Joe Forester
Name: Joe Forester
Public Office Sought: South St. Paul City Council
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 651-238-5562
Website:
Twitter handle:
Facebook page:
Candidate Bio
Three years of experience on the current city council have shown to be very productive with new businesses, restaurants, multifamily dwellings and major road constructions. I would like to continue the momentum that the current council has created and complete such projects as the public library, Concord Street rebuild, and the Hartman Triangle vision.
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
How would you characterize the business climate in South St. Paul and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
The business climate is good. The Bridgepoint Industrial Park that was created after the stock yards left is almost full and is a very productive area within the city. The best thing I could say about our business climate is what we hear from our developers. We as a council, Economic Development Authority and city staff all have been great to work with and live up to the statement that South St Paul is open for business.
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, South St. Paul?
Ryan Garcia our Economic and Community Development Director along with the city staff work tirelessly to attract new business to South St Paul. It is the council’s job to support them in their efforts and assist them in any way we can when called on to expand the business base in town.
Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in South St. Paul (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 South St. Paul and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
I have and always will support the minimum wage laws, what that rate is and will be are going to be determined by the federal or state legislators and I will support any changes to the current law that they make. As for the others listed these items will be negotiated with the unions of our city employees and again I will support the negotiation results. If and when these changes are made the council will sit down during the budget process and adjust our spending and or tax assessment accordingly.
What are your strategies to address public safety, housing, and transportation issues facing your community?
Public Safety (Police and Fire) are our largest budget items and will continue to be so. I will support our police and fire departments and strive to provide them with the best tools and resources to allow the to continue the great work the currently do.
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
My top priority is cost savings and maintain a budget with the minimum of tax increases. Since I have been on the council, we have had a 10% and a 8.5% budget increase these type of budget increases are unacceptable and need to be controlled.
What will you do to expand South St. Paul’s tax base?
We continue to look at numerous opportunities to expand the tax bas using multiple unit buildings. Ryan Garcia and his EDA team are doing a great job in bringing in fresh ideas, some of these are too early to talk about at this time. Another issue here is South St Paul is a land locked city, there are very few empty building sites for new homes so increasing tax base through home is very difficult, any increases will have to be through multiple unit housing or commercial building
How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
This is a question for the school board a separate entity than the city council. Stating that the council is willing to work with the school board in improving the education in South St Paul.
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?
We have had a great success sharing Fire services with the city of West St Paul, we should be looking at this model to not only share additional services with West St Paul but to also encourage additional cities in the south west metro join in and take advantage of shared services to save the tax payers the burden of doing some of the most expensive services and administration of those services individually.
What is the role of the City Council in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in South St. Paul?
The city council has a blind eye when it comes to race or sex when someone is presenting a business opportunity to the city. We are looking for opportunities that will improve the quality of life for our citizens and increase our tax base.
What further policies can South St. Paul adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
This is a very difficult question to answer at this time. We do not know if this is just starting or are we close to the end of this pandemic. We do know that the longer this exists the greater effect it will have on businesses, and we will not know the total damage until this is over and we develop a new normal. What programs that will come down from the federal and state will determine the toolbox that each city can use to assist businesses and we will use every tool provided to us to keep, maintain and even start up new businesses.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
When I ran four years ago I stated to the citizens of South St Paul that I would only serve them for eight years, if reelected. I believe that a person should serve and step aside to bring in fresh people with fresh ideas. I would like to serve that eight years to complete projects like the Hartman Triangle, Concord Street reconstruction and a final decision on the library. The COVID pandemic has caused the city to make some very difficult decisions and there are still more to come. I would like to be a part of the decision process and work with the council to repair any damages the pandemic has caused to the cities organization, business community and the citizens of South St Paul
Public Office Sought: South St. Paul City Council
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 651-238-5562
Website:
Twitter handle:
Facebook page:
Candidate Bio
Three years of experience on the current city council have shown to be very productive with new businesses, restaurants, multifamily dwellings and major road constructions. I would like to continue the momentum that the current council has created and complete such projects as the public library, Concord Street rebuild, and the Hartman Triangle vision.
