Serving our Community

Serving the public as an elected leader is a tremendous privilege with critical responsibilities. I will never have all the answers and I will never promise to have all the answers. Leaders who serve the public must be able to recognize this and understand how their decisions impact others.

Elected leaders must be able to listen, effectively communicate, work together to find solutions, and always understand that they are serving the community and our shared future. Below is a brief set of ways that describe how I hope to serve our community as a member of the Lake Elmo City Council.

Our community has a rich history and a promising future. Together we have an opportunity to plan for our future while honoring our past. The debate for our community is not pro-growth vs anti-growth but rather how can we plan and prepare for the needs and priorities of our families moving forward.  

In having served several years as a Planning Commissioner for Lake Elmo and in serving as a Lake Elmo representative for the 3M Pollution Settlement Commission, there are several shared values that I plan to prioritize as a council member: 

• Work with city staff and state agencies to ensure the pollution settlement funds are used to act upon the health and safety needs of Lake Elmo residents
• Create a review process with the community and planners to determine creative preservation and planning solutions for the Schiltgen farm site, determine possible costs, and listen to the community about what solutions we are willing to act upon together
• Preserve our rich history of open green spaces while being thoughtful and deliberative with future land needs
• Immediately call for work and analysis, in conjunction with our county and watershed officials, into the reoccurring flooding in our area
• Act with fiscal responsibility for our residents by having honest and authentic conversations with the public about the fiscal needs and priorities of our city

Serving the public is an honor but it also is a tremendous responsibility. It requires integrity, leadership, and a commitment to finding the best solutions that serve the public overall. 

I know what serving our community and its residents looks like. I have served professionally as a public servant for over a decade. I am in my second term serving Lake Elmo as a Planning Commissioner. For the last two years I have advocated for residents by serving on the 3M Pollution Settlement Commission. These experiences have taught me that elected leaders must: 

• Understand that disagreements will always occur even though we overall have more in common than not
• Ensure the public always has the information it needs through transparency, honesty, and regular updates
• Utilize the skill of empathy by making an authentic effort to see an issue through the perspective of someone else
• Commit to acting with integrity and humility 

Leaders must be able to effectively gather information in an objective and deliberative manner before making decisions that impact others. This requires a commitment to seek the input of others, to strive for objective data, and to incorporate professional guidance and expertise. 

As a council member, I will:

• Genuinely listening to all incoming and pertinent information 
• Actively seek out as much data as possible
• Understand how local, state, and federal rules, regulations, and statutes apply in any given situation
• Make decisions based upon objective and substantiated information in order to focus decisions on our community and its future