Election 2011: Candidate Profiles for Hudson Town Board

Hudson Patch asked all the local candidates on the ballot in the April 5 election to provide some information about themselves. The following is the information submitted by the town of Hudson candidates with minor grammatical edits:

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Jeff Johnson

Occupation: Owner of

Experience: Elected Town Board Chairman, served on Emergency Government Committee. Has served on the Town Board for over 20 years.

Why do you want to be the Hudson Town Board Chairman?: Johnson declined to participate in the Hudson Patch candidate profiles.

What is the most pressing issue facing the Hudson Township and where do you stand on that issue?: Johnson declined to participate in the Hudson Patch candidate profiles.

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Tim Foster

Occupation: Retired

Experience: 18 years on Hudson Town Board, 13 years on Hudson Town Planning & Zoning Committee
Community service: parks, extra-territorial, intergovernmental, Hudson Fire Commission and St Croix EMS where I am currently chairman, Hudson Hockey Association, and Hudson Booster baseball and soccer.

Why do you want to be on the Hudson Town Board?: Each of the Hudson town supervisors represent all of the town residents.  As a supervisor, I take this responsibility very seriously and that is why our town's taxes are the lowest in St. Croix County and some of the lowest in the state.  We plan ahead and save money for future projects.  By not borrowing we have no debt service to pay back, unlike most communities.

What is the most pressing issue facing the town of Hudson and where do you stand on that issue?: Probably the most important issue facing the Hudson Town Board is the reduced state aid along with higher cost on may services for our town residence example road maintenance, etc.  This means we need to find ways to reduce expenditures and not increase real estate taxes.

The town of Hudson is a progressive community.  The town board has always tried to provide exceptional leadership and a vision to manage the growth of our community.  Having good zoning and ordinances in place allows our community to have organized growth.  I would like to continue to be one of your town board supervisors.  I would appreciate you support and vote on April 5.

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Kernon Bast

Occupation: Real estate development

Experience: Third term on the Hudson Town Board since the 1990s.

Why do you want to be on the Hudson Town Board?: As a fiscal conservative, I would like to ensure that our local government holds down taxes, spending, and keeps government growth under control.

What is the most pressing issue facing the town of Hudson and where do you stand on that issue?: Our funding and budget. We've had rapidly declining home values in St. Croix County over the last several years, combine that with a substantially reduced state funding and you'll see we need to do some serious tightening of the purse strings to keep our budget under control. The biggest thing is that there should be no increase in taxes when times are tough.