Jeff Austin

Jeff Austin wants to continue working for the city of Austin as a city council member.

The two-term councilman is seeking re-election this November, eight years after he first decided to get involved. Austin filed for re-election on Tuesday.

“I had an interest in government,” he said. “I had followed it, and I felt that I could contribute, and that I wanted to contribute.”

The lifelong Austin resident works for Kwik Trip as an assistant store leader and is currently working in Austin after some time in Albert Lea. He said he has approached his job as a council member without an agenda and ranks helping to hire much of the city’s key department heads as one of his biggest accomplishments.

“Being involved with that, that’s something I’ve been proud to do,” he said.

If re-elected, Austin hopes to continue to help guide the city over the next few years on issues such as flood mitigation — which Austin said is “really coming together” thanks to the North Main Flood Control Project which started last winter — as well as Vision 2020 efforts, which the city will likely be heavily involved in.

Judy Enright

Judy Enright is a one-term Austin City Council Member, but she wants another term to serve the third ward to bring “a little more consistency” to the city’s representation.

“My ward hasn’t had a council member serve for more than one term since 2006,” Enright said. Enright filed for re-election on Tuesday.

A longtime Austin resident, Enright works as the physical plant manager at Riverland Community College after more than 30 years working as a public employee at Austin Public Schools and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. She was first elected in 2010, in large part due to her promise to look into Austin’s housing issues.

“I had time in my life where I wanted to dedicate time to things other than myself and my family,” she said.

She cites the city’s renewed push on a rental housing ordinance as one of her proudest accomplishments and hopes to continue that work. The Austin City Council is waiting to enact a rental housing registration ordinance, which city officials hope will spur more communication between property owners, tenants and city officials on rental housing issues. If re-elected, Enright hopes to continue tackling the city’s housing problems and work with Vision 2020 as its various projects come before the council.