Ward 3 candidate
Jan Nedelka
Age: 36, Dover res. 2 yrs.
Occupation: stay at home dad
Public Experience: Dover Main Street, Our House For Girls, the Dover Arena Comm., vol. tax preparer for the AARP Tax-Aide program

Age: 36

Occupation: stay at home dad

How long have you lived in Dover: A little over 2 years

Have you served on any boards, councils or committees?

Active in Dover Main Street, Our House For Girls, the Dover Arena Commission and a volunteer tax preparer for the AARP Tax-Aide program. 

As Dover becomes a more desirable place to live, how can the city keep it an affordable place for low-income residents?

There is no single solution that achieves that goal; generally, there are two groups you're trying to serve.  People moving into or within Dover, and those who are long-time residents of Dover, often on fixed income.  For the former group, part of the solution is intelligent zoning for multiple housing types, including traditional single-family housing, multi-family units or single-family attached units.  For the latter, the city offers tax relief for those who qualify, exempting up to $191,000 in property value.

What have you accomplished for Dover that you are most proud of and what would you like to accomplish if you are elected?

This is my first time running for any elected office, but the accomplishments I'm most proud of are my support for the AARP tax program in the Dover Public Library. Working with a great team of other volunteers, we filed about 230 tax returns for residents of Dover and the surrounding communities, helping them get refunds totaling over $143,000.  Those are dollars people need, and are returned right back into the local economy. Were I to pick a single goal if elected it would be this: Two years from now, any resident of Dover can go to the city web site on the third day of the month and view accurate, complete financial records for the prior month. The first step in making good choices is to have accurate, timely information at hand; we lack that ability now. 

What is an important environmental issue facing Dover?

The biggest issue is the cleanup of the Tolend Landfill; it's a longstanding and long-term issue.  Just a couple of weeks ago we learned that we can safely use a simpler and less expensive method of remediation. Seeing as how the Dover taxpayers are footing most of the bill, that's great news.

What is the most recent cultural or artistic event that you have attended in Dover?

The Apple Harvest Festival.  We took our nine-month old son, and he had a great time.

What type of new businesses would you like to see come to Dover?

I'd like to see more commercial, small to medium retail and service industries because they present a small environmental footprint and in the instance of some service industries such as health care, robust longevity.

Do you support a tax cap for Dover? 

The goal of the tax cap is to control spending and I think that's both a great goal and an essential responsibility of the city council.  I'm not convinced this is the way to do it.  Even my opponent, who is the sponsor for the tax cap, concedes that city government expenses will continue grow.  He had the opportunity to vote in favor of a budget that approximated that specified by the tax cap, and he voted 'no', because he didn't like the cuts.  The better question to ask is where can we get savings for the taxpayers?  Most of the big-dollar answers are long-term: negotiating labor contracts that are fair to both taxpayers and employees, always driving to eliminate waste, and weaning the city from borrowing for most capital purchases.  In the short term, the city needs to avoid taking on new capital projects that don't provide a rapid rate of return or essential services, and aggressively seek further commercial development to diversify the tax base and ease the burden on residents.  Lately, the city has been weak on those two short-term issues.

Dover has a growing art community. What can the city do to support arts and artists?

Part of the solution is providing venues where there are opportunities for artists to be successful.  The market for consumption exists, and it's about providing the environment where the art and the artists are deemed accessible.  Dover Main Street alone has made fantastic progress in the last year alone in providing some of the support needed; I'm optimistic the art scene in Dover will be greatly improved five years from now.