Thomas supports a safe and vibrant city, with a tax base supported by successful businesses and a mix of multi-family housing and single-family homes. Thomas also supports the development of walkable mixed-use areas, with commercial and residential rental space in proximity to shared community space. In addition, Thomas supports a well-trained and adequately-resourced local police department to protect people and property. Thomas supports a local tax burden that is sufficient, but no greater than necessary, to maintain Coon Rapids as the vibrant and welcoming community that it is.

Thomas is in support of both the police and fire departments’ budget requests for additional staff. Ensuring that every shift for each department has adquate staffing is the bare minimum to protect public safety by providing prompt and skilled response to emergencies. Ensuring that Coon Rapids provides a work environment comparable to our neighboring cities is also imperative to maintaining the high standards of service set by these departments.

Thomas was disappointed that the initiative to fund police facility upgrades and a future community center through local option sales tax ultimately stalled. Locker room and evidence room upgrades for the police department are long overdue. A community center has been at the concept stage for nearly two decades, and successful construction will provide additional opportunities for recreation in Coon Rapids, rather than sending families to Maple Grove or Andover. This will also provide indoor space for city events that cannot be held outdoors. As a long-term solution, Thomas will also work with other councilmembers and city staff to develop a long-term plan for city facility maintenance, improvements, and replacements. This type of planning is already in place for city equipment and city street maintenance; updates to buildings should never become an emergency.

Housing affordability is a chronic problem in Coon Rapids, largely because of limited supply. This has become a nationwide issue and is not limited to Coon Rapids, but it has been exacerbated by unnecessary barriers to new construction. Thomas supports increased housing of all types, including single-family homes, townhomes, and apartments, with the particular type of housing determined by location. Coon Rapids is home to people at various stages of life, and housing for people at all stages should be available and affordable.

Thomas has heard repeatedly about concerns with Automated License Plate Readers (often abbreviated as “ALPRs” or colloquially known as “Flock Cameras.” Thomas shares these concerns. Cameras have been placed along public roadways, scanning every car that passes, collecting data. That data is held by a private company, but can be shared with law enforcement and searched by an AI engine to locate vehicles that may be driven by alleged criminals. There are legitimate law-enforcement uses for a tool such as this, and it can improve public safety. However, the practical impact of creating such a surveillance network is that anyone who contracts with the company operating the cameras has access to a searchable database of any traveller on public streets. The potential for abuse at every level is immense. Thomas is opposed to any expansion of the use of ALPRs, and opposed to any use at all without sufficient guardrails.

• Any data collected by the city of Coon Rapids must be owned by the city and never shared or saved without the city’s knowledge and agreement. This control needs to be exercised at all levels - it’s not just about who we agree to share data with, its about who those partners choose to share data with.

• Any city staff with access to this data must be subject to strict policies about use of the system, with regular audits and severe consequences for violations.

• Any contract with any private company must leave the city with meaningful remedies in the event that the company deliberately shares or retains data without the city’s consent. This includes if that data is shared through a hack or data breach as well as if it is deliberately shared.

• Any city policies regarding ALPRs, including the material terms of any contracts with private companies, should be publicly available and adopted only after an opportunity for public comment.

• City leadership should encourage the adoption of policies on the state and national level to restrict the collection and sharing of this type of data, including when ALPRs and similar technology are placed on private properties (e.g., in privately-owned business parking lots).

Thomas also believes that Coon Rapids is strong as a city not only because it is growing, but because it is growing in diversity.  Thomas’s young family has been safe and welcome in this community, and he wants nothing less for any other family.  To that end, Thomas opposes the federal government’s recent “immigration enforcement” operations, which have created a climate of fear, violated civil rights, infringed on local control, and resulted in the unjustiable deaths of United States citizens. Thomas opposes providing any local assistance in this or any similar operations.