Norton vs. Noser: Rochester mayoral candidates at odds over direction of city, DMC

When Kim Norton ran for citywide office in 2018, she pledged to be a different kind of mayor — not a figurehead, but rather a leader who would be actively involved in shaping city policy. Voters responded by giving her a clear mandate, selecting her by a more than two-to-one margin.

Fast forward four years and Norton’s tenure as the chief executive of the city has been tested in ways that would have been unimaginable when she ran her first campaign. The pandemic, police reform, climate policy; issue by issue, Norton has regularly placed herself at the center of local debate amid an incredibly polarizing time in American life.

In doing so, Norton has become a more divisive figure than she set out to be. Supporters laud her for trusting the science, for speaking out against racial injustice, and for remaining committed to downtown’s growth. Her opponents, however, have only become more dismayed for what they characterize as a heavy-handed approach to city governance.

Now, with November nearing, Norton’s leadership is being put on the ballot. Her opponent this election cycle is Britt Noser, a self-employed landlord who unequivocally opposes DMC, questions the merits of the city's equity initiatives, and has marched at so-called medical freedom rallies outside of Mayo Clinic. Noser is betting his campaign on the premise that Norton has lost favor among moderates since being elected, and that the city is ready for a change in direction after four years of her leadership.

“If we want to stay Rochester, we build from within. It doesn’t have to be people like me whose families have been here for 150 years; it could be new stakeholders in Rochester,” Noser said in an interview. “If I get in there, I am going to push back as much as possible on these outside people who are coming in and telling us how to do things.”

Noser, however, will have to overcome long odds if he is to unseat Norton, who won the four-way August primary with 57 percent of the vote, compared to Noser’s 22 percent. Norton described the primary results as “affirming” — and believes that despite all of the noise coming from her critics, the majority of Rochester remains on her side.

“I feel like not only do I have the leadership experience and the training that I have worked very hard to get for myself so I can be the best leader I can be, I also know the community, have volunteered in the community, served on the School Board and in the Legislature, and can speak for the community with some authority,” she said.

On DMC

No topic underscores the division between the two candidates more so than Destination Medical Center, the $5.6 billion initiative to solidify downtown Rochester as a global hub for healthcare. 

Norton has been a booster for the project since day one, having helped push through the legislation while a member of the Minnesota House. Now, as mayor, she continues to maintain that the investment from the state is critical to revamping the infrastructure necessary to support the growth of Mayo Clinic, the state’s largest private employer. 

"If we agree with the premise that Rochester could use some improvements for the betterment of [Mayo] staff, patients, and the citizenry who live and work in Rochester, then yes we needed the DMC funding in order to actualize that vision,” Norton told us. “Because the city alone couldn't do it without severely taxing its citizens.”

Noser, however, is not convinced. He views DMC as an extra layer of bureaucracy that ignores the will of the people in favor of recommendations from outside consultants.

“I see DMC bringing in a lot of those big-city ideas; sort of bringing the California model to Rochester,” said Noser. “And I think the writing is already on the wall that it is not successful — so why would we want to do it? And DMC seems to very much embrace that.”

If elected, Noser said he would appeal to the state Legislature to revisit the legislation. Short of that happening, he would push for more local representation on the governor-appointed DMC Corporation Board and put an end to spendy public placemaking projects.

“Those new shiny-thing projects — I don’t encounter many citizens that think they are very cool, or that they were a good value, or that they added value to Rochester,” said Noser.

Norton, on the other hand, remains optimistic about DMC’s potential, noting that only a fraction of the money that the state will be providing to Rochester has been spent. And while she acknowledged some confusion about how DMC funds can be used, she said the feedback she has received from the community about DMC has been overwhelmingly positive.

“People really love what the downtown area is turning into, and I think the next steps — which are Discovery Walk and the [6th Street] bridge and some of the rest of that — will be felt more by the community in a positive way, and not feel so much like they are for Mayo,” said Norton. “They are going to be for the community.”

On transit

Among the biggest DMC projects in the pipeline is the proposed $144 million LINK Rapid Transit route, which would run along Second Street SW, connecting downtown Rochester with St. Marys Hospital and a planned transit village with parking and housing.

