|
Where I stand on key issues |
my SWCTC Candidate Profile all Candidates
Dave's answers - (R=rebuttal)
6:00 Opening Statements
8:20 1-What have you done to prepare yourself for being a Cottage Grove Council Person?
17:30 R 20:30 2-What is your stance on affordable housing options to meet the needs of the wide age ranges?
22:40 3-What are your thoughts on community funded, through Levy; etc, Community Center? Do you think it is feasible for our city to maintain?
28:50 R 34:00 4-Given there is an aging population in Cottage Grove, how would you meet their needs including inter-city transportation?
37:55 R 40:45 5-How will you work to attract businesses to Cottage Grove?
44:14 6-Will there be any farm fields remaining in Cottage Grove 10 to 15 years from now? Whatever your answer how would you prepare for that?
50:00 R 56:00 7-What do you want to accomplish as a future Cottage Grove Council member?
1:01:28 8-What are Cottage Grove priorities in regard to the water settlement? Closing Statements
1:03:40 Closing
6:00 Opening Statements
8:20 1-What have you done to prepare yourself for being a Cottage Grove Council Person?
17:30 R 20:30 2-What is your stance on affordable housing options to meet the needs of the wide age ranges?
22:40 3-What are your thoughts on community funded, through Levy; etc, Community Center? Do you think it is feasible for our city to maintain?
28:50 R 34:00 4-Given there is an aging population in Cottage Grove, how would you meet their needs including inter-city transportation?
37:55 R 40:45 5-How will you work to attract businesses to Cottage Grove?
44:14 6-Will there be any farm fields remaining in Cottage Grove 10 to 15 years from now? Whatever your answer how would you prepare for that?
50:00 R 56:00 7-What do you want to accomplish as a future Cottage Grove Council member?
1:01:28 8-What are Cottage Grove priorities in regard to the water settlement? Closing Statements
1:03:40 Closing
2018 SWCTC Candidate Profile Video
(video will be here Oct 15th - content - )
Hi I'm Dave Thiede
Thanks to the SWCTC for the opportunity to let me speak to all of you again.
As I said in the past, I love Cottage Grove and I like contributing my time to help the community and I believe with my background in engineering, finance and operations management and my experience with the city, that the City Council is the best place for me to do this.
We have had some amazing accomplishments in the past few years and there are some existing projects and new projects coming along that I would really like to continue working on for you, so I would be very appreciative of your support.
Through proper timing of investment, we have added the Public Safety/City Hall building and the new Fire Station so that our greatest asset, employees, can provide you, our citizens, the absolute best services.
In a recent poll, 97% of the respondents said they feel safe in Cottage Grove.
We have kept the budget, and more importantly your property taxes in check.
We again achieved a financial A++ rating. This makes it easier and cheaper to finance projects like buildings and roads.
We completed an AUAR that makes our industrial sites "shovel ready" and a Business Retention and Expansion program where 41 of our businesses participated.
In just the last 4 years we had 5 of our industrial businesses expand and three new ones come in and we had over $400M in development investment in our community.
We finally got Home Depot and the Developer and other businesses to come to agreement on the commercial contract. Getting HyVee to come to our community was a major step toward doing that and we had to make some creative decisions to get it done.
We are reaching out to the residents to get as many of you involved in making this city great. In 2016, a community visioning project called My Future Cottage Grove was begun. More than 3,700 comments were received from residents and task forces were created.
One of the keys issues for the next few years is WATER. We received awards and speaking engagements on how well we performed in this crisis.
The state’s primary goal for the settlement money is to provide safe drinking water and the second goal is to enhance natural resources.
We are well positioned on the Government and 3M Work Groups.
I think we are moving in the right direction in making Cottage Grove the largest SMALL city in the metro.
I want your support and would be honored if you put your confidence in me again .
Thanks for your support and have a GREAT day.
(video will be here Oct 15th - content - )
Hi I'm Dave Thiede
Thanks to the SWCTC for the opportunity to let me speak to all of you again.
As I said in the past, I love Cottage Grove and I like contributing my time to help the community and I believe with my background in engineering, finance and operations management and my experience with the city, that the City Council is the best place for me to do this.
We have had some amazing accomplishments in the past few years and there are some existing projects and new projects coming along that I would really like to continue working on for you, so I would be very appreciative of your support.
Through proper timing of investment, we have added the Public Safety/City Hall building and the new Fire Station so that our greatest asset, employees, can provide you, our citizens, the absolute best services.
In a recent poll, 97% of the respondents said they feel safe in Cottage Grove.
We have kept the budget, and more importantly your property taxes in check.
