Bill Braun
Name: Bill Braun
Public Office Sought: Woodbury City Council
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 612-293-5283
Website: ElectBraun.com
Candidate Bio
I’m 54, have resided in Woodbury for over 2 decades and have a record free of felonies. Those technical requirements aside, my experience makes me a better choice for Woodbury. I have enjoyed seeing my five kids thrive in the various local youth programs. With an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and as a small business owner, I know how to do smart business and the importance of a balanced budget. I was a paid firefighter for the city of Woodbury a decade until an on-the-job spinal injury forced me into early retirement. During those years I gained insights to how the city works and recognized how it can work better. If I didn't feel a calling to make improvements at a city council level, I wouldn't be running. There are too many things that can no longer be overlooked or ignored. There’s a lot of work to get done in a hurry and the city needs someone like me, up to date on the issues and methods who can hit the ground running.
Business climate
1. How would you characterize the business climate in Woodbury?
The City of Woodbury can be very difficult to work with; a local business spent and extra ~$15M on top of their regular ~$40M to open a business in Woodbury, simply because of the delays and extra hoops Woodbury puts in the way of development. The new bad proposed 2040 Comprehensive Plan for Woodbury is worse, removing 300+ acres from Commercial/Industrial zoning is bad for the City and bad for business.
2. What role do you think the City should have in attracting and retaining jobs, and what steps would you take to solicit new businesses to, and retain existing businesses in, Woodbury?
40,000 of our residents cannot find jobs in Woodbury and must commute out each day, congesting roads and shopping in other communities; we can change that. The City is uniquely positioned to help businesses, not hinder them. The City has a bag of tools that could bring more jobs to Woodbury for the 20,000 new highly trained workers that will be living here in the next 20 years.
3. Would you support hiring a business advocate as a member of the city senior staff, to concentrate on business retention and expansion; new business recruitment; and business impact of proposed regulations on the business climate in Woodbury?
I would revise the current role of the economic development staff, rather than adding bureaucracy.
4. Do you support an increase to the minimum wage in Woodbury? If so, what specific steps would you take to understand the impact of an increase on the many types of businesses in Woodbury and do you support proposals to mitigate the effects on businesses like a tip credit, a youth wage, a training wage, and/or a phase-in?
Average wage is ~$23/hour for a person living in Woodbury so I don’t see a need to increase that. More importantly is bringing jobs to the city and facilitating transit options to staff retail like Target, that pays $12/hour, which isn’t enough to live in Woodbury.
5. Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in Woodbury (such as mandatory sick time or scheduling notice)? If so, what specific steps would you take to understand the impact of an increase on the many types of businesses in Woodbury and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
Our market for employees is highly competitive and these extra benefits are already available from employers.
Public safety
6. What is your strategy to address public safety concerns?
That only one (1) of every hundred (100) police reports is investigated, let along being a crime solved, is concerning. That State of Minnesota public safety statistics vary by 75% for the same data is concerning for a person like myself who is analytical with an MBA.
Budget
7. What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
Transparency has to be our priority; where we overspend multi-million dollar budgets by 100% without making offsetting cuts is fiscally irresponsible.
8. How do you view the relationship between commercial and residential property taxes?
Woodbury’s plan to eliminate 300+ acres of Commercial land and impose a 30% green tax on redeveloped Commercial/Industrial property, requireing a percentage be used for other purposes, is wrong. We need to support the commercial activity that provides the jobs for residents to live in the community and pay their taxes.
9. What will you do to expand Woodbury’s tax base?
I would first restore the 300+ acres of Commercial/Industrial property that is being removed from Woodbury in the bad proposed 2040 Comprehensive Plan, due to be approved in 2019.
Workforce development
10. How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
Transit is vital to education and employment. Our community colleges are fabulous training resource that can help our youth become our human resources for the future.
11. What do you see as the city council’s role with regard to public schools in Woodbury?
Coordination of development, particularly with regard to tax base, as well facility coordination can increase efficiency and reduce the cost of government without reducing the quality of the outcomes.
Other
12. What is the biggest challenge facing the city and how would you address it?
Water! Our current sources are contaminated. CDC Minimum Risk is at just 7 to 11 ppt for PFCs but five (5) of our nineteen (19) unfiltered drinking water wells test at 26 to 49 ppt already. We have extra drinking quality water we throw away. We need to fix our water so we have adequate sources, purity at the drinking tap and quantity for future growth.
13. What would be your top three priorities if elected?
Transparency! That we are spending public money to lobby to prevent access to public documents is wrong. With community insight and input, we can operate more efficiently with fewer resources at a higher quality level then ever before #MakeWoodburyGreaterAgain
14. What do you think should be the city’s top transportation related priority?
Both bringing workforce into the community to staff our retail, as there are no practical mass transit options along with relieving congestion for the 40,000 workers that must leave Woodbury each day to earn the income to afford to live here.
15. Are there any services currently provided by the city that you believe should be cut back or eliminated? Or, are there new opportunities to share services with other entities?
We have the opportunity to partner with our technologically savvy school districts to operate more efficiently and avoid duplication of services. District 833 has an excellent and extensive fiber optic telecommunications network throughout Woodbury that the City duplicates. We can achieve economies of scope and scale. Further there are opportunities for Internet app based automation and technological efficiency we haven’t yet embraced.
16. Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
There are politicians, running for Woodbury office, who wrote the bad 2040 Plan. Unlike the 2030 Comprehensive Plan that was written by subject matter experts, this bad 2040 Plan written by politicians, with a political agenda, takes away Commercial Zoning area and adds burdens on our business that are wrong and need to be stopped.
