Wednesday, September 16, 2009
September 16th
Today marks the 3-year anniversary of the Rogers tornado. My thoughts and prayers are with the Wendt family.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Off to DC
On Saturday, 3/14, the City Council (with the exception of Steve Rauenhorst who was unable to go) and City Administrator Stahmer travel to Washington DC in hopes of obtaining additional Federal Stimulus money to fully finance the 101/94 interchange. We are meeting with Oberstar's Chief of Staff and directly with Senator Klobuchar and Congressman Paulsen. Let's hope that we are successful...I'll post recaps of the meetings as soon as I can.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Last Few Meetings
At the past couple of Council meetings, there has been significant discussion on a proposed Respectful Workplace Policy. The policy is more geared toward City employees, but would also apply to elected officials, appointed positions and volunteers. One topic in particular garnered a lot of attention – guns and those individuals who have a permit to conceal/carry. There was a fine line as to when elected officials are “conducting City business”. A conversation at the grocery store about taxes could be construed as “conducting City business”. Or, a hunting trip out west where taxes come up could be construed as “conducting City business”. At least one Council member has a permit to carry and I believe another is in process of obtaining the same permit. I personally enjoy hunting and own several guns. I have no issues with anyone carrying a legally permitted weapon and believe strongly in the 2nd Amendment. Ultimately, the provision related to the elected officials was pulled, and the balance of the policy was approved.
Another item involving considerable discussion is the potential of Federal Stimulus money and the potential upgrade to the 101/94 interchange. On March 16 & 17, the Council is heading to DC to lobby our congressional delegation to get funding for this project. Using rough numbers, the project is in the $16M range. We previously received about $7M in Federal Funding. We are trying to get additional funding to fully fund the project, with no cost to the City. I am optimistic that something good can happen. This is the closest we’ve been…stay tuned. For more information on the alignment, see www.erstarnews.com. Bob Grawey is writing a two-part article on the project.
Another item involving considerable discussion is the potential of Federal Stimulus money and the potential upgrade to the 101/94 interchange. On March 16 & 17, the Council is heading to DC to lobby our congressional delegation to get funding for this project. Using rough numbers, the project is in the $16M range. We previously received about $7M in Federal Funding. We are trying to get additional funding to fully fund the project, with no cost to the City. I am optimistic that something good can happen. This is the closest we’ve been…stay tuned. For more information on the alignment, see www.erstarnews.com. Bob Grawey is writing a two-part article on the project.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
New Council
I apologize for the delay in getting a new post up, but here it goes…
So far, there have been two meetings with the new council and I have to say I have been pleased with the discussion so far. I was not sure what to expect. There have been a couple of items that there was disagreement. Rather than providing a generic recap of the meeting, I will focus my posts on items where the Council is divided.
First, we discussed giving non-union staff a 3% salary increase. In these economic times, that did not seem right. Every day, it seems another company is cutting jobs. Ultimately, after much discussion we decided on a 4-1 vote (Steve Rauenhorst dissenting) to give staff a 1.5% raise now and then re-look at the economic conditions by no later than June. As a reference, this is the same methodology as Elk River used. Also, one of my co-workers is on Otsego’s City Council and he told me that he thought their staff received a 2.5% raise. Looking back, however, I think I should have agreed with Steve on this one.
The second item was which paper to use as our official newspaper. Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with the content either paper does or does not publish. This designation is only for where we put our legally required notices – public hearings, special meetings, etc. The issue came up to cost versus circulation. The Star News is a free paper distributed throughout ISD 728. It cost us about $2000 more to advertise in this paper versus the Crow River News, which has a circulation of about 700 households in Rogers/Hassan and requires a $38 or so/year subscription. I sited a discussion at a Park Board Meeting, as well as my own personal experiences, with delivery issues of the Star News. Again, after much discussion we decided on a 3-2 voted (Steve Rauenhorst and I dissenting) to go with the Star News. I really could have gone either way on this, but ultimately decided to lessen the financial impact in difficult economic times. I was personally torn, as I campaigned two years ago on improving communication. At the same time, I also vowed to be fiscally responsible. It was really was not an easy decision. Let me know your thoughts – I look forward to the feedback.
So far, there have been two meetings with the new council and I have to say I have been pleased with the discussion so far. I was not sure what to expect. There have been a couple of items that there was disagreement. Rather than providing a generic recap of the meeting, I will focus my posts on items where the Council is divided.
First, we discussed giving non-union staff a 3% salary increase. In these economic times, that did not seem right. Every day, it seems another company is cutting jobs. Ultimately, after much discussion we decided on a 4-1 vote (Steve Rauenhorst dissenting) to give staff a 1.5% raise now and then re-look at the economic conditions by no later than June. As a reference, this is the same methodology as Elk River used. Also, one of my co-workers is on Otsego’s City Council and he told me that he thought their staff received a 2.5% raise. Looking back, however, I think I should have agreed with Steve on this one.
The second item was which paper to use as our official newspaper. Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with the content either paper does or does not publish. This designation is only for where we put our legally required notices – public hearings, special meetings, etc. The issue came up to cost versus circulation. The Star News is a free paper distributed throughout ISD 728. It cost us about $2000 more to advertise in this paper versus the Crow River News, which has a circulation of about 700 households in Rogers/Hassan and requires a $38 or so/year subscription. I sited a discussion at a Park Board Meeting, as well as my own personal experiences, with delivery issues of the Star News. Again, after much discussion we decided on a 3-2 voted (Steve Rauenhorst and I dissenting) to go with the Star News. I really could have gone either way on this, but ultimately decided to lessen the financial impact in difficult economic times. I was personally torn, as I campaigned two years ago on improving communication. At the same time, I also vowed to be fiscally responsible. It was really was not an easy decision. Let me know your thoughts – I look forward to the feedback.
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