Eric J. Larson

Name: Eric J. Larson
Public Office Sought: Bayport City Council
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Candidate Bio
I have been a resident of Bayport for a bit over 7 years now. I bring prior experiences from serving in the Army/Army Reserve for 35 years both enlisted and as a commissioned officer retiring in 2018. As an Engineering Officer I was involved in many construction projects in the United States and abroad. I was deployed twice, to Kosovo and Iraq. Currently I am an officer in the Bayport American Legion Hesley Jensen Post 491 serving our community there.
As an Electrical Engineer I have worked at 3M for over 29 years and currently a project manager within the Personal Safety Division where I have worked on primarily electro-mechanical/software systems.
The past two years my wife Andrea and I have been members of the Bayport Community Action League (BCAL) primarily to support Derby Days and other community activities as we can.
I have previously served 4 years on the Centerville, MN Planning and Zoning Commission. Several times I was told that my experiences allowed me to understand and help simplify sometimes complex issues that could be brought up in city planning. I believe I bring these same common sense, practical, system engineering skills to the service of Bayport residents.
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
Public Safety – Bayport has both excellent police and fire departments. Safety of our community and especially our children should be our highest priority. From traffic safety to being free from discrimination and danger are essential. Supporting community efforts to increase safety will be one of my personal objectives.
Fiscal Responsibility – I believe that sound financial strategic planning is critical to cities to ensure that our available resources are used appropriately and wisely. It is essential to understand what the budgeting income and expenditures are for Bayport and how we can guarantee that tax dollars are optimized.
City Infrastructure – One of the most significant costs to a city is operational maintenance. The city’s roads, water, sewer, signs, equipment, parks, and buildings all need to be maintained and have a replacement plan for sustainment. We need to know that our water is safe, our sewers will not back up, we will not destroy our cars from potholes and that barring natural disaster our buildings will still stand. This is an essential job of the city council to oversee.
How would you characterize the business climate in Bayport and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
Understanding that our local businesses from the largest to the smallest are critical to the long-term health of Bayport. Communities that lose businesses at a large scale are the ones that are not healthy. For various reasons, high crime, higher tax rates, reduced patronage, etc. businesses leave. The city leadership needs to be involved in understanding the needs of our city businesses.
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, Bayport?
BCAL is an excellent example of a community-based organization that’s foundation and charter are to support our local businesses. We need to be more involved in our community activities like the Derby Days while supporting local businesses as much as we can. This will allow them to grow and attract new employees.
What policies, if any, would you support to help employers address the labor shortage?
Labor policies are generally the responsibility of state and national government. Having stated that I would like to repeat that we need to support Bayport businesses. Bayport is a wonderful town that is conveniently located to work and live. The more we do to enhance the benefits of Bayport for employees to understand the greater probability that these new potential employee’s would want to work here.
Do you support any specific employment-related proposals in Bayport (such as minimum wage, sick time, or mandatory scheduling notice)? If so, what steps would you take to understand the impact of an ordinance on the many types of businesses in Bayport and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
Largely the state is responsible for employment related regulations/policy. There are many programs that support our businesses at the regional, state, and national level. We should monitor the impact of these regulations on Bayport and its businesses, but I do not think we should duplicate these efforts nor add additional regulations where they are not needed.
Public safety and rising crime rates are of serious concern to the business community and residents. What strategies or policies would you propose to address public safety issues facing your community?
Having had one of our vehicles severely vandalized in our yard recently crime is certainly a concern for our family. Bayport has an excellent police department that serves our residents outstandingly as recently demonstrated by the awarding of Officer Lepowsky’s Life Saving Award by her preventing a potential crisis through heart felt action. I have nothing but confidence and support for our Police!
Our community can and should support the department in any way we can. Come together as a community by helping each other reporting suspicious activity and letting them investigate. Use our community activities like Night to Unite at Lakeside Park and ice cream social at Mabel’s where we can meet our department and get to know them. We are a small community where we literally can know all our officers by name. The more we work together the safer we will be.
What strategies or policies would you propose to address housing issues facing your community?
Bayport is basically a built-out community with few remaining buildable lots for housing. I feel this is one of the wonderful values of our city. There is a good mix of residential and business with continued pride in both areas. Anything we can do to support enhancing value, creating business growth, and community beautification should be done. We have a beautiful city with a great variety of public parks and recreational activities.
What strategies or policies would you propose to address transportation issues facing your community? Have your strategies or views changed on transportation since we’ve seen shifts in road use, public transportation use, work from home models, etc. due to the pandemic?
The most significant challenge regarding transportation for Bayport is the traffic on Hwy 95 and Stagecoach Ave. These two roads are major routes of high volume of traffic with many residents concerns and accidents. While they are not controlled by the city the issues must be addressed. With the pandemic recovery there is again a higher volume of traffic with a seemingly higher disregard for rules of the road. We as a community must work together to make a stand and ensure the safety of our roads for us and our children.