Public Office Sought: Woodbury City Council
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 612-293-5283
Website: ElectBraun.com
Candidate Bio
I’m 54, have resided in Woodbury for over 2 decades and have a record free of felonies. Those technical requirements aside, my experience makes me a better choice for Woodbury. I have enjoyed seeing my five kids thrive in the various local youth programs. With an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and as a small business owner, I know how to do smart business and the importance of a balanced budget. I was a paid firefighter for the city of Woodbury a decade until an on-the-job spinal injury forced me into early retirement. During those years I gained insights to how the city works and recognized how it can work better. If I didn't feel a calling to make improvements at a city council level, I wouldn't be running. There are too many things that can no longer be overlooked or ignored. There’s a lot of work to get done in a hurry and the city needs someone like me, up to date on the issues and methods who can hit the ground running.
Business climate
1. How would you characterize the business climate in Woodbury?
The City of Woodbury can be very difficult to work with; a local business spent and extra ~$15M on top of their regular ~$40M to open a business in Woodbury, simply because of the delays and extra hoops Woodbury puts in the way of development. The new bad proposed 2040 Comprehensive Plan for Woodbury is worse, removing 300+ acres from Commercial/Industrial zoning is bad for the City and bad for business.
2. What role do you think the City should have in attracting and retaining jobs, and what steps would you take to solicit new businesses to, and retain existing businesses in, Woodbury?
40,000 of our residents cannot find jobs in Woodbury and must commute out each day, congesting roads and shopping in other communities; we can change that. The City is uniquely positioned to help businesses, not hinder them. The City has a bag of tools that could bring more jobs to Woodbury for the 20,000 new highly trained workers that will be living here in the next 20 years.
3. Would you support hiring a business advocate as a member of the city senior staff, to concentrate on business retention and expansion; new business recruitment; and business impact of proposed regulations on the business climate in Woodbury?
I would revise the current role of the economic development staff, rather than adding bureaucracy.
4. Do you support an increase to the minimum wage in Woodbury? If so, what specific steps would you take to understand the impact of an increase on the many types of businesses in Woodbury and do you support proposals to mitigate the effects on businesses like a tip credit, a youth wage, a training wage, and/or a phase-in?
Average wage is ~$23/hour for a person living in Woodbury so I don’t see a need to increase that. More importantly is bringing jobs to the city and facilitating transit options to staff retail like Target, that pays $12/hour, which isn’t enough to live in Woodbury.
5. Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in Woodbury (such as mandatory sick time or scheduling notice)? If so, what specific steps would you take to understand the impact of an increase on the many types of businesses in Woodbury and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
Our market for employees is highly competitive and these extra benefits are already available from employers.
Public safety
6. What is your strategy to address public safety concerns?
That only one (1) of every hundred (100) police reports is investigated, let along being a crime solved, is concerning. That State of Minnesota public safety statistics vary by 75% for the same data is concerning for a person like myself who is analytical with an MBA.
Budget
7. What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
Transparency has to be our priority; where we overspend multi-million dollar budgets by 100% without making offsetting cuts is fiscally irresponsible.
8. How do you view the relationship between commercial and residential property taxes?
Woodbury’s plan to eliminate 300+ acres of Commercial land and impose a 30% green tax on redeveloped Commercial/Industrial property, requireing a percentage be used for other purposes, is wrong. We need to support the commercial activity that provides the jobs for residents to live in the community and pay their taxes.
9. What will you do to expand Woodbury’s tax base?
I would first restore the 300+ acres of Commercial/Industrial property that is being removed from Woodbury in the bad proposed 2040 Comprehensive Plan, due to be approved in 2019.
Workforce development
10. How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
Transit is vital to education and employment. Our community colleges are fabulous training resource that can help our youth become our human resources for the future.
11. What do you see as the city council’s role with regard to public schools in Woodbury?
Coordination of development, particularly with regard to tax base, as well facility coordination can increase efficiency and reduce the cost of government without reducing the quality of the outcomes.
Other
12. What is the biggest challenge facing the city and how would you address it?
Water! Our current sources are contaminated. CDC Minimum Risk is at just 7 to 11 ppt for PFCs but five (5) of our nineteen (19) unfiltered drinking water wells test at 26 to 49 ppt already. We have extra drinking quality water we throw away. We need to fix our water so we have adequate sources, purity at the drinking tap and quantity for future growth.
13. What would be your top three priorities if elected?
Transparency! That we are spending public money to lobby to prevent access to public documents is wrong. With community insight and input, we can operate more efficiently with fewer resources at a higher quality level then ever before #MakeWoodburyGreaterAgain
14. What do you think should be the city’s top transportation related priority?
Both bringing workforce into the community to staff our retail, as there are no practical mass transit options along with relieving congestion for the 40,000 workers that must leave Woodbury each day to earn the income to afford to live here.
15. Are there any services currently provided by the city that you believe should be cut back or eliminated? Or, are there new opportunities to share services with other entities?
We have the opportunity to partner with our technologically savvy school districts to operate more efficiently and avoid duplication of services. District 833 has an excellent and extensive fiber optic telecommunications network throughout Woodbury that the City duplicates. We can achieve economies of scope and scale. Further there are opportunities for Internet app based automation and technological efficiency we haven’t yet embraced.
16. Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
There are politicians, running for Woodbury office, who wrote the bad 2040 Plan. Unlike the 2030 Comprehensive Plan that was written by subject matter experts, this bad 2040 Plan written by politicians, with a political agenda, takes away Commercial Zoning area and adds burdens on our business that are wrong and need to be stopped.