Kevin Zabel
Name: Kevin Zabel
Public Office Sought: Oakdale City Council
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 612-227-1186
Website: www.Zabel4Oakdale.com
Twitter handle: @kevinjzabel
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/zabel4oakdale
Candidate Bio
Elected in 2016, I have the honor of representing the more than 28,000 residents of Oakdale on the city council. Before that, I chaired Oakdale’s Planning Commission.
During my time on the council, I have worked hard to honor my 2016 campaign promises of increasing civic investment and participation in city government, supporting private property re-investment and growing Oakdale’s walkability.
Some of my accomplishments include:
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
Budgetary Restraint: We don’t know what the COVID future looks like and the more restraint and strategic saving we exhibit now will yield fewer disruptions to city services and avoid property tax instability later.
Community Engagement: My philosophy during my first term on the City Council has been “Listen First, Talk Last.” We need to bring all residents together, of every gender, race, economic background, and political ideology and listen to the challenges they are facing. It’s not easy and Oakdale cannot fix every problem, but there are some we can tackle that will make a lasting impact on residents’ impression of Oakdale while improving their experience living here.
Development: A lot of work has gone into the proposed Willowbrooke and Helmo/4th St. developments and it is time to get them off the ground. We need to continue working with our private development partners to make these once-lofty dreams become a reality.
How would you characterize the business climate in Oakdale and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
Businesses are struggling as the world around them changes quickly. As a city, we have adopted numerous policies that are focused on “getting out of businesses way” as they try to navigate the challenges from COVID while also being available to owners if they need something. In Oakdale, we are incredibly fortunate to have a business community that actively contributes to enhancing the quality of life of our residents. Whether it is through a private sponsorship of city events or actively recruiting new employees that are Oakdale residents through our Oakdale First program, our businesses go above and beyond to make life better here in Oakdale.
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, Oakdale ?
As a city tucked between Woodbury, Maplewood, and not far from St. Paul, Oakdale needs to maintain a competitive edge in attracting new business and retaining existing ones. One of the ways we can stand apart from our larger municipal counterparts is to maintain a personal connection and relationship with business owners. With our city council, Oakdale’s Economic Development Commission and our partners on the Oakdale Area Chamber of Commerce, we have a long list of individuals who can help us keep those lines of communication open between the city and local businesses.
Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in Oakdale (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 Oakdale and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
As a government mandate, I do not support the example policies given. If an employer chooses to offer those policies, that is his/her choice.
What are your strategies to address public safety, housing, and transportation issues facing your community?
Public Safety: My focus over the next four years will be to create strategies that give residents a more active role in community policing and engagement. Our police and fire personnel do a tremendous job for our community and we are lucky to have them. But there are steps we can take as individual residents to assist them in their role. For example: we need to adopt a different approach for our city’s Neighborhood Watch. Residents are busy and we need to design a program that recognizes that. Currently, there are too many hurdles for a resident to jump through to start a city-approved Neighborhood Watch program. We cannot make the process complicated if we expect results.
Housing: We need to ensure housing options in Oakdale remains diverse and competitive with the rest of the east metro and we achieve that by keeping property taxes stable, keeping our streets safe, and offering community amenities that reflect that desires of the current and next generation of residents.
Transportation: I am proud of the detailed and comprehensive street improvement program Oakdale has in place. Every city street is routinely evaluated to ensure quality standards are being met so transportation can move smoothly throughout the city. We also need to keep working on addressing our transit needs. Gold Line BRT is a major transportation initiative for the city, and I am proud of the small role I have played in moving that project forward.
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
Oakdale runs a very lean budget. We provide the essential services our residents expect and appreciate, such as public safety, public works and parks. We also make strategic investments in generational activities, such as updating our Bike and Pedestrian Plan and small area studies. Each of these tasks go through a rigorous vetting and I have spent countless hours over the past four years going line-by-line through our city budget to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. As residents and businesses face an uncertain future due to COVID-19, it is more important than ever that we exercise budgetary restraint and focus resources on the essential cornerstones of city government and limit discretionary spending.
What will you do to expand Oakdale’s tax base?
For the past few years, the City Council and city staff have been working on a number of development and re-development projects, including most noteworthy development projects of Willowbrooke and the 4th/Helmo BRT Transit Oriented Development. In all, these anticipated development projects will expand Oakdale’s tax base by up to $2 billion, or a 30% increase. We also need to focus on rejuvenating our existing tax base. Oakdale will need to be an active partner with local, county and state agencies as we work to revitalize the Century Avenue/State Highway 120 corridor and surrounding development.
