Irene Fernando for Hennepin County Commissioner District 2
Sean: We'd like to welcome on Hennepin County Commissioner Irene Fernando, who represents District Two. Fernando is running as the incumbent in the race, and we are looking to connect with as many candidates as possible for Twin Cities elections before election day on November 3rd. Commissioner Fernando, thank you so much for joining us today.
Irene: Thank you for having me.
Sean: Now as the incumbent, I want to go back to when you first ran for this position. What prompted you to step up and decide to try to be a commissioner in Hennepin County?
Irene: What motivates me now is to prevent structural, addressable suffering. It sounds like an odd place to begin, but as I've learned more about systems and been able to govern for eight years, the most significant systemic pain points our residents experience are addressable problems for which we have solutions. A lot of folks are feeling hopeless, and I want to express that shared humanity will absolutely prevail when we rise together in solidarity toward justice. Here in Hennepin and in Minnesota, we've demonstrated many ways where regular people are able to come together and make a difference beyond our imagining, and that's really what led me to this board.
In some ways elected office is very unique, and in other ways it's consistent with what we know. We have a board of directors that should be responsible for policy direction and financial performance and outcomes. Here in Minnesota, we appoint our executive leaders — similar to a nonprofit board hiring an executive. What originally prompted me was an interest in the issues I cared about. Like many people, in January 2017 I was seeking to get more involved, and I wanted to understand who affects transit, who affects climate action, who makes decisions on mass incarceration or youth outcomes. I kept seeing the same words: Hennepin County Commission. As a youth worker at the time, I literally thought it was an arts board — I thought, wow, Hennepin is so forward, we're asking all these meaningful questions from its arts board. It was a particular awakening to understand that this seven-person representative body is representative democracy and representative governance in action. I kept asking the next best question, and I found myself in a nearly two-year campaign. I was able to prevail, and I've been governing ever since.
Tane: You've already hit on one of the things I get really passionate about, which is the different levels of government and how they have different roles and responsibilities in our system. I think county government is potentially the most misunderstood level of government — and you're giving me a thumbs up on that, which I appreciate. So you've been in this role for eight years, you're running for reelection — what are the ways you'd say to voters and constituents, "these are the things I have the most agency over as a county commissioner, and this is where you should be coming to me to affect change"?
Irene: Well, in general, you should be able to approach any elected or public official, and it's my belief that we should in some way be assistive as to where and how your impact or advocacy can make a difference. Specifically, counties are the only level of government mandated by law to care for the vulnerable. For the county, that generally means foster care, SNAP — what growing up was called food stamps — and the ways in which those who are misunderstood within our systems often find themselves under county jurisdiction or county care. For those who are moved to prevent suffering, to advance justice, and are motivated against systemic injustice, I think counties are a really beautiful place to create change for areas that have systemic impact.
It sounds odd, but the county — Hennepin County specifically — has planted so many trees for our tree canopy, which has a cascading effect. So I'd say: for those who are vulnerable, and how to improve systems for those individuals, and then as we think of generational effects, those systemic decisions matter. I was fortunate to be raised through a matriarchal leadership framing, and I see counties through that lens — counties are the caregivers of government, and we're also kind of the chores of government. Both of those mean we're not as visible as other levels, and yet we are the vital infrastructure and essential services that ensure our community is able to proceed. Hennepin is unique because we're 22% of the state's population — the largest of the 87 counties. Take, for example, decisions that were before me: we have a Hennepin County library system in part because many moons ago there wasn't a decentralized system, and Minneapolis libraries at the time weren't on solid footing. So some of what I'm answering is a county answer, and some of what I'm expressing is also my belief around Hennepin County's unique responsibility, given our size and volume.
Sean: When you talk about the statewide impact of Hennepin County, the first thing that comes to mind is HCMC, which is a very unique hospital — one you could end up in if you're injured in Duluth, or Brainerd, or St. Paul. But it's been on shaky ground, very shaky ground financially, for quite some time. What role do you see Hennepin County and the rest of Minnesota playing in securing HCMC's continued operations?
