When talking about the needed attributes for the next Mayor of Chaska, we hear a lot of talk about “vision”. In my seven years here in Chaska, I’ve heard every candidate for Mayor or City Council talk about their vision of Chaska. And they all pretty much sound alike. Everyone is interested — more or less — in advancing the same things.
Most people generally agree on what they want this city to be, and what they want this city to pursue — a more vibrant downtown, take care of traffic issues, responsibly manage the development of the Bio-Science Zone and the Heights of Chaska, continue the strong Park & Rec system, etc..
I suspect that if you had given Gary Van Eyll and Jay Rohe each a magic wand back in 2008 that would allow them to make the city of Chaska look how they would want it to look in 20 years, the results wouldn’t have been radically different. The difference between Van Eyll and Rohe was — to me, anyway — more about how to get there as opposed to what the destination was.
However, since we don’t run government by magic wand, we need to move past defining the vision and see who the right person is to make sure that we achieve the vision.
Who’s going to be the right candidate to guide the creation of the downtown master plan and then marshal the resources to execute it successfully?
Who’s going to be the right candidate to have city government operate more transparently, with more accountability, and actually embrace and encourage citizen input?
Who’s going to be the right candidate to make financial decisions with a long-term perspective?
Who’s going to be the right candidate to advocate for Chaska on a regional and state level to make sure that projects critical to our community are addressed?
Those are the questions that need to be answered. It’s more about action than vision in my mind.
Jay Rohe and Mark Windschitl, the ball is in your court. Show us you are more than vision — but that you can bring the needed action to Chaska.
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November 30, 2009 
