Morgan Baum and Tim Burley seek to fill the Hutchinson City Council Seat 1 position on the ballot this fall.
The position is being vacated by Mary Christensen, who chose not to run again.
Baum grew up in Hutchinson and graduated from Hutchinson High School in 1998. She attended college at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where she earned her degree in political science, journalism, and a minor in art.
Baum went onto Washington, D.C., from there, as an investigative reporter in various roles and an advocate for consumers of products marketed for children. She is the current owner of her family’s pottery studio along with her husband and 5-month-old daughter.
“I have always thought that I would come back to Hutchinson and be a public servant,” Baum said. “I pay attention to everything that I can because this is my way of public service. Everybody gives back in their own ways,” she added.
Baum realizes Hutchinson’s growth potential, acknowledging the recent census.
“I want to make Hutchinson affordable and accessible to everyone who lives here,” she said. “The city council has a lot of different ways it can play a role in ensuring Hutchinson remains affordable.”
Baum emphasizes enabling housing projects, cooperating with the Economic Development Authority, and leveraging the city levy to recruit and retain businesses.
Child care needs in the community or environmental cleanup of the (Crow) river are two examples of initiatives currently supported and influenced by the city council that Baum takes seriously. “The city council is the (voice) of these partnerships that are happening,” Baum said.
“Good leaders get things done and great leaders inspire others to join them. It’s time to bring on a team of great leaders (to do that),” Baum concluded.
Tim Burley is a U.S. Army veteran who says he is duty-driven and “believes in giving people a choice.” His wife is a Hutchinson native, and together they have lived here for approximately 15 years, after military and various government service.
City council work is nothing new to Burley, having previously served in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, before moving to Minnesota.
“Chippewa Falls is about the same size as Hutchinson and I really enjoyed it because you could be a problem solver engaged with the community who gave you the information needed,” he said.
Burley believes social issues are impacted by the city council.
“The city council is not in the business of (being profitable),” Burley said. “We have to help business and entrepreneurship because every city provides to employees and their bottom line in the current economy. We have to care about people and look at what they’d like and where we are on services, and we have to do it at a tax rate where people and businesses can live and thrive.”
He sees ingenuity as a key in solving some problems, such as the lack of affordable housing in Hutchinson. During a candidate forum earlier this month, Burley mentioned so-called “tiny houses” could be part of the solution.
“In tiny towns, you have eight little houses (in a start-up community) instead of four big ones,” he said.
Burley says via his campaign’s Facebook page that “This a concept for the use of large empty commercial buildings when empty, to create affordable housing with respect and human incubation. A building the size of the old Shopko building would have space for about 50 apartments. Basically a city inside an existing building.”
Burley went on to say “A college student graduates, (as an example) you have a small house that’s $30,000, it gives you a start to affordability, credit, and ownership, as an idea.”
He said he tries to put himself in the place of those he would serve in the search for solutions, and also tries to use a data-driven approach to needs of the community.
“I look across generations, look at what people are going through, and ask myself, ‘What would I have done, in their situation?’” Burley said.
