Sue Majerus
Name: Sue Majerus
Public Office Sought: Falcon Heights City Council
Campaign Phone: None
Campaign Website: https://votemajerus.org
Twitter Handle: none
Facebook: Vote4majerus
Candidate Bio
Served several years on the Falcon Heights Neighborhood Commission and participated in active training for CERT and am currently on the communication team.
I actively participate in many city meetings and events such as: surveys, community gardens, community park, Ramsey County Sheriff report, CARES funding, neighbor’s street signs, fire department and many, many more. I attend meetings, research topics, ask questions, contribute to discussions, and weigh in with my opinions.
I am an accomplished Business Analyst for Ramsey County for many years. Documented the current state and future state of many business processes. Many of those skills have benefited my volunteering and responding to city issues. Education: BA in Public Administration with many certifications related to business process improvement.
Volunteer
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
How would you characterize the business climate in Falcon Heights and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
We don’t have the landscape with vacant property to build upon, but we can surely transform current property. We have a large area of nonprofit organizations such as the Minnesota State Fair and University of Minnesota.
Falcon Heights is one of the nine cities that are part of Nine North cable Commission but isn’t linked to the organization Twin Cities Metro Chamber of Commerce like other cities.
Nine North provides a program called Chamber check in and my goal is to bring visibility to that organization and link with the Falcon Heights businesses. In turn that would provide networking between businesses, and increased involvement and knowledge of the community. The businesses in Falcon Heights provides key services such as housing, food, medical, banking, rental, delivery, gas and may more that have a direct link and effect on our community qualify of life.
Our city has a large, large volume of traffic passing thru Snelling and Larpenteur and we need to put out the welcome mat to 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, Falcon Heights?
As to the city attracting and retaining jobs the city and the community has an impact by having an inclusive and caring community and a place where people want to live, work, and play. My steps to solicit new businesses is to first link the existing businesses to Twin Cities Metro Chamber of Commerce and with that visibility brings communication and networking, which in turn will bring awareness and bring in new businesses. We can link them to the Secretary of State that has information on how to start a new business. To retain the business, we need to hear from existing business and understand their concerns and issues or stumbling blocks that we might not be aware of. How we treat the existing business has a direct reflection of bringing in and encouraging new businesses.
Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in Falcon Heights (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 Falcon Heights and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
Surely larger cities like St. Paul propose employment related ordinances, but I believe these ordinances shouldn’t be exclusive to an individual City, but by County and or State, so we don’t create solos. When ordinances are published the city council should review and could be on record to support.
What are your strategies to address public safety, housing, and transportation issues facing your community?
We contract out for our public safety services of Police, Fire and Emergency Management Services. In 2022 we will need a new contract for police services. With shared or contract services it’s important that we have a clear expectation of services, approach, clearly defined measurements, and means to red flag any incidents that need to be addressed.
Housing – Our City has a large volume of rental housing, and we are in the development stage of increasing our affordable housing. We need to determine a communication means to include the renters in our community communication and networking.
Transportation- We are very fortunate to be part of the MET council solution and have the A business line that runs on Snelling that links to massive transportation opportunity. We have bus lines that link to the border communities of St. Paul and Roseville. As a city we need to continue to embrace transportation. As new technology comes to the forefront like electric cars we need to provide charging stations.
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
To eliminate any need to levy the taxes to the taxpayers by acquiring grants and other funding for projects.
What will you do to expand Falcon Heights’ tax base?
It’s difficult since we have a large volume of nonprofit and limited new development but would be interested in researching and learning what other cities the same size and demographics achieve and learn from their successes.
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 are enhanced with the University of Minnesota located in Falcon Heights and being part of the school district 623. We welcome communications, networking, and awareness with the institutes, and they are part of our community.
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 am not aware of any services that we can cut back, but we need to review our services and processes to add efficiency and effectiveness. There could be opportunities to change procedures that align to policy’s based on the community needs and wants.
A stakeholder map would be a great means to clearly visualize our shared services and define a means to review and evaluate the services from the customer experience.
What is the role of the City Council in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in Falcon Heights?
I surely support minority and women owned businesses, but the city’s role is to ensure inclusiveness and fairness to all, but there could be situations where the city is need of services or products and includes that they need to demonstrate they are minority or women owned businesses.
What further policies can Falcon Heights adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Definity support local business by purchasing products and services and follow the State health guidelines. We know we still have a long road ahead of us so any networking between businesses is important and connection with the Twin Cities Metro Chamber of Commerce will give them tools and support.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
Let’s together define what we want to build in Falcon Heights and what do we want to define as individuals. Continue to make Falcon Heights a great place to live, work and play.
Public Office Sought: Falcon Heights City Council
Campaign Phone: None
Campaign Website: https://votemajerus.org
Twitter Handle: none
Facebook: Vote4majerus
Candidate Bio
Served several years on the Falcon Heights Neighborhood Commission and participated in active training for CERT and am currently on the communication team.
