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The newly created City of Stacy is holding a special election April 9. Voting is at the old Lent Township Hall, 33155 Hemingway Avenue, north and east of downtown Stacy.

Hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

The voting is for all the Stacy city council seats and a mayor.  

The mayor will serve only until the November 2024 general election and the two council seats that garner the fewer number of votes of the four on the ballot, will also expire in November 2024.  

The council seats that get the most votes will remain filled until 2026.  

There is an opportunity for early voting if you will be absent or not able to participate April 9.  Early voting is being handled by the Chisago County Auditor’s Office at the Government Center in Center City.  You may ask for a ballot during regular business hours and vote right there.  The government center is open Saturday, April 6 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Monday April 8 from 8 to 5 p.m. for in person “early” voting.

The candidates consist of former township and city precinct residents. For the special election, two candidates will be elected from Council Ward 1, which features former Stacy city residents, and two candidates will be elected from Council Ward 2, which is former Lent Township residents.

Those that filed were provided questions for our voting guide in the paper this week. We did not get answers from Ward 1 candidate Dennis Thieling or mayoral candidate Tim Berrini. 

Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name.

MAYOR

Rick Keller

Tell voters about one priority thing you believe needs immediate attention in the new territory called Stacy. And, what will you recommend as the action to address it.

The number one priority for me is adopting the Abdo study and implementing better insurance for all the employees.   I would like to see Stacy have better concerns for their employees, all of them.  Those people are taking care of us.   I feel that in many ways they are not treated as though they are important.  The action is to adopt the Abdo study with some modifications.   Start doing things to let the employees know they are important, and appreciated.

The number one priority for infrastructure is to pave Foxhill.  I was the last private contractor to grade the roads, plow the snow etc. I asked the then council some 15 years ago to pave these roads.   I was the one in Lent that did most of legwork to get most of the roads paved.  At that time we asked Stacy if they wanted to do Foxhill they did not.          

Are the tools in place and the staff prepared to handle what could be huge growth in zoning and land use issues and potential projects. Would you support bringing the county in to provide services?

The tools are in place, if we do not lose any more employees.   The staff we have is great.   They are already doing an incredible job with the transition.  Both Lent and Stacy were using Jack Kramer (excellent person, inspector), Jack cut back, not working for us anymore.  Stacy had no good option for building inspections, I got the county to come in and take over the building inspections for both Stacy and then Lent.  We at Lent had much more going on for building than did the city.  Our staff is used to handling the work.

What do you see as the biggest positive that will come from being a municipality that wasn’t possible as a township?

The annexation is the best thing to solidify the borders.  To protect the rural character of the township residents and promote growth of the city.  Wyoming and Carlos Avery hem in Stacy, the only way the city could grow was into Lent lands.   By working out a managed annexation, we saved the residents potentially millions of dollars in attorney fees.  The example of Wyoming, Wyoming Township and Chisago City.  I was told all in that cost the resident’s total some three million dollars in wasted attorney fees. 

Mark Utecht

Tell voters about one priority thing you believe needs immediate attention in the new territory called Stacy. And, what will you recommend as the action to address it.

There are many issues that will need to be addressed by the new council.  The biggest issue may be the employee pay matrix and the combination of staff in the maintenance and clerk's department.  My recommendation is that the new council undertake addressing this issue as soon as the new council is sworn in.  This will likely be done in work sessions.        

Are the tools in place and the staff prepared to handle what could be huge growth in zoning and land use issues and potential projects. Would you support bringing the county in to provide services?

It is difficult to say whether the tools are in place and the staff is prepared.  I will say that I am confident that the current staff and future council is well equipped to address issues as they come up.  Stacy does already contract with the county for building permit inspections.  We do our own zoning and land use and I see that continuing.

What do you see as the biggest positive that will come from being a municipality that wasn’t possible as a township?

The biggest positive of this combination is that it protects the former township from being annexed a piece at a time.  Eventually, the township would have been so small that it would have become impossible to effectively govern the remaining township.  The state legislature has structured the laws so that townships exist to govern land until a city wants to annex that land.  The township has very little ability to protect itself from aggressive annexation.  By combining the township with the city, our community is protected from unwanted annexation by other cities.

COUNCIL WARD 1

Tim Sawatzky

Tell voters about one priority thing you believe needs immediate attention in the new territory called Stacy. And, what will you recommend as the action to address it.

The finalization of the merged comp plan and zoning codes

Are the tools in place and the staff prepared to handle what could be huge growth in zoning and land use issues and potential projects. Would you support bringing the county in to provide services?

To answer this question truthfully, I think there would have to be future projects already lined up. I don’t think Stacy or Lent were holding each other back at all. As far as the county, Stacy already utilizes services that they offer to some extent

What do you see as the biggest positive that will come from being a municipality that wasn’t possible as a township?

