Lisa Behr
Name: Lisa Behr
Public Office Sought: Oakdale City Council
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: 651-503-1939
Campaign Website:
Twitter handle:
Facebook Page:
Candidate Bio
My name is Lisa Behr and I have lived in Oakdale at various points in my life; as a child, young adult and now, for the past eight years, in my middle age. I have worked as a registered nurse for the past 26 years, providing acute, hospital-based care, clinic-based nursing, public health in the community, and as a nurse educator. For the past seven years, I have maintained a leadership position in the role of a Public Health Clinician, Program Manager and Project Director, Ramey County Public Health Clinical Services throughout the pandemic. I also work as a Senior Community Faculty Professor, teaching nursing at Metropolitan State University. My ability to understand statues, mandates and legislative regulations, research new concepts utilizing evidence-based methodology and manage budgets and resources while truly caring for community members as a nurse would be some of the greatest assets I could bring to the Oakdale City Council. If elected to this position, I will be a collaborative, hard-working advocate for the businesses and residents of the City of Oakdale.
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
Residential Safety and Wellness - As a nurse, I strongly advocate for residential safety and wellness of Oakdale residents, body, mind, spirit, culture, socioeconomic background, and environment. I support the provision of a safe infrastructure where residents can thrive where they live, work and play.
Crime – Crime continues to be an issue on the rise. I believe we need to place value on our community servants, such as our police, fire and 911 services and provide them with a working atmosphere to achieve success, advance training, and consider expansion based on community need.
Responsible budgeting and fiscal responsibility – It is the responsibility of the City to ensure responsible budgeting and fiscal responsibility of tax payer dollars to continue to keep taxes low for community residents. This will assist with continued financial stability to support the overall wellness of Oakdale residents.
How would you characterize the business climate in Oakdale and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
Oakdale is a growing community that has supported the recovery of small business post-pandemic and has welcomed new business opportunities, such as the new HOM furniture store and potential new brewery location. Oakdale business supports quality of life issues by providing opportunities for employment and allowing goods and services to be distributed close to home so that residents can support local growth of Oakdale 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, Oakdale?
The Oakdale Business Retention, Expansion and Attraction (BREA) programhttps://www.ci.oakdale.mn.us/433/Business-Resources
was recently started to support the provision of job and grow the city tax base. It also offers support for local businesses. The City of Oakdale can help business identify sources of local, state, and federal support along with resources to help make their business sustainable thus having an improved environmental impact on our community. I also support the engagement of the business community to provide honest feedback that would generate a robust discussion and envelop new ideas that may strengthen the Oakdale business community. True shared decision making would further improve relationship between business and government.
What policies, if any, would you support to help employers address the labor shortage?
Although the labor shortage is currently an issue that affects many businesses, the creation of new policies does not seem like it would be the best course of action to address this situation. Instead, to investigate ways in which the city can support small businesses in attracting new employees is a better alternative. Community engagement of businesses specifically about labor issues and how the city can best support local businesses would be a great place to start.
Do you support any 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?
This is a very complex question that has multiple variables. In general, I believe most small businesses have a right to be exempt from some policies, statutes, and mandates because there is no way they can be sustainable if they had to adhere to the rule of larger, more corporate entities. Employment related proposals would not support all businesses in the Oakdale community. Small businesses are important because they provide opportunities for entrepreneurs and create meaningful jobs with greater job satisfaction than positions with larger, traditional companies. In my opinion, this should be left to the state or federal agencies to mandate.
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?
I believe continued governmental support of our community peace officers, police, fire, 911 services are detrimental to the hard work they do. Community input, ongoing evaluation and revision of peace officer organizational structure, polices, and process will support inclusion of the most recent evidenced based practice. Accountability of job performance should be an expectation as with all careers and embraced as a learning tool. Continuous training, such as de-escalation, mental and chemical health, diversity and equity and officer wellness should be accessible for all front-line city workers.
During COVID, I was able to research, plan, and mobilize a labile Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) unit in Ramsey County, consisting of all volunteers. In one years’ time, the MRC had over 500 volunteers who provided 11,000 hours of COVID testing and vaccinations at sites across Ramsey County. This is a successful example of utilizing community during times of crisis.
In Oakdale, the rise in crime is alarming and the crisis is real. The issue needs to be addressed NOW before it escalates but does not necessarily need to result in an increase in taxes.
What strategies or policies would you propose to address housing issues facing your community?
