##VIDEO ID:g29hKKVk4mE## I can the microphone's just having on okay you could I don't know K can I behave Julie with that smile she's happy all right if anyone has any um questions for the city council please make sure that you get them to one of the gfwc ladies so that we can check them over I just want to reiterate this forum is not a debate but an opportunity to meet the candidates and hear how they stand on various subjects or concerns city council the candidates for city council are running for the 2-year term excuse me for the two fouryear term openings please understand there is also one 2year term opening that does require a right in vote at this time we would like to have each candidate introduce themselves and please verify if you would be willing to be a write in for the 2-year term if you would someone would grab a microphone and please if Miranda if you could start I'm Miranda bow I uh have been in L my entire life um [Music] I'm um I work for the county um in Gord so and I don't plan uh this is my RO and and I would uh appreciate being on the city council hello I'm Chris tangis I recently moved to the area six years ago and I've seen a lot of changes uh I work for nutrient EG Solutions I love the community that I've grown to uh live in and I hope that you guys can listen to what everybody says up here and uh thank you I'm nervous I'm Mar I'm Martha Santan and I we moved to win 22 years ago I would not um be willing to be a writing candidate to answer your question for the 2-year I would like to run for the foury year um and I will wait and answer the questions when they come thank you hi I'm Brandon Nelson um born and raised in winra Minnesota I am now a subin for the post office here in town and uh just trying to see what I can do for you guys I'm Jackie FAL um I've lived in this town for over 50 years [Music] um and my current employer is gfw schools and the transportation department uh Edward sto um moved here in 1995 uh been a part of the community uh the entire time we've been around uh it was a short time we lived out in the Lafayette country area but um came to love this community and and what we what it has uh grown to be uh my wife and I own a small business in town Jen's cafe not a plug or anything but the uh so that's who I am I guess yes you are hello everybody my name is Bobby Paulson um I would be interested in the write in um a WR in for the four or the uh two-year term uh my wife and I and our family moved here eight years ago so compared to everybody else I'm very new um and to be 100% honest we moved here with the intention of living here until our kids graduated and then we wanted to move up north cuz I want to live by the Northshore and uh it didn't take long before we decided this was our forever home and we really liked this really loved the community um and our kids have uh uh I guess with a plug my daughter was Miss win a couple years ago so there was that um and then we are also small business owners in town so thank you everybody for listening so we have three established questions to start off the Forum and after each question each candidate will have an opportunity to response with a 2-minute limit again you will get a 10-minute warning in the back if you were close you also have an alarm that will go off if you go over your two-minute warning so first question what motivated you to run for office I was motivated um after I was approached by multiple community members um I've they've been on me a couple for a couple years at please run and and now I um I know that I can give the community the time that needs um where prior I was wasn't sure with this being is very busy um I I want to I want to watch the town to continue to positively grow um get a new set of eyes a younger set of eyes on the city council and give it my best shot to keep this uh this city fing I also would be a candidate for the twoe right in I forgot to bring that up earlier because I was so nervous uh so what motived me to run for a city council was to better understand the small community that I live in now I've lived in Minneapolis I've lived in New Alm I like the small City feel and I'd like to keep it that way what motivated me mostly was the people that I've met over the last six years and particularly over the last four with the dramatic changes that have taken place I think there's a lot of room for discussion and future projects going [Music] forward quite simply what motivated me to run were the people sounds like that's a common theme here uh but in a letter to the winr news right before Farm City FunFest my husband Mark named several people he thought should consider running for city council he did not tell me that I would be one of those in the paper and the very next day uh people came into the bank and encouraged me to run um Bank customers non-bank customers and I have gotten a very as as I've been outdoor knocking and campaigning I have gotten a very um wonderful reception and it's very encouraging so and now here I am so thank you uh what motivated me to run for office is I've lived here my whole life and uh I honestly don't know what goes on in city council and I just wanted to see how I can give back to my community and see what I can do for everyone and for my family cuz we're growing a family here and we'd love to keep living here that's all what motivated made it motivated me to run for offices I've been a lifelong resident of winre and I would like to give back to this town I want winp to be an attractive in looks and affordable for residents winp has a lot of potential for the future but need to do it in the most cost effective way as possible while staying on a budget I have experience in writing grants as I wrote many grants for my previous employer thank you so I've been a public servant for most of my life um when I was 18 years old I served as a volunteer fireman in a small town in Texas uh November 1985 I enlisted in the US Army as a military policeman in 1995 my wife and I like I said moved to winth and by 97 98 somewhere in there I joined the win Ambulance Service and I've uh been a member of that there was a short time when I served in Lafayette also um as I continue to age my body says you know not necessarily that I can do the physical part of the ambulance anymore and I still feel like I need to serve our community so since I took the uh appointment for Pete's position um I think it was in March April I don't even know what it was um I uh I've learned a tremendous amount about our city and how our city operates so um that's why I'm here uh just a side note in 98 99 somewhere in there no it was later