Minnetonka City Council Candidate: Tony Wagner

Editor's note: This week we feature candidates running for the Minnetonka City Council. You can meet and grill all the candidates at our Speed Dating For Your Vote event at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at the Gold Nugget Tavern.

TONY WAGNER, incumbent and running unopposed in Ward 2

Minnetonka Patch: What qualifications do you have that will make you an effective Minnetonka City Council member?

Tony Wagner: Over my eight years on the City Council, I have gained a great deal of experience and perspective on the issues Minnetonka faces and the 'levers' we need to adjust to continue to be one of the most desirable places to live and work in the Twin Cities. I pride myself on looking at all sides of the issues and putting myself in the 'shoes' of those with varied perspective. In addition, I enjoy engaging in dialogue with the residents and advocating for those who contact me on key issues while stressing the importance for long term planning and decision making in the city.

I have a strong background in leadership positions while working at Carlson for the past 15 years, and also during my time in city government (Planning Commission Chair, Economic Development Commission and Southwest Light Rail Policy Committee). But in the end, being an effective Minnetonka Council member means that you truly have to value and care about the long term vitality of Minnetonka as an entire city and make decisions with that 'lens' on the key issues of today and tomorrow.

Minnetonka Patch: What is the biggest issue for the city of Minnetonka? Why?

Wagner: Two items actually. First, continuing to think for the long term while delivering quality service and amenities for a reasonable price to our residents. Minnetonka has a strong community and strong core values that our citizens support, and your leaders need to continue to plan for the long term in an external world that has shifted to the short term and 'easy' decisions.

Secondly, as our community continues to age, we must continue to adapt our service model and ensure that we have varied housing options that appeal to older residents while at the same time encouraging young families to settle in our city. Keeping a vibrant city with strong regional centers like Ridgedale and Opus, local village centers, easy-to-access and connected trails and parks, and an appealing housing stock will be critical to our success. With these items, the importance of engaging Minnetonka residents and business and managing the change that inevitably will occur will be important.

Minnetonka Patch: What is current Minnetonka leadership doing well? What could be better?

Wagner: Minnetonka takes a long term view, and places a priority long term planning anchored against our values and strategies instead of using short term fixes. This approach has enabled Minnetonka to deliver quality public services with measured levy increases, and make the tough decisions - whether it be levy increases in 2005 and 2006 to improve our roads or staff and budget reductions/restructuring in 2009 that positioned the city to reduce the long term growth of our levy.

The greatest testament that Minnetonka leadership is doing well is that in recent community surveys ninety nine percent rating the quality of life as excellent (64 percent) or good (35 percent). In fact, the number one item citizens stated that can be improved by the city of Minnetonka was "nothing."

However, delivering a great quality of life requires constant innovation. In this continuously connected and busy world, Minnetonka and the council can continue to improve resident engagement through emerging technologies and recognize the 'busyness' and 'noise' that our citizens balance. Making it easy to connect to the city our residents live in can make a large suburban city like Minnetonka seem small.

Minnetonka Patch: How will you get input from your constituents?

Wagner: Constituent input is a critical role in decision making for council members. On key issues facing the city, I seek constituent input from affect parties and neighborhoods, while considering the long term values and plans that the city has adopted and residents have validated through our annual surveys and public input processes. On key issues affecting my ward, I have engaged affected residents to gain their perspective, provide context to city policies, and guide our residents on the public process. I have a very respectful and engaged citizenry in Ward 2, and I thank them for their input and support as we mold Minnetonka for the long term.

Minnetonka Patch: Give us a brief background of yourself.

Wagner: I am a 14 year resident of Minnetonka, and my wife April and I welcomed with great joy a new daughter, Katherine Rose, to our family this spring. I am blessed to also work in Minnetonka, at Carlson Wagonlit Travel - a division of Carlson Companies, where I serve as Vice President and lead our company's Meeting & Event division in North America. I've been fortunate to have a great employer at Carlson who has allowed me to participate in public service while providing sustained career growth over my 15 years with the company since I graduated from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. Go Gophers!

In addition to serving on the City Council for the past 8 years, I also represent the city on the Economic Development Advisory Commission, the Southwest Light Rail Policy Committee, and the Minnehaha Creek Corridor Committee.