Steve Scott
Name: Steve Scott
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 651-604-0919
Website: scott4ramsey.us
Twitter Handle: @pipemajor2
Candidate Bio
The Association of Minnesota Counties guide describes County commissioners as the county’s key policymakers, overseeing the operation and administration of the county. Commissioners are the elected officials of a county’s legislative branch, serving in a similar role as a city councilmember or a state representative or senator.
I am currently serving a second term as an elected city councilmember for Arden Hills, currently on a second term as a board member on the Ramsey County League of Local Governments (RCLLG), and have executive-level service both in the private sector (28 years) and public sector (19 years). My public career includes K-12 and federal uniformed time (USAF) where I was a Systems Acquisition Officer and civilian service as a certified Program/Project Manager.
While working fulltime, I earned a pair of associate degrees, a bachelor and master’s in business administration, am a 2011 graduate of the Federal Outreach Leadership Development program and hold federal certifications in program/project management and contracting.
I have been very active in my outreach and support to our area businesses, non-profits, education and military partners as well as residents. I’ve done ride-alongs with law enforcement and our public works crews. They’ve said how much they appreciate that.
1. Why are you running for this seat?
A special election has been called to complete the 13+ month term of an elected Commissioner who resigned after improper handling of federal funds was discovered. The County has also been warned by the state of MN after many years of misdirecting federal/state funds intended for its external family and childcare collaboratives, forcing several resignations from those boards. Lastly, the county is suing one of its member cities to break a joint powers agreement both had signed onto.
Restoring these series of ethical breaches will require a strong, experienced and ethical professional who is committed to the fullest level of accountability to the constituents of the county including residents, businesses, educational partners, non-profits and other intra-governmental agencies.
2. What is the biggest challenge facing your district and how would you address it?
The biggest challenge will be to restore the public trust resulting from the multiple breaches of public conduct described in question #2. The district also has not been adequately represented for several years. Commissioners are expected to regularly attend a broad range of events in their districts. As a recent retiree and having adult children, I am able to commit 100% of my resources to participating in district meetings and events.
3. What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing Ramsey County as a whole and how would you address it?
I do not feel the Board has been transparent enough with managing the taxpayers’ dollars. They have indicated on a number of occasions they are unable to provide a detail of even very large expenditures.
4. What would be your top three priorities if elected to the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners?
1) Re-engage the communities, businesses and organizations in District 1. I have heard many complaints and personally observed that District 1 had not been being adequately represented for many years.
2) Re-engage with the City of Arden Hills for TCAAP/Rice Creek Commons meetings and planning. You can’t just walk away from the table with tens of millions of borrowed funds accruing interest costs.
3) Engage an independent 3rd party to investigate and remediate several severe breaches of public trust in the conduct of the Board and staff. One breach resulted in the resignation of a sitting Board Commissioner and the other resulted in demands and possible legal action taken by the State of Minnesota for the County to produce a thorough accounting of federal funds which were to be distributed to family and child service collaboratives. The latter is suspected of misappropriation of funds for decades.
5. Should county government be actively involved in attracting and retaining jobs? Why or why not? If yes, please describe the role for the county in this process.
Yes. The County could/should take an active partnership in coordinating regional economic goals and plans. These are often defined in the comprehensive plans issued every decade in conjunction with the Census and consequent redistricting efforts. The solicitation of public input is vital in accurately assessing where employment is and where it is headed.
6. What role should county government play in economic development, and how should the county work with partner organizations?
Since counties the size of Ramsey delegate land use planning to the member municipalities, economic development should be the jurisdiction of those municipalities. The county should participate as a partner for inter-governmental coordination and planning such as the Ramsey County League of Local Governments.
7. What do you believe are the most essential services provided by county government?
As a unit of local government, counties typically serve as the first layer of providing social services to their constituents. Often these services are funded by federal and/or state resources. Counties are also the key repository of all vital records such as birth, death, marriage, divorce, real estate and health records.
