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Why Chris is running, and what's important to her. Its really about you. From the Winona Post - read the full article here  Double and Meyer: District One (western Winona)
Former Winona City Council member Paul Double and current Winona County Planning Commission member Chris Meyer are competing to replace retiring county commissioner Jim Pomeroy on the County Board. Meyer called Pomeroy her role model and said, “I think he’s done a fabulous job, and I wouldn’t be running if he were [running].” Meyer added, of her vision for Winona County, “In order for people to live here, we need to be able to make a living, so we need to have a strong economy, and that should be equitably available. But neither of those things are going to be available if we don’t have a planet to live on, and so, clean air, clean water, and healthy soil are critical.” Double called voters’ attention to the $10-million referendum that Winona Area Public Schools will seek this fall, the steady tax increases the city of Winona has adopted, and the tax increases the County Board is considering to balance its budget. “Someone needs to be your voice at the table to say, ‘No,’ with the experience to work through the issues and not only increase property taxes as the only way to solve these problems,” he stated. “I think our county has been missing an opportunity to grow our tax base by not doing more and only focusing on reducing our taxes,” Meyer argued. Growing the tax base could help offset the effect of tax increases. If there were more new businesses and homes in Winona County, existing property owners would have to shoulder a smaller portion of the tax burden. Meyer pointed out that the county once had a full-time economic development coordinator who helped rural cities apply for development grants, helped local businesses attract workers, and strategized on how to make the most of growth from Rochester’s Destination Medical Center (DMC) project. County administrators have since eliminated the position. “To expand our tax base, I think we need to give assistance to our small townships and small municipalities,” Meyer said. There are grant opportunities that could help, but small towns with limited staff do not have the time to pursue them without help from the county, she stated. Housing and transportation are critical to Winona County’s economic growth, Double stated. “Transportation … is the single largest expense for the workforce behind housing. We need to address it … We need to work hard with our industrial-development groups and get them to look at the fact that, as we expand our development in the rural areas and look at housing in the rural areas — if people move for less expensive housing — that transportation issue flourishes [at] even higher levels, and we simply need to address it.” Double continued, saying that the County Board needs to really scrutinize its budget and its programs. “What got better? What didn’t change?” he asked. “And the things that didn’t change maybe need to be addressed and eliminated, because if it didn’t get better and it’s not doing the job, there may be some opportunities to look around, not just in the county, but around the United States — our abutting states — to see who has some creative ideas out there at the county level that’s saving them some money and replicating it.” Meyer talked about a different strategy to save money. She pointed out how rising foster-care costs — most commonly the result of parental drug abuse — have played a significant role in driving up the county’s expenses. She advocated for funding Winona County Drug Court and other programs that combat addiction. “Investing in those kinds of programs has the potential to at least keep those costs in check,” she said. Meyer and Double both identified the county jail as one of the most important issues facing the County Board. The current jail has been sanctioned by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) for not being up to code, and county staff warn that if the county does nothing, the DOC could shut the current jail down entirely. The county is in the early stages of developing a plan to replace the current jail; building a new facility could cost millions of dollars. Double pointed out that there are various categories of inmates — from maximum-security inmates to low-level juveniles offenders — that have different needs. “The jail is clearly a high issue, and how that’s handled, I think, can be done very cost-effectively,” he stated. Meyer has sat in on several of the county’s jail planning meetings. “The jail advisory committee is doing the right thing,” she stated, praising the group’s work to look at options for lowering the jail population and its plans to develop a set of options for how to replace the jail with cost-benefit analyses. Winona County Board candidates talk taxes, transportation and economic development at forum9/13/2018
From the Winona Daily News Coverage of the League of Women Voters county candidate forum. Read the full article and see the recording here  Meyer, who is running against Double for the District 1 seat held by Jim Pomeroy since 2006, said the county has spent too much time focused on reducing taxes and has missed out on the opportunity to grow the tax base.
“Eighty thousand people and billions of dollars of investment are going to happen just next to us in Olmsted County,” she said, pointing at the Destination Medical Center in Rochester. “We should be trying to leverage that growth,” she said.  From the Winona Daily News 6/8/2018 (Read the full article here)
Meyer, who has served on the Winona planning commission, citizen’s environmental quality committee and county parks and environment committee, said she hopes to continue Pomeroy’s tradition of evidence-based decision making. Since retiring in 2013, Meyer has been a strong proponent of sustainable practices, an experience she plans to bring to the board. “Future generations should have the same quality of life that we have had,” she said.  Printed in the 6/4/2018 Edition of the Winona Post (Click here for the full article)
Two experienced candidates are vying to replacing outgoing County Board member Jim Pomeroy: Winona County Planning Commission member Chris Meyer and former Winona City Council member Paul Double. Double and Meyer compete for Pomeroy’s seat For the last 10 years, Jim Pomeroy has represented District One (eastern Winona) on the Winona County Board, often acting as a moderate voice and a swing vote on the sometimes-divided board. In late April, he announced he will not seek re-election, and now Meyer and Double are running for his seat. Double is a local businessman who served a term on the Winona City Council before being defeated by Paul Schollmeier by a 17-point margin in 2016. Coincidentally, Schollmeier and Meyer are married. As a council member and candidate, Double opposed additional regulations on frac sand facilities, criticized the city’s use of stormwater fees to fund rain gardens, and proposed that the city swap land in Lake Park with the school district for the construction of a new public elementary school. Meyer has spent the last two-and-a-half years serving on the county’s Planning Commission, where she voted for the frac sand ban, scrutinized feedlot expansions, and said that the government needs to do more to reduce nitrate pollution in drinking water. Prior to that, she served on the county’s Parks and Environment Committee. Meyer was a donor to County Board member Marie Kovecsi’s 2014 campaign. Asked why she is running, Meyer pointed to Pomeroy’s example. “He’s been really even-handed and respectful and thoughtful and focused on the issues, and I would really like to follow in that sort of model of service,” she said. On policy, Meyer stated, “Sustainability and sustainable development is really the core of what I want for this county for the future.” She talked about how she left her hometown on the Iron Range because there was no economic opportunity. Winona County is fortunate to have both natural beauty and a diversified economy with jobs that can support people, she stated. Asked what the county should do about its jail, Meyer said she would need to learn more about the issue. She is sympathetic to investing in preventative criminal justice programs aimed at reducing incarceration and recidivism. “Are there things we should be doing that could reduce future costs if we were able to invest in them now?” Meyer asked, adding, “Reacting is a lot more expensive.” Prepared and paid for by the Chris Meyer for Winona County Commissioner Committee – 322 High Forest St, Winona, MN 55987
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