than that I did serve a four-year ter on the GF School Board as well don't you have a small business account J okay um so like I said uh you know we uh we moved to town here and and we really enjoyed it um I'm excited about the way the town is going and I've been asked why I didn't get myself on the ballot I I honestly never thought about it um until I saw some of the things that are happening downtown and and and I'm real like I said really excited how the town is going I'm excited to be able to be part of our community and I see so much potential in the things that are happening and the things that are going to happen uh in this town so it's a I'm excited about it all question number two if someone came to you with a proposal to build a new piece of public infrastructure in our city like a road a bridge Etc how would you evaluate whether or not that project was worth [Music] implementing as always you have your men dos and your your county rules and stuff like that so there's a there's a process and that's how the El or I would go about seeing if it's worth implementing to see if that's even something that we can do it's there's a lot of things whether it be you know Minnesota Minnesota laws that you have to have this far setback or stuff like that is the price over years is that going to make sense is it is it worth it and at the end of the day you know you need Community feedback you need to have all of those different things to make it to make it work you know it doesn't make sense just because somebody wants something doesn't mean necessarily that it it's going to be logical we need to logically think is this you know yeah is it road going to be make sense can it be gravel can it be that doesn't need to be T um you just that goes all back though to what the city has or the county has for rules and regulations what mindat has uh we need to think about the future as far as you know if they were tearing up the highway would this road or this bridge make sense so we can use it as a bypass down the road versus having it a long detour um so we're not losing you know business time people coming in for the businesses and different stuff like that you know make sure it makes the most sense you know and obviously I don't want to see taxes go up so we need to make sure that the price whether it be a onetime deal or if we need to budget it over a number of years it might not be that we need to you know we might need to save up and do it 5 years from now so to pigy back up what she said I I think you have to follow the processes and learn the laws and the bylaws of what you want to get accomplished also I think that most important thing is does the community want it does the community needed and does it fit in within the budget that's basically it number one is it necessary if is it absolutely necessary then if not is it compelling is there a reason why the city should get this if it is necessary or compelling how do we pay for it and number three vote does the pro project have public support let's put it to a vote thank you yeah I would say same thing is it a want or a need do we really need it and if we do need it can we afford it and is it in the yearly budget or upcoming budget that would be what I would say my name is who is all involved with the project besides the city is the county or the state who is going to benefit from this project and how I would be doing a lot of research on what the cost is to do the project as I want numbers in front ofing to see the total scope of the job as in who is paying what percent of the total cost are there any grants available for it is anything budgeted for the project of this magnitude this needs to be a very thought out decision well I found this to be a very interesting question and one that I don't think has a necessarily an ABC answer to it or one two three or a black or white answer I believe there are certain measures it need to be accomplished or it need to be looked at in All City projects um I've got three of them written down here um one of them is what benefit does the project give our city or our Citi and our citizens um and I'm just going to leave that as an open question there in your minds uh is the investment going to cost out is it going to are we going to get a return on that investment will it bring new business to town will it bring new families to town will it bring volunteers to our mergency services will it um bring families raising their children to Wi through and the third one is what is it replacing if it's replacing old dilapidated infrastructure or is it a new service the fact of the matter is the infrastructure is a vital part of our community uh of winra without good roads Parks running water Etc who's going to want to live here um we obviously infrastructure is expensive we have to do it in a cost-effective manner thank you so I hear a lot of uh the the want want and need um and I think that's a kind of a catch 22 because a need for one person is is not necessarily a need for another person so I would look at it more as the cost versus value what's it going to cost and how much value is it going to bring us is it going to bring us value through many years is it going to bring us value just at the very beginning um so I think cost value uh maybe needs to be brought up to everybody and it should be a vote it should be brought in in front of everybody and uh everything should be out in the open and and there for all all the citizens to see um but I really believe that cost versus value is more of what the way I would look at it question number three if elected what three steps would you take to put our city on a firmer Financial footing our biggest thing is I would have to start with reviewing budgets um to see what's most cost effective um there might be some things that you know I know that some somebody else might not know that you know as a cost effective thing that we can do and it kind of goes back to the catch22 thing like with the needs first WS you know and we might not want to think you know 25 years from now but it might be a need then but right now it's a want so if we need to you know start budgeting for then budgeting now for then you know whether it's you know a city project or whatever it might be and that goes back into the future planning so those are three big steps that I think they all link together and it's very important that they all go together I believe the uh biggest aspect of my eyes is to create more business opportunities for the city winr and create more jobs for the younger people in winr right now I don't see a lot of younger people working we