Rochester residents hear from City Council President candidates
(ABC 6 News) – Shaun Palmer, Randy Schubring, or Dean Koutsoukos will be the next leader of the Rochester City Council.
At the Rochester Public Library, all three answered questions hoping to secure votes. Many questions surrounded their priorities and preferences when it comes to the budget. All agree public safety is important but one has other priorities too.
“With the 6 billion dollar investment by Mayo Clinic, the city will be getting $22 million in permit and licensing fees, we need to use a piece of that to stimulate our economy,” Randy Schubring said.
The economy of downtown Rochester is a major concern for voters and candidates have different ideas for attracting and retaining businesses.
“Number one that we need to do is make sure we have public safety, we want to make sure that everybody who visits Rochester feels that they’re safe and they are safe, that’s really important that we keep investing in our public safety,” Shaun Palmer said.
Controversial issues were discussed as well, like the city’s decision to disable public comments on social media platforms.
While it wasn’t decided by the city council, candidates say it’s important to allow people to voice their opinions.
“I would also like to see restoration of the communication on the social media platforms, I would rather see some of those negative comments then having them express in other ways because their voices have been silenced,” Dean Koutsoukos said.
Voters will be able to go to the polls for the primary election on August 13th.
Three candidates will become two and they will be the last remaining on the ballot for Rochester City Council President.