Shelby Rognstad

1. Sandpoint has made tremendous progress over recent years. We are in the middle of the most robust master planning effort in the city’s history. The outcome will affect the city for generations to come. This planning effort will ensure financial resilience, address growth and housing prices and preserve the best of what we love about Sandpoint. It is essential that we maintain continuity of leadership through this period from master planning into implementation.

2. Experience in public service. I am able to work across political and ideological boundaries to address issues that are critical for our success. Only through collaboration and consensus building can we address many of our most challenging issues, like housing affordability, economic resilience and environmental health. I also have the courage and initiative to stand up for our values, even when it’s difficult or uncomfortable, because it’s the right thing to do.

3. We have the best quality of life in Sand-point. That is why we love it here and it is the source of our success. Yet, the median in- come for Sand-point is $33,000/year. Wages are too low and, for the majority of Sandpoint residents, housing is unaffordable. We don’t want to follow the same path other resort communities have where only the wealthy can afford to live here.

4. We need to create economic opportunity and support education to increase wages. We can do this by attracting higher education, supporting workforce training, and supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. We also need to invest in our infrastructure and quality of life to grow tourism, attract job creators and keep Sandpoint competitive. We also need to create more workforce housing opportunities that meet the needs of all residents.

5. Retaining our character. Affordability, historical and cultural context. Financial resilience. Are we planning for a future that is inclusive, not pricing people out. The City should focus on engaging the community to ensure we have robust public participation, particularly in the comprehensive plan, the parks plan, the arts and culture plan, and the multimodal plan.

6. Airports are loud and dangerous. They are not good neighbors for residential use. Light industrial and manufacturing are uses compatible with airports. Sandpoint’s aerospace industry has developed around the airport because it is a resource, not a detriment for these businesses that provide jobs and bring in $50 million dollars a year to the local economy. We need to accommodate residential growth in areas where it will not be impacted by this intense activity.

7. The impacts will be significant for our community — noise, traffic impacts, impacts to water quality. We will work with BNSF to ensure that those impacts are mitigated as much as possible. We will also use this as an opportunity to leverage some benefits from the railroad. On the bright side, a new bridge will be much safer than the existing bridge and will improve transport of goods through the region. It will benefit the local economy throughout the construction phase.

8. Sandpoint will be known as an innovative community that has the highest quality of life. It will be a community for everyone, not just the haves. It will maintain a strong, diversified economy, long-term financial resilience and sustained levels of service. It will significantly reduce its carbon footprint. It will have an incredibly high level of citizen satisfaction. This legacy will define success and maintain that high degree of community pride that characterizes Sandpoint.

9. I take care of myself, my family and personal business by 10:30 most mornings. I’m in City Hall or out in the community for the remainder of the work day doing meetings, phone calls, emails, reading and writing. I typically finish work around 5 p.m. There are regular early morning and evening meetings as well and it is important for the mayor to represent the city in a variety of functions at all times.

10. This is a challenging election. I look forward to celebrating with friends, family and supporters. I look forward to bringing the community together to do the work of making Sandpoint a better place to live, work and raise a family. The city is very busy, I will not miss a beat getting right to work. I will reach out to other elected officials and staff leadership to build relationship. Completing our extensive master planning efforts is the first priority.

11. One opponent has criticized me for poor communication. I welcome all criticism as a way to improve so I learn what I can from it. I know I always have more to learn to improve my communication, which I think may be one the most important skills a person can have. I’ve created a new outreach schedule for regular meetings with staff leadership and electeds, and a new protocol for outreach on challenging political issues.

12. Experience matters. I am the most experienced candidate. Courage to stand up for our values matters. I am the candidate who has consistently done this. The mayor needs to be active in the community, participate in community events and activities that define who we are. The mayor needs to engage local, regional and state leadership and must have the courage to work across political and philosophical ideologies. I am the engaged candidate.

13. How would you unify our community? Bringing people together starts with engagement. I have worked across jurisdictions and political ideologies on boards like Association of Idaho Cities, SPOT Bus, and Bonner County Area Transportation Team. I’ve served on regional committees including Trailmix and Bonner Regional Team. I have served on nonprofit boards including Eureka Institute and now the Bonner County Economic Development Corporation Board. I’ve supported local nonprofits like Waterkeepers and Idaho Conservation League.