have the grocery store we have uh Jenny's we have Hans we don't have a fun place for children or young adults to go have a job I I used to work at a turkey farm I used to work at McDonald's and we don't have benefits like that as a as a child growing up these days with the responsibility and learning how to do a budget a budget so I I my biggest thing is if you create opportunities for job growth and business growth I think the the sky is the limit well I took this literally so uh the three steps I would take is the first I would look at city jobs um which one which positions could become part time again versus full time uh second Sheriff versus police and this is not a defund the police by any means because my husband and I are very my whole family is very back the blue but I would like to look at the local police department and the money spent compared to other towns are size for example Fairfax and there are um um in Carver County specifically uh the police the local police department's contract out to the sheriff so that would be another uh second idea and a third idea is to look at um using the existing infrastructure that we have instead of building new buildings and uh going back to buying used equipment granted good used equipment but I know when Gordy was in charge he uh took a 20-year-old grader and did amazing things with it with the snow and um the last thing is we're a town of less than 1,400 people I would not be an automatic yes vote to whatever project comes along I would say first thing is just take a look at what where budget is and not spend the money foolishly that we have on budget and stay on budget and you know with the school leaving we might be losing more you know people in our town so what kind of businesses we can bring in to have people coming to see our town and keep it flourishing as years to come that's it I would look ahead as to what projects need to be done in the future and budget accordingly so it's not a large amount in the budget at one time we need to have an affordable budget and also stay we need to stay on TR with the budget and not going over the budgeted amount so there is some savings done at the same time um being on the city council I have kind of a unique perspective of this and I'd like to say first off that our uh city financial status is very healthy um proof of that is that we have an A+ credit rating um and our Enterprise funds are very healthy about a year ago the city council approved uh investing our Enterprise funds our savings accounts into a high yield account U that's helped increase the amount um in those uh funds but if there were Financial issues the first thing you have to do is look at the current budget and see what bloat is there uh then we have to eliminate that bloat lower the budget you never want to cut services but there are times when it's necessary when you have to look at that you have to make those difficult decisions and that decision is not a one person or a two person or a three person that's the city council and the city staff that make that decision look at ways to increase Revenue by bringing a larger tax base of the winter new businesses new housing raising taxes is the last thing you want to do in a community small and a small community we're winr is lucky that we have a a large population of millennial people a lot of them do work out of the city however we do have that large population but we also have a large elderly population that we need to make sure that they are taking care of as best we can um this year is evidence of that the city council we worked really really hard to make sure that our Levy increase was one of the lowest in the local area maybe even the state I'm getting the wave thank you is I the first one to get the wave I got it um so I I think a big thing is we need to bring in more business we need to bring people to our town I hear a lot of people talking about cutting this um lots of cutting lots of surviving and winr is not here to survive win's here to live we need to build winrop and we need to live in winrop um one of the ways to do that is is not for the city council to decided it's for the community the community needs to they make I call it winr money you work in winr you make wi th money and if you go to Hutchinson and new WM and spend it at Walmart you just took money out of winr and you went and took it to another town now I work in gleno so I have gleno money and I come in here and I go Lo shop locally I'm bringing gleno money into wi and if other if everybody's bringing money into winr people are going to want to put small businesses in um we have the the weda we got the city council we got winr opportunities we got all these tools that could help us bring in and they did help us a lot but that helps us bring in uh businesses in the town so I'm more of a I like the positive side of it and yes there's going to be times where you have to cut there going to be times to do all that but we really got to work on building winr and and living not just surviving all right now we have some questions for the from the audience first one what do you see for the future of the school in winth well there's a a couple different things I can see as a future for that um there's the future of it being tore down and turned into something else by a developer um which easily could be Apartments we all know that win is pretty short on you know rental properties as a whole um I would like to see that um you could we could see if it would be cost effective in any way for if the city would end up with it um in that fact of would it be a community center um stuff like that but again it goes back to is it in the budget for us to take it over is it um Is it feasible um stuff like that so that goes back to the future planning and as a whole I think you know housing would be a good thing to put there um and and see where it goes you know if we have somebody that brings brings housing in that'll that is a big tax you know as a tax uh game for us I really don't know much about what's going to happen to the the old school in W but I have do know what's happened to the one in gayer and I don't want to see that happen to the one in Wind gr whether it falls in budget or not I'd like them to do something that's beneficial for the community whether it's a community center or whether it's more cost effective just to demolish it and sell the property off to affordable housing for people to be able to afford to live in wi I know as a single person myself I cannot afford to live in wi on my own I would need a second income to be able to buy a property in this town and