VOTE411 Voter Guide

From a community perspective, I am a life-long resident of Neenah so know of our history and what it means to be a resident of our city. I have served on various non-profit boards, one being the Neenah-Menasha YMCA, so I bring that perspective along with my 5-years and counting of experience as an Alderman. From the professional perspective, I have been in executive leadership roles for multiple companies - both large (including Plexus) and small (including TIDI Products and my current company, Pacur, LLC). From those roles in 35+ years of professional experience I can bring varied ways to solve problems and produce results.

My perspective is affordable housing is a piece of that puzzle - and Neenah is doing what it can to work to help foster that. The ongoing evolution of the previous Shattuck school property as well as the potential development in the South Commercial corridor are examples of this - both which I fully support. I do think jobs availability is also a factor in homelessness, and I believe the City leadership is also focusing on bringing industry/businesses to Neenah - whether it is downtown, Doty Island, or the Industrial Park - which will also support mitigating homelessness.

I do support further development of Arrowhead Park - on a fiscally sound plan which will evolve over years, inclusive of support that needs to come from business/community partners. I am a member of the Park and Rec Commission, and am supportive of development at all of Neenah's parks, at the level that is appropriate for the location, the usage, and the future growth of the City. For instance, I am a strong supporter of Carpenter Preserve development, which will occur over a 5+ year plan, with much of the work being done by volunteers. I think residents should keep in mind a large project like Arrowhead Park is something that will evolve over time - what is being discussed today, likely will not be what the future brings. However Neenah's parks are a tremendous asset and should be continually developed and evolved.

The question of top assets is difficult - as there are many! In one of the top slots I would have to put our citizens in totality. Whether it be the citizens of our businesses, our schools' staffs and students, our excellent City employees, our volunteers, or other - the citizens of Neenah are what make it the great City we have! I already mentioned our tremendous parks network above, so I will comment instead of the broad base of industry and business we have in our community. This is such a strength, and it is important that everyone in our community appreciate the breadth we do have in our industry across Neenah and the advantages it brings us with employment and support. I think one challenge we have in front of us is continuing to ensure a budget that meets the needs of the majority - while understanding some may not be happy. That is the Council's main role in ensuring good communication around such. And, I would suggest clear/accurate communication is key challenge in this.

At this point in time, it's difficult for me to say that pivoting to a City Manager form of government would be better for Neenah. I do understand the differences and theoretical pros/cons, however until there is a deep-dive analysis done around what the differences would really mean for Neenah, I can't see the value in shifting just for sake of change. Neenah has a long, successful history with many Mayor-Council tenures. And, if the Council always keeps in mind our responsibilities (and parameters) in our existing structure, I think the success can continue.