By Jeffrey Pieters
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
A second run for the Ward 4 Rochester City Council seat ended right for Mark Bilderback.
Bilderback defeated Pat Carr in a rematch of the 2004 election won by Carr. Bilderback received 54 percent of the votes.
"I’m very pleased," he said. "I worked very hard and it turned out the way we hoped."
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Carr could not be reached Tuesday night for comment.
"I would thank him for running a good race," Bilderback said.
The first job, he said, is to conduct a review of city ordinances "to clean them up" and "put some teeth in these ordinances."
Violent crime and its effect on personal safety are big issues with voters in Ward 4, Bilderback said. He intends to strengthen neighborhood associations and establish lines of communication from the associations to City Hall as a way to combat the city’s crime problem.
"That’s what I have to do," he said. "It’s what I promised people and I’ve got to make it happen."
Even when it appeared likely he would win, Bilderback refused to comment until the last votes were counted. With that done, all of the stress of the four-month campaign could melt away.
"Winning is definitely much better than losing," he said. "It feels good."
Ward 4
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Mark Bilderback... 2,650
Pat Carr... 2,223