The biggest positive I see is that not one more inch of Lent can be annexed now that they are a city. Stacy and Lent worked well together, and only time would have told how much more North Branch or Chisago would have annexed.

COUNCIL WARD 2

Jeff Barrett

Tell voters about one priority thing you believe needs immediate attention in the new territory called Stacy. And, what will you recommend as the action to address it.

 Safety, as always, will be critical for the new City of Stacy. The Chisago County Sheriff’s office has been very accommodating so far. Lent and Stacy have had good discussions with the Sheriff’s dept. Funding was put in place for increased patrol presence in the community during this year of transition. Budgeting for the appropriate level of police presence with the Sheriff’s office and maintaining our exceptional Fire Department are critical.

The employees of both municipalities are a valuable and crucial resource in the day-to-day operations of the city government. Lent and Stacy have worked together for many months prior to the annexation effective date to achieve a high level of utilization efficiency of both staffs. The issue that remains, is developing a common set of job descriptions along with an appropriate pay scale for all job grades. We will then need to follow through with the implementation by determining the fairest way possible to transition everyone to this new pay matrix.

Are the tools in place and the staff prepared to handle what could be huge growth in zoning and land use issues and potential projects. Would you support bringing the county in to provide services?

 The Planning and Zoning Committees of Lent and the City of Stacy, as was the case with the employee resource transition, worked in collaboration with each other ahead of the annexation to gain greater familiarity with the ordinances of each entity and to start reviewing how the comprehensive plans could merge and combine to accomplish a new comprehensive plan that encompasses all of the new City of Stacy. To that end the “new” Planning and Zoning committee has great representation from both municipalities. With that said I believe the office staff has the manpower and knowledge in place to facilitate the process of handling new business applications, and I believe the Planning and Zoning committee is capable of reviewing new requests as they are submitted.

 Last year I attended most of the County Board meetings and I believe the County is quite motivated to help and advance business opportunities in the area. I also attended the HRA-EDA meetings for  municipality Board members in the county. They are utilizing multiple strategies that will help the municipalities in various ways. When it comes to incentivizing new businesses the Tax Abatement program is quite attractive. In terms of economic impact for our communities they provide various types of assistance relating to grants and loans to housing and development. We should be taking advantage of their experience and services. I think we should continue involvement with the County HRA-EDA efforts and maintain a good relationship with the staff, as I think it will pay off in the long term.

What do you see as the biggest positive that will come from being a municipality that wasn’t possible as a township?

 On a practical level, as stated in the Orderly Annexation agreement, there is a goal to review and maximize the use of the combined assets. Hopefully the new board will use this as an opportunity to look at all aspects of how the city operates to maximize the efficiency and use of our assets and resources. 

 We have some big transition issues to address as mentioned in the earlier answers, but this annexation, or merger, could be seen more as an opportunity for a fresh start, or reset, for the City of Stacy. We should initiate some business forum meetings/surveys to gain insight with regard to what is working and what needs improvement in how the city operates to maintain a business-friendly environment. Obtaining feedback from the business community would be valuable information. This type of information should also be utilized to shape, communicate, and add to the vision for what the City of Stacy can look like in the future. 

Carolyn Cagle

Tell voters about one priority thing you believe needs immediate attention in the new territory called Stacy. And, what will you recommend as the action to address it.

There are still roads in the former Lent that need to be updated and maintained; Our road committee was diligent in inspecting the roads monthly and this was a committee of board members, maintenance and residents living in Lent. I want to continue this committee and keep on top of repairs and improvements.

Are the tools in place and the staff prepared to handle what could be huge growth in zoning and land use issues and potential projects. Would you support bringing the county in to provide services?

We combined our planning and zoning boards together early on in the process before merging in many meetings. We did an actual overlay of our ordinances with the City of Stacy's then used the Lent township format as part of the template, the Planning and Zoning members that we had and the existing City of Stacy P&Z were kept intact and joined together.

This way we did not have redundancies and also we were able as promised to keep our current zoning and ordinances the same for Lent Township residents (now ward 2). 

I personally have joined the Parks Committee and the Building Committee to ensure the upkeep and improvements on our Town Hall and the present parks in our area, plus adding much needed repairs to the current park in Stacy. These committees are formed from Former Lent and City of Stacy officials and we can always use some public help!

I'd support the county coming in if they would open up the retail growth for small communities and also if they curtail the tax increases they have installed on homeowners in our area. The burden of infrastructure has fallen on homeowners and businesses are needed to help take the pressure off. The county has to be aware of the fact we are no longer a "totally ag rural" community and much needed businesses are needed for tax relief. This does not mean "McStops" i.e. fast food businesses along the freeway but viable large service stores for our communities.  Look at Isanti and how it's grown due to the businesses built in the area as a good example. If we want to keep the money in our community they need to spend it here, not drive out of the area. These businesses provide livable wages to a community.. A "bedroom community" does not have the same investment from the residents as persons viably employed in their home area.