How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
We must address workforce shortages in the trades. My six-year career working with the real estate industry exposed me to just how bad the workforce shortage is in the trades. During the Great Recession, most trades laid off employees, and the prolonged nature of the recession led to many of them never coming back. At the same time, schools were forced to make budget cuts, and many cut the trades programs from the curriculum. This created a workforce gap that we are feeling today and reverberates through so many other public policy discussions.
When cities try to tackle issues related to housing affordability, we must look at the underlying causes and workforce shortages is a big part of that. Cities like Oakdale are in a prime position to create and deploy workforce training programs, where students from Tartan or North High School can job shadow city employees and discover whether a career in the trades is right for them – doing this all before students have to rack up large amounts of student loan debt. Strong relationships with our school district can open the door to creating a job shadowing programs like this.
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?
I do not believe there are currently any services we should cut. We currently participate in a few shared service agreements and they all have merit and offer value to the city. For example, Oakdale currently provides fire service to the city of Landfall. It is a beneficial partnership that allows Oakdale to recoup part of the cost of that service while not needing to bring on any additional personnel or equipment. Oakdale is also an active partner in the East Metro Sex Trafficking Task Force. This collaborative effort between public and private partners has helped disrupt the sex trade in the east metro, while reminding us there is much more work that needs to be done.
What is the role of the City Council in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in Oakdale ?
Oakdale has a responsibility to ensure equity and fair access to our local economy for any entrepreneur seeking to create or grow a business here. As an individual councilmember, it is on me to engage with prospective business owners and carry any concerns they have or hurdles they face to the full city council for addressing.
What further policies can Oakdale adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Businesses are in an impossible position in regard to COVID-19. Early on, the city took several steps to help local businesses, from creating a local business assistance loan program and empowering businesses to explore changes to their traditional business models, like restaurant patio expansion and outdoor movie theatres. I am in constant contact with members of the Oakdale Area Chamber of Commerce, asking what else can be done to assist local businesses.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
Our world is quickly changing around us, and perhaps now more than ever, experience in city government will be the difference between success and failure. Over the course of a few weeks, Oakdale had to move quicker than ever before to respond to COVID-19 and social unrest and through it all, I worked hard to maintain the same level of accessibility and accountability I have had with Oakdale residents for the past four years.
Public Office Sought: Oakdale City Council
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 612-227-1186
Website: www.Zabel4Oakdale.com
Twitter handle: @kevinjzabel
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/zabel4oakdale
Candidate Bio
Elected in 2016, I have the honor of representing the more than 28,000 residents of Oakdale on the city council. Before that, I chaired Oakdale’s Planning Commission.
During my time on the council, I have worked hard to honor my 2016 campaign promises of increasing civic investment and participation in city government, supporting private property re-investment and growing Oakdale’s walkability.
Some of my accomplishments include:
- Authoring Oakdale’s transparency policy, requiring all council materials be made available to the public a minimum of 24 hours prior to council meetings
- Successfully hiring replacements for a departing city administrator and retiring Finance Director, Chief Building Inspector and Fire Chief.
- Exercising fiscal restraint, keeping budget increases as low as possible and maintaining Oakdale’s AA2 credit rating
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
Budgetary Restraint: We don’t know what the COVID future looks like and the more restraint and strategic saving we exhibit now will yield fewer disruptions to city services and avoid property tax instability later.
Community Engagement: My philosophy during my first term on the City Council has been “Listen First, Talk Last.” We need to bring all residents together, of every gender, race, economic background, and political ideology and listen to the challenges they are facing. It’s not easy and Oakdale cannot fix every problem, but there are some we can tackle that will make a lasting impact on residents’ impression of Oakdale while improving their experience living here.
Development: A lot of work has gone into the proposed Willowbrooke and Helmo/4th St. developments and it is time to get them off the ground. We need to continue working with our private development partners to make these once-lofty dreams become a reality.
How would you characterize the business climate in Oakdale and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
Businesses are struggling as the world around them changes quickly. As a city, we have adopted numerous policies that are focused on “getting out of businesses way” as they try to navigate the challenges from COVID while also being available to owners if they need something. In Oakdale, we are incredibly fortunate to have a business community that actively contributes to enhancing the quality of life of our residents. Whether it is through a private sponsorship of city events or actively recruiting new employees that are Oakdale residents through our Oakdale First program, our businesses go above and beyond to make life better here in Oakdale.
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, Oakdale ?
As a city tucked between Woodbury, Maplewood, and not far from St. Paul, Oakdale needs to maintain a competitive edge in attracting new business and retaining existing ones. One of the ways we can stand apart from our larger municipal counterparts is to maintain a personal connection and relationship with business owners. With our city council, Oakdale’s Economic Development Commission and our partners on the Oakdale Area Chamber of Commerce, we have a long list of individuals who can help us keep those lines of communication open between the city and local businesses.
Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in Oakdale (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 Oakdale and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
As a government mandate, I do not support the example policies given. If an employer chooses to offer those policies, that is his/her choice.
What are your strategies to address public safety, housing, and transportation issues facing your community?
Public Safety: My focus over the next four years will be to create strategies that give residents a more active role in community policing and engagement. Our police and fire personnel do a tremendous job for our community and we are lucky to have them. But there are steps we can take as individual residents to assist them in their role. For example: we need to adopt a different approach for our city’s Neighborhood Watch. Residents are busy and we need to design a program that recognizes that. Currently, there are too many hurdles for a resident to jump through to start a city-approved Neighborhood Watch program. We cannot make the process complicated if we expect results.
Housing: We need to ensure housing options in Oakdale remains diverse and competitive with the rest of the east metro and we achieve that by keeping property taxes stable, keeping our streets safe, and offering community amenities that reflect that desires of the current and next generation of residents.
Transportation: I am proud of the detailed and comprehensive street improvement program Oakdale has in place. Every city street is routinely evaluated to ensure quality standards are being met so transportation can move smoothly throughout the city. We also need to keep working on addressing our transit needs. Gold Line BRT is a major transportation initiative for the city, and I am proud of the small role I have played in moving that project forward.
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
Oakdale runs a very lean budget. We provide the essential services our residents expect and appreciate, such as public safety, public works and parks. We also make strategic investments in generational activities, such as updating our Bike and Pedestrian Plan and small area studies. Each of these tasks go through a rigorous vetting and I have spent countless hours over the past four years going line-by-line through our city budget to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. As residents and businesses face an uncertain future due to COVID-19, it is more important than ever that we exercise budgetary restraint and focus resources on the essential cornerstones of city government and limit discretionary spending.
What will you do to expand Oakdale’s tax base?
For the past few years, the City Council and city staff have been working on a number of development and re-development projects, including most noteworthy development projects of Willowbrooke and the 4th/Helmo BRT Transit Oriented Development. In all, these anticipated development projects will expand Oakdale’s tax base by up to $2 billion, or a 30% increase. We also need to focus on rejuvenating our existing tax base. Oakdale will need to be an active partner with local, county and state agencies as we work to revitalize the Century Avenue/State Highway 120 corridor and surrounding development.
How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
We must address workforce shortages in the trades. My six-year career working with the real estate industry exposed me to just how bad the workforce shortage is in the trades. During the Great Recession, most trades laid off employees, and the prolonged nature of the recession led to many of them never coming back. At the same time, schools were forced to make budget cuts, and many cut the trades programs from the curriculum. This created a workforce gap that we are feeling today and reverberates through so many other public policy discussions.
When cities try to tackle issues related to housing affordability, we must look at the underlying causes and workforce shortages is a big part of that. Cities like Oakdale are in a prime position to create and deploy workforce training programs, where students from Tartan or North High School can job shadow city employees and discover whether a career in the trades is right for them – doing this all before students have to rack up large amounts of student loan debt. Strong relationships with our school district can open the door to creating a job shadowing programs like this.
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?
I do not believe there are currently any services we should cut. We currently participate in a few shared service agreements and they all have merit and offer value to the city. For example, Oakdale currently provides fire service to the city of Landfall. It is a beneficial partnership that allows Oakdale to recoup part of the cost of that service while not needing to bring on any additional personnel or equipment. Oakdale is also an active partner in the East Metro Sex Trafficking Task Force. This collaborative effort between public and private partners has helped disrupt the sex trade in the east metro, while reminding us there is much more work that needs to be done.
What is the role of the City Council in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in Oakdale ?
Oakdale has a responsibility to ensure equity and fair access to our local economy for any entrepreneur seeking to create or grow a business here. As an individual councilmember, it is on me to engage with prospective business owners and carry any concerns they have or hurdles they face to the full city council for addressing.
What further policies can Oakdale adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Businesses are in an impossible position in regard to COVID-19. Early on, the city took several steps to help local businesses, from creating a local business assistance loan program and empowering businesses to explore changes to their traditional business models, like restaurant patio expansion and outdoor movie theatres. I am in constant contact with members of the Oakdale Area Chamber of Commerce, asking what else can be done to assist local businesses.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
Our world is quickly changing around us, and perhaps now more than ever, experience in city government will be the difference between success and failure. Over the course of a few weeks, Oakdale had to move quicker than ever before to respond to COVID-19 and social unrest and through it all, I worked hard to maintain the same level of accessibility and accountability I have had with Oakdale residents for the past four years.