Ellen Glab is running unopposed for North Pole City Council.
Glab moved to North Pole in September 2021 with her family following her husband’s change in position with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Glab spent seven years as a city clerk for the city of Hume, Missouri, where she learned the ins and outs of city government. She also was the chief water and sewer operator in Hume. In 2022, Glab started working for the city of North Pole as their human resources generalist, and left to run for city council in 2023.
Glab said that the top three most pressing issues facing North Pole are infrastructure, obtaining better equipment for the North Pole Fire Department and North Pole Police Department, and modernizing city policies and procedures to make a better working environment for city employees. She wants to continue city transparency and improve communication with local partners.
Glab has five children. Her family enjoys spending time outdoors, including hunting, fishing, berry picking, and canning. Her family also does martial arts.
Where do you see your funding priorities?
My priorities would be focused on our city needs whether it be infrastructure or services and improvement to the area in order to benefit the citizens of North Pole.
Where do you stand with the proposed combined power and heat plant?
I don’t believe that this would be beneficial to the City Of North Pole at this time as there are more pressing matters at hand. I believe that is a wonderful idea in theory that the implementation of it is not beneficial for our citizens and we have higher priority issues to address.
How do you encourage families to hook up to the water utilities system in light of concerns over PFAS?
There is a very large health benefit for the citizens of North Pole, and surrounding areas that are connected to our city water, though I understand we families are struggling having that extra bill it is something that they would be should be concerned about, but the benefits of not having to worry about the drinking water that our children are taking in out ways the cost of the extra bill I believe that we should work out ways to make it easier and more beneficial for people to connect to the city water in order to maintain their health and environmental safety.
What would you do to encourage the development of affordable housing in North Pole?
There will always be a continued benefit to working with developers for affordable housing in North Pole, and increasing the ability of people to find homes here we should continue to work with the idea that all families are different and their needs may be different. We need a variety of homes built in North Pole to accommodate the different family sizes and types.
What would you do to encourage economic development in North Pole?
I believe that working with our community partners and businesses helps encourage the economic development in our area while being respectful of our residence and understanding of their needs. Also, I believe that resident should be made aware of any major changes in their areas to businesses and zoning and things of that nature prior to. So that they can prepare properly, but with the understanding that the continued growth of North Pole is dependent on the increased businesses that bring in the financial capability for us to continue to provide services to the area that are needed.
How can you tighten up the chain of custody with regard to purchase agreements/contract approval?
I believe that this issue needs to be continually evaluated based on what changes have been made as there have been many recent changes made to those changes of custody. There should be checks and balances. It should not be overall approval on certain things and it should not be one individual making that decision it should be the entirety of the council to make those decisions and decide if they are the most beneficial waste and spending is not something that should be happening in the City Of North Pole.
