Steve Stange, Solon’s Mayor, is facing a challenge from friend and outgoing City Councilman Daniel O’Neil in the Tuesday, Nov. 7 City/School Election
The Solon Economist reached out to Stange and O’Neil with a set of candidate questions, and O’Neil’s response was published last week (October 12) while Stange’s is published below. We have also reached out to the City Council candidates and will be reaching out to the School Board candidates as well. All responses will be published as we receive them.
Stange is a lifelong (53 years) resident of Solon and currently works as a department manager for the University of Iowa’s Business Services after 20 years of service as a police officer. Stange also served with the Solon Fire Department for 31 years as a Firefighter/EMT. Stange and his wife of 32 years, Teresa, have two adult children, Dean and Amanda.
Why are you running for Mayor?
“I joined the council in 2006 and in May of 2014 I was appointed by the council to fill the vacated seat and was elected in 2015 and 2019. During my time as Mayor, I feel we as a city have accomplished so much in a short amount of time. Our business districts continue to thrive, and new business are continually looking to come to Solon. The city councils over the last decade have been focused on building out infrastructure to support growth in both commercial and residential areas. As Mayor I want to continue that vision with a strong influence to not let the charm of our small town disappear. To have a combination of new and longtime residents on our boards and commissions to help that vision.”
Growth is an ongoing issue for the City, how do think residential/commercial growth should be managed?
In my mind there are a couple of ways, 1. Continuing to identify the needs of the city and having that in our comprehensive plan. Then, working with our planning and zoning commission members & councils to help shape those needs into the developments and commercial areas. The second part we are seeing now, and it has played out over the last 30 years, and that is the economy. As interest rates change growth slows and increases. During those slow times is when the city has some time to absorb the growth and catch up if you will.”
How would you deal with infrastructure challenges?
“You stay the course, you Identify needs, (and) have a plan prioritizing projects and slowly checking those off. Wanting to have larger recreation facilities like other communities have around us is a desire and need, but we still have street projects water and sewer main replacements, storm water issues that all need addressed, and that bonding capacity has been needed for those things. As Mayor I have also been one to be on the conservative side and have encouraged councils to be willing to make tough decisions on prioritizing those projects. What has been great is for the most part all past councils have had the same visions.”
How best to balance the smalltown nature of Solon with residential/commercial growth?
“I have always been a believer that just adding people should not be a goal for Solon, the impact to our schools, our emergency services and quality of life are impacted with those decisions. That also comes with some sacrifice, you may not have all the things a larger city will have because you will not have the population to support those businesses or city funding but that allows to continue to have that small town feel. That is something voters in the future will decide as different candidates come and go.”
Besides growth, what other challenges do you see facing Solon? And how would you address them?
“The biggest challenge we will have in the next five years is budgeting. Last year the state made sweeping reforms to the property tax system which we can all agree needed to be done. We will be entering the unknown as the state has not shown what the impact to towns will be, but it will be significant. How that plays out for Solon remains to be seen. Future councils will not have the luxury of having growth to cover increases costs and department needs. Departments within the city will have to learn to do more with less just like we are having to do in our own homes. My goal would be to always prioritize public safety, water & sewer, refuse & streets with essential funding with the goal of still funding the other departments within the city as best as we can.”
What separates you from your opponent?
“Experience and time on the job. Over the last several years I have developed relationships with state and local officials, knowing who to go to when you need information or when you need help during a disaster is very important. Though I may not be the mayor that you will see at every event in town, I am a person that believes government should not be in our lives daily all the time. Local government has that potential to impact us daily, during the pandemic I had a lot of outside pressure to get more involved in the covid restrictions within the city and to pressure school officials to be more restrictive. I try to stay out of your lives unless I am invited, or I am needed at a function or situation. Some will say that is a fault or deficiency and I guess you will have to decide that when you cast your vote.”
Why should the voters hire you to lead the city for the next four years?
“No matter who you as the voter decide to vote for, I believe you will have a good mayor that cares for the town and its residents. Dan O’Neil is a great councilman, husband, father, and a very good friend to me and several of you in the community. If the people in Solon decide they prefer not to have me as the mayor any longer then I say it has been a pleasure to have served you all, I hope that the changes I was involved in continue to be good decisions for the town and folks will someday look back and feel I was good for the town.”