8. Are there any services that the county does not provide that you believe it should?
Not that they aren’t provided but mental health services are acutely underdelivered. We are only just recently becoming aware of how pervasive mental health issues are at all social/economic levels.
9. Are there any services currently provided by the county that you believe should be cut back or eliminated?
Not so much eliminated but there is a need for services needing to be periodically evaluated for relevancy and accessibility. Budgetary issues most often dictate the need for cuts in services so coordination with other levels of government to avoid unnecessary duplication of services should be enacted.
10. How would you characterize the business climate in Ramsey County? What, if anything, would you do to change it?
As a mostly urban county, the current business climate is robust and diverse but economic prosperity is not being shared equitably among our diverse population. Lack of training opportunities, transportation and availability of childcare affect more minority residents disproportionately.
11. Many communities and government entities in the East Metro collaborate to provide services to their residents in an effort operate more efficiently and cost effectively. Do you believe that Ramsey County uses such partnerships appropriately, and can you identify any specific areas where more sharing of services should be used?
Our community shares a public works facility with both the county and local school district. This allows efficient leveraging of vehicle maintenance, winter road treatment supplies and utility costs. Our city crews have also gone out to assist county crews in pothole repairs.
12. In your view, what is Ramsey County’s top transportation priority and how would you advance it?
As the county’s only suburban district, public transit resources are scarce in our district. For a vibrant community dependent on multi-modal forms of transportation, regional jurisdictions such as MetCouncil provide vital planning and allocation of transporation resources.
Our municipal council continues to work effectively with other municipalities and county resources via joint powers agreements. MetCouncil has a 34 member Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) which represents a broad regional planning body for efficient utilization of metro transportation resources.
13. Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
District 1 is unique in that we have a large presence of military facilities and organizations. My wife and I are both Air Force veterans and very, very active in Beyond the Yellow Ribbon, Suburban Ramsey County (BTYR). We find our military families are often too proud to ask for help when needed so establishing closer ties to community resources available allows our servicemembers to more effectively perform their dangerous missions while deployed overseas.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 651-604-0919
Website: scott4ramsey.us
Twitter Handle: @pipemajor2
Candidate Bio
The Association of Minnesota Counties guide describes County commissioners as the county’s key policymakers, overseeing the operation and administration of the county. Commissioners are the elected officials of a county’s legislative branch, serving in a similar role as a city councilmember or a state representative or senator.
I am currently serving a second term as an elected city councilmember for Arden Hills, currently on a second term as a board member on the Ramsey County League of Local Governments (RCLLG), and have executive-level service both in the private sector (28 years) and public sector (19 years). My public career includes K-12 and federal uniformed time (USAF) where I was a Systems Acquisition Officer and civilian service as a certified Program/Project Manager.
While working fulltime, I earned a pair of associate degrees, a bachelor and master’s in business administration, am a 2011 graduate of the Federal Outreach Leadership Development program and hold federal certifications in program/project management and contracting.
I have been very active in my outreach and support to our area businesses, non-profits, education and military partners as well as residents. I’ve done ride-alongs with law enforcement and our public works crews. They’ve said how much they appreciate that.
1. Why are you running for this seat?
A special election has been called to complete the 13+ month term of an elected Commissioner who resigned after improper handling of federal funds was discovered. The County has also been warned by the state of MN after many years of misdirecting federal/state funds intended for its external family and childcare collaboratives, forcing several resignations from those boards. Lastly, the county is suing one of its member cities to break a joint powers agreement both had signed onto.
Restoring these series of ethical breaches will require a strong, experienced and ethical professional who is committed to the fullest level of accountability to the constituents of the county including residents, businesses, educational partners, non-profits and other intra-governmental agencies.
2. What is the biggest challenge facing your district and how would you address it?
The biggest challenge will be to restore the public trust resulting from the multiple breaches of public conduct described in question #2. The district also has not been adequately represented for several years. Commissioners are expected to regularly attend a broad range of events in their districts. As a recent retiree and having adult children, I am able to commit 100% of my resources to participating in district meetings and events.