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
- Complete Concord street project with the least amount of disruption to the local businesses, I know that there is going to be difficult times in getting this project completed but with outstanding communications between the city, contractor and the businesses we can minimize the disruptions.
- Make a final decision and get whatever that decision is accomplished on the South St Paul Public Library. This has been a long process (over 3 years) and the residents of the city deserve a final decision and either a newly remodeled or new library.
- Hartman Triangle; this is one of that last hold outs from the old stock yard days. The city has received interests in developing this area with a retail housing mix that if accomplished would be a great new beginning for the area.
How would you characterize the business climate in South St. Paul and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
The business climate is good. The Bridgepoint Industrial Park that was created after the stock yards left is almost full and is a very productive area within the city. The best thing I could say about our business climate is what we hear from our developers. We as a council, Economic Development Authority and city staff all have been great to work with and live up to the statement that South St Paul is open for business.
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, South St. Paul?
Ryan Garcia our Economic and Community Development Director along with the city staff work tirelessly to attract new business to South St Paul. It is the council’s job to support them in their efforts and assist them in any way we can when called on to expand the business base in town.
Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in South St. Paul (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 South St. Paul and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
I have and always will support the minimum wage laws, what that rate is and will be are going to be determined by the federal or state legislators and I will support any changes to the current law that they make. As for the others listed these items will be negotiated with the unions of our city employees and again I will support the negotiation results. If and when these changes are made the council will sit down during the budget process and adjust our spending and or tax assessment accordingly.
What are your strategies to address public safety, housing, and transportation issues facing your community?
Public Safety (Police and Fire) are our largest budget items and will continue to be so. I will support our police and fire departments and strive to provide them with the best tools and resources to allow the to continue the great work the currently do.
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
My top priority is cost savings and maintain a budget with the minimum of tax increases. Since I have been on the council, we have had a 10% and a 8.5% budget increase these type of budget increases are unacceptable and need to be controlled.
What will you do to expand South St. Paul’s tax base?
We continue to look at numerous opportunities to expand the tax bas using multiple unit buildings. Ryan Garcia and his EDA team are doing a great job in bringing in fresh ideas, some of these are too early to talk about at this time. Another issue here is South St Paul is a land locked city, there are very few empty building sites for new homes so increasing tax base through home is very difficult, any increases will have to be through multiple unit housing or commercial building
How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
This is a question for the school board a separate entity than the city council. Stating that the council is willing to work with the school board in improving the education in South St Paul.
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?
We have had a great success sharing Fire services with the city of West St Paul, we should be looking at this model to not only share additional services with West St Paul but to also encourage additional cities in the south west metro join in and take advantage of shared services to save the tax payers the burden of doing some of the most expensive services and administration of those services individually.
What is the role of the City Council in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in South St. Paul?
The city council has a blind eye when it comes to race or sex when someone is presenting a business opportunity to the city. We are looking for opportunities that will improve the quality of life for our citizens and increase our tax base.
What further policies can South St. Paul adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
This is a very difficult question to answer at this time. We do not know if this is just starting or are we close to the end of this pandemic. We do know that the longer this exists the greater effect it will have on businesses, and we will not know the total damage until this is over and we develop a new normal. What programs that will come down from the federal and state will determine the toolbox that each city can use to assist businesses and we will use every tool provided to us to keep, maintain and even start up new businesses.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
When I ran four years ago I stated to the citizens of South St Paul that I would only serve them for eight years, if reelected. I believe that a person should serve and step aside to bring in fresh people with fresh ideas. I would like to serve that eight years to complete projects like the Hartman Triangle, Concord Street reconstruction and a final decision on the library. The COVID pandemic has caused the city to make some very difficult decisions and there are still more to come. I would like to be a part of the decision process and work with the council to repair any damages the pandemic has caused to the cities organization, business community and the citizens of South St Paul