I decided to run for mayor because I kept hearing the same concerns from people across Champlin: residents do not always feel heard, they do not always understand how or why decisions are being made, and they are increasingly concerned about whether their tax dollars are being used wisely.
The breaking point for me was realizing that these were not isolated complaints. People were asking for something pretty basic: a city government that listens before decisions are made, communicates clearly, plans responsibly, and remembers that every decision affects real people and families.
I have called Champlin home for more than eight years. I moved here as a divorced single father looking for a place where my children and I could build a life. Two of my children have graduated from Champlin Park High School, and my youngest is now a sophomore there. This community has become our home, and I want to help protect what makes it special while preparing responsibly for its future.
I hold a B.A. in Business Administration and an M.A. in Counseling. I spent 17 years as a pastor and nonprofit leader, and I now work as an outpatient mental health therapist and addictions counselor. Across those experiences, I have learned that leadership begins with listening, bringing people together, managing resources responsibly, and keeping people at the center of decisions.
This campaign is about Community. Transparency. Service. It is about responsible stewardship of public money, thoughtful growth that protects our parks, green space, infrastructure, and neighborhood character, and public safety built on trust, accountability, and the right response to the need.
Transparency must also include ethical service. Public officials should disclose actual or perceived conflicts of interest, step away from both the discussion and the vote when appropriate, and never use public office to create private business opportunities. I apply that standard in my own profession by not accepting clients who live or work in the 55316 ZIP code. Should I have the privilege of serving as mayor, I will continue that practice for as long as I am granted the opportunity to serve.
Most importantly, this campaign is about building a city government where people are invited into the process and treated with dignity—even when we disagree. Every person has value. Every person has dignity. Every person matters. That is why I am running, and that is how I intend to serve.
Every resident deserves to feel safe, respected, and able to ask for help when it is needed. Effective public safety begins with professional, appropriately staffed, well-trained police, fire, and emergency services that have the trust of the community they serve. It also requires recognizing that safety is not created by one department or one strategy. It grows through strong relationships, thoughtful prevention, accountable systems, and a response that fits the situation.
I support Champlin’s tradition of community policing. Trust is built through consistent contact, clear communication, fairness, and relationships formed before a crisis occurs. Residents should feel comfortable contacting police, sharing concerns, and participating in conversations about safety. Officers should have the staffing, training, equipment, and support needed to serve effectively, while the public should receive transparent information about policies, performance, significant incidents, and the lessons learned from them. When something goes wrong, independent review and honest after-action evaluation can strengthen both accountability and future practice.
Behavioral-health calls are an important part of modern public safety. Champlin’s partnership with an embedded social worker is valuable and should continue, but the need exceeds the capacity of one professional carrying a full caseload. I will advocate for evaluating a dedicated police–mental health co-responder model. In that model, trained behavioral-health professionals can respond alongside or in coordination with law enforcement when a mental-health crisis is central to the call. Police should remain available when there is danger, criminal activity, or a need for law-enforcement authority. A mental-health professional can help with assessment, stabilization, de-escalation, connection to services, and follow-up. The goal is simple: match the response to the need.
This approach is not about asking police officers to do less. It is about giving them the right partners and allowing each professional to contribute the skills for which they are trained. A co-responder model can support residents in crisis, families who do not know where to turn, officers responding to complex situations, and a broader system that too often relies on emergency response because earlier resources were unavailable.
Public-safety planning must also include fire and emergency medical services. As Champlin grows and our population changes, the city should regularly evaluate response times, staffing, equipment, mutual-aid arrangements, facility needs, and future demand. Planning before services are strained is more responsible—and often less expensive—than waiting for a crisis to expose the gap.
Technology can support public safety, but it must never operate without meaningful public oversight. Automated license-plate readers such as Flock raise legitimate questions about effectiveness, cost, data collection, retention, access, outside-agency sharing, audits, privacy, and civil liberties. Before Champlin continues or expands such technology, residents deserve a public informational process and clear answers. The city should establish written limits, regular audits, transparent reporting, and safeguards that keep the use of data connected to an identified public-safety purpose. Purchasing a tool is not the same as proving that it is effective, necessary, and appropriately governed.
Finally, a connected community is part of a safe community. People are more likely to seek help, report concerns, and work with public-safety professionals when they believe they belong and will be treated with dignity. City leaders should communicate respectfully, reject efforts to divide neighbors, and make space for people who have not traditionally felt included in civic decisions. Every person has value. Every person has dignity. Every person matters. Public safety and community trust are not competing priorities; each is necessary for the other.
Champlin is going to continue changing, and responsible leadership requires us to shape that change rather than simply react to it. I support growth that strengthens our community, expands appropriate housing choices, supports local businesses, and contributes to a stable tax base. But growth should never be evaluated only by what fits on one parcel or what appears financially attractive in the short term. Every project exists within a larger community, and its cumulative effects matter.
