Jason Narverud · Eagan City Council

Run it well. Hear everyone. Leave it better than we found it.

I’m running to keep Eagan one of the best places in Minnesota to live, work, and raise a family. I grew up in southern Minnesota as a Korean adoptee, often the only one in the room. The next decade of decisions, on development, data centers, housing, transportation, and taxpayer dollars, won’t look like the last. I evaluate complex, expensive, long-term decisions for a living, and I’ll make sure every culture, every language, and every neighborhood is heard before those decisions get made.

I’m asking for your vote on November 3.

Get Involved Where I Stand
Jason Narverud, candidate for Eagan City Council
Vote 2026
Why I’m Running

I’m running to help keep Eagan one of the best places in Minnesota to live, work, and raise a family.

The next decade looks different than the last. The 2050 comprehensive plan, the permanent rules for data centers, housing, and the levy will shape this city for a generation. These are complicated, expensive, long-term decisions, and sorting out exactly that kind of problem is what I’ve done my whole career.

I’m not a career politician, and I’m not trying to become one. I grew up a Korean adoptee in southern Minnesota, often the only one in the room, so I know what it’s like when your voice isn’t part of the conversation. I’ll work to make sure every culture, every language, and every neighborhood in Eagan is heard before decisions get made, not after.

The test for every vote: what’s best for Eagan a generation from now, not what’s easiest this budget cycle.

About Jason

Why I care about being heard.

When a council only hears from whoever shows up loudest, it’s working with half the picture. My family and I chose Eagan because I wanted my kids to grow up somewhere they belong, in a city where every culture and language is part of what makes the place work. That’s the Eagan I want to help steward into its future.

We’ve spent the last decade raising our two kids here. I coach youth sports, volunteer with scouting, and have served on the boards of Habitat for Humanity and the American Heart Association. As Head of IT for a national law firm, I ask hard questions of vendors and experts, weigh cost against risk, and make sure the thing still works after the ribbon is cut. The decisions this council makes now are the city my kids inherit later.

What I bring

Judgment before the vote.

A council seat is a listening role first, then a decision role: get the facts, understand them, then act. Have the hard conversations early and often, look at the data, make the call, and adjust as we learn.

Most candidates will tell you what they support. Fewer can tell you what’s actually in the deal before the city signs it. You plant a tree knowing you may never sit in its shade. That’s not a sacrifice. That’s the job. We make the decisions, and our kids and their kids get the city we were wise enough to build.

What I’ll focus on

The next decade looks different than the last decade.

Eagan has a strong foundation. My priorities are about keeping the bar high and meeting what’s coming with a clear eye on the future.

01

Residents Heard Before the Vote

Regular listening sessions in different parts of Eagan. If turnout is thin, we go where people already are: online, school events, a phone call. Before every major vote, a short “what we heard” summary, so you can see your input in the decision.

02

Every Dollar Traces to Something Real

It’s not the city’s money. It’s yours. Department budgets explained year over year in plain language, with performance measures, before the levy vote. What gets measured gets improved.

03

Growth That Works for Every Neighborhood

The 2050 comprehensive plan decides what gets built where for a generation. Homes for seniors who want to stay, young families starting out, and the people who teach in our schools and staff our clinics, with every neighborhood part of the conversation from the start.

Support

What neighbors are saying.

“I am thrilled to support and endorse Jason Narverud for Eagan City Council. I have known Jason for many years. Jason graciously invites others into his life and into his work. He cares about solutions. He rolls up his sleeves, and he gets things done.

He is also a local youth coach, business leader, and community supporter. He has lived experience in his work, and he wants to make sure your voice matters in the future of our city. He will bring his amazing energy and experience to this role to ensure that Eagan continues to grow and thrive.

We are so lucky to have Jason as a candidate for Eagan City Council, and I encourage you to meet him, support him, and vote for Jason as our next Eagan City Council member.”

Christos Jensen

Chair, Eagan Advisory Planning Commission

Straight answers

Questions I get at the door.

People ask good questions. Here are the ones that come up most, answered plainly.

Where do you stand on data centers?

Skeptical of hyperscale. Not of data centers.

Eagan already has data centers, and they’ve been good neighbors. They fit into the community around them.

Hyperscale is a different land use, and it should be treated as one. A campus that size is a long-term commitment of water, power, and land, and the people who live next to it carry the impact long after the ribbon is cut. The council paused to write new rules.1 The council seated this November writes the permanent ones.2

Here’s what I’d want in those rules:

  • Water. How much, from where, and what it means for everyone else.
  • The grid. Who pays for the upgrades, so residents and existing businesses aren’t subsidizing them in their rates.
  • Noise. Measured at the property line, with someone enforcing it.
  • Location. Real setbacks from homes and clear standards for site size and placement.
  • Transparency. Full disclosure of any tax breaks, and a public hearing before approval.
  • The end of the story. A funded cleanup and decommissioning plan.

