Position: Eden Prairie Council Member
Candidates
– Mark Freiberg (incumbent)
– Greg Lehman
– Kathy Nelson (incumbent)
– Micah Olson
JOB POSTING
Eden Prairie is seeking two executives who will make city-related policy and legislative decisions – including budget and tax-levy decisions – in concert with fellow office holders (one vote apiece), but who delegate administrative duties to the city manager.
COMPENSATION
City council executives who are not mayor are paid an annual salary of $11,672.96, as of 2022.
QUALIFICATIONS
Must be 21 or older and a resident of Eden Prairie at least 30 days before the election.
ABOUT THE HIRING PROCESS
Four city council members and a mayor are elected every four years, but terms are staggered. These are at-large representatives, not assigned to specific wards or areas of Eden Prairie. The top two vote-getters will serve terms starting in January.
Candidate Profiles
These are the candidates running for City Council Member. Click the candidate’s name to view each profile. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
Incumbent
Freiberg and his wife, Patty, bought their home in Eden Prairie 41 years ago and raised their family. They have three adult children, college graduates whom Freiberg says are fine examples of the education that they received in the Eden Prairie school system. His professional career consisted of more than 30 years of experience within the home financing industry.
He has been a member of the Eden Prairie City Council since 2018; a board member of the Eden Prairie Community Foundation; a board member of the SouthWest Transit Commission; a member of the Eden Prairie Historical Society; a member of the Eden Prairie A.M. Rotary Club; a past member of the Eden Prairie Planning Commission (2016-2018), and a past member of the Eden Prairie Heritage Preservation Commission (2013-2016).
Lehman has had a 30-year career in technical support, and has spent 21 years working part-time at a children’s hospital. He has resided in Eden Prairie for 20 years, raising two children here. An Eden Prairie School Board alumnus, he has volunteered as a career roundtable speaker at Eden Prairie High School and completed 12 humanitarian service trips to six different countries. He has B.A. and M.B.A. degrees in business administration from Augsburg University and has several technology certifications.
Incumbent
Nelson’s family moved to Eden Prairie in 1992. She says they were looking for a nice neighborhood and a great school district for their two daughters. “We found what we were looking for in Eden Prairie.” Her daughters graduated from Eden Prairie High School. While they were in school, Nelson was active in school volunteer activities.
Nelson is a current Eden Prairie City Council member, elected in 2006 and having served four terms. She represents the council on the Eden Prairie Firefighter Relief Association Board and the SouthWest LRT Corridor Management Committee.
As a community member, she also currently serves on the Eden Prairie Community Foundation Grant Committee, and volunteers for the St. Andrew Lutheran Church Food Committee and The PROP Shop.
Past Eden Prairie activities include: Eden Prairie Community Foundation board member; Eden Prairie Partners in Energy Committee; Southwest Suburban Cable Commission member; Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce Government Committee; Eden Prairie Planning Commission (six years), and adult literacy and citizenship tutoring.
Her educational background includes a B.A. degree in communications from the University of Minnesota. She is certified in emergency management.
As a sixth-generation Minnesotan, Olson grew up in Hennepin County and has lived in the western suburbs most of his life. He graduated from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul with a degree in communications studies. His professional background consists of working in both the government and nonprofit sectors. Additionally, he has owned his own consulting business for almost a year.
EPLN Q&A
Question #1: If you could accomplish just one major thing during your term in office, what would you want that to be, and why?
Click each candidate’s name to see their answer.
If reelected, one major item that I would like to see eliminated would be the food challenges that affect many of our senior residents and children within our community. Why? It’s the right and compassionate thing to do!
I would help businesses located in EP thrive by increased communication and greater sensitivity to corporate needs. I would also like to partner with the community stakeholders to find solutions to some of the city’s crime statistics, based on statistics from the EPPD. I would do so because our families want EP to remain a safe and peaceful place to live.
I would like to greatly increase the energy efficiency of Eden Prairie. Currently, all electricity used by the City of Eden Prairie comes from solar energy. All city buildings, streetlights, and traffic lights run on solar electricity. We have done this through solar panels on buildings, and behind the water plant. The rest comes from contracts for solar energy. Some businesses have also added solar panels, including the Eden Prairie mall. Some homes have solar panels as well. We can greatly increase this!
The city should provide information on energy rebates to every household and business in Eden Prairie. One of the steps in our Climate Action Plan is to get more energy-efficient appliances, furnaces, and air conditioners into homes and businesses. Rebates are readily available right now, and should be considered with every new purchase. Solar rebates are back to 30%.
Solar electricity for businesses will provide them with energy-efficient electricity at known prices that will allow them a level of resiliency in their energy budgeting. Solar panels also allow homeowners to have energy-efficient electricity that is available even when regular power outages occur.
