I will be an authentic voice for Eagan. Too many issues faced by Eagan residents are passed off by saying they should be addressed by a different branch of government. As mayor, I will listen and act.
I am willing to engage with difficult topics and take on entrenched interests. For example, tax dollars are taken from Eagan and redistributed to other communities around Minnesota. The citizens of Eagan are, in fact, subsidizing local governments across Minnesota. It is time for the communities paying in to band together and work toward ending this imbalance.
Fiscal Equity: Eagan residents are major contributors, paying more into state and regional tax pools while receiving very little in return. I will raise awareness and strongly advocate for Eagan.
Thriving Community: I will support the development of gathering places and opportunities for all, both public and private, to promote mental health and connection.
Honest Governance: Fraud is a rapidly rising concern, wasting hard-earned tax dollars. I will guarantee oversight on city spending.
I will ensure that Minnesota Open Meeting Laws and ethics codes are followed. As mayor, I am committed to transparency and will never sign a non-disclosure agreement related to a data center being planned within the City of Eagan. I welcome feedback from City of Eagan employees who may be questioning city government practices, including those who may fear retaliation. I am also committed to the disclosure of conflicts of interest involving City of Eagan policy.
I look forward to hearing from Eagan residents. It is critical for their voices to be heard. I will encourage citizens to share their concerns during the public comment portion of City Council meetings. Residents should feel free to speak with me by whatever method they prefer, over the phone, in person or via email. I am committed to attending community events and being a visible leader, which will provide additional opportunities to learn from Eagan residents about their priorities.
As mayor, I will use a data-driven approach to ensure rapid response times to calls for service. I aim to assist Eagan residents and property owners in making themselves less likely to be targets of criminal activity. I will support efforts to increase participation in Eagan's Citizens' Academy and Teen Citizens' Academy, encouraging Eagan residents to take a greater interest in their community's safety. I aim to continue and improve Eagan’s public safety and communication efforts.
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I see my current role as a city council member, and more so, the job of mayor, as being an ambassador for the city both internally and externally. Folks I’ve been hearing from want a mayor who always shows up – when they are celebrating, when they are serving, and when they are hurting. For example, celebrating at Eagan’s Juneteenth celebrations and police promotions, serving with local nonprofits like The Open Door, and offering relief to neighbors impacted by Operation Metro Surge. Community is not a static object, it is a verb, a dynamic set of relationships that is activated by people. Being mayor entails many tasks but just one main job – to immerse yourself in the life of the community you love. That’s where you will always find me.
Safe Streets: Reimagine county roads in Eagan to make them safer and more accessible to those who walk, cycle, and roll.
Livability: Require the most restrictive possible zoning for new data centers in Eagan.
A Greener Future: Aggressively pursue the goals in Eagan’s Climate Action Plan and never relent in using every tool we have to protect clean air, water, and soil.
Belonging: Ensure that every person who calls Eagan home knows that they are a valued and essential part of our community.
The most important job of an elected official is, through frequent outreach, communication, and listening, to continuously replenish a reservoir of trust, so that when we make a necessary but unpopular decision, residents understand that we are doing so in what we sincerely believe to be the best interests of the community. Also, strict adherence to state open meeting law and proactive neighborhood meetings for contentious development proposals promote transparency and accountability.
By listening with respect and active outreach. During advisory commission interviews in 2021, I saw alarmingly few applicants from BIPOC communities and I realized that Eagan had an outreach problem. City staff has since improved outreach but I have also done my part by each year reaching out to people from diverse communities to make the case that Eagan can’t function optimally without every voice. And our advisory commission applicant pool has become far more diverse in the past five years.
The Eagan PD manages several robust outreach initiatives to connect with community members; those programs work best independent of intervention by elected officials. But the role of an elected leader becomes more critical when responding to residents who find themselves in a situation where their trust of authority has eroded to the point of fear, for example, during Operation Metro Surge. In those situations, I have and would continue to act as a conduit between residents and law enforcement.
