It’s important for this position to work across the political and ideological spectrum in the best interests of the City of Eau Claire. Decisions need to be made pursuing common ground based on common sense with representatives of multiple valid points of view. I will engage on state or national issues only as they directly impact City government.

Visitors are often amazed by the great things they find when they come to Eau Claire. This vitality is a result of numerous decisions, investments, and other actions taken by government, education, businesses, and community leaders. The City has a critical role to play not only to continue this momentum, but to ensure its actions don’t jeopardize it.

It’s critical for the City to emphasize collaboration, not confrontation, in its relationships with its public and private sector partners. We should take advantage of the value the Chippewa Valley places on collaborative partnerships to fuel the innovation needed to address our financial challenges and leverage our community’s strengths.

Eau Claire is already recognized as one of the state’s most vibrant and fastest-growing cities. Our future depends on that growth continuing. We must continue to ensure that Eau Claire is a welcoming community. The city must implement forward-thinking, responsible strategies to achieve continued social and economic growth and maintain a positive quality of life for its residents.

Every resident of the community is an investor in its future through the taxes they pay, whether directly or indirectly. City Council decisions must be made in the interests of all of the community, and not just the loudest voices.

The City must address its budget challenges with its eyes wide open. Despite an inequitable state revenue sharing formula, the City must leverage the resources it actually has. This means prioritizing the most essential services and those that provide a clear return on investment. This will require a top-to-bottom prioritization of all of the City’s commitments, and innovation with partners to find savings and sources of increased revenue. Just like housing, grocery, energy and other costs, government needs to be affordable to its residents.

These are critical city functions and must be an integral part of evaluating the planning and spending priorities of the City.

The City has an important role to play in helping to make housing available and attainable at all income levels. It must ensure that its own housing-related initiatives are effective, and that its regulations don’t negatively impact the ability to provide the homes people need. Housing is a critical aspect of addressing homelessness as part of a coordinated strategy to make it rare, brief, and non-recurring.

With trains across the country setting ridership records for the communities that have them, it’s time for Eau Claire to “get on board” to reap the economic and mobility benefits that come with them. Trains can help attract and retain business and the talent critical to its success; provide a convenient, economical, and environmentally friendly alternative to driving; enhance mobility; accelerate economic growth opportunities; improve quality of life; increase tourism; and add resilience to our transportation system. It’s important for the city to provide a leadership role to ensure that our region takes advantage of new federal programs designed to start new services so that in the future we can take trains to the Twin Cities, Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago.

Eau Claire’s transit system is an essential service that fills an important need but has not kept up with changes in the city and its growth. It’s time to creatively approach the future of transit, applying best practices to cost-effectively serve more people and improve its value to the community.

Eau Claire’s highly regarded parks and trails are unique assets that benefit both residents and visitors. It’s critical for the city to continue its investments in ways that most effectively serve its people, tourists, and even attract new residents to the community.

Our community’s quality of life is achieved not only by government actions and policies, but by the vital businesses, individuals, and organizations who drive our economy and institutions. Sometimes government just has to stay out of the way and be sure its regulations and policies enhance and encourage the work of others.