At the heart of any city is a thriving business community. Eden Prairie is fortunate to have incredible businesses of all sizes that call our city home. In terms of what I want to accomplish, it would be to ensure that we cultivate an environment for our businesses to flourish. We need to ensure that regulations are fair and simple, and that taxes are low and unobtrusive. When it comes to attracting business, there are two very important points to make. First, we must avoid carving out special favors or incentives for attracting businesses. Government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers. Second, I would submit that there are a number of indirect factors that people look at when wanting to start a business, including school quality, cost of living, clean water, easy transportation, access to capital, etc. Making Eden Prairie a great place to live and raise a family goes hand-in-hand with being a great place to do business. We have an opportunity to make Eden Prairie a beacon for bold ideas, entrepreneurship, and innovation. When folks want to start a business, I want their first thought to be Eden Prairie.
Question #2: What recommendation, if any, from the Race Equity Report prepared for the city in 2021 deserves the council’s highest attention?
Click each candidate’s name to see their answer.
I believe our city workforce should mirror the diversity of our city whenever possible. I especially believe that a “heavy emphasis” needs to be applied in the diverse hiring efforts of our police and fire departments whenever possible. By stressing these actions now, we will set in place the hiring model for years to come. If needed, we need to think “beyond the box” and be creative when recruiting new hires.
I think the recommendation from the Race Equity Report that deserves the council’s highest attention is: “Expansion of Supportive Services: Explore inclusion of chaplains, liaisons, social workers, and BIPOC community leaders into sub-beat outreach activities when appropriate.”
“Connection to the Community,” recommendation No. 4: Ensure everyone has equitable access to services provided by the city and opportunities for providing input to city leadership.
Communication is essential between a city and its residents. Eden Prairie’s website is one of the easiest ways for residents to get information. However, it is only in English. For some city residents, English is not their first language. Eden Prairie currently uses a translation program for our resident surveys to make it easy for everyone to give input to the city. We need to try to take that same program and apply it to the city website, so all residents and others can get translation access to city information.
Working with community leaders, council members and city staff is also important, as it’s often the fastest way to get input on issues and concerns being discussed. Community gatherings and listening sessions are also important. The city council recently had a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Town Hall meeting at the EP Library. It was a great meeting with information being shared by all. These listening sessions are important for city leaders. Town hall meetings were also held with seniors and the business community.
There were a number of great recommendations in the report. The one that stood out the most to me and I believe deserves the highest attention is the “Emergency Response” section on “de-escalation” training. This is about law enforcement achieving the high values of building safe neighborhoods and community trust. The council should always be looking to support our law enforcement agencies to aim higher at these goals.
Question #3: The city has been enacting 2020 task force recommendations to create more affordable housing. Would you favor staying the course, slowing those efforts, or accelerating those activities? Why?
Click each candidate’s name to see their answer.
I’m in favor of staying the course in the short term regarding the 2020 Task Force recommendations on affordable housing. During this time, we will need to explore additional options whenever possible and implement those options as needed to accommodate future needs. It will be a difficult balancing act with the diminishing availability of buildable land. This decreasing land inventory will most likely result in a need to better determine how redevelopment options come into play. Presently, the metro area is approximately 20,000 housing units short of the demand. This is projected to grow dramatically over the next 10 years. To solve this, we will need to plan and implement our proposed solutions wisely.
It depends on the availability of suitable housing proposals that are submitted to the council for approval. We should preserve Eden Prairie community’s natural resources.
I would favor staying the course. We are making strides forward in affordable homes with new policies. Builders are also very interested in building under these new policies.
Eden Prairie has many great neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods have medium homes, some large homes. Other neighborhoods have townhomes. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough affordable homes for our current needs.
During the past 30 years, the families who live here have aged; children have grown to be young adults. Businesses have prospered and are hiring more employees.
Along with the rest of the Twin Cities, Eden Prairie has a housing shortage. We need new homes of all kinds, from large homes to smaller, affordable homes. However, the greatest need is more affordable homes. Homes that our children can afford as they start their careers and families. Homes for new teachers, starting police officers, and other community essential employees. Businesses are calling for more homes that their new employees can afford, so they don’t have to commute long distances. We also need affordable, smaller homes that many senior residents want, so they can stay in our community as they retire.
