With a new year comes a new team of elected leaders and a list of issues for them to tackle.
Some of those issues linger from year to year, unsolved because politicians couldn’t agree, the solutions cost too much or because there’s not enough pressure from voters to find an answer.
One way individual voters can act is to contact their elected leaders. Often, those phone calls and emails only are sent when a voter is upset by an action. And sometimes that’s too late.
After the Legislature, the city council or the school board acts, it’s too late to change the policy. About all you can do is be mad. But that’s not very helpful.
To encourage early and frequent communication with your elected leaders, we’re listing their contact information and we hope you’ll share your thoughts on current issues now instead of just getting mad later.
One new member joined the St. Joseph City Council this year, Brian Theisen. Mayor Rick Schultz and council member Anne Buckvold were re-elected.
Here’s their contact information:
Mayor Rick Schultz
rschultz25@msn.com
320-260-0393
Council members:
Bob Loso
bobloso52@gmail.com
Ph: 320-363-8703
Anne Buckvold
abuckvold@cityofstjoseph.com
320-339-1941
Troy Goracke
troygoracke@yahoo.com
320-241-2005
Brian Theisen
btheisen@cityofstjoseph.com
320-293-4712
The St. Joseph area has new representatives in the Legislature. Longtime member of the House of Representatives, Jeff Howe, now represents District 13 in the Senate. Former Rocori school board member Lisa Demuth won election to Howe’s 13A House seat.
Sen. Jeff Howe
95 University Avenue W.
Minnesota Senate Building, Room 3231
St. Paul, Minn. 55155
651-296-2084
Rep. Lisa Demuth
223 State Office Building
St. Paul, Minn. 55155
rep.lisa.demuth@house.mn
651-296-4373
Three new members were elected to the St. Cloud school board in 2018 joining four incumbents. The members are:
Al Dahlgren
al.dahlgren@isd742.org, 320-492-4790
Zachary Dorholt
zach.dorholt@isd742.org, 320-224-0784
Les Green
les.green@isd742.org, 320-253-6613
Shannon Haws
shannon.haws@isd742.org, 320-250-3893
Jeff Pollreis
jeff.pollreis@isd742.org, 320-248-3436
Natalie Ringsmuth
natalie.ringsmuth@isd742.org
320-204-2261
Monica Segura-Schwartz
monica.segura-schwartz@isd742.org, 320-492-3775
By connecting with your elected officials, you can help shape the discussions and the solutions to the issues they are trying to solve on our behalf.
Constructive suggestions and opinions are much more useful in producing a satisfying solution than angry calls and emails after a final decision has been made.