Rebecca Noecker for Ramsey County Commissioner, District 5

Rebecca Noecker for Ramsey County Commissioner, District 5

Sean: We are grateful to welcome on St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker, who is currently campaigning for Ramsey County Commissioner for District 5. In fact, she's so busy campaigning that we actually had to meet at an agreed-upon spot because we couldn't get the technology to work for a regular Zoom session. Now, leading up to election day on the 3rd of November, we look forward to connecting and interviewing all the candidates who are available in this election. We're very appreciative of City Council President Rebecca Noecker joining us. Rebecca, thank you for making this work.

Rebecca: Sean, thank you for making it work. I love being here at the headquarters, and I'm looking forward to the conversation.

Sean: Yes — this is the political interview with the most Trivia Mafia posters behind us. The first question, Rebecca: you've got a job, you've got a cool job, and you're making things happen in the city of St. Paul. But you have this desire to work at a different level — the county level. What prompted you to seek this seat as Ramsey County Commissioner for District 5?

Rebecca: Yeah, you know, I do love my job. I've been on the city council for 10 years now. I love everything about local government — I love the way you can make a real difference in people's lives. You can work elbow to elbow with your neighbors, figure out what the problems are, and figure out how to solve them. And then you can walk around on a daily basis and see the work you've done and how it's making people's lives better. So I love local government.

But I've also become aware, over the last 10 years on the council, of all the ways in which the city can't do it alone — the ways we need other government partners involved, and in particular the county. The county does all of the human side of our community. So whether we're talking about helping our unhoused neighbors, fighting back against ICE, or bringing property taxes down, all of those things require county partnership. I'm hoping to bring some of the energy, some of the fights, and some of the experience I've built over the last 10 years over to the county, to make it a better partner.

Sean: One prime example of "doing it alone" not working is our unhoused population. Right now at Randolph and West Seventh, and at Shepard and Randolph, we have an increased encampment — a larger encampment — and there are a lot of ways in which this is falling on St. Paul's doorstep. It is St. Paul's responsibility, but I could see a future where there's a much better relationship between county officials, even state officials, to take care of a problem that, at times, I just feel is intractable — not necessarily unsolvable, but certainly not going to be solved with the solutions available right now. So can you talk about how being at the county level might give you the ability to do more to help our unhoused populations?

Rebecca: Absolutely — and I don't believe any problem is intractable. I believe there are difficult problems, but I'm an optimist, and I think working together, being proactive and strategic, we can solve even the hardest problems. But you're right, this isn't something the city of St. Paul can take on alone. And it's not a problem that developed overnight — this is something that's been going on for decades, because we haven't been investing in the kinds of services and the kind of housing our neighbors need.

We're just up the street from the Shepard-Randolph encampment. I was down there earlier this week talking to my constituents who are living in the encampment, and what they told me was: we want to go inside, and we want to go inside into a space where we can bring our partners, our friends we've made here, our pets, the stuff we've worked hard to get and that's precious to us — and we can't do that in a shelter bed. So when we talk about the services people need, what we really need is supportive housing — apartments where people can live with others, with their pets, with their property, and then services on site, like mental health, chemical health, job training, and other supports. Those are all things Ramsey County has the mandate and the budget to provide, and they need to be provided not just in an emergency situation, which we're in now, but for the long haul.

Sean: They've had that mandate for a while, though. So do you think you being there is going to change it? I haven't seen that mandate impact the lived experience of unhoused people in St. Paul yet. Is it your agenda, with this group of seven people, that's going to change it? Because that mandate is there, and it's still not being met. So what's the difference if Rebecca Noecker is on that commission board?

Rebecca: First of all, nobody does anything alone, so I think it's really important to note that everything happens in partnership — the things I hope to make happen are going to happen in collaboration. But I'll say everything comes down to leadership. On the county board, there are seven people who are elected to set the policy and direction of the county and to hold staff accountable to making those things a priority. I think my track record on the city council shows that I know how to work with six other people — there are seven council members, same as seven county commissioners. It's a nonpartisan environment, so you really have to build relationships with everybody — there's no finger-pointing at "the other side." And then you're in the details of the work. You're not just signing a bill to allocate a lot of money to something — you're talking with the people you're hoping to help, the people impacted by the problem, your colleagues, other levels of government, figuring out the financing, figuring out the legal parts, and getting it done.

I'm proud to say I have a track record of doing that. The county's most recent expansion of shelter beds was actually something I championed — I led the fight on the winter safe space, which became the seasonal safe space in downtown St. Paul, 64 additional beds, almost right after I got elected, my first year in office. That's an example of how you can work together, even from the city council, to get things done. I feel like on the county board, I'll be able to bring that same style of leadership.

Sean: Let's open up to some of your other priorities. We've talked about the unhoused population, which I think is of paramount importance. But what are your other priorities if you're elected to this office — say, in the first couple of days?

Rebecca: Yeah, there's a lot I want to do. Let me start with pushing back against ICE and the federal attack on our community. Operation Metro Surge was an intense form of this, but it was going on before Metro Surge, and it continues to this day. We need our local governments to be ready to defend our neighbors, and that takes a couple of forms.