Housing is an issue across the nation that was greatly compounded by the COVID pandemic. In Oakdale, we are fortunate to have accessible and buildable space to expand housing options into the future. My goal would be to promote building options that envelop a range of housing options that would be accessible to a wide variety of renters and buyers such as the Willowbrooke Development https://www.ci.oakdale.mn.us/345/Willowbrooke-Development currently underway in Oakdale.
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?
For some employees, social distancing during the COVID pandemic shifted the traditional work atmosphere from “work at work” to “work from home”. This has promoted more new, remote, work from home opportunities post-pandemic. I believe we will have to wait and see how sustainable this model really is for businesses into the future. But for now, transportation is not a barrier to get to work for some people as it once was. For residents who still work in person, transportation is an issue that needs real results.
The Gold Line Bus Rapid transit is a project that connects Oakdale to Woodbury, Maplewood and St Paul via light rail proposed to run along Hwy 94. https://www.metrotransit.org/gold-line-project. This projected to start development in 2025. Supporting other transportation options electronically on the City of Oakdale site such as metro Mobility, Uber/ Lyft, discounted metro transit ticketing, transportation through medical insurance, bicycle lanes and/or carpooling/ rideshare options would enhance options for residents in need of transportation assistance. https://www.ci.oakdale.mn.us/556/Transportation
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
My primary priority is to preserve and improve overall safety and wellness for community members. The staggering increase in crime is most concerning. Supporting and expanding civil officers used to police the Oakdale community would be supportive of this priority.
If I was to be elected to city council, I would first look, listen and learn.
Look at the existing budget, listen and understand the current state, and learn from the city of Oakdale experts. Its hard to know what really drives budgetary decisions until this is understood even with what is posted as public information. (Oakdale budget, 2022) https://www.ci.oakdale.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/5671/2022-Budget-PDF?bidId=
The goal would be to make sure all departments are funded across the board for what they need to support safety, and wellness for all community members.
What will you do to expand Oakdale’ tax base?
I will take an active role in supporting new businesses and developments initiated and projected in Oakdale, collaborate with the City of Oakdale Community Development Department, and actively listen to proposals and ideas especially those that may differ from my own.
How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
I would continue to work with the district public, charter and private sector schools to promote educational growth in every way the city interacts with the district. Sustaining and growing engagement opportunities with Oakdale businesses will continue to foster partnerships that will support available internships/job opportunities for our youth in the future.
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 new opportunities to explore to share services with other cities, counties, or businesses and these opportunities should be sought out and change embraced. In my current leadership position at Ramsey County Public Health, I have established relationships with many interdepartmental groups and community agencies with shared missions in which we collaborate and work together to achieve a common goal. I have the ability to foster new relationships and shared commonalities to promote growth that would be beneficial to the City of Oakdale.
What is the role of the City Council in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in Oakdale?
As a community, Oakdale continues to diversify every year as evidenced by the US Census. It is the responsibility of the city to provide equitable opportunity for all persons owning or seeking to own a business in Oakdale. With the knowledge that equity is not always equal, this may look different for individuals based on many variables including diversity and gender identity. The City Council should advocate for and support these principles and recruit and engage diverse and female persons as active community partners.
What further policies can Oakdale adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
COVID affected businesses more than any other singular event in recent history. Throughout the pandemic, the City of Oakdale supported their business owners with relaxed ordinances and interest free loans. As we stumble out of the abyss, the city can continue to engage businesses by continued community engagement, supporting Oakdale business advertisement, engaging in city contract work with local businesses, expansion of outdoor business activities, such as delivery, drive thru and patios and providing resources for COVID vaccine that is accessible and affordable.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
As a teenage parent, my first residential home was in Oakdale living in poverty in low-income housing. I received governmental assistance in the form of reduced rent, cash, foods stamps, daycare assistance and medical insurance and was able to go back to school. I graduated in 1996 with an Associate of Science Registered Nursing degree and was then able to get a job and support myself and my family. Throughout the years, I have gone back to school and received my Bachelor of Science in Nursing, 2005 and my Master of Science in Nursing, 2013. I have a lot of gratitude to be in a career that has allowed me to grow and thrive and gratitude to governmental programming for supporting me and my families’ basic needs when I was in crisis. For most of my adult life, I was not a political person. But after working for Ramsey County, I understood how important governmental activism is, especially at a local level. I would be honored if I was elected to serve as one of the Oakdale City Council members. I believe in the concept of term limits on elected positions if new and qualified candidates emerge and I AM a new and qualified candidate. This allows for different perspectives to be embraced, fresh eyes to look at existing process and protocols and new ideas to be generated to promote the continued evolution for the Oakdale community.