What do you see as the biggest positive that will come from being a municipality that wasn’t possible as a township?

1. Road funds, Townships are solely responsible for the maintenance of the roads. Our Township citizens gave us the go ahead to spend their money to pave our gravel roads after doing an      extensive study on the maintenance and upkeep of them. We are responsible for keeping them maintained with help from the state road funds.

2. Grants for smaller cities and possible help with Sr. rent adjusted independent living affordable apartments in our community. 

Brandon Price

Tell voters about one priority thing you believe needs immediate attention in the new territory called Stacy. And, what will you recommend as the action to address it.

People who choose to live in Stacy tend to do so because they want to stay out of the big city. They like rural living with low taxes and they enjoy not having big government telling them what to do. People tend to be happy with the way that things are here and they do not want any big changes coming in around the corner. Every big project is accompanied by big tax increases. At the end of the day, I am fighting to keep Stacy the way that it is so that the next generation can get to experience our beautiful city without being priced out by high taxes or overburdened by excessive regulation. This does not mean that there is no room for improvement. One area that we are critically lacking in is our access to reliable internet for a large portion of our residents. If elected, my first task would be narrowing down the list of programs that are available to find the right one for our community to expand our internet services. With much of the world transitioning online, we will be left behind if we are unable to get our people and businesses a reliable connection.

Are the tools in place and the staff prepared to handle what could be huge growth in zoning and land use issues and potential projects. Would you support bringing the county in to provide services?

I would have to see first hand what sort of resource issues we are faced with before making an assessment on this topic. If drastic enough, the county may be required to make sure that projects don’t go uncompleted but from the way that things are going, I don’t think we are currently in need of any big change-ups. Both the city and township were able to succeed before the merger so I would expect us to only excel with the full cooperation between the two.

What do you see as the biggest positive that will come from being a municipality that wasn’t possible as a township?

As with any great shake up, the period shortly following it presents the greatest opportunity to lay important groundwork to ensure a smooth transition. Our transition from a township to a municipality will present us with new opportunities for grants for essential services that were previously limited. This transition will empower us to ensure economic growth for our people and businesses while keeping taxes low. Ensuring that taxes are kept low while boosting our infrastructure will only lead to growth making our community an economic powerhouse.

John Scott

Tell voters about one priority thing you believe needs immediate attention in the new territory called Stacy. And, what will you recommend as the action to address it.

We need to know how much developable land is available, and create a plan for its future use. Smaller lots and more people may not be sustainable without costly infrastructure changes.

Are the tools in place and the staff prepared to handle what could be huge growth in zoning and land use issues and potential projects. Would you support bringing the county in to provide services?

Growth requires learning, but I certainly support cooperation with the county or even the state if there are resources available, and would seek them out. We all pay taxes, let’s get what we can for it.

What do you see as the biggest positive that will come from being a municipality that wasn’t possible as a township?

Obviously, Stacy gets bigger, but more importantly, some of us who have called it hometown for 50 or more years without living in Stacy proper, will have a say in the future direction of the city, with representation.

Brian Seekon

Tell voters about one priority thing you believe needs immediate attention in the new territory called Stacy. And, what will you recommend as the action to address it.

As a supervisor of the former township, I can say that  most of our larger fiscal projects have been completed.  While I only have limited experience with the city, I believe the current council has been doing a good job managing both the existing and combined city.  Moving forward, I would like to see an investment in road upkeep, maintenance, and repaving where needed.  Our new maintenance department has been doing great work in identifying issues with current infrastructure, and addressing them before they become catastrophes.  That being said, whilst taking care of our responsibilities as a city, my main goal as a council member will be to run an efficient, effective, and fiscally responsible community that we can all be proud of.

Are the tools in place and the staff prepared to handle what could be huge growth in zoning and land use issues and potential projects. Would you support bringing the county in to provide services?

All of our staff from both the city and township have done an exemplary job of cross-training and melding the departments together.  There has been previous discussion on a possible increase in staff at some point, however at this time it doesn't appear to be necessary.  Technology infrastructure has been improved, and is continuing to improve.  The upgrading of current water metering system is a good example of this.  As for any new construction projects, I believe that the combined planning & zoning board is more than up to the task.  The only role I can see the county taking within the city might be building inspections.

What do you see as the biggest positive that will come from being a municipality that wasn’t possible as a township?

Don't get me wrong, I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of Lent Township for the last 23 years.  I have learned many things over those years.  I was hesitant about merging with the city in the beginning of this process, but the more I was involved, the more I came to see that this can be a positive move for both the township and the city.  Our past and current leadership in the township has driven this community forward, however there are many limitations placed upon a township that does not allow it to self-govern as much as a city can.  Annexation from adjacent cities is always a threat when you're a township.  With governance built on trust and transparency, along with involved citizens, I believe we can do great things in the new City of Stacy!

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