Child care fuels Ward 1 candidate exchange

Oct. 18--The issue of child care spurred some back and forth Wednesday for candidates in Rochester'sFirst Ward.

During the League of Women Voters' candidate forum for the city's southernmost district, candidates Patrick Keane and Heather Holmes were asked what the city could do to address the shortage of child care.

Keane said he'd like to see local economic development groups, such as Rochester Area Economic Development, Inc., get involved.

"Instead of of working with these high-flying sort of projects, why not enable and incent some businesses to be coming into Rochester and do daycare and find a way to do it properly," he said.

Holmes, who works with RAEDI as vice president of marketing and project manager of the Journey to Growth initiative, pointed to current efforts in Stewartville and Spring Valley.

However, she noted much of the control is out of city hands.

"The difficult part with child care is that the regulation is at the state level, and that's where we have to be proactive in speaking with our legislators at the state level," Holmes said.

Keane said he's aware of such efforts, pointing to a new Eyota daycare that benefited from tax-increment financing, but he said Rochester has a need as well.

"There are people in south Rochester going to Eyota for daycare and coming back to work in Rochester," he said. "I'm looking for these things to be more in line with the Rochester community and not just with the outlying communities."

Holmes said that would be good but will require the city council to improve permitting processes for developers to make sure businesses can be established with affordable rates.

"When you have a city that is willing to work with child care provider to build that ... that's what our city needs to be better at," she said. "We need to look at the red tape we are providing to developers or impeding them to actually being able to build some of these facilities."

Later in the forum, Holmes pointed to development issues as an area where she and Keane have differences of opinion, even with a shared goal of doing what is best for the community.

When he was asked to identify where the candidate's views split, Keane said he's not comparing himself to Holmes and wants voters to make up their own minds.

After the candidates were asked about their differences, the question was posed regarding how they would work with a divided council.

Holmes pointed to new leadership within city government and the fact that at least two new council members and a new mayor will be elected next month. She said she'd like to see the council hold a retreat to build bonds.

"We need to see the people past the issues," she said.

Keane said too many people are looking at politics as a "bloodsport," where winners and losers must be identified.

He said a better approach is to understand that opposing views have supporters throughout the city and all views should be respected in an effort to collaborate.

"Collaboration is not just a matter of getting along and being easygoing," he said. "It's trying to make the case of why something in the bigger picture is in someone's best interest."

The candidates will be on the ward ballot for the Nov. 6 election.

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