Irene: Absolutely. The county's role so far has been that HCMC is only here because of Hennepin. There's no requirement by law to have a county hospital or a public hospital, but the commissioners before me and the commissioners at present believe a public safety net hospital should exist in our geography. I happen to agree with that very passionately, and I'm proud that we were able to, alongside so many partners — really the people — save the public hospital. We're the last public safety net hospital in the upper Midwest.
What's our role moving forward? We need a durable, sustainable financial source. Federal changes have completely upended our entire social safety net and the longstanding practice of how healthcare is financed and delivered in this country. So it's been on shaky ground in some ways, but so has everything — there's a decade-plus of a really compressed financial model in healthcare, and then COVID, and then this past year. In some ways, moving forward, we should ask ourselves what Minnesotans believe in. I was so inspired this past winter, because Minnesotans demonstrated that no one — not even the feds — gets to tell Minnesotans how we care for our neighbor. Do Minnesotans believe healthcare should be accessible and affordable? Do Minnesotans believe that, in addition to trauma care, routine preventative healthcare and mental healthcare are essential — especially when we think about domestic, intimate partner, and gun violence? I've heard over and over that Minnesotans believe in those things.
I'll take it a step further: social determinants of health are old news at this point. We know an individual's access to housing, food, clean air, and clean water directly impacts their health outcomes. So how might we, as Minnesotans, structure a system that encompasses the compassionate, practical, and imaginative caregiving we already express in our homes and neighborhoods? I'm very proud that Hennepin County gets to be part of that, because of our unique county infrastructure.
Tane: One of the most divisive issues in Hennepin County right now is the future of the HERC, the garbage burner in downtown Minneapolis — which I think is technically just outside your district. There are activists who say it's toxic and poisoning the air, but Hennepin County, the city, and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reviewers have all said the health risk is low, and that trucking garbage to landfills instead would likely create more CO2 emissions and health risks. Where do you stand, as you're arguing for another term, on the timeline for closing the HERC, and what can the county actually do to either make that happen faster or make it better while it's still open?
Irene: Sure. I define closing the incinerator as closing the HERC, so there's a distinct policy position between the county and the city of Minneapolis. That's meaningful because the city is the land use authority — an authority outside of the county — so what occurs on that land is up to the city. The second reason the city matters here is that 75% of the waste comes from the Minneapolis geography: 53% from commercial sources within Minneapolis, and 22% from organized collection — the cans outside residences with the City of Minneapolis logo on the side.
I believe in concluding incineration on the fastest possible timeline, and that can happen by converting the existing facility so we can still receive waste from everyone delivering it to us. I want to be clear about a distinction here: is closing about ending incineration, or is it about not having a building there — not having a place within Minneapolis to receive waste? I believe Minneapolis must have a place to receive waste, from a climate perspective — waste should be processed closer to where it's generated, and Minneapolis is about 10% of the state's population. On the closure side, there's nuance in how we get there: zero-waste activity, reducing consumption, increasing recycling, and the policy, funding, and outcomes related to that is what we should be paying attention to. Hennepin has been putting a lot more money into those efforts with favorable outcomes. It would be meaningful for the city of Minneapolis to match or exceed that funding and accelerate those outcomes — that's not the data I've seen from that entity to date. So realistically, I won't conclude a service until there's an operational plan to replace it. I've seen trash pile up in other areas of the country without an operational plan, and that has its own public health risks. In short, I look forward to ending waste incineration inside this decade. I want to do so with a concrete plan, and we have to really reduce overall consumption and increase zero waste.
Tane: Inside this decade — by 2030, you're saying?
Irene: That's been my reference since I started my first term. Commissioner Conley and I brought forward a number of measures that didn't prevail in shifting the county's policy position. The state legislature's defining legislation has initiated this discussion differently, because by 2040 this waste incinerator will no longer be considered renewable energy. That's another reason I say by the end of the decade: in order for a service to proceed, you have to put money into it, and if it's not going to be considered renewable by 2040, every year we put more money into that service is money that could be spent converting it to a different service — because by 2040, we won't be considered renewable anyway.
Sean: Commissioner Irene Fernando, you've been very generous with your time and definitely shared your passion for the work you're already doing as commissioner for District 2, and for running for reelection this November for the same position. We appreciate you joining us today, and we appreciate the opportunity to connect with all the candidates in these upcoming elections. Thank you so much.
Irene: Thank you.