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
First and foremost, as I’ve stated before I believe in fiscal responsibility. This means that we must have a plan that accounts for, public safety, public works, recreation, maintenance, and infrastructure replacement. These are budgetary fundamentals and largely I believe that Bayport does well. Anything that can be done to improve them would be a bonus.
What will you do to expand Bayport’s tax base?
As a built-out city there are limited opportunities to increase tax base. By continuing to support our local businesses so they can grow, expand, and develop will naturally add to our value. This coupled with how we work together as a community makes Bayport a highly sought-after city to live in also increasing our value. With that and fiscal responsibility I feel that Bayport is in good financial shape.
How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
Our children have attended both Stillwater and St. Croix Preparatory Academy. We are very blessed in our community to have options like this for the K-12 education of our children. Both are excellent schools! Continuing to be involved with them by supporting them with public safety and fire prevention support as well as engaging them with community activities builds a lifelong bond to our community. Since moving here I have noticed that Bayport is a city where generations stay. Grandpa’s house for some is down the street with their Aunt/Uncle another street over and one of their Nieces/Nephews buy their neighbors home. This demonstrates the value of our community and the excellence of our educational institutions.
Are there any services currently provided by the city that you believe should be cut back or eliminated? Are there new opportunities to share services with other entities?
There are always opportunities to optimize resources and to be responsible we should continuously seek out these opportunities. We are blessed in Bayport to have our own Police and Fire Departments and I would never want to share those critical public safety services. There may be opportunities with significantly expensive equipment or specialty services that we may be able to work out joint agreements with neighboring cities or Washington County that could increase value and I think that is worth exploring. Overall, I believe Bayport has the right level of services.
What is the role of the City Council in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in Bayport?
Increasing diversity and inclusion are critical for us all as has been demonstrated through all the sad events that have occurred in the last several years. We as Bayport need to do what we can to reach out to all with open, welcoming arms and show them that all are welcomed here! All businesses should be supported and whatever we can do to provide guidance, mentorship, and support. Minority and women-owned businesses are welcomed and have my support!
What further policies can Bayport adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Whatever we can do to encourage our communities to get out and see one another again as we recover is essential! Join us at community activities like Derby Days, Pub Crawl, and all the others where we see each other while supporting our local businesses! We do not need more policies or rules to follow, just community support.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
Bayport has won my heart. It did not take long at all for me to feel like this city in the St. Croix valley is where I want to spend the rest of my life. Now I want to show my support for this community by serving it on the City Council. I welcome input, suggestions, and information from all on how Bayport can do better! Thank you.
Public Office Sought: Bayport City Council
Email:
Campaign Phone:
Campaign Website:
Twitter handle:
Facebook Page:
Candidate Bio
I have been a resident of Bayport for a bit over 7 years now. I bring prior experiences from serving in the Army/Army Reserve for 35 years both enlisted and as a commissioned officer retiring in 2018. As an Engineering Officer I was involved in many construction projects in the United States and abroad. I was deployed twice, to Kosovo and Iraq. Currently I am an officer in the Bayport American Legion Hesley Jensen Post 491 serving our community there.
As an Electrical Engineer I have worked at 3M for over 29 years and currently a project manager within the Personal Safety Division where I have worked on primarily electro-mechanical/software systems.
The past two years my wife Andrea and I have been members of the Bayport Community Action League (BCAL) primarily to support Derby Days and other community activities as we can.
I have previously served 4 years on the Centerville, MN Planning and Zoning Commission. Several times I was told that my experiences allowed me to understand and help simplify sometimes complex issues that could be brought up in city planning. I believe I bring these same common sense, practical, system engineering skills to the service of Bayport residents.
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
Public Safety – Bayport has both excellent police and fire departments. Safety of our community and especially our children should be our highest priority. From traffic safety to being free from discrimination and danger are essential. Supporting community efforts to increase safety will be one of my personal objectives.
Fiscal Responsibility – I believe that sound financial strategic planning is critical to cities to ensure that our available resources are used appropriately and wisely. It is essential to understand what the budgeting income and expenditures are for Bayport and how we can guarantee that tax dollars are optimized.
City Infrastructure – One of the most significant costs to a city is operational maintenance. The city’s roads, water, sewer, signs, equipment, parks, and buildings all need to be maintained and have a replacement plan for sustainment. We need to know that our water is safe, our sewers will not back up, we will not destroy our cars from potholes and that barring natural disaster our buildings will still stand. This is an essential job of the city council to oversee.
How would you characterize the business climate in Bayport and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
Understanding that our local businesses from the largest to the smallest are critical to the long-term health of Bayport. Communities that lose businesses at a large scale are the ones that are not healthy. For various reasons, high crime, higher tax rates, reduced patronage, etc. businesses leave. The city leadership needs to be involved in understanding the needs of our city businesses.
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, Bayport?
BCAL is an excellent example of a community-based organization that’s foundation and charter are to support our local businesses. We need to be more involved in our community activities like the Derby Days while supporting local businesses as much as we can. This will allow them to grow and attract new employees.
