Rochester Rundown

The Rochester City Council will look profoundly different come January.

Three of the council’s seven members, including the council president, will not return to their posts for another term — and if the one incumbent running for re-election is toppled by a challenger, over half of the council will be made up of freshmen members.

The at-large council president seat is the marquee race on the ballot, with Randy Staver opting to call it a career after 10 years on the council — seven of those in the president seat. Either Kathleen Harrington, president of the Chamber of Commerce, or Nonprofit Consortium leader Brooke Carlson will take Staver’s place. 

When either candidate steps into the council president role, they will be given the opportunity to sit on the Destination Medical Center board or appoint somebody else. 

While most of the completed projects in DMC’s first five years dealt with improving infrastructure and the experience of Clinic employees and patients, Carlson expressed excitement over the next phase of the initiative — which she says will have broader effects for all residents.

“We have the chance now to really focus on some projects, such as transportation and others downtown, like Discovery Walk and some projects along the riverfront, that can really benefit our residents overall,” said Carlson.
Harrington added that it was “important to look at the successes of DMC” — most notably the influx of bioscience firms to the downtown area in places like Discovery Square. However, she cautioned about looking to the initiative to be the end-all, be-all solution to every one of Rochester's problems.

“I think it’s really important for DMC to focus on its primary mission, and that’s the downtown core and the area it’s been extended to,” said Harrington. “I think there’s been a little bit of overreach on some of the issues, I think there’s been some mission creep, so I would recommend we look at retooling some of the activities.”

Even before officially joining the council, the winner of this election will join the current council in a search for the next city administrator, after Steve Rymer transitions out of the role by the end of the year. 

Carlson and Harrington put forward unique — but not dueling — priorities for the next administrator; for the former, her priorities center around making sure the city’s next administrator is representative of Rochester’s residents.

“We need somebody who’s very smart in managing the actual administration and budget, but we also want to see a candidate pool that is reflective of the diversity in our community, and be able to choose someone that best reflects where we want to go as a community,” said Carlson.

With the city in a major period of transition — DMC projects, the pandemic, and a largely changing Council lineup all playing a role — Harrington said it would be important to find somebody with experience.

“We need somebody who is comfortable with a diversity of ideas,” said Harrington. “We don’t need somebody who takes Minnesota nice as the norm. We need somebody who wants people that will speak truth to power to him or her, so diversity of ideas coupled with diversity of people.”

Now, let’s shift gears to the ward races. If you live in an even-numbered ward, you’ll have one of these races on the ballot.

Michael Wojcik, the third-term council member, finds himself in a close race with Mark Bransford, a software developer and physics professor. Wojcik is, perhaps, the most polarizing figure in local politics, thanks to his style of communication. Supporters call it transparent, but opponents call it abrasive.

“Yes to being divisive, and not always doing it right myself,” said Wojcik. “Continual improvement is something I really believe in, and I know that I’m very coarse and direct in my approach, and that’s especially tough in Rochester. I do call things out, I do speak truth to power.”

Bransford, on the other hand, has made a large part of his campaign about bringing civility back to the council. The message has won over quite a few discouraged Ward 2 residents, but has led to scrutiny on whether the campaign is packing enough substance. Bransford said those criticisms weren’t true, but acknowledged that he’s heard it before. 

“That has kind of dogged me a little bit, and unfortunately, it’s not true,” said Bransford. “I’m not running an anti-anyone campaign. I certainly have never minced any words about leadership style, but yes, I have crafted… if you go to my website, you’ll see a lot of details.” 

The two candidates differed most notably on the issue of affordable housing, with Bransford advocating for what he calls “balanced growth”, prioritizing new single-family homes over new urban development.

“The current plan, to just stuff nothing but high-end luxury buildings in the downtown area and cite NIMBYism and sprawl and all of that is a false narrative,” said Bransford. “We need to have political willpower to bring back the residential market outside of downtown.” 

