Dear Minot:
Believe it or not, the 2024 city election is just around the corner.
The 2024 city election will be held June 11; the deadline to file petitions for office is April 8. There are three Minot City Council seats up for grabs; the seats are currently held by Scott Burlingame, Carrie Evans, and Stephen Podrygula.
Candidate packets are available in the City Clerk’s office on the third floor at City Hall. If you’re interested in running for office, here’s what you’ll need:
- 300 signatures and addresses collected from Minot residents
- A completed statement of intent
- A completed campaign contribution statement
That’s the minimum that it takes to get your name on the ballot. In reality, that’s the easy part. As a candidate, you’ll need to clearly communicate your positions on a wide variety of issues to the residents of Minot. How will you would provide guidance and leadership should you be elected? What are your thoughts on the City budget? How do you feel about the ongoing challenges of paying for our backlog of street improvements? How should Minot leverage its new status as a metropolitan city?
These are just a few of the questions the residents of Minot will have for you – there will be countless others, some that will catch you completely off-guard. As a candidate, you must prepare for all of them.
Our goal is always to have a field of qualified candidates to choose from in every election. Competition brings out the best in all candidates; healthy debate and civil disagreement is a good and necessary part of government at every level. As a candidate, it’s important to be informed of what’s happening on the local level because the decisions you make as an elected official have a direct impact on the daily lives of members of our community.
I know we’re barely into 2024, but at the City, we’ll soon begin discussing our 2025 budget. As always, there will be major construction projects in 2025, and work will continue on the two largest infrastructure projects in our City’s history: The Northwest Area Water Supply project and the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project. There will be difficult decisions ahead of us – you can count on it.
As a member of the Council, you’ll be responsible for decisions that affect more than 400 City employees and the community as a whole. You’ll be tasked with balancing the needs of the City as an organization with the needs of the entire community. You’ll work with multiple community partners, including Ward County, Minot Public Schools, Minot State University, the Minot Park District, Minot Air Force Base, and others. It’s all part of the job.
It’s rewarding to be part of an elected body that collaborates to create a vision for the entire community, and then plays a role in making that vision become reality. There is a real sense of pride when a long-term project comes to fruition, knowing the Council played a small role. Those moments are only part of what makes a City Council position interesting and attractive. Not every vote you take involves a major decision, but the details of overseeing the day-to-day operation of the City are vital to the organization’s overall success.
If you decide to run for City Council, I strongly encourage you to educate yourself about local issues, and then begin the process of sharing your vision with the community. But please remember that as a Council member, you’ll be part of something much bigger than yourself and your individual goals or agendas. If elected, you will publicly take an oath making you responsible to the entire community.
Leadership comes in many forms, and every elected official leads in different ways. But the foundation of public service remains the same: Doing what’s best for the entire community. Join us and be part of the process.
You can find more about what’s happening at the City of Minot at minotnd.org, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. We’d also encourage you to sign up for our monthly electronic newsletter on our website.