Thank You Voters!

Dear Becker Residents,

I am truly humbled by the level of support I received in the 2024 Mayoral election.  Your mandate was clear and I will work diligently to transform our city and increase transparency.  We will all be more successful when we engage one another and work together to embrace freedom.  Please stay tuned in the coming weeks as I release the tenets of my plan to increase citizen and business engagement.  A special thanks to those of you who displayed my campaign signs.  

Sincerely,

Mark Kolbinger

Fiscal Responsibility

If you want to support a fiscal conservative, please look at the facts (as provided by the city per my FOIA request for budgets): in the 4 years I was on city council, our average total levy increase was 2.9% and it included my last year where we reduced the levy by an incredible 10% (we even had a former Mayor come to a council meeting and commend us for keeping taxes low)!   In the 15 years since then, the average total levy increase has been 5.69% and the last 8 years it grew to 6.85% annually.  Don't let campaign year promises fool you - past actions are a great predictor of what will happen in the future.

Candidate's Forum

The sign shipment has arrived!

Thanks for your patience- my second order of signs has arrived and I am ready to deliver!  Thanks to everyone who has requested a sign - I am humbled by your support.  All of my signs contain the legally required disclosure so you can display them proudly!

Door knocking - thanks for your patience.

I am door knocking almost every day and one thing I have noticed is that I am not getting to as many homes as I planned.  Why?  There's a combination of reasons.

First of all, I have been super impressed with the questions that citizens are asking.  Anyone who says that the Becker community is not engaged with what is happening in our city is completely mistaken.  Tonight, I spent three hours campaigning, delivered 8 signs and planned to knock on 50 doors.  I made it to 15 houses, and four of those visits lasted over 20 minutes because of the great conversations that took place. This anecdotal evidence is showing me that the residents of Becker are asking for more transparency, one of the pillars of my campaign platform.

Other reasons I have not been to as many homes as I had planned include: talking with former students, playing with puppies (Oliver the Labradoodle), learning a great deal more about Becker's Beyond the Yellow Ribbon committee (what a great organization), etc.  Tonight's campaigning was more about quality than quantity, but I appreciate the support and the engaging conversations.  Becker's residents have LOTS of great ideas!

Signs are in!

Signs have arrived!  If you want a Mark Kolbinger for Mayor sign, please contact me via the website sign request or at markkolbinger@icloud.com.  As always, feel free to contact me by phone at 320-290-1275.  I have both 18x24 inch signs and larger 2 foot x 3 foot versions.  Thank you for the support!

Council meetings versus executive sessions

Here are some statistics about Becker City Council meetings and Executive Sessions (the meetings after the meetings).  Read for yourself and decide if this is transparent government?

2022 Truth in Taxation article

Here is a link to the Patriot Newspaper article where I spoke to the city council about the need for restraint in tax increases, as well as for more transparency.

Signs have been ordered!

Signs have been ordered, as well as door hangers and brochures.  Starting this weekend, it's full steam ahead to knock on doors and hear what Becker residents have to say!