Meet the candidates running for Stevens Point Council District 1 in the April 4 election
Incumbent Marc Christianson will face challenger Gracia Day for the District 1 seat on the Stevens Point City Council in the April 4 election.
Alderpersons serve a two-year term.
To learn more about registering to vote and to find your polling place, visit My Vote Wisconsin.
The Stevens Point Journal asked each of the candidates to address important issues in the district and why they are running for the position.
Marc Christianson
Age: 65
Residence: Stevens Point
Occupation and education: Retired school district superintendent; master's degree in educational administration
Relevant experience: Current District 1 alderperson on the Stevens Point City Council, served on many boards and councils previously including serving on the Washburn City Council.
Campaign Facebook page: Marc Christianson for City Council − Stevens Point
Gracia Day
Age: 53
Residence: Stevens Point
Education: Bachelor of Arts degree from Northern Michigan University
Relevant experience: I am an Air Force veteran. I owned, developed and managed a regenerative farm for five years. I was a small business owner/manager for 11 years. I worked as an analyst for the Department of Defense for five years. I am currently on the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Campaign Facebook page: Gracia Day for District 1 - Stevens Point
Why are you running for office?
Christianson: To utilize my past experience to benefit our community.
Day: I want to serve where I live, District 1, and its residents. I want Stevens Point to be a great place for all of us to live and work.
What are residents telling you are the most important issues in District 1, and how would you address them?
Christianson: Affordable housing is probably the most mentioned. The Housing Task Force recently completed their task and the Council will be considering their findings and recommendations. I attended a majority of their meetings and was impressed by the quality of discussion that took place because of the variety of perspectives that members shared. Now it will be up to the city to transform ideas into actions.
Day: The issues I hear the most about are: 1) Proposed changes to single-family housing put forth by the Housing Taskforce. I do not believe that boarding houses are good for the neighborhoods or the people living in them. I do support allowing owner-occupied homes having three unrelated people as long as there is adequate off-street parking. This would allow a new teacher, for example, who wants to own a home to offset expenses by having two roommates. 2) Business 51. Proposals should be put on the ballot and let voters decide. 3) Neighborhood parking. While on-street parking is good on paper, it is causing problems in reality. This needs to be revisited and revised. If we cannot enforce a policy, we need to fix it.
What are the top two issues that you believe need to be addressed in the city?
Christianson: Affordable housing and fostering an environment where entities work collaboratively not competitively.
Day: Business 51 and good, clean, safe affordable housing.
Readers often mention affordable housing as a top concern in the city. What can the City Council do to ensure truly affordable housing is available for residents?
Christianson: This is a more complex issue than it may appear at first. The city can’t directly control prices but there are things they can do to influence them. The single largest factor is probably supply and demand so taking steps to encourage an increase in our overall housing stock will help.
Day: We need to work with the agencies already set up for this issue and get them to work together, our Stevens Point Housing Authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A grant writer on staff would be very beneficial in getting more monies available to us to develop additional housing units in our area. This problem did not develop overnight, and unfortunately, it cannot be fixed overnight. We need to work with our local shelters and churches to cover the gap in order to keep people safe and healthy.
Increasing taxes in the city is another complaint we often see from readers. What can the City Council do to keep increases to a minimum?
Christianson: As a former school superintendent I have always felt it was vital to be a good steward of the public’s tax dollars. Decisions are constantly made on a cost/ benefits analysis. Are we getting the best bang for our buck? We don’t have infinite resources so it is necessary to use them effectively and efficiently in order to do the greatest amount of good.
Day: One route we need to pursue is grant monies. We may need to hire one or two grant writers to help bring more money into our area for big projects. We need to encourage more business development, of all sizes, to increase our tax base. The cost of running our city is not going to go down.
More:What Stevens Point voters need to know about the $4.2M road projects on the April ballot
More:We toured The Grove at the former Stevens Point convent. Here’s what’s happening inside.
Editor Jamie Rokus can be reached at jrokus@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter at @Jamie_Rokus.
This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: Stevens Point Council District 1: Candidates on the spring 2023 ballot
