Local Video
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| Graham: At large candidate |
By: SUZANNE ROOK, Senior Reporter
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Posted: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 12:14 am
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Editor’s Note — This story is part of a continuing series featuring candidates for Northfield City Council.
NORTHFIELD — Dana Graham believes city council members need to be more engaged, particularly when it comes to Northfield’s economic development.
Dana Graham
Age — 53
Family — wife, Marin Amundson-Graham; three sons: Scott, 22; Luke, 13 and Collin, 11
Occupation — registered financial representative
Education — bachelor’s from the University of Vermont |
A former councilor who didn’t run for re-election in 2004 to concentrate on his now-defunct golf shop, Graham said council members shouldn’t sit back and wait for progress reports from the Economic Development Authority. Instead, he wants them to work hand-in-hand with the EDA and recruit new businesses to town, if needed.
Concentrating on economic development, he said, will keep Northfield strong, provide jobs and help reduce the property tax burden on homeowners. Taxes on commercial properties are higher than similarly priced residential land.
Graham, 53, a Vermont native, moved to Northfield in 1992 and was general manager of Dokmo Ford/Chrysler for more than 12 years before opening his own business. With that business now closed, Graham says he’s ready to jump back into politics.
He says the current council isn’t working as a unit; wastes too much time and gets too little done.
“We have to get this government running. We have to show the citizens of this city goals can be accomplished,” he said.
During his term on council, Graham was a member of a downtown subcommittee, an idea he’d like to see resurrected. The downtown business district, he said, is the city’s focal point. And, he said, they’re dealing with specific issues other Northfield businesses aren’t: drawing traffic from the highway, constantly repairing structures more than 120 years old while paying sky-high property taxes.
“We need to make sure we’re giving them the opportunity to succeed,” he said of the district’s business owners.
The council needs to get its fiscal house in order, he said, and prioritize its capital needs. Safety should always be of utmost concern, he said, adding that balancing needs, such as those of the library, also need to be taken into account.
Graham has been a councilor before and knows what the job entails, but says the current council’s dysfunction isn’t doing the city any favors. “People don’t have to agree with everything you’re doing. But they want to see a government move forward.”
— Suzanne Rook can be reached at srook@northfieldnews.com or 645-1113.
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