3. What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing Ramsey County as a whole and how would you address it?
I do not feel the Board has been transparent enough with managing the taxpayers’ dollars. They have indicated on a number of occasions they are unable to provide a detail of even very large expenditures.
4. What would be your top three priorities if elected to the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners?
1) Re-engage the communities, businesses and organizations in District 1. I have heard many complaints and personally observed that District 1 had not been being adequately represented for many years.
2) Re-engage with the City of Arden Hills for TCAAP/Rice Creek Commons meetings and planning. You can’t just walk away from the table with tens of millions of borrowed funds accruing interest costs.
3) Engage an independent 3rd party to investigate and remediate several severe breaches of public trust in the conduct of the Board and staff. One breach resulted in the resignation of a sitting Board Commissioner and the other resulted in demands and possible legal action taken by the State of Minnesota for the County to produce a thorough accounting of federal funds which were to be distributed to family and child service collaboratives. The latter is suspected of misappropriation of funds for decades.
5. Should county government be actively involved in attracting and retaining jobs? Why or why not? If yes, please describe the role for the county in this process.
Yes. The County could/should take an active partnership in coordinating regional economic goals and plans. These are often defined in the comprehensive plans issued every decade in conjunction with the Census and consequent redistricting efforts. The solicitation of public input is vital in accurately assessing where employment is and where it is headed.
6. What role should county government play in economic development, and how should the county work with partner organizations?
Since counties the size of Ramsey delegate land use planning to the member municipalities, economic development should be the jurisdiction of those municipalities. The county should participate as a partner for inter-governmental coordination and planning such as the Ramsey County League of Local Governments.
7. What do you believe are the most essential services provided by county government?
As a unit of local government, counties typically serve as the first layer of providing social services to their constituents. Often these services are funded by federal and/or state resources. Counties are also the key repository of all vital records such as birth, death, marriage, divorce, real estate and health records.
8. Are there any services that the county does not provide that you believe it should?
Not that they aren’t provided but mental health services are acutely underdelivered. We are only just recently becoming aware of how pervasive mental health issues are at all social/economic levels.
9. Are there any services currently provided by the county that you believe should be cut back or eliminated?
Not so much eliminated but there is a need for services needing to be periodically evaluated for relevancy and accessibility. Budgetary issues most often dictate the need for cuts in services so coordination with other levels of government to avoid unnecessary duplication of services should be enacted.
10. How would you characterize the business climate in Ramsey County? What, if anything, would you do to change it?
As a mostly urban county, the current business climate is robust and diverse but economic prosperity is not being shared equitably among our diverse population. Lack of training opportunities, transportation and availability of childcare affect more minority residents disproportionately.
11. Many communities and government entities in the East Metro collaborate to provide services to their residents in an effort operate more efficiently and cost effectively. Do you believe that Ramsey County uses such partnerships appropriately, and can you identify any specific areas where more sharing of services should be used?
Our community shares a public works facility with both the county and local school district. This allows efficient leveraging of vehicle maintenance, winter road treatment supplies and utility costs. Our city crews have also gone out to assist county crews in pothole repairs.
12. In your view, what is Ramsey County’s top transportation priority and how would you advance it?
As the county’s only suburban district, public transit resources are scarce in our district. For a vibrant community dependent on multi-modal forms of transportation, regional jurisdictions such as MetCouncil provide vital planning and allocation of transporation resources.
Our municipal council continues to work effectively with other municipalities and county resources via joint powers agreements. MetCouncil has a 34 member Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) which represents a broad regional planning body for efficient utilization of metro transportation resources.
13. Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
District 1 is unique in that we have a large presence of military facilities and organizations. My wife and I are both Air Force veterans and very, very active in Beyond the Yellow Ribbon, Suburban Ramsey County (BTYR). We find our military families are often too proud to ask for help when needed so establishing closer ties to community resources available allows our servicemembers to more effectively perform their dangerous missions while deployed overseas.