Candidate profile: Jeremy Carolan, for city council

Jeremy Carolan decided to run for Austin City Council at his friends’ urging.

“There were citizens in my ward that were encouraging me to run,” he said. “I thought that it would be a good way to give back to the community.”

Carolan filed on June 5 for the open Ward 3 spot incumbent Marian Clennon — who is running for mayor — will give up at the end of the term. He runs against Lynn Spainhower.

Carolan sees it as a way of contributing to the council and the city as a whole. He has been taking note of what people have issue with in the city.

“I’ve heard a few people mention a few different things,” he said. Concerns over taxes and commercial property values were at the forefront.

“It’s another burden on the families of Austin,” he said.

Going in, Carolan doesn’t have a specific agenda. He cites common sense as crucial to making decisions that help the city.

“If issues arise, I’ll look at the pros and cons, the costs versus the benefits to the citizens,” he said.

He said it would be important for the city to help facilitate Vision 2020, a grassroots community betterment project with 10 major ideas to implement by 2020. The Vision projects are geared toward revitalizing the city and bringing in tourism, he said. But whether the city should back them financially depends on the benefits and the costs.

“You’d have to look at some of those numbers,” he said.

Carolan, 33, has lived in Austin all his life. He and his wife have a young son, and are expecting another child soon.

He has been a full-time real estate broker since 2003. He started his own business, Carolan Homes, in 2008, where he serves as owner and operator. He currently holds the role of interim president for the Austin Landlord Association, and was on the 2010 board of directors for the Southeast Minnesota Association of Realtors in Rochester.

“We discuss between landlords how to make our units better,” he said.

Since 2000, Carolan has also served as a part-time, on-call firefighter. He is the 2012 president of Austin Fire Department Part-Time Relief Association.

Carolan does not have previous experience with local government.

As for getting in touch with voters, he plans to take advantage of social media.

“We’ve got a Facebook page,” Carolan said. “We’re still working on that, but it is up.”

Door hangers or post cards of some sort will likely go out to Ward 3 residents soon, he said. People from his neighborhood have approached him about helping with canvassing efforts.