Minnesota and North Dakota Voter's Guide

Forum Communications Co., in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Minnesota and of North Dakota, is providing this voter guide to help keep you informed ahead of the 2024 election.

  • Learn where candidates running for office in your community stand on the issues.
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Voter Guide

Birchwood Village City Mayor

The mayor is usually the head of the city and may represent the city in front of other government bodies. They also can preside at council meetings and appoint city workers. A mayor usually has a role in proposing a city budget which influences services provided to residents and can veto ordinances proposed by the city council.Voting in local elections is important - learn more here: Why Vote for Mayor

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  • Candidate picture

    Jennifer Arsenault
    (NP)

  • Candidate picture

    Mary Wingfield
    (NP)

Biographical Information

Why are you the best candidate for this position? (750 characters)

If elected, what will your top three priorities be and why? (500 characters)

If elected, what strategies will you use to ensure transparency, accountability and ethical conduct in city government under your leadership? (500 characters)

How will you engage with residents to solicit feedback, involve them in decision-making processes, and ensure their voices are heard? (500 characters)

How will you approach public safety and community policing to ensure the well-being of all residents? (500 characters)

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Campaign Email ajsan5541@gmail.com
As a retired educator, I have decades of experience collaborating with parents, students and colleagues. This collaboration involved actively listening, developing an action plan, and evaluating its outcomes. As president of an HOA, I ran meetings, negotiated peaceful solutions to neighborhood issues and responded to the needs and wants of residents. As treasurer of that same HOA, I kept accurate financial records, contracted with vendors for road maintenance and repair and garbage pick-up and adjusted homeowners’ fees according to projected expenses. In addition to my experience, I believe that as a public servant, my job would be to serve in an unbiased and open-minded way, making decisions based on what’s best for the city.
My top three priorities would be maintenance of our parks and easements, continued road maintenance and repair, and creating a process to ease the difficulty of navigating the building permitting process. In speaking to residents, these three issues have consistently been highlighted. As part of a responsive city government, a deliberate effort should be made to continue prioritizing and evaluating the success with which these issues are being addressed.
Communication between city officials and residents is the key to a transparent government. Involving citizens in the decision-making process through public forums and town halls enhances transparency. It allows people to voice concerns and have input . To reduce the risk of corruption, the city should always use competitive bidding processes for public contracts. Lastly, there should always be the expectation that public officials behave in an honest, fair, and impartial manner.
I would encourage residents to attend council meetings and give their feedback on decisions during the open forum times or send an email if attendance is not possible. The use of public forums is also valuable. While on the parks committee, public forums have been held and were extremely useful in soliciting ideas and feedback from residents. I would encourage the use of these forums when any major decision is up for consideration.
The city currently partners with the Washington County Sheriff Department for its law enforcement needs. When issues arise, the response by the department has generally been prompt. If serious issues were to arise within the city, there might be a reason to reevaluate this arrangement.
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The League of Women Voters of Minnesota and North Dakota crafted the questions sent to the candidates in the Spring of 2024. They reached out to candidates based on contact information in their public candidate filings. Candidates with email addresses were invited and reminded with emails. Candidates with only mailing addresses were sent a letter. Candidates with phone numbers received a phone call as well.

Candidate responses are published as they responded and have not been edited, except when responses were longer than the given character limit. In those cases, the responses are truncated.

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