Those conditions belong in the permit and the development agreement: measured, audited on a schedule, and backed by real penalties. If a developer can’t meet those terms, the answer is no.

What about public safety and the Flock cameras?

Trust is a public safety tool.

Eagan has a strong public safety foundation. I’ll fund police, fire, and EMS to match demand, and I’ll listen to the people who actually do the work.

On technology, I’ll be open about where the line is. Used after a crime, with a case number, a plate reader is an investigative tool. Used to follow everyone’s movements, it becomes mass surveillance. Same hardware, different purpose.

I’ve read the policy. Eagan’s is Policy 426,3 and it’s solid: data that isn’t part of an investigation is deleted on a set schedule, tracking a person takes a warrant, and every search is logged. I’ve also met with Chief Omari and City Administrator Miller, because reading a document is not the same as understanding how a department actually operates.

Looking ahead, drones, facial recognition, and gunshot detection are landing on city councils everywhere. Before Eagan acquires any new surveillance technology, the decision should be made in public, by the council. Good tools survive scrutiny.

What about taxes?

It’s not the city’s money. It’s yours.

Every dollar on the levy should trace to something you can point to. Before the levy vote, residents should get a readable summary of what each department spends, how that changed from last year, and what it delivered.

I’ll ask the same questions every time. Is it needed? Is it the best price? What does it cost to maintain over its lifetime? Go after grants first, rebid contracts regularly, and tie any levy growth to a specific need.

One thing I won’t do is promise that new commercial development will lower your bill. Part of the tax base is shared regionally, and you deserve a straight answer about that.

Where do you stand on housing?

Nobody should have to leave Eagan to retire in Eagan.

Someone who raised their kids here should be able to find a single level home down the street, not in another city. Same goes for the young family buying their first place, and for the people who teach in our schools and staff our clinics.

The Metropolitan Council expects Eagan to plan for more affordable homes, and the 2050 comprehensive plan has to show where.4 So the question isn’t whether. It’s where, and who decides. I’d rather this council choose those sites deliberately, near transit and on land we’re already redeveloping, with every neighborhood part of the conversation from the start.

Done well, that same land gives us the single level homes and co-ops that let people age in place here. That’s a plan, not a slogan.

Eagan seems well run. Why change anything?

Some decisions outlast the budget that made them.

Eagan is well run, and I want to keep it that way. But the choices in front of this council don’t reset next year: the 2050 plan, permanent data center rules, housing for people who want to stay. I’ve spent my career being handed complicated, expensive problems and asked to sort them out. I’d rather help get these right the first time.

Questions worth asking anyone on this ballot, including me

  • How long does Eagan keep license plate data, and where is that written down?
  • What’s the difference between the data centers Eagan already has and a hyperscale campus?
  • When a large commercial development gets built here, how much of the new tax base does Eagan actually keep?
  • Who writes the permanent data center rules, and will residents be heard before they’re adopted?

Have a question of your own?

Ask me. I’d rather hear it before a decision gets made than after. Email jason@voteforjason.org or use the form below.

Sources

  1. City of Eagan, “Eagan Establishes Data Center Moratorium.” cityofeagan.com
  2. City of Eagan, “Data Center Ordinance,” including the community input process and the timeline for council direction and a final council decision. cityofeagan.com/data-center-ordinance
  3. Eagan Police Department Policy 426, Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR), posted with the department’s policy manual. cityofeagan.com/police-policies
  4. Metropolitan Council, Local Planning Handbook, Eagan community page, and Imagine 2050 housing requirements for comprehensive plans. Eagan community page and Imagine 2050 roles and responsibilities

That’s the whole job.

Run it well. Hear everyone. Leave it better than we found it. If you’d like that approach on the Eagan City Council, I’d be honored to earn your vote.

Get Involved
Mark Your Calendar

Early voting is open now.

Eagan voters advanced me out of the August primary. Thank you. Now it comes down to November.

Now
Vote Early
Minnesota lets you vote early, by mail or in person. No reason or excuse needed. If November is busy, this is the easy way.
Nov 3
General Election
Election Day. This is the one that seats the council that writes the rules for the next decade.
Your Ballot
You can vote for two
Two council seats are on the ballot, so you get two votes. If you’re only sure about one of them, I’d be honored if it were me.

I’m asking for your vote on November 3.

Between now and then, here’s what actually moves a local race.

Put up a yard sign Knock doors with me
Get in touch

Let’s talk about Eagan.

Question, concern, idea, or want to help out? Every message gets read.

Stay connected

Email: jason@voteforjason.org

Mail: PO Box 211335, Eagan, MN 55121

Volunteer signups, yard signs, and event invites go out by email.