Candidates for Golden Valley Mayor, City Council Meet in Forum

In the November election, Golden Valley voters will elect a mayor and two city council members. In a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters last week, candidates answered questions on a variety of issues.

One of the first questions asked to the candidates for mayor is something you might be asking too if you follow city council meetings. The current mayor, Shep Harris and his challenger, council member Steve Schmidgall align on nearly all issues. They almost always vote the same way. So, what separates them on the ballot for mayor?

“I feel like I have a style that’s more business like, as I’ve mentioned many times,” said Schmidgall. “I want to focus the city government on what I consider the mission of city government.”

“On policy areas, social justice issues is where we’ve had some collegial disagreements,” said Harris. “Areas around gun safety, immigrants rights, even some affordable housing issues.”

Candidates for City Council Answered Questions

One of the most controversial topics for a city council to discuss is often limiting the  number of trash haulers. With the city of Golden Valley expected to tackle trash later this year, council candidates did address the issue.

“It’s been very a controversial issue within our city and to be honest, right now I’m not for organized [haulers],” said Joanie Clausen, who is running for re-election to the council. “Our community is still torn and they want choice.”

“For me, it’s go back and get input and come to a decision,” said candidate Maurice Harris. “If we do decide to organize hauling, we can always go back and re-adjust. We can’t keep kicking the can.”

“Actually what comes up the most frequently for me is garbage hauling. No one is happy with the status quo,” said candidate Kimberly Sanberg. “I think we need to look at options and ways we can reduce haulers on our street. The ultimate goal is to have fewer haulers on our streets.”

“I don’t have a solution, but in my day job I’m presented with situations like this all the time,” said candidate Andy Johnson. “My ideal is to somehow find a way to make it work. There’s pros and cons.”

Learn more about the candidates

To watch a 45 second candidate statement from all of the candidates or to see the entire forum, click here.

You can find more information on voting in Golden Valley here.

To watch more stories on Golden Valley, click here.

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