when I moved here six years ago I would have been able to afford it so I would see that doing whatever is in the budget for the the high school is what should best serve the community so in my in my campaigning and door knocking that has never come up so um we do have a good friend that took uh one of the schools in New Alm and uh got together with some developers and they turned it into beautiful apartments and I believe they're it's affordable housing so that would probably be my first step was to would be to look into something like that um to and then use the history of the school and try to and just keep it keep it within um I know because I I haven't been in uh the the winup high school quite a bit I know the auditorium is beautiful but I I would like to see something like that done with it um I would say we have to see what the what they want to sell for obviously first and then yeah we definitely need more apartments or living if it can be turned into living obviously you have to check to see if that's to be tore down and if you can tear it down depending on what the code is or what's in the school um or yeah rec center for the young kids and the young families that'd be nice because I know a lot of people go to new wall to the rec center down there so that would be I will say the same as Chris I don't want it to be an eyesore um it's right on the highway um and I think we need to to um get the community's input on what they would like to see um is it a feasible uh situation um is it something we have you know with you want to stay on budget but um if we can find some developers um and we need income based housing in wi um there's you know there's really nothing as far as income based housing for um our residents first and foremost you have to evaluate the uh viability of the building is it worth repairing um is it worth what is what is it worth so having said that my thoughts have always been you take from the auditorium say to the East and you keep that portion of it and you figure out how you can make that a viable Community Center um with the gymnasium with the Auditorium built part of it and then the everything to the west of that uh would be my my vision would be to to tear it down and get rid of it and then have that property developed into housing uh H front business whatever it might be um fact of the matter is we don't really know at this point what uh our options are and so it's kind of a difficult question to answer I agree with that there's there's so many variables there um but some things that you know the wck and Community Center would be great um also maybe looking into a school for uh challenge children um something that we can still use the building if it's usable um if it's not then we that obviously takes care you know other things housing an art school a really big bar I don't know there's all sorts of things you can do with a big building right but it there's too many variables really to go any further I think with that is is just uh there there's a reason that the school's not there so I'm guessing that um it would take a lot to just to get it usable so we've had several questions on this topic being on city council means interacting with our city staff and collecting information how do you see yourself interacting with staff and how will you accommodate that into your schedule we would like to start with Brandon mic um I'd say very uh I'm very open-minded very good at listening um and I'm always willing to listen and so if they have any questions or concerns I'd be there to listen and find out uh whatever the question is and give them the answer as fast as possible Jackie first and and foremost um being on the council um and dealing with staff you are not their for you are their boss um so and and you have to know what the policies and procedures are with different um depending upon what the situation is um and I am willing to listen um and not take a side I want to listen and get both sides and get all the information Martha would you repeat the question absolutely thank you being on city council means interacting with our city staff and collecting information how do you see yourself interacting with staff and how will you accommodate that into your schedule I work fulltime but I have breaks and an hour lunchtime so if I if it's something that needed to be done during the day I would uh just make a phone call and get information that way um or come up on my lunch hour I know they leave here at noon on Fridays I believe so Monday through Thursday and just email or tell telephone calls or you know I would just be willing to give information any you know any time and any way I could and so uh first off there's a chain of command in our city so we've got our our employees that report to a supervisor a supervisor that reports to a city administ rator and if if it comes to the city council then it's then I'm I'm sure hoping that it's been to those other those other two people first um as far as how do I how would I interact with them I my phone is on 24 hours a day seven days a week um I have been called at work and I answer my phone I've been called in the evenings and I answer my phone so by City staff I I have no issues whatsoever fitting them into my schedule making them a priority I would agree with him and the chain command when I was in the Marine Corps for eight years we had a Chic man and if you follow that it typically seems to work out the best um accessibility and just being able to listen to people and uh kill them with kindness you know a lot of people they come into a situation and they want to be aggressive just the easiest way to do is calm somebody down and just open your ears and listen and be respectful while doing so so my big thing is transparency everything has to be transparent and that's with the staff with the community um I I I will get an answer I've been blessed with a job that I as a manager in outside sales that if something comes up I can I do have the ability to leave and to help take care of something um but I think with transparency and and following the chain of command I don't think there's any issues that can't be handled I would agree with these guys with the chain of command obviously like like Ed stated they all have supervisors that supervisor they have a supervisor it just you keep going up um as far as availability I do have days off during the week I have days off on the weekends um I I'm I'm off at night occasionally do I get called into work absolutely um but I I would not be opposed to learning the these guys' jobs as well because how am I supposed to make a decision