Despite already receiving support from the city council, Noser has come out firmly against the project, saying he would do everything in his power to stop it from moving forward.

“I see it as a huge liability for the city,” said Noser, adding that a potential $84 million federal grant would not be enough to convince him that there is value in the project. “I think the mayor should have a conscience about finances — so I don’t subscribe to the idea that you should get every single [federal] dollar you can. That’s part of the problem.”

Norton, who wanted the city to take the transit plan a step further and build a rail line, described Noser’s opposition to the BRT project as “ludicrous.”

“What we are trying to do is look to the future and say, given that we are adding 50,000 more people in the next, you know, 20-30-40 years; do we have the infrastructure in place to manage the traffic that comes with those new employees and residents? And the answer is ‘no,’ ” said Norton. "It is one of many infrastructure changes that has to happen in a city that is growing — without tearing down all the buildings — in order to manage the capacity.”

On energy

As mayor, Norton has called for bold action to address the climate crisis. She has endorsed Rochester Public Utilities’ plan to transition to 100 percent renewable energy sources by 2030, and in 2020 she signed on to a national mobilization effort to combat climate change.

“The City of Rochester shares its concern for the environment and the people who live here, and we are going to do what we can to keep the percent of temperature change from occurring if we can,” said Norton.

On the campaign trail, Noser has offered a different message. While he said he is ”all for efficiency and value,” he believes efforts to transition fully to renewables are a “pipe dream.”

“We have already made huge improvements from 50 years ago,” said Noser. “We have already come 75 percent of the way or more, and now we are looking to close this last small percentage — whatever you want to say, 25 to 30 percent — and financially it is not doable to have base load energy [from renewables] to support the current infrastructure in our country.”

Despite projections from RPU that the plan would add less than $2 per month to the average residential customer’s energy bill, Noser said he remains concerned about who could be impacted the most by the proposal. He said consumers should have the choice as to how they get their electricity. 

“If some people want to pay more, let them,” said Noser. “But it’s not fair to the poor, working, and middle class — they are the ones who will get creamed by that.”

Pushing back against Noser’s comments, Norton questioned why the city would not move toward cleaner energy sources, particularly in instances when there is little to no burden on local taxpayers.

"When we look at our city and how we spend our money, we look at the triple-bottom line — and this includes social cost and future costs to this community,” said Norton. “It's not just, 'Is it cheaper to do it using fossil fuels?' It is, 'Is it comparable in cost, and does it save lives and keep our greenhouse gasses at rates we are looking to achieve?’ ”

On public safety

Among the most forceful allegations Noser hurled against Norton was regarding her handling of the police department. Noser said while Norton — whom he described as a skilled politician — has made it difficult to criticize her record, he believes her rhetoric has led to problems with morale and recruitment within the department.

“Anecdotally and talking to people who work in the police department, they are not very happy with the way she has led the department,” said Noser, adding that he would be more “supportive of police in general.”

Noser all took issue with what he suggested were hiring quotas by the police department under Norton’s leadership. Noser’s comments followed the recent introduction of 10 new RPD officers, six of ten of whom were women or people of color. 

“This idea that the police department must reflect every segment of our society — both race and gender — and I think that is an unnecessary metric to use to hire police officers,” said Noser. “I think you should hire the most capable candidates, especially in a job like that.”"

Norton insisted that while the city does have a goal to have a police department reflective of the community, it does not have quotas for hiring new officers. 

"We take the most qualified candidates and have been very fortunate to have had, particularly in this last class, a very diverse class. We did not lower our standard in order to hire them. We removed barriers,” she said. “If we can hire quality candidates that reflect this community and its diversity in all aspects, then good for us."

As for her partnership with Police Chief Jim Franklin, Norton said the two have a “wonderful working relationship.”

“There has been a lot of scrutiny on police and things have happened in other communities that kind of come to bear in every community including ours, where people scrutinized and finger-pointed really not necessarily fairly to the work of our local police. Not that they are perfect, none of us are, but they do a good job,” said Norton.

Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.

Cover photos: Norton (left) and Noser / Submitted