- In 2019 83% of you should see reductions in the City portion of your Property tax
- In 2017 we lowered actual taxes per capita by 1% while increasing revenue in other ways by 15.2%.
- At the same time, we lowered our expenses by 12%.
- In 2016 our property taxes were 14% lower than similar sized cities in MN
- Our Tax Extension Rate for 2019 is actually lower than 2011.
- Adding TAX BASE with new homes and businesses increases the amount of money we have to spend on amenities while minimizing increases in your individual taxes - creating greater VALUE.
We again achieved a financial A++ rating. This makes it easier and cheaper to finance projects like buildings and roads.
We completed an AUAR that makes our industrial sites "shovel ready" and a Business Retention and Expansion program where 41 of our businesses participated.
In just the last 4 years we had 5 of our industrial businesses expand and three new ones come in and we had over $400M in development investment in our community.
We finally got Home Depot and the Developer and other businesses to come to agreement on the commercial contract. Getting HyVee to come to our community was a major step toward doing that and we had to make some creative decisions to get it done.
We are reaching out to the residents to get as many of you involved in making this city great. In 2016, a community visioning project called My Future Cottage Grove was begun. More than 3,700 comments were received from residents and task forces were created.
One of the keys issues for the next few years is WATER. We received awards and speaking engagements on how well we performed in this crisis.
The state’s primary goal for the settlement money is to provide safe drinking water and the second goal is to enhance natural resources.
We are well positioned on the Government and 3M Work Groups.
I think we are moving in the right direction in making Cottage Grove the largest SMALL city in the metro.
I want your support and would be honored if you put your confidence in me again .
Thanks for your support and have a GREAT day.
SWC Bulletin Candidate Profile
On Tue, Sep 25, 2018 at 2:09 PM Katie Nelson <knelson@rivertowns.net> wrote:
The Bulletin is asking each candidate for Cottage Grove city council to fill out this questionnaire. Your responses will be published as part of our coverage ahead of the Nov. 6 election.
Each candidate is allowed to use a total of 350 words for your responses. You can divide that up among the questions as you wish.
Your questionnaire and completed biography information (see below) must be returned no later than Oct. 1.
If you would like to submit a new headshot, please attach it along with your answers.
If you have any questions or concerns about the questionnaire, please contact me at 651-319-4510 or Regional Editor Jake Pfeifer at jpfeifer@rivertowns.net.
Biography information:
Name: Dave Thiede
Occupation: Account Manager for ProActive Solutions (Enterprise IT) and Consultant for Assembly Partners (Operations Assist for young tech companies)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidthiede/
Education: BS Industrial Engineering MBA Finance
Family: wife - Cindy, Matt, Dan (Jennifer, Owen), Sarah (Rilee)
1. Why are you seeking election?
Because I enjoy making our City a better place to live and I enjoy working with development and future planning.
2. What skills and qualifications would you bring to public office?
I like contributing my time to help the community and I believe with my background in engineering, finance and operations management and my experience with the city, that the City Council is the best place for me to do this and I have 8 yrs of experience on the Council and helped get us where we are today.
3. What does the city need to do to ensure all Cottage Grove residents have safe drinking water?
Last year the MDH reduced the permissible level of PFCs in half making some of our wells nonconforming. To fix that we needed to install filtering systems into wells 3 and 10.
The 3M Co. paid $850 million to settle a lawsuit claiming damage to the environment from perfluorochemicals, or PFCs, that the company legally put into dump sites ending in the 1970s.
We are participating on the Government and 3M Work Group (Charlene/Jennifer). We also have people on the Drinking water sub group, which has yet to meet…Ryan Burfiend/Jennifer. And the Groundwater recharge - which also has not met – Nate Estrum/Ryan
The state’s primary goal for the settlement money is to provide safe drinking water, primarily in Washington County communities, and the second goal is to enhance natural resources in the east metro, or downstream in the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers.
The groups will make recommendations to the PCA and the Department of Natural Resources in 2020. Then officials will make the final selections and construction will begin.
The timetable includes:
• A startup phase through December, in which the two panels learn about the polluting chemicals, the scope of the pollution, and other background information.
• A planning phase in 2019 when the groups will develop a “conceptual plan.”
• An implementation phase starting in 2020, when some projects will start and the groups will monitor their progress.
In addition, three subgroups will meet to study the proposals. The subgroups’ starts are staggered, beginning this fall, in spring 2019 and in fall 2019.