Wojcik, a supporter of the Berkman apartment project, spoke in favor of building up and not out, when it comes to new housing in Rochester.

“I think it’s important to remember that sprawl is not a false narrative,” said Wojcik. “It’s a real problem. We can barely afford the infrastructure we have, and we can choose to utilize it better and be smarter. We have very much a different approach on this. I believe in-filled development is smart, I believe sustainable density is smart.”

Katrina Pulham faces a 20-point deficit to Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick in the Ward 4 race, based on August’s primary results. The two candidates are vying to replace Mark Bilderback as the council representative for the downtown area, the portion of the city at the center of the $5.6 billion DMC initiative.

Pulham says the downtown business owners she’s talked to aren’t as enamored now with the idea of DMC as they were back in 2015.  

“The original thought of DMC is great for our community - it can do a lot, and it has really brought a lot of funds into our town, but it’s lost some respect, for lack of a better term,”  said Pulham. “A lot of people don’t see it as a good thing anymore. A lot of the businesses downtown struggle with transparency.” 

Kirkpatrick spoke in the same vein as Pulham, and even Harrington, citing the need for more community-oriented projects in the near future.

“I think DMC excelled at its initial impact for the first five years, however, I'm not sure we’ve expected the outcomes we’ve gotten,” said Kirkpatrick. “I think our community’s been a little left behind with the focus on infrastructure and the hospitality and service industry… so I’m eager to see what the next five-year plan looks like.”

The largest differentiation between these two candidates came during discussion of the park referendum on the ballot this November, proposing a $2 million tax levy increase to update Rochester’s park system. 

Kirkpatrick spoke in favor of the measure.

“I support the park referendum because many people say they want changes to our parks,” said Kirkpatrick. “Current budgeting does not allow for additional changes to our parks. Our current budget is simply to maintain what we have. In this economic downturn, maybe that’s what we should do, but I believe in giving that vote to the people.”

However, Pulham was the only candidate to explicitly oppose the referendum, saying a pandemic is not the time to raise taxes. She also touched on the spending protocols of the park board, noting that once the money’s in their hands, it’s out of the council’s hands entirely.

“The city council actually only has a say in how much money they [Park Board] get, but how the money is spent, they have zero say in that,” said Pulham. “So that means the people have zero say in how that money is spent. Now, after it’s spent, they’ll tell you where they spent your money, but it seems backwards to me.” 

The parks discussion continued into the Ward 6 debate, with real estate agent Craig Ugland matching up against paraprofessional Molly Dennis. Dennis spoke in favor of the referendum, but Ugland’s answer put him on the fence.

“I would love to see our parks improved,” said Ugland. “I’ve mentioned it before, some of the playground stuff is extremely deteriorated. And again, we need to fix what we have before we start taking on huge new projects. And it’s been mentioned we’re getting federal and state funds, but those funds are still our tax dollars. That’s not free money — we’re still paying for this stuff.”

Earlier in the debate, a viewer raised a question about a hyper-local ward issue, causing headaches for nearly four years now: the bridge on Elton Hills Drive, right near the Rec Center, sitting with traffic cones and road signs blocking two of the four lanes. The bridge is considered ‘functionally obsolete’ by MnDOT, and will cost $3.7 million to replace, with funding set to kick in for replacement in 2021. The bridge has been causing problems for years, so Ugland wondered: why wasn’t the problem fixed earlier?

“Whether it was purposely delayed or not, I don’t know,” said Ugland. “Four years to rebuild a bridge when I-35 took 418 days, it’s unacceptable.” 

Dennis, however, was glad the city waited to take on the project. It’s thanks to a $1.14 million infusion of federal funds held by the Rochester-Olmsted Council of Governments, or ROCOG, for transit-related projects. Originally, its 2020 allotment was supposed to go to 2nd Street reconstruction for the DMC rapid bus lines, but with that project postponed, part of that cash was re-allocated to the Elton Hills bridge project.

Because of that saved cost, Dennis said the wait will be worth it.