What policies, if any, would you support to help employers address the labor shortage?
Labor policies are generally the responsibility of state and national government. Having stated that I would like to repeat that we need to support Bayport businesses. Bayport is a wonderful town that is conveniently located to work and live. The more we do to enhance the benefits of Bayport for employees to understand the greater probability that these new potential employee’s would want to work here.
Do you support any specific employment-related proposals in Bayport (such as minimum wage, sick time, or mandatory scheduling notice)? If so, what steps would you take to understand the impact of an ordinance on the many types of businesses in Bayport and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
Largely the state is responsible for employment related regulations/policy. There are many programs that support our businesses at the regional, state, and national level. We should monitor the impact of these regulations on Bayport and its businesses, but I do not think we should duplicate these efforts nor add additional regulations where they are not needed.
Public safety and rising crime rates are of serious concern to the business community and residents. What strategies or policies would you propose to address public safety issues facing your community?
Having had one of our vehicles severely vandalized in our yard recently crime is certainly a concern for our family. Bayport has an excellent police department that serves our residents outstandingly as recently demonstrated by the awarding of Officer Lepowsky’s Life Saving Award by her preventing a potential crisis through heart felt action. I have nothing but confidence and support for our Police!
Our community can and should support the department in any way we can. Come together as a community by helping each other reporting suspicious activity and letting them investigate. Use our community activities like Night to Unite at Lakeside Park and ice cream social at Mabel’s where we can meet our department and get to know them. We are a small community where we literally can know all our officers by name. The more we work together the safer we will be.
What strategies or policies would you propose to address housing issues facing your community?
Bayport is basically a built-out community with few remaining buildable lots for housing. I feel this is one of the wonderful values of our city. There is a good mix of residential and business with continued pride in both areas. Anything we can do to support enhancing value, creating business growth, and community beautification should be done. We have a beautiful city with a great variety of public parks and recreational activities.
What strategies or policies would you propose to address transportation issues facing your community? Have your strategies or views changed on transportation since we’ve seen shifts in road use, public transportation use, work from home models, etc. due to the pandemic?
The most significant challenge regarding transportation for Bayport is the traffic on Hwy 95 and Stagecoach Ave. These two roads are major routes of high volume of traffic with many residents concerns and accidents. While they are not controlled by the city the issues must be addressed. With the pandemic recovery there is again a higher volume of traffic with a seemingly higher disregard for rules of the road. We as a community must work together to make a stand and ensure the safety of our roads for us and our children.
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
First and foremost, as I’ve stated before I believe in fiscal responsibility. This means that we must have a plan that accounts for, public safety, public works, recreation, maintenance, and infrastructure replacement. These are budgetary fundamentals and largely I believe that Bayport does well. Anything that can be done to improve them would be a bonus.
What will you do to expand Bayport’s tax base?
As a built-out city there are limited opportunities to increase tax base. By continuing to support our local businesses so they can grow, expand, and develop will naturally add to our value. This coupled with how we work together as a community makes Bayport a highly sought-after city to live in also increasing our value. With that and fiscal responsibility I feel that Bayport is in good financial shape.
How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
Our children have attended both Stillwater and St. Croix Preparatory Academy. We are very blessed in our community to have options like this for the K-12 education of our children. Both are excellent schools! Continuing to be involved with them by supporting them with public safety and fire prevention support as well as engaging them with community activities builds a lifelong bond to our community. Since moving here I have noticed that Bayport is a city where generations stay. Grandpa’s house for some is down the street with their Aunt/Uncle another street over and one of their Nieces/Nephews buy their neighbors home. This demonstrates the value of our community and the excellence of our educational institutions.
Are there any services currently provided by the city that you believe should be cut back or eliminated? Are there new opportunities to share services with other entities?
There are always opportunities to optimize resources and to be responsible we should continuously seek out these opportunities. We are blessed in Bayport to have our own Police and Fire Departments and I would never want to share those critical public safety services. There may be opportunities with significantly expensive equipment or specialty services that we may be able to work out joint agreements with neighboring cities or Washington County that could increase value and I think that is worth exploring. Overall, I believe Bayport has the right level of services.
What is the role of the City Council in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in Bayport?
Increasing diversity and inclusion are critical for us all as has been demonstrated through all the sad events that have occurred in the last several years. We as Bayport need to do what we can to reach out to all with open, welcoming arms and show them that all are welcomed here! All businesses should be supported and whatever we can do to provide guidance, mentorship, and support. Minority and women-owned businesses are welcomed and have my support!
What further policies can Bayport adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Whatever we can do to encourage our communities to get out and see one another again as we recover is essential! Join us at community activities like Derby Days, Pub Crawl, and all the others where we see each other while supporting our local businesses! We do not need more policies or rules to follow, just community support.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
Bayport has won my heart. It did not take long at all for me to feel like this city in the St. Croix valley is where I want to spend the rest of my life. Now I want to show my support for this community by serving it on the City Council. I welcome input, suggestions, and information from all on how Bayport can do better! Thank you.