Town of Sherman candidate: Amanda Klosterman
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TOWN OF SHERMAN — Amanda Klosterman will be on the April 2 ballot for Supervisor 2 in the Town of Sherman. Klosterman is running against incumbent supervisor Daniel Debee.
Klosterman, 59, is widowed with one adult child and three grandchildren.
The Tribune Press Reporter sent out questionnaires to the candidates in the spring election.
Debee declined to fill out a questionnaire.
Here are Klosterman’s answers:
• What is your occupation? Retired lawyer. Executive management.
• What is your educational background? Bachelor of Science in paralegal, Winona State University. Law degree from William Mitchell College of Law.
• What experience do you have as an elected official? Have not served as an elected official before.
• Why did you decide to run for the town board? My professional and agricultural experiences have provided me with a versatile skill set that will make me an invaluable asset on the town board by bringing an objective and analytical perspective. I hope to encourage small business, particularly those that emphasize the rural aesthetic and natural beauty in Sherman.
• What makes you particularly suited to serve on the town board? With thirty-five years of experience in both law and business management, including commercial litigation, corporate counsel, financial and budget management and consulting management, I understand the value of ensuring that residents’ requests to the board are decided both fairly and quickly while maintaining a focus on the town’s rural character and agricultural heritage. I owned land with my late husband for 23 years in the Town of Sherman, and we founded and operated Blueberry Hills Farm from 2008 to 2018.
• What do you believe to be the biggest challenges facing your township? Fire department resources (Menomonie vs. Boyceville) and building a fire station in Boyceville and the effect on Sherman Township residents; high speed Internet; poor conditions of some township roads, and controlling the transition of ag land to commercial.
• What do you hope to accomplish serving on your town board? Improve communication and resident engagement: since communication is poor, resident engagement is poor. I want to make it easy for our town members to know what is going on and be able to engage with us in a number of ways to know their opinions and desires for the future of our town. (Currently the only method of finding out the dates, agenda, etc., of the monthly board meetings is by driving over to the town hall and reading the posting on the door. There are exceptions, for example, some issues that directly affect a neighbor receive mailed letters.) The candidate for the chairman, Chase Potter, started a concerned citizen Facebook page to notify residents of important matters as a temporary solution for informing residents of the dates of board meetings, agendas and minutes. It is my desire that this will be made permanent and an official town action along with completing a website (currently approved in the budget but not yet built). Communication at the board meetings can be greatly improved. It’s also important to make working with the board transparent, easy and fair. It can take up to four trips to the monthly board meeting to get an easy request approved.
Road conditions: Also important, evaluate the township road plan to make the road replacement schedule fair and appropriate, timely addressing of very poor roads. Find ways to impact and increase high speed Internet installations throughout the township.
Fire department resource response: If this issue is not resolved before the transition to the new board, engage more of the residents and address their concerns in light of the budget impact of building a new fire hall and continuing to use the Boyceville fire department for fire calls (compared to switching to Menomonie).
Ag land to commercial: Limit commercial land to high traffic areas in order to keep the rural nature of the township. Encourage ag tourism and other special use business development where appropriate.
• Other comments? Because my law license is only in Minnesota, I will not be acting as a lawyer or giving legal advice to the board.