St. Cloud City Council Candidates: Mike Conway

ST. CLOUD -- Three men are running for an open seat on the St. Cloud City Council, in Ward 4. This week we are hearing from each of them. Today WJON news has Mike Conway.

He and his family have lived in St. Cloud since 1991. He has had two unsuccessful bids for St. Cloud school board before. He decided to run for city council this year because he says the current council is not interested in representing the people of St. Cloud.

They are more influenced by outside organizations wanting to come in and change the way the city does things.  And I think they really need to get back to paying attention to the residents of the city.  In my ward especially because that's going to be undergoing some major changes for the next four to 10 years.

Ward 4 is the south side of town, which includes the area where the new Tech High School is being built. As for outside influences, he says things like complete streets and tobacco 21 are issues the city council should not be dealing with.

He says there are several big issues he'd like to address as a city council member.

One obviously is immigration and the whole discussion that went on last year with that.  I think it's just common sense to understand how things are being impacted in your community, where the dollars are going.  Another issue is as a city how we're going to handle the growth, especially in the 4th ward.

Conway says another top issue for him is what will happen with the current Technical High School.

He says some of the good things happening in town include the recent development in the downtown area and the relationship the city has with the Tech College.

He is running on a platform he calls "conservatism, Conscientiousness, and common sense" leadership.

Conway is facing George Rindelaub and Adam Schnettler in the August 14th primary, with the top two advancing to the general election. Current Ward 4 council member Jeff Johnson is not running for re-election.