whether it be the right wrong or indifferent from a Community member that comes up to me if I don't know their procedures that they do throughout the day so riding along with the the the maintenance guys you know going out and doing snow removal with them and being a part of that you know I I make time for that because how am I supposed to address an issue if somebody has an issue if I don't even know what how they're how they're going to vote from next question how will you gather info to make a decision start with Brandon it's a very interesting question mat feel um it depends on what the question is um and how drastic that it needs to be answered and how fast um I've been blessed that I know lots of people in the community so I have a wide spectrum of people that I can talk to to find out the information I not know the information um and then answer the question and get the info to the people that are asking for the info Jackie can you repeat that question how will you gather information to make a decision I will um I will want to know both sides um I will gather all the information that is needed um and find out who I need to get that information from um or where I can get that information from um but you can't make a decent decision an informed decision when you don't have all Martha I'm not really sure I understand your question so um I thought we kind of answered this already um but I agree with Brandon it depends it depends on the question it depends on the context of the question I guess where I would go and get the answers from um whether it's the public whether it's somebody from the city whether it's um going back and looking at the city Charter whether it's uh asking questions of or opinions of people I respect and that know about the city um you know I would definitely do research uh before I gave my answer to whatever question it was so and I guess I would really like to know the context of the question before I can answer it um with any definite answer however I will just say that when again I have a unique perspective we get a council packet the Friday before council meeting and typically there's the pros and the cons of everything that we are going to discuss in that Council packet if I have questions I go to uh Michael ask the question he'll give me an answer if I don't like that answer then I'll go ask other people and see what the see what I learn outside of that group um I guess that's the best way I can answer it without much context there thanks so when I was in a corporate War we used to have these little Gatherings for we call them kaizon and uh it was basically a gathering of people that didn't know the situation but you got all sorts of different perspective from people that weren't actually privy to all the information and similar ilar to what a committee does but with the kaizon you bring in absolutely no knowledge you just shoot the idea out there and then hopefully you came to a solution that satisfied everybody it as they said it's a it seems like a vague question but you know you I look at I try to look at all sides everybody's aspect of it um you have to look at the rules if that's what it applies to you have to look outside the box and say you know if uh you know I've had people tell me hey this happened in town and I said okay now tell me the whole story like what happened right before that and what happened right after that and then let's see if we can come do reasoning behind it um and then you have to Deep dive into the research if necessary I mean a lot of things that people complain about is it somebody got their feelings hurt is it I mean there's so many like I said such a big question on getting your information and and where you go from it but I I think if you try to look at all sides and look outside the box every time it works out good for you [Laughter] I would say as well you have to get all you know when somebody comes up to you and asks you a question they're obvious they have a reason to be why they're asking them um dig a little deeper into what their what their perspective is and what they're wanting because sometimes that you might have a different idea in your head or something that kind of that you guys challenge each other at that point and then that could be it for the decision you know they might say well I want this because this is my idea okay Grand but why do you want that dig a little deeper into what they want and what their true meaning of their question is because it might be that the the decision that I make might be a little bit on what they what they're asking along with what is legal what is what the legal stand point of things or different things so there's a lot of things that go into that decision you know after you go through through it and just see what they what they want next question how do you feel about the city park improvements that are currently in process Brandon it's a good question um and it seems like it's getting like cleaned up I took down the old baseball um dugouts and stuff and the field clean it up um I know there's you see more kids running around having fun biking through the like through the park and uh it' be nice to see what we can do to keep it getting [Music] better Jackie first and foremost I'd like to commend the the the ladies that have done all the fundraising um for Park improvements um and get a little more information I know it's a it's great that you know we have Farm City FunFest in the park um yes we want to have a nice looking Park um so you can do things that are cost effective um and like I said before are there grants um you know I'd be willing to help write a grant um because grants have to be written with certain words um you can't just say I want this money because I want to do this you um need to get out there and um do research um and you know the wider walking path and and 80 you know the handicap assessible um you know that's all things that we're going to need Martha so this is an interesting question again because during my campaigning during my door knocking I've heard Polar Opposites on what people want with the park and while all six of our children loved going to the park and playing there it was a nice safe place to be does the park need to be clean of course do we need clean healthy bathrooms yes but do we need a splash pad I'm not sure about that um to be honest I just can't wrap my head around that one um it's fun we had uh all of our children would have friends come over and they play in their sprinklers in our yard and they probably had more fun because there wasn't cement there and they got to build little huts