Goettel, Beck seek County Board District 5 four-year commissioner term

Two candidates are vying for a four-year term representing District 5 on the Hennepin County Board. District 5 includes Bloomington, Richfield, most of Eden Prairie (roughly two-thirds of the city south of Highway 62), and a small portion of southwest Minneapolis. 

Jeffrey A. Beck of Eden Prairie is running for commissioner for the third time. He previously ran in 2004 and 2014 and was elected to the Hennepin County Soil and Water Board in 2009. He also ran for mayor of Golden Valley in 2011. Beck is currently retired.

Debbie Goettel of Richfield was first elected District 5 commissioner in November 2016. She is running for her third term. Goettel, an environmental engineer, is the county board’s vice chair and chair of the budget committee. She served as mayor of Richfield from 2006 to 2014.

A candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters was held Sept. 11 at the Bloomington Civic Plaza. Beck tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to attend. Goettel was in attendance and answered questions for about 50 minutes.

Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) asked Beck to respond to the questions and issues presented at the forum. He emailed his responses, which are included in this story. Some information is also taken from a video that the Bloomington League of Women Voters produced for each candidate.

---

Beck said he is running on housing stability, which he called “the No. 1 factor in the race.” He said he wants to build 50,000 low-income units in Eden Prairie, Edina, Richfield, Bloomington, and South Minneapolis.

In his video, Beck said he sees “practices” in several cities in the western suburbs as “modern-day 2024 racism.”

“A lot of these cities want low-income people to work in their cities, but they don’t want the same low-income people to live in their cities,” he said. “They would rather have them live elsewhere.”

Beck also said there should be free public defenders for everyone in housing court, and that retired judges, rather than referees, should hear cases.

Goettel said she initially ran for the board because of her experience as mayor of Richfield. 

”I realized that I could do for my community if I actually ran for the county board and made sure that our communities were taken care of,” she said.

She said she is running for reelection because she has unfinished business.

“We have the Southwest Light Rail that we need to finish, we’re still working on (Hennepin County Medical Center),” she said. “I’m determined to right the ship for this hospital. I’m also determined to do better on the mental health for our kids.”

Housing

Both candidates see housing issues in the county as needing improvement.

Goettel noted that the current presidential candidates are recognizing the issue. “Affordable housing is a huge crisis, and they’ve noted it finally,” Goettel said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

She said that the state Legislature has authorized a .25-cent tax that will raise $30 million in 2025 for housing and housing support. The county has invested over $190 million into housing and housing support since the pandemic, she said.

Goettel discussed the challenges of enticing people to use county services, specifically those seen at street intersections seeking donations.

“I can tell you that person has been touched probably four times,” she said. “They’ve been offered food, they’ve been offered water. They’ve been touched by a Hennepin County worker, or someone from your city. They’ve been offered shelter more than one time. And what happens is, we’re turned down. They’re just not ready to come in. We’ve offered them addiction services; they turn us down. They’re not there yet. We never stop asking.”

Beck said that he will “build 5,000 low-income housing units in every city in Hennepin County every year” that will rent for $600 a month. He also said he will convert old housing stock into new family housing units in the county that will rent for $750 a month.

HERC

The Hennepin Energy Recycling Center (HERC) in downtown Minneapolis burns about 45% of Hennepin County’s trash. Some community members and organizations are pushing for the facility to be shut down due to the pollution it creates. The Hennepin County Board has established a window from 2024 to 2028 for closing the facility.

Goettel said she has been researching new trash burning technology in Denmark that produces zero emissions. “Can we get it to zero?” she asked. “I don’t know. I’m hopeful. If somebody else has done it, the technology exists. I want to find out if we can put it into this particular facility and if it will work.”

“HERC needs to be closed up immediately,” Beck said. “The air coming out is poisonous and affects the people of North Minneapolis.”

HCMC

Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), the county’s Level 1 trauma center and hospital, has been experiencing significant financial issues primarily due to uninsured and uncompensated care. Recently, the nurse’s union and other unions have been pushing for new leadership of Hennepin Healthcare, which runs the county’s medical facilities.

