On Sept. 19, the North 65 Chamber of Commerce and Cambridge-Isanti Community Education held a special candidate forum for those running for Isanti City Council and Cambridge-Isanti School Board.
Each group was asked two questions and asked to give a short response. In addition, audience members were also allowed to ask questions of the candidates.
Isanti City Council candidates:
Question 1: What are the top two issues facing Isanti, and what experience and skills do you bring to the table when addressing these issues?
Question 2: How will you gather information from people and businesses in our community?
Candidate
Ross Lorinser
Question 1: “The first one is finances, from the city budget to all other aspects of our budget. One of my big things is I say I want to spend wisely. My next hot button topic is economic development. I have a 13-year career in law enforcement and I understand city business, and I am a city council member.”
Question 2: “Bottom line is I am accessible; I am online, I respond to Facebook messages, and my phone number is listed for people to call me. Sometimes we have to make decisions in the best interest in the community.”
Candidate
Steve Lundeen
Question 1: “I have kind of three top issues. The first is controlling cost of our budget, and staying in that budget. Second is finding businesses to move to Isanti and create jobs. This creates a larger tax base. I have been on the City Council for six years. I own my own business and ran my own budget.”
Question 2: “It doesn’t sound like I talk a lot, but I consider myself a people person. I make myself available. If I can’t answer your question, I will research it and find out why.”
Cambridge-Isanti School Board candidates:
Question 1: What in your opinion are the two most important challenges facing the Cambridge-Isanti School district?
Question 2: How would you engage members of our community in conversations about the direction of our schools?
Candidate
Gary Hawkins
Question 1: “This may be surprising, but it is the budget. Each year other schools get much more than Cambridge-Isanti gets. The second one is security for our schools. There are crazy people out there who want to get in and start trouble. In the event the school is attacked it should be secure.”
Question 2: “The community values the school, parents can use PTO to find out what is going on, and the newspaper has information published, and a community calendar. The kids come in and we talk about what is going on, and it is very positive that they want to know what is happening in their school.”
Candidate
Carri Levitski
Question 1: “While there are many challenges, funding is always a challenge. The state must continue its work to value education as a priority. Another concern I have heard is a larger classroom size. A friend’s son of mine is in class with 25 students, and that is just too many.”
Question 2: “I was lucky to be a part of the strategic planning committee. Getting involved takes commitment. Having forums about specific topics, and online surveys are a great way to reach parents. Also we need to reach out and pull in the community to get them involved.”
Candidate
Nate Reibel
Question 1: “First one I would say is budgeting and maintaining the current programs we have. Try to prioritize what programs we keep and what we cut back. What is giving the students the best advantage?”
Question 2: “Our communications department, I think, is top notch, the parent groups around the schools, it’s a great way to put the district out there. The teachers are doing a great job as far as telling the kids. We feel like we are part of what is going on here every day, and we need to keep the transparency open.”
Candidate
Heidi Sprandel
Question 1: “Always the funding, making sure that we are getting fair funding compared to the districts in the cities. Also to make sure that every student graduates where they are college, career, and life ready.”
Question 2: “Still continuing the strategic plan, being able to get the community involved and have a student rep there, and business reps, it’s a great way to get people more interested. We need to see what the community wants from us.”
Candidate Brian Sturdevant was unable to attend the forum due to an illness, but provided responses to the two questions given in advance.
Question on 1: “I think financial responsibility is one of the most important challenges for any district. Everyone wants the best education possible for the kids, but at the same time citizens do not like seeing a levy increase year after year. Secondly, I think the district could do a better job of communicating with parents, students, and other citizens, especially when issues arise on social media. I watched the school bus video issue blow up over the weekend and many of the comments were angry about calling various places and not being able to get any answers. I think an acknowledgment that the issue was known and was being looked into could have calmed the storm.”
Question 2: “If elected I will create a Facebook page where anyone in the community can contact me, along with having my email and phone number readily available. My phone is always on and connected to all three channels.”
Candidate
Gretchen Yagow
Question 1: “What I am hearing from my daughter is that the district is doing a great job with children. I think they have done a good job keeping up with classroom size, but I as a parent want know when things are coming up. The second one is about equity issues. It is important to me that we can meet the needs of all children.”
Question 2: “There is a couple things I believe would be very beneficial, I think the idea of strategic planning is important to keep it very focused. The people running the cities need support from the school district and see what people need. The inclusion of businesses with the school district is very important to bring the people into the schools.”