Public Office Sought: Oakdale City Council
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: 651-503-1939
Campaign Website:
Twitter handle:
Facebook Page:
Candidate Bio
My name is Lisa Behr and I have lived in Oakdale at various points in my life; as a child, young adult and now, for the past eight years, in my middle age. I have worked as a registered nurse for the past 26 years, providing acute, hospital-based care, clinic-based nursing, public health in the community, and as a nurse educator. For the past seven years, I have maintained a leadership position in the role of a Public Health Clinician, Program Manager and Project Director, Ramey County Public Health Clinical Services throughout the pandemic. I also work as a Senior Community Faculty Professor, teaching nursing at Metropolitan State University. My ability to understand statues, mandates and legislative regulations, research new concepts utilizing evidence-based methodology and manage budgets and resources while truly caring for community members as a nurse would be some of the greatest assets I could bring to the Oakdale City Council. If elected to this position, I will be a collaborative, hard-working advocate for the businesses and residents of the City of Oakdale.
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
Residential Safety and Wellness - As a nurse, I strongly advocate for residential safety and wellness of Oakdale residents, body, mind, spirit, culture, socioeconomic background, and environment. I support the provision of a safe infrastructure where residents can thrive where they live, work and play.
Crime – Crime continues to be an issue on the rise. I believe we need to place value on our community servants, such as our police, fire and 911 services and provide them with a working atmosphere to achieve success, advance training, and consider expansion based on community need.
Responsible budgeting and fiscal responsibility – It is the responsibility of the City to ensure responsible budgeting and fiscal responsibility of tax payer dollars to continue to keep taxes low for community residents. This will assist with continued financial stability to support the overall wellness of Oakdale residents.
How would you characterize the business climate in Oakdale and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
Oakdale is a growing community that has supported the recovery of small business post-pandemic and has welcomed new business opportunities, such as the new HOM furniture store and potential new brewery location. Oakdale business supports quality of life issues by providing opportunities for employment and allowing goods and services to be distributed close to home so that residents can support local growth of Oakdale 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, Oakdale?
The Oakdale Business Retention, Expansion and Attraction (BREA) programhttps://www.ci.oakdale.mn.us/433/Business-Resources
was recently started to support the provision of job and grow the city tax base. It also offers support for local businesses. The City of Oakdale can help business identify sources of local, state, and federal support along with resources to help make their business sustainable thus having an improved environmental impact on our community. I also support the engagement of the business community to provide honest feedback that would generate a robust discussion and envelop new ideas that may strengthen the Oakdale business community. True shared decision making would further improve relationship between business and government.
What policies, if any, would you support to help employers address the labor shortage?
Although the labor shortage is currently an issue that affects many businesses, the creation of new policies does not seem like it would be the best course of action to address this situation. Instead, to investigate ways in which the city can support small businesses in attracting new employees is a better alternative. Community engagement of businesses specifically about labor issues and how the city can best support local businesses would be a great place to start.
Do you support any 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?
This is a very complex question that has multiple variables. In general, I believe most small businesses have a right to be exempt from some policies, statutes, and mandates because there is no way they can be sustainable if they had to adhere to the rule of larger, more corporate entities. Employment related proposals would not support all businesses in the Oakdale community. Small businesses are important because they provide opportunities for entrepreneurs and create meaningful jobs with greater job satisfaction than positions with larger, traditional companies. In my opinion, this should be left to the state or federal agencies to mandate.
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?
I believe continued governmental support of our community peace officers, police, fire, 911 services are detrimental to the hard work they do. Community input, ongoing evaluation and revision of peace officer organizational structure, polices, and process will support inclusion of the most recent evidenced based practice. Accountability of job performance should be an expectation as with all careers and embraced as a learning tool. Continuous training, such as de-escalation, mental and chemical health, diversity and equity and officer wellness should be accessible for all front-line city workers.
During COVID, I was able to research, plan, and mobilize a labile Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) unit in Ramsey County, consisting of all volunteers. In one years’ time, the MRC had over 500 volunteers who provided 11,000 hours of COVID testing and vaccinations at sites across Ramsey County. This is a successful example of utilizing community during times of crisis.
In Oakdale, the rise in crime is alarming and the crisis is real. The issue needs to be addressed NOW before it escalates but does not necessarily need to result in an increase in taxes.
What strategies or policies would you propose to address housing issues facing your community?