When it comes to affordable housing there are so many factors to take into consideration. One of the realities that we need to face is that rates of affordable housing, while lower than market value, in many cases are actually not that much lower. The reality is that housing costs here in Minnesota are higher than a lot of the country. These costs are a significant issue for low- and middle-income residents. When you look at the data, I would contend that what you’ll find is that government action and policy are largely responsible for a lot of the higher housing costs. I want to be very clear; I’m not saying that the Eden Prairie government is to blame for this. I think that there are many mandates, regulations, and fees that are outside of Eden Prairie’s jurisdiction that need to be reformed, including the Met Council. The bottom line for me is that we need to advocate to eliminate these barriers at the state, regional, and county level, while at the same time reviewing whether the city’s affordable housing goals are effective in this overall context.
Question #4: The Eden Prairie City Council adopted a Climate Action Plan in March 2020, with the overall goal of achieving communitywide carbon neutrality by 2050. Do you support this plan? What changes in this approach would you favor, if any?
Click each candidate’s name to see their answer.
I personally like the Climate Action Plan that the city council adopted in March 2020. The plan is balanced and the community-wide goal of being carbon neutral by 2050 is in line with other communities surrounding Eden Prairie.
I support the plan. Environmentally friendly technologies are improving. Hopefully, with improved technology and economies of scale, environmentally friendly practices will have a reduced negative financial impact on EP families and businesses.
I support the Climate Action Plan. Our Climate Action Plan lists many steps that can be taken over time to reach our goal. Here is where we stand, and other steps we should work on next:
Done, or in the process of completing: offer Home Energy Squad buy-downs; install EV charging stations at high-use city facilities; purchase EV police patrol car; modernize city facilities for operational EV fleet; replace city fleet with hybrid or fully electric vehicles as they need replacing; require new development/redevelopment to install charging stations or be “EV ready;” develop city yard waste compost site; promote SouthWest Transit bike program and SW Prime services.
Next steps: educate, promote, and continue offering PACE financing for clean energy projects; publicize rebates for energy efficiency projects, including solar panels, energy-efficient furnaces and appliances; provide help from the city to plan what steps you can take to make homes or businesses energy efficient; incentives for elective energy improvements made during remodels; require new construction to be “solar ready;” purchase electric mowers for city operations; encourage Energy Star, LEED, and/or net-zero energy certification; facilitate landfill solar project in Eden Prairie.
When I have conversations with residents, one of the things I hear a lot is people noting the high quality of our parks, lakes, trails, and water. We should take pride in the quality of our environment here in Eden Prairie. When it comes to environmental sustainability goals, I always go back to the idea of building relationships. One of the great things that has happened over the last 10 years or so has been businesses recognizing their ability to contribute to a clean, renewable, and sustainable environment. Renewable and sustainable is where the market is headed. My goal would be to encourage businesses in our city to continue this and look for ways that the city can maintain the quality programs and services we have already.
Question #5: In your view, do Eden Prairie residents currently receive a level of city services that is too low, too high, or about right compared to the amount of city property taxes they pay? What changes, if any, would you make in this area?
Click each candidate’s name to see their answer.
Overall, I believe that the residents of Eden Prairie receive a high level of city services for the tax dollars invested. The City of Eden Prairie completes an annual survey of our residents and the high marks that are given the city for the services provided point that out. It doesn’t happen by accident that the city has one of the best police and fire departments in the state.
I think the level of service is about right. I would like the council to have an outside study (or audit) performed every few years, to gauge the performance of the city services and the value proposition of those services.
Eden Prairie residents currently receive the right amount of services compared to the amount of city property taxes they pay.
Eden Prairie city property taxes are in the lowest 15% of city property taxes across the metro area. Its city services receive 95% “good” and “great” survey reviews by residents.
Eden Prairie city parks and trails are highly rated by the community. We have fields for the many different sports played by community members. Our pickleball courts are in great demand. Parents and kids have great fun at our play areas. Eden Prairie has 45 miles of trails, many by woods, lakes, and streams, for walking and running. Benches can be found along busy sections of trails.
Eden Prairie uses long-range planning and best-practices maintenance for roads, sewer and water, and trails to get best quality results and use our tax money wisely. Letting maintenance go on these necessary services, for as little as four years, can cost the city a great deal to get them back into shape. Our snowplowing is some of the best in the Twin Cities, making it safe and easy for kids to get to school and employees to their workplaces.
Eden Prairie residents receive an incredibly high quality of city services. When it comes to property taxes, we need to understand the current context. We know that taxes here in Eden Prairie are competitive compared to other cities in Hennepin County. Another factor to take into consideration is the fact that there is a population of people who own a house and are on fixed incomes. The rising property taxes are squeezing their budgets and making it difficult to keep up with the rising costs of living. The bottom line for me is to slow the increase of property taxes as much as possible, while maintaining needed city services. We simply must look for ways to ease the burden of taxes, considering increasing living costs.
This page is part of EPLN’s 2022 Voter Guide. Get info on each of the races by choosing from below.