Rochester mayor candidates share top priorities; Voting is Aug. 9
ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) –There are four people running for Rochester mayor.
Each candidate shared what their top priorities are if elected.
Mayor Kim Norton
“You know, when I ran initially I talked about creating safe neighborhoods with affordable housing for everyone. Good transparency in government with more community engagement. Looking at the development that we have in town and making sure that it wasn’t just good for Mayo Clinic but that it was good for the people that live here. And really looking at sustainability and energy issues. Which are near and dear to my heart. Well, we did work on those and in fact, considering the pandemic and all that’s happened the past few years, we have made progress. But there’s more we can do. My goals haven’t changed for the community.”
Britt Noser
“I see rising crime as something that I’d like to address, working with the police chief of course, who I think is doing a good job but I think with better support from city hall there might be some other things that he could do. The partisan agendas that I see. I think these are things like the diversity and equity and inclusion that came in after George Floyd. I think equality is paramount to our culture, but I think some of those things were knee-jerk reactions and that they’re going on concepts that aren’t tested and I think they become divisive. Some of the other areas are going carbonless prematurely before the technology exists, resulting in more expensive energy and more expensive cost of living for the citizens. And I’d really like to see the government focus on public safety, enforcing the laws and infrastructure.”
Brad Trahan
“Certainly public safety, and when we talk about public safety, we talk about police and fire. You know, we have a fantastic police department and fire department. I think we know that. If you talk to Chief Franklin one of the biggest concerns he has is our continuing drug problem. We want to get a grip on that. When you talk to the fire department, people don’t realize we’re going to need two new fire stations within the next 10 years. I just did a ride-along with RFD yesterday. It was a fantastic ride-along. We got great services with our public safety. The other thing is local businesses. We have to support our local businesses. When we have an opportunity within our city to support and do business with local businesses, I want to make sure they’re at the forefront. They’ve struggled the last couple of years, and frankly, the City’s not been out there to help them out and we want to make sure we’re going to get out and help those local businesses. Finally, fiscal responsibility. If we’re expected to balance our checkbooks at home, the City has to do it as well.”
Constantine “Dean” Koutsoukos
“My top priorities are addressing crime before it becomes a problem. Looking at the budget of how we can be more competitive with the rest of the country and the rest of the state. Right now we’re quite a bit higher on our rates than the rest of them. And just looking at DMC as on how we can change/how that goes so we can deal with the tax rates.”
Voting is on Aug. 9. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Click here to find your polling place. People who are not registered to vote can register on election day.
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