Housing is an issue across the nation that was greatly compounded by the COVID pandemic. In Oakdale, we are fortunate to have accessible and buildable space to expand housing options into the future. My goal would be to promote building options that envelop a range of housing options that would be accessible to a wide variety of renters and buyers such as the Willowbrooke Development https://www.ci.oakdale.mn.us/345/Willowbrooke-Development currently underway in Oakdale.
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?
For some employees, social distancing during the COVID pandemic shifted the traditional work atmosphere from “work at work” to “work from home”. This has promoted more new, remote, work from home opportunities post-pandemic. I believe we will have to wait and see how sustainable this model really is for businesses into the future. But for now, transportation is not a barrier to get to work for some people as it once was. For residents who still work in person, transportation is an issue that needs real results.
The Gold Line Bus Rapid transit is a project that connects Oakdale to Woodbury, Maplewood and St Paul via light rail proposed to run along Hwy 94. https://www.metrotransit.org/gold-line-project. This projected to start development in 2025. Supporting other transportation options electronically on the City of Oakdale site such as metro Mobility, Uber/ Lyft, discounted metro transit ticketing, transportation through medical insurance, bicycle lanes and/or carpooling/ rideshare options would enhance options for residents in need of transportation assistance. https://www.ci.oakdale.mn.us/556/Transportation
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
My primary priority is to preserve and improve overall safety and wellness for community members. The staggering increase in crime is most concerning. Supporting and expanding civil officers used to police the Oakdale community would be supportive of this priority.
If I was to be elected to city council, I would first look, listen and learn.
Look at the existing budget, listen and understand the current state, and learn from the city of Oakdale experts. Its hard to know what really drives budgetary decisions until this is understood even with what is posted as public information. (Oakdale budget, 2022) https://www.ci.oakdale.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/5671/2022-Budget-PDF?bidId=
The goal would be to make sure all departments are funded across the board for what they need to support safety, and wellness for all community members.
What will you do to expand Oakdale’ tax base?
I will take an active role in supporting new businesses and developments initiated and projected in Oakdale, collaborate with the City of Oakdale Community Development Department, and actively listen to proposals and ideas especially those that may differ from my own.
How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
I would continue to work with the district public, charter and private sector schools to promote educational growth in every way the city interacts with the district. Sustaining and growing engagement opportunities with Oakdale businesses will continue to foster partnerships that will support available internships/job opportunities for our youth in the future.
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 new opportunities to explore to share services with other cities, counties, or businesses and these opportunities should be sought out and change embraced. In my current leadership position at Ramsey County Public Health, I have established relationships with many interdepartmental groups and community agencies with shared missions in which we collaborate and work together to achieve a common goal. I have the ability to foster new relationships and shared commonalities to promote growth that would be beneficial to the City of Oakdale.
What is the role of the City Council in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in Oakdale?
As a community, Oakdale continues to diversify every year as evidenced by the US Census. It is the responsibility of the city to provide equitable opportunity for all persons owning or seeking to own a business in Oakdale. With the knowledge that equity is not always equal, this may look different for individuals based on many variables including diversity and gender identity. The City Council should advocate for and support these principles and recruit and engage diverse and female persons as active community partners.
What further policies can Oakdale adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
COVID affected businesses more than any other singular event in recent history. Throughout the pandemic, the City of Oakdale supported their business owners with relaxed ordinances and interest free loans. As we stumble out of the abyss, the city can continue to engage businesses by continued community engagement, supporting Oakdale business advertisement, engaging in city contract work with local businesses, expansion of outdoor business activities, such as delivery, drive thru and patios and providing resources for COVID vaccine that is accessible and affordable.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
As a teenage parent, my first residential home was in Oakdale living in poverty in low-income housing. I received governmental assistance in the form of reduced rent, cash, foods stamps, daycare assistance and medical insurance and was able to go back to school. I graduated in 1996 with an Associate of Science Registered Nursing degree and was then able to get a job and support myself and my family. Throughout the years, I have gone back to school and received my Bachelor of Science in Nursing, 2005 and my Master of Science in Nursing, 2013. I have a lot of gratitude to be in a career that has allowed me to grow and thrive and gratitude to governmental programming for supporting me and my families’ basic needs when I was in crisis. For most of my adult life, I was not a political person. But after working for Ramsey County, I understood how important governmental activism is, especially at a local level. I would be honored if I was elected to serve as one of the Oakdale City Council members. I believe in the concept of term limits on elected positions if new and qualified candidates emerge and I AM a new and qualified candidate. This allows for different perspectives to be embraced, fresh eyes to look at existing process and protocols and new ideas to be generated to promote the continued evolution for the Oakdale community.