Some Promise Change, Others Pledge To Keep Things As They Are

Wednesday's debate between eight Shakopee City Council candidates highlighted two schools of thought: those who believe change is needed and those concerned that change means spending taxpayer dollars.

“There's this dream, a vision from other candidates to spend lot of money on things perhaps government shouldn't be involved in,” current city councilor and candidate  said during the debate at .

Candidate said she is running, though, because new perspective is needed.

“There’s a bit of a good old boys feeling to this community and I want to be an advocate of change,” she said.

The 90-minute debate, sponsored by the Shakopee Chamber of Commerce and moderated by Senior Pastor Rob O’Neal, featured eight of the nine declared candidates for City Council. The format allowed two candidates to answer each question, with others having limited options to add their two cents.

Other participating candidates included , , , , and . Candidate Eric Brown declined to participate. All are running to fill two seats now held by Lehman and Heitzman.

The question of how Shakopee should respond to 80 percent population growth in the last census cycle seemed to elicit some of the most passionate responses from candidates.

“We need to step up to the city we’ve become,” Whiting said, adding that developing a better economic base with “an Italian restaurant” would be a start.

Lehman had a different take.

“How do you force businesses to come here?” he asked.

He said Shakopee needs to get rid of what he called the “worst reputation” regarding regulation in the southwest metro. Reimler countered that part of a city council’s job should be finding out what businesses need in order to come to Shakopee.

“That’s where the vision should come from—the council,” he said.

When Heitzman said he didn’t believe it really mattered who Shakopee’s mayor is as long as he or she can work with the council, Reimler also was quick to disagree.

“The mayor of a city is the voice of the city who should be setting direction,” he said.

Heitzman was one who said he wants to keep tax levels low. While “some things can be done,” such as evaluations to make city staff more accountable, he said there wasn’t much new he would do if re-elected. But new ideas and concepts are the reason Pramm Badhwa said he’s running for a council seat.

“I’m not sure they (the council) are looking at the big picture,” he said.

Luce said he believes the top five city staffers are overpaid and should either take salary cuts or find other work.

“I believe the city’s under some poor management and I’d like to see that corrected,” he said.

Candidate Jay Whiting, however, said as a manager he doesn’t just fire people but knows how to work with them. 

Candidate Suresh Nair said, as someone who moved to the city in the past decade, he is part of the new Shakopee and wants to be elected to feel more connected to the community. Candidate Reimler also said he wants to bring a set of fresh eyes and passion to a council he feels is especially lacking the latter quality.

“I believe there could at least be more dialogue and not just voting,” he said.

When asked whether downtown is vibrant enough, Nair and Lehman gave completely different assessments. Nair said downtown needs improvement and suggested adding a museum, garden and play areas to attract people. Lehman, who said he’s been working on the issue for 50 years, asked why people want to redevelop an area that is privately owned.

“I’m not sure where we get this idea that downtown is ragged,” he said. “People want to make the riverfront their own personal playground.”

He then offered up the other, untouched side of the Minnesota River as a place to consider for development.

Several candidates agreed that the Shakopee Community Center can no longer adequately serve the needs of the community and that another referendum may need to come before voters to pay for expansion.

The entire forum will be televised periodically until election day Nov. 8 on Shakopee Government Access Channel 16.