“The responsible use of taxpayer money is to wait for the federal funds to come in,” said Dennis. “They did come in, and it was scheduled to be repaired next year. I believe it was wonderful that the leadership on the council right now waited for the funds, so the taxpayers of Rochester wouldn’t foot the bill.”

These were just some of the highlights from a huge week of debates.. Full videos for all of the city council town halls are available on our Facebook page. Next week, we’ll host the candidates for the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners and the Rochester School Board, with races for Minnesota state House and Senate following the week after. Make sure to like our page and turn on ‘live’ notifications to make sure you don’t miss a debate.

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.

Our latest episode of the Rochester Rundown marks the 25th installment of the show, so for today, it feels right to look back. The world has changed in numerous ways since the first edition of the show debuted in late January — so for this installment, we'll review the best stories and quotes from the first nine months of this new journalistic endeavor.

Rochester’s proposed 2021 budget went under the microscope of the city council earlier this week. Like almost every other city in America, the city faces a budget crunch thanks to Covid-19. 

On today’s edition of the Rochester Rundown, we sift through the 390-page proposed budget and talk with Rochester city administrator and budget architect Steve Rymer to figure out what or who will be impacted by this year’s tough decisions, and if the pandemic will affect budgets to come.

From Monday’s city council study session, a fact that’s sobering yet not quite surprising: Rochester administrator Steve Rymer says a city undergoing massive growth will lose millions of dollars in revenue in 2021, compared to previous years.

$2.8 million lost in parking ramp revenue; $1.7 million lost in hotel taxes; drops in inspection permits, cable TV franchises, government aid… it all adds up to a $14 million revenue shortfall. 

To balance the budget, the answer may seem simple: raise property taxes, which feeds into the city’s General Fund. Rymer says that’s not happening, though: in reality, Rochester’s residents will pay less in property taxes this year, thanks to the formula the city uses to determine property tax rates.

“There’s a couple factors we look at,” said Rymer. “One is the property tax levy, that’s the dollar amount we need to generate. Then you look at the assessed value of the properties — we’ve learned that the assessed value of properties in the city are going to go up by about seven percent. So because you have that larger base, but are spending the same amount of money, that actually brings the tax rate down.”  

With the tax levy unchanged, Rymer and his team have drafted a $476 million budget for the 2021 fiscal year, paling in comparison to the $574 million budget approved this time last year — but the difference is not entirely thanks to the pandemic. 

Multi-million dollar bonding projects like Heart of the City construction sent the 2020 budget sky-high, and a reduction was expected before Covid — yet not to the extent we’re seeing.

According to Rymer, the main way for the city to tighten its budget has been in personnel —  not in job losses, but in cutting overtime for departments like police and fire, while leaving some vacant part-time and seasonal positions vacant. 

“I think during 2021, the direct impacts will be minimal,” said Rymer. “At the same time, they’re not sustainable changes, if that makes sense. We’re able to do things like this in the short term. If the impacts of the pandemic continue for local government, that’s where I think you’ll see more direct impacts.” 

Some less essential city offerings are still on the chopping block, however. The proposed budget calls for the permanent closure of Silver Lake Pool, citing extensive maintenance and repair costs. Rochester International Airport stands to lose $250,000 in funding, with the city expecting 20 percent of normal passenger volume through next year. 

Most non-profit organizations that receive city money, from the Diversity Council to RNeighbors and the Rochester Downtown Alliance, will also get less this year, while others such as the History Center of Olmsted County are anxiously awaiting to see whether they receive any funds at all. 

But in Monday’s meeting, council president Randy Staver said those agencies should see the situation less like a slippery slope, and more like an aberration.

“This is an unusual year, and we’re making some significant changes, and hopefully some of these things are one-time things,” said Staver. “I just don’t want them to get overly alarmed that this is something that would trend into the future. This is something that we need to do for this budget year.” 

It is important to note that the budget is not final just yet — the Council will review further and vote on approving or denying during their September 21 meeting. If approved, Rymer says it should be adopted by mid-December. 

