Jeff Johnson, Departing Councilman, Speaks Out On Roseville's Challenges

Editor's note:  The city of Roseville is hosting a public reception for outgoing council members Jeff Johnson and Tammy Pust at 5:15 p.m. Monday (Dec. 10) at City Hall. That evening will be the last meeting for Johnson and Pust.

Pust has been on the Council since January 2006; Johnson has served on the City Council since January 2009. Neither sought re-election this year.

The following story is Johnson's reflections about his time in office.

What’s are you most proud of accomplishing on the city council?

The Capital Improvement Task Force [CIP] was really something that from my business perspective needed to be done, it was my recommendation two years ago, and we had some tough things for the community to swallow, but it was really the only way to make sure that Roseville was sustainable going forward. There were some real shortfalls and some things that had been left unattended—it kind of falls under the guise of keeping taxes down—and I think we’re leaving this city in a much better situation.

Was there anything that surprised you or that you didn’t expect about serving on the council?

I don’t know that there were any surprises. I’ve been in Roseville long enough to know the political base that is here. Things are what they are, and I guess nothing that’s too shocking. Maybe that’s a good thing.

What are your plans after leaving the council?

I have some ideas in mind that I’m pursuing right now, but I just can’t discuss it at this moment. I’m getting my ducks in a row, and my wife has to be absolutely on board before I even start talking about things, [but] it’s public sector [I’m looking at]. I may even come back in a couple years and run for city council, who knows, but at this point it just seemed like it was time for some new blood.

I was very happy to be a part of Jason Etten’s campaign and happy to see him succeed. Although we have different perspectives on a lot of issues, I think he’s a really good thinker and I like his whole thought process. And also, I like Lisa Laliberte as well, I wholeheartedly supported her and her campaign, so I feel very comfortable stepping aside and giving those two the opportunity to serve their community.

What do you think are Roseville’s main challenges in the future?

I think the unified garbage hauling issue is going to be, uh, sticky, to say the least, and I won’t miss being a part of the council when that issue comes before the city. The most important thing to carry on is the CIP strategy to continue to invest in the community.

I think the biggest challenge in the next ten years is keeping the city vibrant and clean and up to date, so we’re attracting young urban professionals to Roseville.

A large group of our population is senior citizens, and in the next ten years I think they’ll be looking to move on and vacate their homes, and we want to make sure we have a pristine city in which those new residents can aspire The HRA is doing some wonderful things in that regard, and a big part of the capital improvement and bonding we did was to ensure that these types of things would be maintained.