Lake County Board, District 4 candidate: Paul Bergman

Talk about it

1 I was born and raised in Two Harbors and have always felt fortunate to be a part of this beautiful area. My wife, Jan, and I own and operate the Vanilla Bean Café where we employ many people. I have four daughters living in Lake County with seven grandchildren going to our local schools. My life experiences include being a Navy Vietnam War veteran, working in the automotive industry, owning a business in Two Harbors, and four years experience as a Lake County commissioner.

2 I am running for re-election to complete some of the initiatives on which I have been working hard on. The most important I feel for Lake County is the Broadband Initiative. This is a $70 million dollar project that will bring jobs and a complete fiber network to Lake County. The Broadband Initiative requires no taxpayer obligation. Also, I have worked hard on the Northern Lights Express passenger train task force and efforts to bring the maintenance facility to Two Harbors. Both of these would add to our local economy and bring more than 70 new jobs.

3 The late Clair Nelson really inspired me to run for office. He seemed to make it a point to show me the positive effects a commissioner could make for a county.

4 Two great accomplishments happened last year. While I was county board chair we were able to budget no property tax increase for 2010 with no employee layoffs and no reduction in services. Second was being part of the team that brought the Broadband Initiative to Lake County. In three months time we brought together a partnership with National Public Broadband and wrote two funding proposals to the Rural Utility Service. Government can move quickly with a focused team. This project now includes all of Lake County and parts of St. Louis County.

5 The top challenges for the county board over the years have changed very little.

One is our budget. It is a hard work to make sure the services to all our citizens are budgeted. I am the only candidate that has brought you no property tax increase with no job or service cuts.

The next would be economic development. We have to have more opportunities to have jobs for people in Lake County. The Broadband Initiative and the train maintenance facility are two projects that have great potential of happening.

Building our tax base is high on my list of priorities. We are now working on a land management plan to sell almost 5,000 acres of Lake County lands. The plan is focused along established roads so new homes can be built. Lake County at one time had a population of 15,000 people. We are now at 11,267 and we need the tax base of 15,000 to keep our future secure from budget shortfalls.

7 Roads in Lake County, especially Highway 61, have been a county board priority. I have been to the legislature in St. Paul, gone to Washington D.C., and met with our state and federal representatives when they have come here to talk about roads. Rebuilding roads, resurfacing roads, and making our roads safer have been the main topic. As a county we cannot afford lobbyists so the commissioners have taken it upon themselves to do that job. By using this approach we have saved the taxpayers money and brought in more money for roads than we would have with lobbyists.

8 We are working with other counties in our area in human services redesign. Staff from Lake County are working and discussing ways of minimizing an overlap of services so we as area counties may see a cost savings. This is an important discussion and should always be an ongoing conversation of all of our services.

9 One of the concerns of the board is “are we getting our message out to our citizens?” We moved our third meeting of the month to 6:30 in the evening and we also use that meeting to have regional meetings. We meet in Fall Lake Township, Silver Bay, Silver Creek Township and Little Marais Community Club.

10 Our regular meetings are during the day. When we do have meetings in the evening, in Two Harbors, we have very poor attendance. On the other hand, the meetings away from the courthouse are well attended. I am at every meeting and I have not seen any other District 4 candidates at board meetings. How can you understand the issues if you are not present when discussion and decisions are being made?

11 My favorite feature of Lake County is the people. This county has some of the most thoughtful, intelligent, and hard working people I have ever been associated with. I could not have started all these initiatives without your support. Listening to and understanding the issues presented to me by all you great citizens and then working toward a solution is something I really enjoy.

12 When I ran for my first term I ran on fiscal responsibility, public safety, economic development and common sense. I feel I have not let you down with what I have accomplished so far. Please give me your vote and your continued support so I may continue to serve you. Thank you.

Tags: two harbors, election 2010, news