me at any time I'm very approachable you can always reach me back at 507-261-8542 or my email at c-a-r-r-i-e-m-i-c-h-e-l-s-14 gmail.com and I would love to be your candidate thank you candidate minion thank you again for this form you did a great job uh there's so many issues that the city is facing today and I appreciate the vision that we all share as we look ahead in the future I hear you when you say grow our support for our police and our fire Services I appreciate how the city has done such a great job of putting us in a fiscal spot with triple a bond rating and continue to support those efforts and hearing that how they've taken care of or their grants and outside funding for so many things it really helps reduces our taxes I support the positive impact the city is going on as far as EV stations solar the intelligence Street salting that's a really cool program if you get a chance to take a look at how we go through with our buildings with the energy efficient systems like lighting I think it's important that we continue to invest in our parks and the things like the equipment the staff and 15 seconds to continue investors stack staff and our volunteer organizations the end of the day I want to be your ambassador of the city call me reach out to me and um I'm here to for your vote for Ward one have a wonderful day thank you candidate Foster Bolton um thanks again for to the League of Women Voters and thanks everyone for coming and the last several years I've been organizing like I said around a few issues and I've been organizing people and I think that's where our power lies that's where the power of the city lies that's how we can combat these things like climate initiatives Racial equality and affordable housing it's the people power and if we can all work within our you know our organizations and together um we can we can sort of move our leaders to do the things that we find are important and so I really appreciate all your encouragement and participation in this process thank you and finally candidate Burton I'm here tonight because I believe in our city I'm here to really listen to your ideas and suggestions and to be a voice for the ward one residence I want to thank you for the opportunity to share My Views with you tonight and I hope that I've earned your support I'm going to ask you to remember one last thing vote for Bonnie Burton for Minnetonka city council Ward one thank you thank you to the candidates the audience and those viewing this forum on cable and on video for your participation in this candidate forum this forum has been broadcast live on community cable TV and will be rebroadcast until the election on November 7th you can also see www.lwvmeph.org for a link to the streaming video we now conclude our first candidate form you are welcome to meet with the candidates informally in the lobby our second form for Ward 3 and 4 candidates will begin at 8 30. thank you