Campaign Phone Number
701-368-6702
Housing, Infrastructure, services and a balanced budget
Definitely housing, work on streamlining the permitting process for new home starts, continuing the incentive programs that have been recently implemented. Without housing it makes it difficult for business to come to Jamestown if their employees do not have places to live.
We would continue the development of the land on the west side of Jamestown, get infrastructure in place for the continuation of new home builds. This problem started 20 years ago with the lack of concern for this problem and it's going to take time to catch up. We will also have to pursue the purchase of land for further development.
In the near term, slightly, but with proper budget control it should not be a problem. If the city and county can consolidate some services that would be a huge savings for both the city and county that would be long lasting.
Faith, honesty, loyalty and hard work are core values. I've been self-employed for the last 23 years in the trucking industry, in this business you learn communication skills, time management skills, parts and equipment management skills and a whole host of other skills associated with operating a business.
Campaign Phone Number
701-269-1128
Maintaining the city on a sound financial position. Hiring and retaining city staff is a priority. Housing and daycare are issues
that need attention to help fill the current job vacancies and those
that will be created in the future.
The biggest challenges mirror the top priorities. Keeping the city financially sound needs an "all city hands on deck" approach to
fiscal responsibility. We have taken a major step with residential
development with the 2026 development of 36 new affordable lots.
The JSDC has been working on programs to assist daycares.
I believe the program we now have in place will resolve at least for the short term the problem of no buildable residential lots. The fact is that I am the one who brought the idea forward for the community buy in that has made this possible. This after years of exasperation from attempting to get it done in a more traditional manner. It is hoped that our program will be a blueprint for consideration for state involvement in the next legislative session.
The state makes the rules, we all understand this to be fact. Of course it will have an impact but the full impact will not be seen right away. One rule the state can't impose is control of our escalating costs anymore than they can theirs. Health insurance
costs go up 10% a year and there are similar increases in other items the city must purchase. If anyone believes that there is that kind of waste in our budget, they would be wrong. We will get there but it won't be a smooth ride.
I started my own business here in Jamestown when I was 32 years
old that business is still in operation today. I had employees stay with me for 35 years. There were really good years and really bad years. There were years I didn't get paid but the employees always were paid. So as with any business you have to hire and retain good employees. The culture of the organization plays a huge role here.
In addition I do bring a significant amount of institutional memory
to the table
Campaign Phone Number
7013682896
Grow the Economy, Grow the Population, Housing Development, Cut Wasteful Spending, Reduce Property Tax, and Excellence in Public Safety
Workforce is the number one challenge, and that is related to the lack of housing. We need businesses to locate and grow in our community for primary sector jobs (manufacturing, energy, value-added agriculture), as well as, retail, restaurant, and recreation/entertainment.
The city needs to utilize the public financing tools to implement the infrastructure for housing development and partner with private developers to expedite buildable residential lots. The infrastructure should be scaled to support development for our immediate needs and the development needs well into the future.
The 3% cap is simply a mandate to do what the city should do as good stewards of the taxpayer dollar. We have wasteful spending, and it is our job as elected officials to make the difficult decisions and reduce the expenses of city government. We can offer quality services with more efficiency through utilization of technology and automation, and by reducing the dependence on human workforce, we can reduce the cost of government services.
As Mayor from 2010-2018, I balanced the budget every year, while reducing the property tax mil levy to the lowest rate since the 1980s. I implemented automation and reduced the number of employees in multiple departments. It is also important to realize that budgeting is also about revenue. As Mayor, I will support economic growth to increase the revenue available to support city services.