I actively participate in many city meetings and events such as: surveys, community gardens, community park, Ramsey County Sheriff report, CARES funding, neighbor’s street signs, fire department and many, many more. I attend meetings, research topics, ask questions, contribute to discussions, and weigh in with my opinions.
I am an accomplished Business Analyst for Ramsey County for many years. Documented the current state and future state of many business processes. Many of those skills have benefited my volunteering and responding to city issues. Education: BA in Public Administration with many certifications related to business process improvement.
Volunteer
- Nine North (Cable Commission), Vice Chair representing Falcon Heights May 2016 to present.
- Como Falcon Heights Block Nurse Program July 2020 to present. I setup and train seniors in the community on technical devices to provide them with a communication and socialization tool during COVID and into the future. Board member since August 2021.
- Ramsey County Charter Commission At Large. January 2020 to present.
- Creator of Old Falcon Heights Facebook page March 2021 to present
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
- Transparency of information, data, and decision making
- Process oriented and include all the stakeholders
- Balance budget
How would you characterize the business climate in Falcon Heights and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
We don’t have the landscape with vacant property to build upon, but we can surely transform current property. We have a large area of nonprofit organizations such as the Minnesota State Fair and University of Minnesota.
Falcon Heights is one of the nine cities that are part of Nine North cable Commission but isn’t linked to the organization Twin Cities Metro Chamber of Commerce like other cities.
Nine North provides a program called Chamber check in and my goal is to bring visibility to that organization and link with the Falcon Heights businesses. In turn that would provide networking between businesses, and increased involvement and knowledge of the community. The businesses in Falcon Heights provides key services such as housing, food, medical, banking, rental, delivery, gas and may more that have a direct link and effect on our community qualify of life.
Our city has a large, large volume of traffic passing thru Snelling and Larpenteur and we need to put out the welcome mat to 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, Falcon Heights?
As to the city attracting and retaining jobs the city and the community has an impact by having an inclusive and caring community and a place where people want to live, work, and play. My steps to solicit new businesses is to first link the existing businesses to Twin Cities Metro Chamber of Commerce and with that visibility brings communication and networking, which in turn will bring awareness and bring in new businesses. We can link them to the Secretary of State that has information on how to start a new business. To retain the business, we need to hear from existing business and understand their concerns and issues or stumbling blocks that we might not be aware of. How we treat the existing business has a direct reflection of bringing in and encouraging new businesses.
Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in Falcon Heights (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 Falcon Heights and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
Surely larger cities like St. Paul propose employment related ordinances, but I believe these ordinances shouldn’t be exclusive to an individual City, but by County and or State, so we don’t create solos. When ordinances are published the city council should review and could be on record to support.
What are your strategies to address public safety, housing, and transportation issues facing your community?
We contract out for our public safety services of Police, Fire and Emergency Management Services. In 2022 we will need a new contract for police services. With shared or contract services it’s important that we have a clear expectation of services, approach, clearly defined measurements, and means to red flag any incidents that need to be addressed.
Housing – Our City has a large volume of rental housing, and we are in the development stage of increasing our affordable housing. We need to determine a communication means to include the renters in our community communication and networking.
Transportation- We are very fortunate to be part of the MET council solution and have the A business line that runs on Snelling that links to massive transportation opportunity. We have bus lines that link to the border communities of St. Paul and Roseville. As a city we need to continue to embrace transportation. As new technology comes to the forefront like electric cars we need to provide charging stations.
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
To eliminate any need to levy the taxes to the taxpayers by acquiring grants and other funding for projects.
What will you do to expand Falcon Heights’ tax base?
It’s difficult since we have a large volume of nonprofit and limited new development but would be interested in researching and learning what other cities the same size and demographics achieve and learn from their successes.
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 are enhanced with the University of Minnesota located in Falcon Heights and being part of the school district 623. We welcome communications, networking, and awareness with the institutes, and they are part of our community.
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 am not aware of any services that we can cut back, but we need to review our services and processes to add efficiency and effectiveness. There could be opportunities to change procedures that align to policy’s based on the community needs and wants.
A stakeholder map would be a great means to clearly visualize our shared services and define a means to review and evaluate the services from the customer experience.
What is the role of the City Council in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in Falcon Heights?
I surely support minority and women owned businesses, but the city’s role is to ensure inclusiveness and fairness to all, but there could be situations where the city is need of services or products and includes that they need to demonstrate they are minority or women owned businesses.
What further policies can Falcon Heights adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Definity support local business by purchasing products and services and follow the State health guidelines. We know we still have a long road ahead of us so any networking between businesses is important and connection with the Twin Cities Metro Chamber of Commerce will give them tools and support.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
Let’s together define what we want to build in Falcon Heights and what do we want to define as individuals. Continue to make Falcon Heights a great place to live, work and play.