We won the following awards:
1. American Public Works Association Minnesota Chapter – Project of the Year
2. City Engineers Association of Minnesota Project of the Year – Special Recognition
3. ACEC of Minnesota – Honor Award
We have had the privilege to present at the American Water Works Association (AWWA) to highlight for professionals in the industry our treatment efforts for PFCs. We also presented at the APWA Underground Utility Construction Inspector School (UUCIS). We have been asked to speak at the DNR’s North and East Groundwater Management meeting in October, to outline our treatment facilities.
4. Is the city doing enough to attract affordable and life-cycle housing? YES
With additions to Presbyterian Homes and the building of the Legends we have added considerably to life-cycle housing. We have worked to have developers to put in more patio homes, villas, duplexes and quads. We have other developers that have proposals for 174 units of market rate housing by the old Majestic Ballroom in Langdon area and ~150 units at the site of the old City Hall. We are continuing to address the needs of an aging demographic and ensuring we have homes in all ranges of affordability.
On Tue, Sep 25, 2018 at 2:09 PM Katie Nelson <knelson@rivertowns.net> wrote:
The Bulletin is asking each candidate for Cottage Grove city council to fill out this questionnaire. Your responses will be published as part of our coverage ahead of the Nov. 6 election.
Each candidate is allowed to use a total of 350 words for your responses. You can divide that up among the questions as you wish.
Your questionnaire and completed biography information (see below) must be returned no later than Oct. 1.
If you would like to submit a new headshot, please attach it along with your answers.
If you have any questions or concerns about the questionnaire, please contact me at 651-319-4510 or Regional Editor Jake Pfeifer at jpfeifer@rivertowns.net.
Biography information:
Name: Dave Thiede
Occupation: Account Manager for ProActive Solutions (Enterprise IT) and Consultant for Assembly Partners (Operations Assist for young tech companies)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidthiede/
Education: BS Industrial Engineering MBA Finance
Family: wife - Cindy, Matt, Dan (Jennifer, Owen), Sarah (Rilee)
1. Why are you seeking election?
Because I enjoy making our City a better place to live and I enjoy working with development and future planning.
2. What skills and qualifications would you bring to public office?
I like contributing my time to help the community and I believe with my background in engineering, finance and operations management and my experience with the city, that the City Council is the best place for me to do this and I have 8 yrs of experience on the Council and helped get us where we are today.
3. What does the city need to do to ensure all Cottage Grove residents have safe drinking water?
Last year the MDH reduced the permissible level of PFCs in half making some of our wells nonconforming. To fix that we needed to install filtering systems into wells 3 and 10.
The 3M Co. paid $850 million to settle a lawsuit claiming damage to the environment from perfluorochemicals, or PFCs, that the company legally put into dump sites ending in the 1970s.
We are participating on the Government and 3M Work Group (Charlene/Jennifer). We also have people on the Drinking water sub group, which has yet to meet…Ryan Burfiend/Jennifer. And the Groundwater recharge - which also has not met – Nate Estrum/Ryan
The state’s primary goal for the settlement money is to provide safe drinking water, primarily in Washington County communities, and the second goal is to enhance natural resources in the east metro, or downstream in the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers.
The groups will make recommendations to the PCA and the Department of Natural Resources in 2020. Then officials will make the final selections and construction will begin.
The timetable includes:
• A startup phase through December, in which the two panels learn about the polluting chemicals, the scope of the pollution, and other background information.
• A planning phase in 2019 when the groups will develop a “conceptual plan.”
• An implementation phase starting in 2020, when some projects will start and the groups will monitor their progress.
In addition, three subgroups will meet to study the proposals. The subgroups’ starts are staggered, beginning this fall, in spring 2019 and in fall 2019.
We won the following awards:
1. American Public Works Association Minnesota Chapter – Project of the Year
2. City Engineers Association of Minnesota Project of the Year – Special Recognition
3. ACEC of Minnesota – Honor Award
We have had the privilege to present at the American Water Works Association (AWWA) to highlight for professionals in the industry our treatment efforts for PFCs. We also presented at the APWA Underground Utility Construction Inspector School (UUCIS). We have been asked to speak at the DNR’s North and East Groundwater Management meeting in October, to outline our treatment facilities.
4. Is the city doing enough to attract affordable and life-cycle housing? YES
With additions to Presbyterian Homes and the building of the Legends we have added considerably to life-cycle housing. We have worked to have developers to put in more patio homes, villas, duplexes and quads. We have other developers that have proposals for 174 units of market rate housing by the old Majestic Ballroom in Langdon area and ~150 units at the site of the old City Hall. We are continuing to address the needs of an aging demographic and ensuring we have homes in all ranges of affordability.
