Candidate Questionnaire: Polly Dalton – District 9
By Joe Bachman
Editor
STEVENS POINT — General elections are on the horizon, and the Portage County Gazette asked candidates from multiple districts questions about why voters should pen them in on April 2. Answers are verbatim.
Note: This is the same questionnaire which ran in the Feb. 8 edition of the Portage County Gazette. It has been re-published for relevance with Tuesday’s coming election.
What is your general background? Age, birthplace, college education, occupations, etc.
“I am 27 and having been living in Stevens Point for 4 years. My days are filled farming vegetables in Custer with our farm, Rising Sand Organics, and pressing hard cider and managing our business, Upstream Cider, located in Stevens Point. In addition, I work as a substitute teacher in the Stevens Point Area School District throughout the winter.
I grew up in Hartford, Wisconsin and received my Bachelor’s in Political Science and Environmental Studies from Lawrence University in Appleton. I own a duplex on Church Street where I live with my partner, Oren. We have been experiencing all the fun challenges of renovating a house built in 1892.”
Do you have any background in local government?
“During my senior year at Lawrence, I was appointed and then, elected to serve on the city council for the city of Appleton. My committee appointments included Parks & Recreation and Public Works. I was also consistently involved in the issues of the Safety & Licensing committee.
My academic work in college focused on local governance and urban planning.”
What changes, if any, would you like to see come to Stevens Point?
“I would like to see a lot more smaller scale and adaptable developments. I am encouraged to know about the small apartment development happening on Water St across from the Lincoln center. And even better, it does not come with any conditions for financial incentives from the city.
We need more commercial developments of this nature as well. There are many new businesses and ideas incubating from the work of CREATE Portage County at the IDEA Center and Central Rivers Farmshed. The resources available help to actualize concepts, but for these businesses to take off we need to have small scale units to manufacture, process, and do what needs to be done. We need commercial developments zoned appropriately in the 1000-2000 square foot range.Then, the new businesses can functionally grow to the point of needing the 5000-10,000 square foot spaces that are available.
Within city operations, I would work to adopt a commitment to 100% renewable energy and 100% carbon neutral for our city fleet and facilities by 2050. Our area is thriving with businesses and resources to help make this happen. The city has taken a few steps toward reaching this, but it needs to be a consistent consideration as we upgrade facilities and make new capital investments. One of my neighbors shared with me about the work the National Forest Service has done to transition their oils and hydraulic fluids over to safer and more easily disposed of options. Making these choices provides greater resilience and self-sufficiency to buffer us from changing economic and political conditions at the state and national levels.”
What changes, if any, would you like to see come to common council and local government?
“We need neighborhood development focused on building neighborly connections, fostering positive relations with city staff, and consistent, modern communication about how citizens can connect with resources in the community. Homeowners I talk with want to improve their homes and properties, and often, they are unaware of incentives and programs that can help them get there. The focus should not be simply on what property owners can’t do with their properties.”
We need economic development focused on building up the innovation, creativity and good work already taking place here in Stevens Point. My experience in Appleton and knowledge of other communities large and small across Wisconsin is that we’re all trying attract this ambiguous group of “young people” or large business headquarters to our communities. The ones that are successful have things going on because of community organizations, active residents, and top notch business owners. It is a race to financial ruin if the city thinks it can attract people here with financial incentives.
What we can do is have a vibrant understanding of our business community, help connect people to resources, and use discretion and our ability to legislate to get out of the way when necessary and in the interest of our city.”
What are your thoughts on some of the more controversial local projects? (Stanley Street, Roundabout, New City Hall)
“I am not supportive of constructing a new city hall. While renovations can appear more costly in a proposal, my experience has been the new construction often ends up costing much more. The footprint of the county and city campus is sufficient and it seems unnecessary to expand on to new property and take away the opportunity for other development. That being said, I understand the current offices may be insufficient and the building needs improvements for basic HVAC and modern computing utilities. With modernizations and improvements, I think renewable energy needs to be atop our city hall. It is absolutely fiscally responsible.
The Stanley Street project revealed the constraints of project bidding process. While I think 4:3 conversion makes sense and the further connectivity of bicycle traffic is a recreational and transit benefit to the whole county, we need to seriously review how we recruit companies to bid for all proposals or move the projects in-house, if that makes more sense.
I regularly participate in the start and end of school day traffic at SPASH and am thrilled to have the roundabout there. It is great to have art to characterize the entrance of our city, but I would have asked Sentry to fund the project or worked out a public-private partnership. The funds ($105,000) could have provided many more opportunities for artistic enrichment across the entire city, specifically on the south or west end of town.
I have not seen the financial plans for the new Lullabye site proposal but I am not in favor of the city providing TIF funding for the project’s development. Looking for a single development to encompass the whole property limits the options. Allowing the property to build out piece by piece provides more diversity and the ability to respond to more housing and commercial needs — without asking for financial incentives from the city. The city does not need to be in the business of financing things businesses already finance.”
If elected, what do you promise to do with the power of your position?
“I promise to actively alter and refine our ordinances when concerns come up.
I have seen time and again the response to conflict, “Well that’s what the ordinances say.” It is absolutely the power of the council to alter those rules when necessary. It takes time, energy, and consideration. I have experienced working this way in Appleton and am not intimidated by the responsibility.
I promise to empower more citizen voices to provide input for city proposals and at city meetings. I will work to provide consistent communication about issues on our cities agenda, so residents have the opportunity to provide feedback. In addition, there needs to be continued focus and refinement of how city staff provides customer service to residents.”