Goettel said that keeping HCMC viable is vital. “We have to have that hospital for our community,” she said. Goettel noted that 1% of the county’s maximum levy of 5.5% for 2025 will go to shoring up the facility’s financial difficulties.

The County Board is working to extend a 0.15% sales tax that was used to build Target Field and use it to make improvements at HCMC and other facilities, Goettel said. The county estimates that $1.5 billion in upgrades will be needed over the next 15 years.

Beck had no comment on HCMC.

Youth mental health

A questioner ask candidates what they believe is the best way the county can help young people with mental health issues?

“One of the ways is to get more facilities and more folks working in the local area,” Goettel said. “A lot of times, we end up shipping these kids pretty far away from their families. That’s not good for them.”

Goettel said that the County Board has asked the state Legislature to build a regional facility with several other interested counties. It also asked for licensure changes that would allow youth with violent tendencies to be treated in facilities currently not licensed to treat them.

She also referred to existing programs in the community and schools, including COPE, a 24/7 response team, and embedded social workers in schools and some police and fire departments.

Beck had no comment on the topic.

Ranked choice voting, Met Council, speed limits, pay raises

Goettel said she supports ranked choice voting; Beck is not in favor.

Goettel acknowledged difficulties with the Metropolitan Council but said it all depends on which part of the agency you are working with. She said the council does a good job of managing state and federal grants for infrastructure projects. However, she found it frustrating to work with the council on housing issues during her time as mayor of Richfield.

She said many of the people she worked with then have moved on. “I think it’s a different council now,” she said.

Beck said he favors building an Amtrak rail line from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that would run through Eden Prairie. “People want Amtrak trains and high-speed rail,” he said. “Our present Metro Council ‘lacks knowledge and flexibility to get it done.'”

Beck also said voters should elect members of the Metropolitan Council.

Beck said he’s fine lowering speed limits on county roads. “(A) 30 mile (per hour) limit is fine.”

Goettel said lowering speed limits – even for safety reasons – is not as easy as it sounds. While she favors the county working with cities to lower speed limits, the state has told the county it can’t arbitrarily lower speed limits because county roads are reliever roads to state highways. Goettel said she supports continuing to work with the state to allow counties, in conjunction with cities, to set speed limits.

Goettel would like to see someone else decide on the pay raises County Board members receive.

Earlier this year, the board proposed a 49% pay increase for board members that was quickly retracted after public backlash.

“We gave ourselves a 5% raise,” Goettel said. Compromise was always intended to be part of the process, she said.

“I had to vote for my own pay raise,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a very fair, just, or equalizing way to do things.”

Recycling

When asked how the county can improve its recycling efforts, Goettel took the plastic industry to task for its confusing use of what most people understand to be the triangle symbol used for recycling.

“One thing we can do is make it a heck of a lot simpler,” she said. “The biggest scam is the plastic industry. The triangle is not a recycling triangle. That’s a triangle that they co-opted. They put their little number in there, and you can barely read it.

“And people don’t know you can’t recycle black plastic. If it’s got food waste on it, at least in this county, is it recyclable? No.”

She said the numbers in the triangle could be clearer. “People don’t know 1s, 2s and some 5s. Well, which fives? I don’t even know which 5s, and I’m an environmental engineer.”

There needs to be a new system that will clarify what can be recycled and what can’t. “The plastic industry needs to step up to the plate and do something different,” she said.

Beck had no comments on the recycling system.

Libraries

When asked how Hennepin County libraries will look in the future, Goettel encouraged people to visit a library and see what it offers. “I see libraries as one of the last bastions of true public free space for people to use,” she said. She also noted the availability of Bookmobiles, educational programming, and technology to visitors.

Beck agreed. “I feel that librarians should be paid at least $80,000 to start,” he said. “These women and men are the best workers in Hennepin County today. They educate, they teach, always helping everybody no matter the race age or disability of their clients.”

He added: “Our library’s should have two copy machines.”

Jeffrey Beck can be contacted at j.beck4609@gmail.com.

Debbie Goettel can be contacted at info@debbiegoettel.com, on Facebook at DebbieGoettelMN, or at debbiegoettel.com.

If you are uncertain which county district you are in, check out this website.