and play and dress up and when the city can afford it great but the spending and spending it just seems like it would just be never ending so thank you Ed sure wish I had him when I raised my seven adult children and um I'm hoping that Jacob will take advantage of what's there uh when it gets there the park is one of our greatest Assets in the city went through um and the improvements that are going on in there are um again some of them are costly that is correct is it going to bring people to our city I believe it will I believe people are going to come to that splash pad from all around um I've heard the I think it's Buffalo Lake is that is that the right one where lots of people from outside the community come into town from all around so I I do think that you're going to see a lot of uh outside families coming into the park um again as I think it was Jackie the ladies that uh are out there doing the fundraising right now for this for the park improvements um kudos to them they've they've worked really hard at it um you know and and maybe some of you don't know that some of our Park equipment is needs to be gone because it's not actually safe and it costs money so I've been coming to the uh I've been coming to the win City Park since 1975 my great grandmother was a pegle I call her pegle I know it's pagle and win but uh in new we call him pegels so uh I I love the park I love what it it gave me as a child I love what it gives the future Generations um I believe the splash splash pad is over a little over rushed I don't think they've done the infrastructure research they need to do up there for pressure and things of that nature from what I understand there was only one quote on the splash pad and I think there should be several Bobby I was thinking and not paying attention to that um I'm very excited about the park um it's bringing people in um there's more more people are going to be coming in and I'll bring it back to what I said before with cost versus value um yes there's a big cost but the value is there that it's going to be there for a long time it's going to bring families in and all of a sudden we're getting wind money right we're getting people from other towns that are coming in that don't have a splash pad that are going to go to our little shops they're going to go to our stores they're going to go to our gas station um and they're going to buy stuff all of a sudden now we got wind money coming in from other towns and in my opinion that's key um and again the group that is doing it has been amazing um very positive and I I think that's a big thing that we need right now is more positivity I'm 110% in support of the park improvements I was the chairman for the pharmacy Fun Fest for numerous years and the feedback that we always got was how beautiful our Park was um I it's no different than anything um when you open up a project then you open up new guidelines whether that be that you repave something now you have to go back to the Ada um guidelines where you need to have paths so wide or you need to have a path leading to um this bathroom or and such you know we have a we have people that have stepped up in this community and have fundraised repeatedly I've been to those fundraisers I've seen multiple of you guys with those fundraisers and with the park keep improving what what do we what do we have I mean we're as a whole you know being on Pharmacy fun FS I've had people come from all over and have told us that our celebrations in our Park are one of the nicest around so keep [Music] improving the next question is what is your opinion of the changes to the Second Street including Street scaping Bobby wow um I think Second Street is flipping amazing um and it's no secret where we opened our shop right on Second Street and I'm so excited to see what to see the final product of it um it it is uh it's going to be a a thing that people are going to come to see right I mean they're going to we got little shops there people are going to come down there they're going to see how beautiful it is the I'm excited about the park at the end that's going to be set up with all the electricities we could have uh food trucks there there's all sorts of stuff and there again this is something that you guys as citizens have to be like what can we do now we have this this is a tool that was given to us what can we do to bring people into town what can we do to have fun and to bring people into winr and get some of that Hut money in winr get some of that newal money in winup but the the the city is putting the tools right in front of us and I feel like the Citizens need to be more involved in let's get let's get Second Street people down there let's do something down there I'm right now working with the Guinness Book of World Records to try to get an event on Second Street um we are talking with some other people about doing an art show on Second Street there's so many things we'll be able to do there and it's so it's going to be so beautiful it's it's going to be great Martha and would you read the question again absolutely what is your opinion of the changes to Second Street including the streetscaping okay well since the street scaping isn't up yet it's hard to give an opinion what I think of it but from what I've heard it's going to be so I I didn't say this earlier and many of you know some don't but I work at perennial bank which is on the corners so I have great access to seeing the traffic going up and down Main Street and on Second Street and it concerns me that there are going to be trees on the corners that will block the view of people I mean I'm not sure if stop signs are in the plan uh if not then I think they should be because you know in other cities you're supposed to yield to the right but if you're coming north on Main Street Main Street is typically thought of as the primary Street and Second Street is not but you know if there's no stop sign on Second Street and you know you can't see cuz there's trees if that concerns me and also the narrowness of the roads really concerns me too people come into the bank and say so what is Second Street going to be a one way I'm like well no I don't think so um so it it's mostly the size of the streets and the size of the trucks going up and down Main Street that concern me and again I I have a great view all day long of the comings and going and it's a little scary to me sometimes Brandon yeah it definitely looks like it's going to be fancy that's for sure um it's definitely going to spruce up downtown a little bit um but my feeling my thoughts on it I feel like it wasn't ran the correct way I