Council Member – City of Zumbrota

DIRK CEDERGREN

I have lived in the Red Wing, Zumbrota area since leaving the Navy in 1988 when I worked at the Prairie Island Nuclear plant as an operator. I’m originally from Chicago. My wife of 38 years, Tammy, is from Apple Valley. We moved to Zumbrota in 2016. We have three kids and 12 grand kids.

I am running for office to contribute to my community in an active way. I’ve had the unique opportunity to learn the position as I was appointed to finish Councilman Horvath’s term. I’ve enjoyed meeting people and working with the Zumbrota team, so I registered for the November election.

I am currently on the Parks Board, the Ambulance Board, and the Fire Department Board. It is a very steep learning curve, but everyone is very helpful. I hope to lend my almost 60 years of life experience and 45 years of work experience to tasks at hand and any challenges facing our community. I don’t have an agenda of fixing anything, but I want to be a part of solutions for the future.

KEVIN AMUNDSON

My name is Kevin Amundson. I’m 33 years old and happily married for seven years to my wife Emily. I grew up in New Prague, MN and moved to Zumbrota in 2014. I am a Transportation Generalist at the MnDOT Zumbrota shop, and I run my business, Terra Nova Productions, as a Wedding/Event Videographer, and a Website designer. I am a self-taught professional entrepreneur with extensive business experience in information technology and creative media and started working in those fields directly out of high school. I’m running for Zumbrota city council because I want to serve my neighbors and fellow business owners. I believe the most beneficial public service is done at the local level where connections are personal and people can work together to create a thriving local economy and culture. Local government is built on trust and integrity. This environment can only be created when elected representatives are available and committed to working for constituents. I’m here to listen, contribute to efficiency and transparency, and build a system that serves individuals and private industry. In my view, a beneficial administration is simple and works easily for a diverse population with unique ideas and ambitions. A strong community built on these foundations is best prepared to meet difficulties and adapt to changes without losing the great core values that have built us to this point. I look forward to working alongside the good people in Zumbrota towards that goal!

Reach out to me via phone, text, or email.

(507) 321-0070 | kevin.zumbrota@proton.me

LISA JOHNSON

My maiden name is Timbeross, and my family has been from the Zumbrota area as far back as I remember. I graduated from Zumbrota High School and have lived my entire life in Zumbrota and surrounding area. I have two adult married daughters and raised them in Zumbrota. I live in the Zumbro Woodlands with my partner, Rick and schnauzer, Macy.

I was employed for over 20 years locally at the medical facilities in Zumbrota, Red Wing, and Rochester. I decided to make a career change when my daughters were students and began a career in the ZM School district office where I prepared for payment all the monthly bills for the ZM school district and worked with the educational departments to maintain their budget. I am currently employed at Edward Jones on Main Street, Zumbrota.

Zumbrota has many assets, and our location makes it very a desirable community to live and raise families. My roots run deep in Zumbrota and people find me approachable. We moved into town a year ago from rural Goodhue. The Zumbrota I moved back to is moving forward, but not necessarily in a good way. I reach out to people and listen to what they think as far as how they feel the direction Zumbrota is going and the bad does seem to outweigh the good. My idea is to listen to the community and be a part of making Zumbrota a safe and desirable place to live as I remember.

The Jefferson Drive project is a major priority and I drive it twice a day at least! Knowing the Jefferson Drive project will be delayed until 2023 will impact Zumbrota immensely.

Our Downtown is thriving but also is getting very dangerous due to Highway 58 traffic. We need to protect and keep residents safe – I see daily how unsafe the crossings are and this is an item I feel needs to be addressed, I don’t want to see someone getting hurt just because drivers can’t slow down.

I feel it would be an honor to serve this city that I love and live in – please feel free to reach out to me!!

howlersgirl@gmail.com

JOAN BUCHER

Hi, I’m Joan Bucher and I’m excited about the opportunity to run for city council. I’ve had the pleasure of living and working in Zumbrota for over 30 years now and have long considered it my home. Dan and I proudly raised both of our children here. Our son Vince works at ABC in Rochester and our daughter Kari is a third year law student in Minneapolis. In addition to being a mom, I’m a passionate small business owner and a strong advocate for people with special needs. I received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Winona State University and currently own owned and operated the Zumbrota Dairy Queen, where our family gratefully celebrated over 30 years of business in the community a few years ago.

I have previously served on the ARC Southeast board , and I’m an active member on the DAC committee for ADQ. I enjoy volunteering for the Rochester flyers special olympics team.I’m also currently a member of the city of Zumbrota planning and zoning committee, serving since the fall of 2020.

Zumbrota is a strong, vibrant community that needs to continue to explore opportunities for growth and development that will continue to impact our town in a positive way. My interest in running for City council is to focus on foundational, community and economic growth. First, I would love to see the community continue to flourish and grow which makes infrastructure extremely important. As decisions are made that will impact growth in the community, it will be essential to continue to build a solid infrastructure to support that growth. Second, housing is a vital part of any community. However, I believe we must prioritize diverse and affordable single family housing. It will be important to create housing opportunities that encourage younger families to move to Zumbrota in order to keep our foundations strong and our community thriving in the future.

My educational background, along with my vast life experiences including being a successful small business owner in the community would all be useful assets on the council. As a small business owner I understand the importance of managing a budget/employees, multi-tasking, making difficult decisions, finding creative solutions to challenges, relationship building and serving the needs of the community,

My top priorities are industrial and residential growth at the same time maintaining and improving our current infrastructure and

to expand/grow our community through well planned development. We should always be striving for sensible growth and looking at different avenues for funding.

It would be a privilege to be able to serve our community and continue to build on the strong foundation that zumbrota already has.

Joan Bucher

jjbuche46@gmail.com