At our April 6, 2021 meeting we enjoyed an engaging presentation by Dr. Harry Boyte and Marie-Louise Ström from the Institute for Public Life and Work on the role of citizens in our democracy. In a time of growing polarization and mounting problems that the government alone cannot solve, this presentation began with the ”We the People” idea from the Preamble to the Constitution, which defines our democracy as the work of the people. We learned about the way the idea was brought to life on an enormous scale in the hundreds of grassroots citizenship schools of the civil rights movement. In them, people combined fighting for the right to vote with learning skills that equipped citizens to work on many other problems. We heard a powerful contemporary story of “democracy schools” in Burundi, one of the world’s poorest societies, where everyday citizens claimed “safety as everybody’s business” and learned to work with police as partners. Finally, looking at the roots of the League of Women Voters in diverse movements for civic awakening in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, we heard the proposition that LWV is ideally positioned now for leadership in a grassroots citizenship education movement that equips citizens to be effective agents of change and work across differences to address our common challenges.
Credit River Township occupies the eastern edge of Scott County to the south of Savage, west of Lakeville, and southeast of Prior Lake. A special election will be held on Tuesday, May 11, as part of the township's process of being incorporated as the City of Credit River. Offices that will be on the ballot include mayor and four city council seats. The mayor will be elected to a term continuing through 2022, while council members will be elected to staggered terms continuing through 2022 and 2024. The only polling place will be Credit River Town Hall located at 18985 Meadow View Boulevard. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. through 8 p.m. on election day. More information regarding the election is available here.
A total of 13 candidates have filed for the open positions, including three candidates for mayor, five candidates for the two city council terms continuing through 2024, and five candidates for the two city council terms continuing through 2022. Below are links to the affidavit of candidacy filed by each candidate and any website listed by each candidate.
Mayor
City Council Term Through 2024 (two seats)
City Council Term Through 2022 (two seats)