Rymer will move on from the administrator role after the 2021 budget is approved, but he says he hopes the decisions made in his final year — a year unlike any other — sets his replacement up for success.

“We’ve learned a great deal during 2020… how we can work together and make quick decisions in the benefit of small business, families, and youth,” said Rymer. “We want to build on that, and the philosophy of the budget is a similar thing: building collaboration, making sure we get through a very difficult time together, and build an even stronger Rochester.”

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.

Back-to-school season has always been a time of preparation and excitement for young families. While that feeling is still there this year, the persisting pandemic adds a layer of uncertainty, and raises a tough decision for many parents of Rochester's elementary schoolers: send my child back to school, or keep them at home? 

One in five parents have decided on the latter option… and we found some of the reasons why on the latest episode of the Rochester Rundown.

Superintendent Michael Muñoz has said the district planned for 20 percent of all elementary students to ‘opt-out,’ with at least 50 elementary teachers (opting out of in-person instruction themselves) slated to teach remotely five days a week. 

Kim Woodruff, mother of nine-year-old Judah, is one of hundreds of parents keeping her child at home for the time being. That wasn’t always the plan, however — originally, she and her husband planned to let Judah go back to school at Riverside Central Elementary. 

However, after hearing stories from parents in districts like St. Charles, who had to walk back their original plans to open, the family decided it was best to keep their son home — avoiding the potential for another year of cycling between in-person and distance learning.

“The decision was really made to give some consistency to my child,” said Woodruff. “After finding out that the full-time distance learners would still have their own teacher, five days a week, that was it.” 

Woodruff works part-time and her husband is self-employed, so they are able to balance their work schedules with Judah’s classwork. The family’s work situation makes them one of the lucky ones; last week, MPR News reported that over 360 RPS elementary schoolers were on a waiting list for essential-worker child care, with hundreds more out of luck after School Age Child Care (SACC) spots ran out at their respective schools.

As a former cafeteria worker in the district, Woodruff has seen the broad role in-person schooling plays in a child’s development — promoting socialization, setting routines, and providing support systems for children that would otherwise not have one. 

“We had students that were facing homelessness,” said Woodruff. “School was that place where they had structure, and other adults to help them with any problems they were facing. It’s hugely important, in my opinion, and it’s disappointing that this virus wasn’t taken more seriously early on.” 

RPS will allow parents to opt in or out on a quarterly basis, with the next phase of the learning plan expected by the MEA break in mid-October. There is currently no word on what the district’s plans are for Phase 2, but a shift backwards to full-time distance learning for all students seems unlikely at the moment. 

(Olmsted County’s Covid-19 numbers have largely stabilized since RPS’s original announcement on August 7 — the latest statistics are available here.)

That means those who have opted out will likely face another decision in a month’s time — but for lots of families concerned for the Woodruff family, it sounds as if the final decision has already been made.

“I think the district is doing all they can, but unfortunately, this is a virus we don’t know much about,” said Woodruff. “We’re learning new things about it every day. I don’t judge any parent who sends their child back, but from my standpoint as a parent, I have the luxury of being able to keep Judah at home, and I think I’ll do that through the end of the year.”

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.

It may seem like the anti-vaccination movement is a recent fad. In recent years, the pseudo-scientific coalition has gained a foothold in some circles, leading to various outbreaks of diseases long considered eradicated — including a 2017 outbreak of measles in the Twin Cities. 

But on the latest episode of the Rochester Rundown, Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, chair of infection control at Mayo Clinic, says this is not a new problem for our society. 

The anti-vaccination idea has been around for a long time — in fact, that distrust has existed since the first smallpox vaccine was created and made available to the masses in 19th century England. When the vaccine made it to America, the skepticism remained strong, including in Minnesota, where a newly-immigrated Rochester resident had to take a stand against the misinformation.

