During my eight years on the Council, the city has made great progress in many areas from financial strength to community policing. There is still much to be done, especially in terms of how we serve our community with policing and city operations to ensure justice and equity. At the same time, there are important accomplishments I am proud to have supported for our city.
As a Council member, I strive to take into consideration broad viewpoints from our residents, professional advice from our staff, and ideas from fellow Council members to come to balanced and thoughtful decisions that move our city forward.
Budgets
- Voted for budgets that made key investments to improve our service to the community, while being a good steward of taxpayer dollars.
- Voted to change how we fund our annual budget to remove the use of one-time reserve dollars for ongoing expenses.
- Voted over eight years to gradually close a $100 million gap in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) funding plan so that we are now fully-funded. The CIP supports everything from street repairs to fire trucks to new roofs on city buildings.
Community Development
- Supported new 2040 Comprehensive Plan containing guidance for land use in the city as well as goals such as improved equity in our work with the community and environmental stewardship.
- Serve as a member of the Rice-Larpenteur Alliance working to improve jobs, safety, food and services in the Rice and Larpenteur area -- a unique partnership with St. Paul, Maplewood, Ramsey County, local businesses and area residents. This has already resulted in improved streets, new sidewalks, preservation of bus service, a new park, and cross-city police collaboration.
- Supported several new affordable and market rate apartment buildings in the city providing high quality living options for families and Seniors.
- Supported new language in agreements with developers who ask for public financial support, requiring compliance with State and Federal labor laws and allowing the city to take back public finance dollars if laws have been broken.
- Supported new economic development programs to support our local business community and encourage new investments.
- Supported broader notification standards for developments and land use changes to increase community awareness of projects and create more engagement on proposals.
Environment
- Helped lead effort to add solar power to our City’s power supply. In 2019 we installed three large solar panel arrays on city campus building roofs. This renewable power, combined with solar farm purchases, will mean by the end of 2020 that approximately 40% of the City campus will be powered by solar power, dramatically reducing the City’s reliance on fossil fuels.
- Supported hiring an Environmental Specialist in Public Works to improve our care for the natural world and prepare our infrastructure for our changing environment.
- Led effort to change our development standards for tree preservation and replacement. We now have a program that more strongly encourages the preservation of mature trees and, when many trees are removed, requires more substantial replanting.
- Supported efforts to be part of the GreenStep Cities program. Roseville achieved step four in June 2020.
Parks and Recreation
- Supported new pathways and connections, allowing for safer walking and biking to parks, schools and local businesses
- Supported two new parks in areas of the city with limited access, including Unity park in South East Roseville and Midland Grove Park in South West Roseville
- Supported the new Cedarholm community building at Cedarholm golf course.
Policing and Public Safety
- Supported continued steps in the police department to implement community policing policies, including requiring all officers to take the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team training and taking steps to hire and retain officers of color. For more information see my page on Equity.
- Worked with Ramsey County Attorney John Choi to fund a full-time Roseville police officer focused on human trafficking and criminal sexual conduct.
- Supported continued investments in fire and police department staffing to ensure these essential services meet community expectations around response time, solving cases and being positively engaged with the community.