mean they shed to tour the whole street out all year they should have had a progression Right started there went down went down cuz I mean I even we talked about it my wife and I there sometimes you even forgot the grocery stores down there CU you couldn't is just you had to go all the way around town but uh I hope it definitely brings people in to to our town to see what we did and yeah it's definitely like I said it looks fancy and right I know there for myself so I don't forget it um well first off I don't think this is the appropriate place to have this discussion it's been discussed it's been approved it's being built so what do I think of it I am so excited my our business did not suffer it did not grow but it did not suffer um growth is painful it hurts and when we're all said and done if there's people that don't like the street not sure what you can like um I don't know if I can ask this question to Michael but I'm going to Second Street is not a truck route correct cassad a County state highway okay so um I do believe there's plenty of clearance to get between uh get two trucks side by side down there it was designed by menot uh not by anybody in the city of wire or whatever it was designed by menot so yeah that's all I'm going to say thanks just an interruption can we remind everyone to please silence their phones I didn't bring now sorry Christian I guess I'm uh it's going to be beautiful it will look great I guess my biggest concerns are it was a necessary evil uh because of the infrastructure that was over 100 years old below it had to be replaced for the benefit of the whole city um spending the money on the beautification of Second Street I'm not totally in favor with that I don't know if they need trees they're tearing the ones out in giler that they planted there six to seven years ago because they're causing issues uh and then to maintaining of the sidewalks and now the special blocks that were brought in between the trees that's going to be a cost to the community and how was that budgeted into the budget as well Jackie um I think it's going to look great um you know and and people think it's so narrow um going up Main Street by Main Street and Second Street uh I drive a bus I've met a s i on that road it's not narrow you just you you can't you know go flying up the street and that's basically the bump boats are um to kind of slow traffic down to you know so you're not out in the middle of the intersection um looking for um traffic um and I I'm excited for it to be done um because it it seems like we've had Construction for a long time and and hopefully you know once it's all finished we can build the the store or the storefronts with businesses um and you know get more people in Winter I I do like the um the downtown and how it's what what it's become um I've as far as goes the bump outs and stuff like that I've personally been in New Or and thank goodness there was Bump outs because at that point you know you could you weren't hoping to that you didn't get hit um I think it's it's going to be more pedestrian friendly um as far as Jenny's Cafe and all those go um the sidewalks are wider you can have patio seating who does not like stood outside me I mean I get it it's it's is that what it's there for maybe but we can utilize it as Bobby said you can utilize that that space for food trucks how many people go places because there's a food truck there quite a few um it's just stuff like that we can we can open up and have more events down there whether it be pull a trailer down there how many places do you go when you go to Still Water you go places do you do you remember like oh yeah that downtown was beautiful that's going to be a bu J next question what do you see as the future of the police department Jackie I personally I don't think we need to get rid of the police department look at the money we just spent on remodeling the police department um we are getting a k9 um you know you first of all is that something SI County wants to take on we need to have those numbers um in order to make an informed decision and my other concern is response time if there's something going on down by B plane and they're all down there and there's something happened in win and the Gib and Gaylord are all tied up what happens we need our Police Department Miranda as far as the police department goes we do need our Police Department um I've seen other cities that do not have police departments or are you know Staffing shortages or whatever it may be um law enforcement Andor any first responder um field right now is really struggling with numbers um as far as the police department goes we have we have a striving police department and they are wonderful um we need to keep those people here whether and that's with competitive wages I I understand that's a big thing but without that Police Department you're going to have you know your your higher response times you're going to have different different things like that um you know it all goes it kind of all goes hand in hand is civil County going to take it on well by legisl they might have to but that goes back to staff a are our staff going to go to the county now we just lost four good people to to out of this area so I think we need to we need to keep that in mind and keep our police department and appreciate everything that one each one of them guys do and I am very [Music] Pro law enforcement Emergency Services um I think I would move out of town if we close our Police Department Christian I guess I didn't fully understand the question uh do you mean are you asking if I approve of the police department or do you think it's overstaffed do you think it's underst staffed do you think it's I I guess I don't understand the question sure uh what do you see as the future of the police department I I guess since they just built the new facility I I see it staying here for quite some time I guess the only question I have is the Staffing of the police department it seems like a little Overkill I don't know the schedules I don't know the budgets so I can't actually with intelligence say that it is overstaffed or underst staffed but I know when I moved here there was four police officers and I think there are six or seven now and they're getting a k9 so no and that's why I'm saying I can't speak with intelligence so you can addd your head all you want but I I said I couldn't speak with Intelligence on the subject because I didn't typically no Bobby so I I actually reached out to um I went to school in SOA Lake and I reached out to some people I know there uh and asked them because they no longer have