Healthiest Market in MN - Stats
As many of you know I like supported statistics. Being the "Healthiest Market in MN" is great as long as we know the basis for the assertion. So the data that SmartAsset used is from 2016 and came from the US Census Bureau and Zillow. The validity of the info seems very good and it validates the efforts that we have been working on to make housing affordable and available. Making the Community a desirable place to live factors positively into all the measures they collected. While growth is great we also look to make sure we do not grow beyond our capability to provide effective services. All of this adds up to greater VALUE that the current Council and Staff have been working on for you. You can see more detail on this data for MN at my website www.VOTEforDAVE.info and the data for the US at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-calculator#minnesota
Methodology
A healthy housing market is both stable and affordable; homeowners in a healthy market should be able to easily sell their homes, with a low risk of losing money over the long run. So, in order to find the healthiest housing markets in the country, we considered the following four factors: stability, affordability, fluidity and risk of loss.
We measured stability with two equally weighted indicators: the number of years people remain in their homes and the percentage of homeowners with negative equity (as homeowners with negative equity are more likely to go into foreclosure). To account for our second factor, risk, we used the percentage of homes that decreased in value. To determine housing market fluidity, we looked at data on the average time a for-sale home in each area spends on the market—the longer it takes to sell, the less fluid the market. Finally, we calculated affordability as the monthly cost of owning a home as a percentage of household income in each county and city.
Affordability accounted for 40% of the housing health index, while each of the other three factors accounted for 20%. When data on the above four factors was unavailable for cities, we excluded these from our final rankings of healthiest markets.
Sources: US Census Bureau 2016 5-Year American Community Survey, Zillow
From <https://smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-calculator#minnesota>
More detailed data:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uJ1cWs11sT-pS0Y7CAJEqXUk2XdAbF-I/view?usp=sharing
As many of you know I like supported statistics. Being the "Healthiest Market in MN" is great as long as we know the basis for the assertion. So the data that SmartAsset used is from 2016 and came from the US Census Bureau and Zillow. The validity of the info seems very good and it validates the efforts that we have been working on to make housing affordable and available. Making the Community a desirable place to live factors positively into all the measures they collected. While growth is great we also look to make sure we do not grow beyond our capability to provide effective services. All of this adds up to greater VALUE that the current Council and Staff have been working on for you. You can see more detail on this data for MN at my website www.VOTEforDAVE.info and the data for the US at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-calculator#minnesota
Methodology
A healthy housing market is both stable and affordable; homeowners in a healthy market should be able to easily sell their homes, with a low risk of losing money over the long run. So, in order to find the healthiest housing markets in the country, we considered the following four factors: stability, affordability, fluidity and risk of loss.
We measured stability with two equally weighted indicators: the number of years people remain in their homes and the percentage of homeowners with negative equity (as homeowners with negative equity are more likely to go into foreclosure). To account for our second factor, risk, we used the percentage of homes that decreased in value. To determine housing market fluidity, we looked at data on the average time a for-sale home in each area spends on the market—the longer it takes to sell, the less fluid the market. Finally, we calculated affordability as the monthly cost of owning a home as a percentage of household income in each county and city.
Affordability accounted for 40% of the housing health index, while each of the other three factors accounted for 20%. When data on the above four factors was unavailable for cities, we excluded these from our final rankings of healthiest markets.
Sources: US Census Bureau 2016 5-Year American Community Survey, Zillow
From <https://smartasset.com/mortgage/mortgage-calculator#minnesota>
More detailed data:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uJ1cWs11sT-pS0Y7CAJEqXUk2XdAbF-I/view?usp=sharing
Calculating Property Taxes
There are a variety of factors that go into determining your property tax. Tax Capacity Tax + Market Value Tax = Total Tax
https://www.co.washington.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/20544/How-to-calculate-Property-Tax-2018-F?bidId=
For the City portion of your taxes the changes in the levy go into the tax capacity of the city and your market value, determined by county assessment goes into the market Value Tax.
In our first budget meeting every year we get a chart that shows the estimated effect of the proposed city budget on the cities portion of the property tax. We look at four different actual properties around Cottage Grove and based on what we know or estimate we calculate the effect of the proposed budget on those representative properties. We keep the properties constant year over year to maintain consistency and validity in our review.
We also look at the change in Market Value for those homes as this is very important also.
Last year 3 out of the four properties decreased and this year we are seeing all four of those properties will go down based on our estimations.
There are a variety of factors that go into determining your property tax. Tax Capacity Tax + Market Value Tax = Total Tax
https://www.co.washington.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/20544/How-to-calculate-Property-Tax-2018-F?bidId=
For the City portion of your taxes the changes in the levy go into the tax capacity of the city and your market value, determined by county assessment goes into the market Value Tax.