First, I think we need a separation ordinance at Ramsey County that says local law enforcement and Ramsey County staff do not cooperate with the federal government. When you call the sheriff's office, when you come in to get your medical assistance, your SNAP, or your childcare benefits, you're not going to be asked for your immigration status, and you're not going to be reported to ICE. We have a very strong separation ordinance in the city of St. Paul — we worked hard to strengthen it even further during Metro Surge — and I think we need something like that at the county level too. I'd also move to ban masking by law enforcement at the county level. We did that in St. Paul, to make sure ICE and other agents had to reveal who they were; we also required identification. We should do that at the county level too. And the county needs to end its contract with Flock — I led the fight to do that in the city. That's a third-party provider taking our residents' data, which has been shared with the federal government without our police department's knowledge. We can't have that kind of surveillance where we don't own the data and don't know where it's going. So those are a couple of things I'd do immediately to help defend our neighbors against the federal government.

Something else we have to talk about is taxes. As you mentioned, Sean, I'm literally in the midst of door-knocking right now, and what I'm hearing at the doors is that taxes are unsustainable. People on fixed incomes, seniors, low-income folks, working families who are also trying to afford rent, childcare, groceries, and gas — taxes are a huge part of that problem. One of the things we can do is have the city and the county work better together. Coming from the city council, I know exactly what we do well, where we need help, and where there's duplication we could eliminate to bring down the amount we have to spend. But the other thing we need to do is expand our tax base. We need to bring in more businesses, more homes, more people to help shoulder the cost of the services people depend on, which go up in cost every single year.

There are huge opportunities to do that from the county side. The county actually owns critical, high-value parcels that could be put back on the tax rolls. One is at River's Edge, right on the riverfront in downtown St. Paul. There's a really ambitious vision for that site — housing, jobs, a brand-new park right along the river, bringing people down to the river, which is something we've wanted to do for a long time. But it's been sitting there vacant for 10 years, and it was vacant buildings for 10 years before that. We need to move with urgency on getting these properties back on the tax rolls. And then I'd institute a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes program. Twenty percent of our properties in the city of St. Paul are totally tax-exempt — hospitals, colleges, faith-based institutions. A lot of other cities and counties in our position have created voluntary programs where those institutions can pay in to help cover the cost of the services they receive. I think that really resonates with our values in St. Paul and Ramsey County — that everyone should have a part in covering the services people depend on.

And the last thing I'll say here — I have a long list of other priorities — but West Seventh Street, right outside the windows where we're sitting right now, is a street that desperately needs investment. There was an actual void in the street — I learned it's not a sinkhole, it's a "void," that's the technical term — right outside of Burger Moe's last year. The street is literally falling apart. The county worked for years and spent $12 million in public dollars on design and community engagement for a transformed West Seventh Street, and then they abandoned the project with a Facebook post and moved the $7.3 million they had allocated to suburban, shovel-ready projects instead. That was one of the last straws that got me to say, I have to run for this seat, because our community deserves better. So I'd work to bring the county back to the table. The city has picked up the pieces — we have a plan to reconstruct the street and put the J Line bus rapid transit on it — but we need the county's investment.

Sean: We're sharing a microphone here, so we can't do really quick back-and-forths, but I have two follow-ups based on your really thorough answer. Let's start here: didn't Chris Coleman try to do the "hey, pretty please, nonprofits, give us some money" thing years ago, and it died on the vine? Wasn't there already an attempt to get some dollars from our nonprofit neighbors, and it didn't work? Why will it work this time?

Rebecca: This is a good time to be the longest-serving council member, at 10 years, and the elder stateswoman of the council at 42 — because I have a bit of a memory of how this went down. I don't remember the very beginning under Chris Coleman, but I do know that at the very end of his term — maybe this is what you're talking about — the Citizens League did a study of a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes program. They talked to the heads of the colleges, the hospitals, the big nonprofits, and came back with a report that said: yes, we think you should pursue this. It's not going to be a silver bullet, because these are voluntary payments — you can't count on them, they won't totally solve your budget woes — but you should pursue it. And their final recommendation was: do it right now, because right now, all these colleges, faith-based institutions, and hospitals have been engaged in this report and are ready to work with you. Don't let it gather dust.

Right after that, we had an election. A new mayor came in with different priorities, a different agenda, and it gathered dust for the last eight years. So as soon as Mayor Her took office, I reached out and said, let's pick up the pieces. She and I have been working together beautifully on this — we're hoping to have a pilot ready in some form by the end of the year. I've been grateful for her partnership, but again, I think this is something that should be countywide.

Sean: Here's the other follow-up, on the first couple of things you said about responding to ICE, including not permitting masked law enforcement officers at the county level. Do you have a partner in Sheriff Bob Fletcher on getting rid of the Flock cameras, and on a lot of the things I feel are a little antithetical to some of the positions I've seen him take? I don't know exactly how it works, but do you think you have a partner who can really change law enforcement at the Ramsey County level?