a police officer um and everybody I talk to hates it um even the people that get in trouble from the cops hate it that there isn't one there um I was personally I was in a situation many many years ago in Hinson where uh my oldest daughter started choking and she could read and I called the hush Police Department or called 911 the hush Police Department who everybody says are so over staffed with 21 officers or whatever they had um they were there in under two minutes and saved my daughter's life so I will never ever say or vote to not have a police department in town they are here to help us um and I think all the people that say we don't need one would feel very different if they sat there and they were holding their child limp waiting for a police officer to get there Martha just to reiterate I am not defund the police by any means I am so thankful that we do have a police department I am thankful that we have ambulance and emergency Miranda was actually on a call and our daughter rolled her uh car quite a few years ago and uh the ambulance came um I just like to look at the Staffing and the budget and I am also in favor of a police liaison at the school too I think that's a wonderful thing for the kids to see Brandon I would say I mean I don't in realistic world where would we not have police and ambulance and Fire Department I know some people dislike something about certain things but realistically everyone in this room has probably had some interaction with one good or bad you know speed iess but uh you know it just has to stay in the budget and keep them here next question what is your stance on attending local winthrip events and how have you volunteered locally in winthrip and not just in the last six months Miranda sorry as far as uh volunteering I was on the Wind of ambulance for over 10 years um I I served I right out of high school um I signed up for class uh July I graduated in June so um I actually had looked into it uh prior to that so yes I served as the wi of ambulance I was um the maintenance person for them as well um I was the on the pharmacy FunFest and also the chairman for a numerous years I was on the uh peace Luther and church uh Church Council um I'm all about community events um I think they're grand um I have volunteered on numerous things that I can't necessarily name them all because it's been quite a few um I've been a mentor for peace Luthern Church I've done um St many different things Bobby I'm still taking my notes um so when we first moved here uh one of the first first events that we went to was the uh um Christmas in the country and one thing that my my uh son said that we they should have fire pits so we went and had um those big fire pits made so those were a donation from our family so that was right away when we first moved here we like yes we want to be part of this um so you know I'm in the local band uh Eagle Lake that we play at some events I've helped with the Lion's breakfast um my daughter was Miss winr so whether I liked it or not I volunteered for all sorts of stuff that year um and then she went on to be in M County so we we volunteered for a lot of that stuff too so uh I have not even begun to volunteer yet in wi but it's coming Christian uh I've never really volunteered for anything I volunteered to grow this beard from July on to do a few houses for Santa Claus for some of the children in the area but other than that I really volunteered I I would like to volunteer more we actually did the street party neutri and helped undo the tables and bring the chairs and clean up and stuff like that and uh but I think Community giving is part of the process of city council so that's why I'm here and 20 seven years on the win ambulance I don't know if that counts um been the uh captain since 2020 um serving my crew as well as the city of win I'm on call right now so if major goes off goodbye everyone I appreciate your vote November um I don't do a lot of I don't do the festivals um there's there's enough there's enough on my plate with the ambulance the captain of the ambulance and now the city council um so I guess and working at Thea oh yeah I volunteer at the cafe too by the [Laughter] way Martha I mostly volunteer kind of behind the scenes but a couple of significant things I think is when um Zion Lutheran was first looking into uh starting God's Treasures child care I was on the board there when it first started and I was on the wi Library friends uh we when we used to do tea parties and uh with all of our girls it was great we had a great time doing that and I would volunteer at the library even um and I did worked there for a short time but I would volunteer there when I you know wasn't officially an employee there um right now I'm on the board at the lodge of winth um and then during Farm City FunFest um like I said a lot of the times it's behind the scenes so my husband and I will walk around and pick up garbage and we do that every walk we go on to we always bring bags with us and we pick up garbage when we walk around town and that's sort of volunteering um and you know we would fold up chairs after um you know a farm City FunFest after the chicken dinner and I volunteered I think two years in a row now um serving the for the chicken dinner so you again it's behind the scenes and while our children were at home um I was more focused on them and I have a little bit more time now Jackie um I have um done was on the pharmaceutic F Fest committee um years back um I am joining the gfw Boost athletic boosters um and I've also um volunteer to take admissions at the games and thankfully they've all done basketball so I hav't had to be outside um and I've volunteered for our our uh Church fundraisers um and any opportunity that I can volunteer it's always fun to uh meet new people um and you know see who's all in your community cuz you've maybe never interacted with them before Brandon well when I was in high school I Was A Boy Scout and we used to help clean up the park and anything around town with the Boy Scouts and my dad was the president of the win of game detective league so I volunteered a lot of time out there at the shoots and being and all kinds of stuff as of lately I'll be honest I haven't and that's why uh when I moved back to town a few years ago I was like well I think it's time to start seeing what I can do for my community and that's why I'm here thank you for all for joining us and for answering all of our questions we will be taking a five minute intermission there are snacks and drinks behind you and if anyone questions for the mayor please bring them to a gfwc lady [Applause]