VOTE411 Voter Guide

1)The lack of strategic growth including our local economy, jobs, with a struggling downtown. Having a strategic plan for the Industrial Park, Tech Park and Downtown Menomonie and having a budget based on that plan and those goals. Not having a plan and a budget to support it means you are throwing money at the wall and hoping it sticks. Hope is not a strategy. It is time to strategically invest in growth through attracting businesses and jobs that make sense for our community and culture. This plan will bring in needed strategic growth, development, jobs and revenue to the city that has been lost to our neighbors in Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Rice Lake and Hudson. 2)The city’s housing shortage and deteriorating rental units. The plan includes investing the city’s current $2.4 million housing fund into a revolving loan fund that will help ensure that housing developers can build single family units that meet the definition of affordable housing. Currently, developers do not want to build single family homes in Menomonie due to the lack of profit margin in our market Menomonie needs a variety of new housing developments that offers everything from executive housing to workforce housing to affordable housing. We also need to have proper incentive structure to improve our current housing stock and rentals through a revolving load fund. 3)Government transparency and fiscal responsibility. None of these goals can be achieved without the trust and support of our residents. The data center proposal made it clear that transparency must be restored in city government. As mayor, I will ensure that residents are informed at every step by: • Holding regular town halls • Restoring the City Council Vice President position • Reinstating agenda-setting meetings to improve communication Transparency builds trust, which is needed. This strategic plan and proven blueprint will improve housing, expand the tax base, bring in new jobs, lower your taxes and create fiscal responsibility.

I do not support the construction of the proposed data center in Menomonie. I will fight it and I will help stop it with you. I do not believe the data center will come to Menomonie. However, it was brought here by current leadership as a symptom of a lack of strategic growth and a plan. My background is in environmental engineering, with more than sixteen years of experience in environmental compliance, permitting, auditing, and sustainability across multiple industries. From that perspective, I have significant concerns about the project’s environmental footprint, the limited number of full time jobs it would create, and the speed at which the data center industry evolves—risking that Menomonie could be left with expensive, obsolete infrastructure in the future. I am also concerned about the lack of transparency from the developer. The proposed end user is operating through a shell company, has not identified itself, and has not provided the city with sufficient information about the project. At a recent council meeting, the developer asked the council to resume negotiations and claimed that details would be included in the development agreement—demonstrating an unwillingness to negotiate in good faith. There has been no vote on the data center. Had there been a vote on the data center, construction would have started like we have seen in other Wisconsin communities. I have never voted for a data center. I did not bring the project to Menomonie, I did not have my staff sign NDA's, I did not tour a data center in Iowa and get the red carpet treatment and I did not enter into a pre-development agreement with the developer to bring the data center to Menomonie. I did vote to expand our tax base to lower your taxes. I voted for environmental protections to ensure the safety of our residents and resources. I look forward to getting this project behind us and moving forward as a community with new leadership and a strategic plan to move Menomonie forward!

I do not support a 278(g) agreement for our local law enforcement agencies. As a husband and a father of a bi-racial and mixed family, I believe in the safety and security of all the residents of Menomonie. Furthermore, we do not need to strain the Menomonie Police Department (MPD) resources on immigration enforcement. We need the MPD to serve and protect the residents of Menomonie. The 278(g) agreement program will take away MPD resources for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) programs. It is the jurisdiction of ICE to enforce Title 8 Immigration Policies. This is not the MPD’s jurisdiction. MPD already has a lack of resources space, equipment and personnel, not less. When I am elected mayor I plan on increasing the resources for the MPD including the expansion of Project Hope to ensure that Menomonie has more case managers, mental health resources and drug courts to help with making sure our police aren’t acting as mental health councilors which will allow them to do more proactive police work to keep drugs off our streets and out of our community and families. Menomonie has a drug problem with meth and fentanyl. We need to put our resources towards this to protect our children and our community!

I am a husband, father, professional and dedicated public servant currently serving the Menomonie City Council for Ward 2. In addition to City Council, I currently serve on the Downtown Menomonie Board, Dunn Economic Development Board, Tourism Commission, Board of Review, the Dunn County Local Emergency Planning Commission and the Housing Committee. My family is very active in the community including Menomonie School District programs from soccer, to basketball, to gymnastics, wrestling, and t-ball. My wife and I want what is best for the community with the vision that when our children, grandchildren, friends and other family leave Menomonie for college, trade school or other prospects, that in the future they have the opportunity to come back to Menomonie with a job or business opportunity waiting for them and that we build community roots and be welcoming to outsiders to build a diverse, cultural and accepting community. I have a background in and graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering while being a collegiate scholarship student athlete. With over Sixteen (16) years of environmental compliance, permitting, reporting, auditing and sustainability experience is several industries (mining, energy and manufacturing), I have a proven track record of bringing people together and demonstrating that you can have a robust economy with a sustainable environment to protect workers and the community. I have also been in senior leadership positions in various companies over the past decade and have experience in coaching from college and high school football, to high school and Jr. High track & field to coaching youth sports. I have had the opportunity and privilege to bring my unique skill set to the City Council. I look forward to bringing this as your next mayor. With my experience, technical and leadership skills, I want to bring the community together to better Menomonie for everyone! When we all work together, we can accomplish great things!!

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