Candidate Q&A: Samra Olofson- City Council

1. Why are you running for this office, and what do you hope to accomplish during your  term? 

I became interested in running for the Hudson City Council after getting involved and sharing  my opinions with the council on some of the matters coming before the council. I also noticed  problems with the water/sewer bills, and made the council aware of what was happening. I  realized that at this time in my life, I have the time and desire to contribute to my home town  and, hopefully, offer my skills and abilities to serve Hudson. My family has been in Hudson for  many years, and emotional ties to Hudson run deep, so I would be honored to be of service. I  guess that I just thought "Why not me? I could possibly help with that!" 

2. What do you see as the most important issue facing Hudson right now?  I believe that the financial situation facing Hudson right now, and possibly for several years into  the future, is the biggest issue facing Hudson. We need to get our budget back on track and  our credit rating back to a good level. How did this come about? What is the best way to fix it  and what can we do differently for the future? I don't know the answers to these questions  right now, but I pledge to study the data from the situation and help come up with solutions.  We need to push on getting the audits done. I also suspect that there may be challenges ahead  with the economy and state laws. 

3. What experience or perspective do you bring that you believe will benefit the city?  I have a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Iowa, a Masters of Science  in Business Education from University of Wisconsin - Whitewater, a Teaching Certification from  UNI, and a CISCO Networking certification. My career has been varied--I have designed and  sold aeration systems for grain storage tanks, worked at the local Hudson State Bank, and  worked with General Fund for one school district and with the Activity Fund for the Hudson  School District. I eventually became a teacher, and taught for 31 years in Wisconsin and Des  Moines as a Business Education teacher (mainly computer courses, but also Accounting,  General Business, and Marketing), with the last two years of teaching as the IT=Networking  Teacher at the Waterloo Career Center. I am retired now, so I have time to devote to being a  council member. 

I have a lot of experience with different types of business software, and I think that I could help  with evaluating business or water/sewer software here in Hudson. 

4. How will you help improve communication and transparency between the city and  residents?  

I think that we definitely need to improve the transparency around what is happening in city  government. I often read the minutes of city council meetings in the paper and feel like I don't  know anything more that I did before I started. What do all the numbers of resolutions and vote  totals mean? Where is this plat that they are voting on, and what does the resolution contain? It  is expensive to publish in the newspaper and our small newspaper has budget constrictions, 

but I think that we could use blogs or other electronic means to communicate better with  citizens. And perhaps use polling software to gather opinions. 

5. What does respectful leadership look like to you in local government?  I think that respectful leadership means that city leaders are open and transparent about what  they are doing with the city. People should be encouraged to express their opinions, and all city  residents' opinions should be valued. I have been welcomed at all city council meetings that I  have gone to in Hudson, and I feel like my opinions were welcomed. 

I do think we make improvements in getting the videos out so that people can watch the  meetings at their convenience. I also think that all attachments to the minutes should be made  available on the website--it's just not always convenient for people to go into city hall to get  copies of proceedings. 

6. Is there anything else you’d like voters to know?  

There are a couple of small things that I would like to investigate as a council member. (1) How  much would it cost to have extra item garbage pickup once or twice a year at your home?  Would residents be interested in paying an additional amount on their garbage bill for this  service? We could find out the amounts involved and do a poll to see if there is interest or not. (2) I would like to investigate if we could have cooperation with the county on changing the  speed limit and signage as you come into Hudson by the cemetery on Eldora Road. If we could  accomplish this, I think that would be a good thing.