Responsible growth begins with meaningful resident involvement. Too often, people learn about a proposal after much of the work has already been completed and the available choices have narrowed. I will advocate for earlier communication, neighborhood meetings, and public input while plans can still be changed. Residents should receive clear explanations of what is required, what is optional, what alternatives were considered, and how their feedback affected the final recommendation. Public engagement should not be a box checked near the end of a process. It should help shape the process.
Development and redevelopment decisions must consider infrastructure capacity, traffic, pedestrian safety, water and sewer systems, fire protection, public-safety demands, environmental effects, and long-term maintenance costs. A traffic study for one development may show that the project is acceptable by itself while failing to capture the combined effect of several nearby projects. Champlin residents regularly raise concerns about cumulative traffic, particularly near Highway 169 and other heavily traveled corridors. The city should examine the whole picture rather than treating each proposal as though nothing else is changing around it.
We also need long-range transportation planning. Another Mississippi River crossing is not a project Champlin can complete alone or within a single term, but the long timeline is precisely why regional advocacy must begin and continue now. Champlin should work consistently with neighboring communities, Hennepin County, MnDOT, regional partners, and state and federal officials to document the need, evaluate options, and keep the issue moving forward. Long-term challenges do not become less important simply because they cannot be solved quickly.
Responsible growth also means protecting the features that make people want to live here. Parks, trails, green space, mature trees, river access, and neighborhood character are not decorative extras. They contribute to health, quality of life, environmental resilience, and the identity of our city. When development requires the loss of natural resources, the city should carefully evaluate avoidance, mitigation, replacement, and long-term impact. Growth should add value to the community without unnecessarily erasing what residents already value.
Infrastructure decisions deserve the same care. Street reconstruction, utilities, sidewalks, and other improvements are necessary, but the city must communicate clearly about scope, timing, assessments, broader public benefit, and why particular costs are assigned to residents. When homeowners face significant assessments, they deserve more than a notice and a hearing after the basic direction has already been established. They deserve early, respectful, and ongoing engagement.
My approach is not anti-growth or pro-growth at any cost. It is pro-responsibility. I want Champlin to welcome good ideas, support appropriate development, and remain economically healthy while honestly addressing traffic, infrastructure, environmental protection, neighborhood impact, and public cost. The best growth strengthens the entire community, prepares us for what comes next, and preserves the qualities that make Champlin our place to live.
Champlin residents work hard for their money, and they deserve confidence that every public dollar is being used carefully, transparently, and for a clear public purpose. Fiscal stewardship is not simply about spending less. It is about establishing priorities, understanding the full cost of our choices, protecting essential services, and making decisions that remain responsible years after the initial vote.
As mayor, I will advocate for budgets and financial reports that residents can actually understand. Posting documents online may satisfy a technical requirement, but meaningful transparency requires more than making information available—it requires making it understandable. Residents should be able to see what a project will cost, how it will be funded, what assumptions are being made, what risks the city will carry, and what ongoing maintenance or operating expenses may follow. When projections change, city leaders should explain what changed and why.
I will also press for genuinely competitive and transparent contracting. Residents should know when work is competitively bid, how proposals are evaluated, and why a particular vendor or approach is selected. When competitive bidding is not required or is not used, the reason should be clearly explained. Familiarity, convenience, or the way something has always been done should never replace careful evaluation when public money is involved.
Before asking residents to pay more through property taxes, assessments, fees, bonding, or a local sales tax, the city should take a serious look at its existing priorities and whether resources can be used differently. That does not mean promising that every increase can be avoided. It means doing the homework first. I will not make promises without the full numbers, and I will not support presenting residents with only the most optimistic version of a proposal. Major investments—including city facilities, recreational projects, redevelopment initiatives, and infrastructure—should be evaluated for long-term costs, financial risk, community benefit, and their effect on other needs.
Fiscal responsibility is inseparable from accountability. More substantive financial and policy decisions should be discussed publicly rather than routinely placed on a consent agenda where they may receive little explanation. Residents should have a meaningful opportunity to understand and respond before the city commits substantial resources, not after the decision is effectively complete.
Accountability also requires ethical service. Public officials should disclose actual, potential, or reasonably perceived conflicts of interest; abstain from discussion and voting when appropriate; and avoid using public office to create private business opportunities. I apply that standard to myself. As an outpatient mental health therapist, I do not accept clients who live or work in the 55316 ZIP code, and if elected I will continue that practice throughout my service as mayor. Residents should never have to wonder whether a public decision is influenced by a leader’s private financial interests.
My goal is a city government that is disciplined without being short-sighted, transparent without being performative, and careful without becoming unable to act. We can maintain strong public services, invest in infrastructure, support our employees, and prepare for the future while still asking hard questions about priorities, contracts, risk, and results. Responsible stewardship means remembering that public money belongs to the public—and treating it accordingly.
Have questions or suggestions? I would love to hear from you!
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