“In our very own backyard, there was an outbreak of smallpox,” said Dr. Sampathkumar. “There was a lady who claimed that her child died after a smallpox vaccination, and protested it, and was very influential in Minnesota. William Mayo, the elder Mayo, wrote an article in the local newspaper saying that this person was responsible for more than 10,000 cases of smallpox.” 

The smallpox vaccine inevitably worked, becoming the main driver behind the disease’s worldwide eradication in 1980. Diseases like polio, diphtheria, and measles (even after the recent outbreaks), once considered major death threats, have now been reduced to afterthoughts thanks to the success of the various vaccines developed to fight them.

If those vaccines did not exist, or a majority of people simply refused to take them, Dr. Sampathkumar says the consequences would be irreversible — and society would look vastly different than it does today.

“It’s estimated that if we didn’t vaccinate children, over 250 individuals would die every hour of vaccine-preventable diseases,” said Dr. Sampathkumar. “So vaccines are literally saving lives every single minute.” 

Dr. Sampathkumar added that any widely distributed vaccine must go through several phases of testing that normally takes multiple years — sometimes, close to a decade — to complete. If there is tangible evidence that a vaccine harms people at any point in the process, it’s back to square one. 

It’s a long, arduous process to get a vaccine approved under normal circumstances — and while the process will remain arduous, the process towards a Covid-19 vaccine may come to an end sooner than we think.

Dr. Sampathkumar says progress towards a Covid-19 vaccine is being made at a record pace, with billions of dollars in funding and a concerted effort across the entire medical field. Procedural tasks that historically take months are being completed in days. 

Currently, multiple different vaccines are in Phase 3 of testing, or small-scale human testing. Results on the first potential vaccines are expected in late October, and if there are no issues — no small feat — expect a roll-out within weeks of FDA approval. Dr. Sampathkumar says some drug companies are already attempting to get a head start on the manufacturing process.

“I think what has happened with Covid, is that the manufacturing is happening side-by-side with Phase 3,” said Dr. Sampathkumar. “They’re taking a little bit of a gamble, that yes, this vaccine is going to work, and they’re preparing for it by creating the vaccine, so as soon as it’s approved it’s ready to go.” 

Any Covid-19 vaccine released in 2020 would likely be limited to high-risk people, and would not guarantee 100 percent immunity from the virus. Dr. Sampathkumar said to limit expectations - more towards a 60 percent reduction of symptoms — and to remain patient as the eventual vaccine roll-out begins.

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.

Cover licensed via Canva

On this week's edition of the podcast, we hear from Graham Briggs and Meaghan Sherden — director and lead epidemiologist, respectively, at Olmsted County Public Health — about the latest Covid-19 numbers for our area. New case numbers have dropped to levels not seen since May, leading both officials to believe the situation in Rochester is consistently improving — although the time to stop wearing masks and social distancing is still far away. Their thoughts on what's driving the improved statistics, plus a round-up of other top stories from the week, including a possible ethics investigation into the office of Jim Hagedorn and a few tips from a Mayo Clinic pediatrician on helping your kids get back to school safely — all included in the latest edition of the Rochester Rundown.

As a reminder, new episodes of the Rochester Rundown can also be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and other leading podcast services.

This week on the Rochester Rundown, we hear from Olmsted County election officials about the results from Tuesday’s primary. The percentage of votes from mail-in absentee ballots shattered previous records and blew past the initial expectations of those in charge of counting the ballots. What will the county take away from this week’s experience, and put into practice for November? That story, plus who’s moving on to the general election and a look at the news of the week, including the newest destination added to Rochester’s airport.

As a reminder, new episodes of the Rochester Rundown can also be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and other leading podcast services.

Covid-19 has upended the music community at large — on the local, statewide and national levels. Today on the Rochester Rundown, though, we take a look at what Med City musicians have been able to do in the first half of 2020 — without live shows to play, it’s been all about recorded music. It’s a small roundup… just a snippet of the best music to come out of our city so far this year.

As a reminder, new episodes of the Rochester Rundown can also be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and other leading podcast services.