Rebecca: Well, just like I believe there's no such thing as an intractable problem, I think everyone is a potential partner. I'll say I've found Sheriff Fletcher to be very helpful on different occasions — I actually sat down with him and a constituent who was working with another constituent, one of my immigrant constituents, who had been unlawfully detained and was facing deportation, and the sheriff was really helpful in that situation. So we've been able to work together in the past. He and I have very different views on a lot of public safety approaches, including Flock, and I've been disappointed in how he's responded to my effort there. But here's the thing about local government: no one can be a permanent enemy — you have to work with people.

So one of the first things I'm going to do, and I've already started — I've met with all the other county commissioners, and I've already met with a lot of frontline staff, because I think the people who actually do the work every day are the ones you should talk to when you're figuring out what needs to change. Policymakers often don't do that, and they end up disconnected from the work. I'm looking forward to sitting down with the sheriff and trying to understand his perspective better, trying to figure out how we can work together. I'll say, ultimately, the county board does control the sheriff's budget, and I think that will give me a bit more influence in those conversations.

Sean: That was diplomatic — right at the end. Sitting this close to you, it's hard to be too aggressive. I've got two more questions and then we'll let you go. You'll be serving a larger population if you're elected to this role, and sometimes there are people who are really good at serving, say, 60,000 people, and come up short when the number gets bigger — they don't know how to reach people and stay connected the same way. How are you going to scale up to make sure you can really deliver that county level of representation — more square mileage, and, most importantly, more people?

Rebecca: That's a really good question. I've definitely noticed, as I've been door-knocking, that the number of doors you need to hit to run a county campaign is a lot different than a city council campaign. The good news is I'm going to continue to represent a district that's entirely within St. Paul. I've been serving both my ward and the city as council president — for the last decade, and the last year and a half as council president — so a lot of the same neighborhoods I represent now. I don't think I would've taken this on if it meant leaving most of my constituents. So it's my West Side neighbors, which is also my home, downtown, West Seventh — and then adding in parts of the East Side, the Battle Creek neighborhood, Dayton's Bluff, the Highwood Hills area, and also Highland Park and the southern part of Mac-Groveland.

So part of this is just staying connected to all the constituents I already represent, and I've really been trying, during the campaign, to reach out to the new folks I haven't met yet. One of the things I love about local government, even at the county level, is that it's still very local — you're still going to run into your constituents on a Sunday morning at the grocery store when you haven't showered or done your hair yet, and I look forward to that continuing to happen to me. It's very personal, and it's not hard, if you take the time to show up and meet people where they're at.

I'm going to keep doing my community conversations, which happen once a month in different coffee shops, restaurants, bars, rec centers, libraries, and parks across the district. I'll keep doing my downtown action series, every two months, where we hear updates on what's happened to make downtown better over the last 60 days from a variety of speakers — I'm hoping to host that as Ramsey County Commissioner too, and invite my new Ward 2 council member to join me. I've actually invited the current District 5 commissioner to join me at those events every time, and he has yet to come — so I look forward to better collaboration there. And then continuing my newsletter, my social media presence, and just showing up. So much of this is about saying yes — whenever there's an event, a food drive, a clothing drive, a chance to speak to students, which is actually one of my favorite things to do as a former teacher.

Sean: Last question, City Council President Rebecca Noecker — a little more personal. What's a day off in your district? I imagine days off are few and far between right now, but say you land on a day with nothing on the itinerary. What are you up to?

Rebecca: Okay — well, I guess I can't say door-knocking, since that's my current day off. It's really hard to choose, but I'd say a day off might find me having coffee at Plata Cafe, just down the street on West Seventh — I love that I can always pick up a copy of the Community Reporter while I'm there, and I always run into constituents and people I know. I love to bike — my family and I are avid cyclists, we bike everywhere — so you'd likely find me on the Capital City Bikeway downtown, the Lilydale trail, the Bruce Vento Trail. And if there were a Saints game on that particular day off, we'd definitely bike over the Highway 52 bridge from the West Side to the game, park in the special bike parking, and go in the back entrance — you feel like a celebrity, and all you had to do was bike there.

I'd also probably want to stop into Caydence Cafe and Records, on the East Side, just a little outside my ward — it's a wonderful spot, you can pick up a record and get coffee at the same time, and we've hosted community conversations there. And then I'd say, at the end of the day, there's nothing like standing at the top of the High Bridge on the West Side. Right at Overlook Park behind you is a brand-new community garden, a wonderful gem that's brought so many neighbors together and produces wonderful food — a great spot to check out. But then just looking over the bluff at downtown St. Paul, with the sun setting off to your left, is just perfect.

Sean: St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker, who is running for Ramsey County Commissioner for District 5 — thank you not only for your generosity today, but your spirit of improvisation, since we ended up not being able to make the remote interview work. We appreciate your time today, and again, we'll be trying to connect with all the candidates in this election as we get closer to election day. Thank you for being here, Rebecca.

Rebecca: Thanks again, Sean.