In our first budget meeting every year we get a chart that shows the estimated effect of the proposed city budget on the cities portion of the property tax. We look at four different actual properties around Cottage Grove and based on what we know or estimate we calculate the effect of the proposed budget on those representative properties. We keep the properties constant year over year to maintain consistency and validity in our review.
We also look at the change in Market Value for those homes as this is very important also.
Last year 3 out of the four properties decreased and this year we are seeing all four of those properties will go down based on our estimations.
League of Women Voters City Council Candidate Forum
The 2014 League of Women Voters forum was Sept. 30th, 2014 at Cottage Grove City Hall. The event went well! Click play below to listen and watch my responses to the questions.
Even though this was four years ago most of it is still my focus today. I would estimate that we accomplished close to 95% of what was discussed. Here is an index for the event relative to my responses and a my current review to those responses.
0:00 Opening comments
1:25 Greatest challenges need to address over the next 10 years for CG
- Greater Value- We have kept the budget, and more importantly your property taxes in check. In 2016 our per capita property taxes were 14% lower than similar sized cities in MN (20K-100K) and in 2017 we lowered actual taxes per capita by 1% while increasing revenue in other ways by 15.2%. At the same time we lowered our per capita expenses by 12%. Adding new homes and businesses increases the amount of money we have to spend on amenities while minimizing increases in your individual taxes - creating greater VALUE.
- Business Park - Creating "shovel ready" sites that develop quick and easy, AUAR ( https://cottagegrovemn.gov/auar-business-park ), Business Retention & Expansion (BR&E) ( https://www.cottagegrovemn.gov/eda/1265-business-retention-expansion-br-e ),
- Controlled Growth and Planning - We are matching the growth to our ability to scale City services so that we keep taxes as level as possible. As noted above we have reduced per capita taxes while reducing spending and increased revenue thru other means.
- We are preparing the the 2040 Comprehensive Plan for the Met Council and, of course, us. I am invested in the project and would really like to continue planning on implementing it.
2:35 What qualifications do I bring to the Council
I have excellent professional and personal skills that have been and will continue to be beneficial to the citizens of Cottage Grove, the City and the Council, including engineering, finance, budget mgmt and organizational & group facilitation skills.
3:45 Would I support a partnership with the YMCA at the Home Depot
We have not engaged with the YMCA yet but Home Depot is resolved and there will be a fitness center in the Gateway North. We have created a new Community Center Task Force and are working with the new library group and are open to working with the YMCA on it.
4:55 Do I support the HERO Center - Groundbreaking this fall.
6:10 What criteria is needed to balance taxes and infrastructure investment
Controlled Growth and Planning - We are matching the growth to our ability to scale City services so that we keep taxes as level as possible. As noted above we have reduced per capita taxes while reducing spending and increased revenue thru other means.
7:10 What Planning is needed for Road Maintenance
We do an excellent job with planned maint for roads and such. We have improved some of our methods for determining how much work is needed on a certain area when it comes due for maint. While some may think otherwise we do not blindly tear up roads that don't need to be refurbished.
8:13 Economic Development
The upper east ravine area is developing nicely - close to our east ravine plan. We have Gateway North area refilling. With the AUAR we are prepared and reaching out to new businesses. We have done some excellent Marketing - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zB2pQ5d_MM4TaZk4Qq4S1-vhEDoPkl63
9:28 Supporting Public Safety
Besides the new Public Safety/City Hall building we have also built the new Fire Station at opportune times that saved a lot of money and prepared us for growth in the future and we managed finances properly to maintain our A++ rating so that we've done great selling bonds with low interest.
10:30 Homelessness in CG
With organizations like Beyond the Yellow Ribbon and County Services and citizens working together we have relatively little homelessness. We still have people in need though.
11:45 Water Usage
Well we never expected the MPCA to cut the safe limits of PFC's in half at the beginning of the summer of 2017 but we reacted and made it conform to the new standards quickly - not without some frustration from folks though. We are continuing to follow through and work with neighboring communities to create a permanent solution for water treatment. We did get awards - https://www.cottagegrovemn.gov/administration/communication/news-releases-list/1539-cottage-grove-receives-awards-from-acec-mn-and-ceam-for-interim-water-treatment-facilities
13:00 Taxes - alternatives for raising money
see below
14:21 Working with people with different views
15:20 Closing
You can also send a donation to Citizens for Dave Thiede, 7393 Hidden Valley Trl S, Cottage Grove MN 55016.
THIS SITE PAID FOR BY CITIZENS FOR DAVE THIEDE
