2008 Arctic Plunge

The Arctic Plunge is coming up soon. March 1st at Captians on Long Lake. I am placing a link here and to the left if you are interested in jumping. This makes my third year jumping and second year sponsoring. The Plunge captures our community spirit of giving. I am enclosing a few words from the Plunge Website:

"Each year the committee determines the event beneficiary. This year's beneficiary is the Isanti County Safety and Rescue.

Please join us for a fun filled family day on March 1st! The event start at 10:00AM with Vintage Snowmobile Races sponsored by the Long Lake Improvement Association. The old fashioned Ice Cutting demonstration begins at 1:00 PM. Brought to you by the Englund Family. Finally, the much anticipated ARCTIC PLUNGE begins at 2:00PM. This year we will have two sets of bleachers for your convenience. Tell your friends and come early to get a good seat!"

Go to http://www.arcticplunge.com/ for more information and to look at the Zodiac last year's fund raiser bought for Isanti County and Rescue.

Everyone needs to help make this event a success....plunge and help raise money for Isanti Safety and Rescue...the money you raise may one day help save your life.

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Isantian Article

Hello from the Desk of the Mayor

By: Mayor George A. Wimmer

2007 has been a transformative year for Isanti. We started the year with five Council goals, three centered on improving commercial growth, another on a Long Term Financial Plan and lastly a Water Treatment Plant. I am happy to report success on each front. Isanti has experienced two major business expansions and at least 15 new businesses opening their doors this year.

Main Street Revitalization has moved forward this year. I want to highlight the Qwest Expansion along with Bear Books and American Family Insurance. The Qwest expansion was needed because of our past and future growth. The Qwest building was beautifully built and landscaped to fit Main Street’s historic architecture. The new Bear Books store is a model of future Main Street businesses. Mark Rojas of Bear Books has created a wonderful book store and has gone the extra step of cross marketing with Rendezvous Coffee on Highway 5. This type of entrepreneurship is what makes a Main Street vibrant. Stop in and see his wide variety of books for all ages. Jaysen Guthmueller of American Family Insurance has moved to Main Street. He is the Isanti Area Chamber of Commerce President and has taken the lead on Main Street revitalization. He believes in it so much that he is buying the building he recently occupied on Main Street and being the change he envisions.

I want to highlight one of the new businesses which came to Isanti this year. Ever Cat Fuels is a project brought to the City by Landmark Community Bank. In March, staff and I started working on locating this cutting edge, green technology bio-diesel Company to Isanti. The partnership of the City, Landmark and Ever Cat is a model that has brought great results. High paying jobs, numerous spin off potentials, $5,000,000 facility investment keeping our construction workers busy, clean & green technology, are all reasons we worked very hard to make it a reality. This facility puts Isanti on the leading edge of the green and alternative fuels wave. Over 50 people attended the ground breaking December 6th along with representatives from Congressman Oberstar, Congresswoman Bachman as well as State Senator Olseen.

I have dedicated myself to increasing commercial growth so we can provide the products/services, jobs and property tax revenue needed to build a fiscally healthy Isanti. I look forward to an even greater 2008 in commercial growth.

This folds in nicely with the next success of 2007. Isanti was able to cut property taxes. Isanti faced several thorny financial realities. The drop off of development and builder fees along with a 21% cut in Local Government Aid made budgeting difficult. A Staff position was cut in Building Inspections. The Council did fully fund a Police Lieutenant position, a replacement patrol officer and the Community Service Officer position.

We held City spending level with last year. Keeping Isanti affordable through lower property taxes helps residents as well as attracting new businesses to Isanti. Commercial property pays about 50% more in taxes and uses less City services than residential property. The more businesses we attract the lower our taxes will go. My first year as a Council Member in 2005 our City tax rate was 74.21%. The levy for 2008 passed this year at 59.91%.

The last City Council Goal I want to update you on is the Water Treatment Plant. There has been a lot of planning and discussion on this topic. The Council approved the Water Treatment Plant and revenue source at the December 4th Council meeting. The plant is planned to come on line at the end of 2009 and providing water by early 2010.

I wanted to thank the Citizens of Isanti for letting me serve you as Mayor. There has been a tremendous amount of work this year to make our goals a reality and I have loved every minute of it. It is an honor and a privilege to represent our great City.

Please contact me at George@GeorgeWimmer.com or 763-444-7158 with any questions, comments or concerns.

A Few Christmas Quotes

Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year - and yet, for all that, when it speaks, its voice has strong authority. ~W.J. Cameron

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it. ~Richard Lamm

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~Dr. Seuss

“I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.”~ Taylor Caldwell quotes

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.” ~Larry Wilde

I have always thought of Christmas time as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely. ~Charles Dickens

And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, Which shall be to all people. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, Lying in a manger. ~ St. Luke 2:10-12

Why is Christmas just like a day at the office? You do all the work and the fat guy with the suit gets all the credit. ~Anonymous

Anyone who believes that men are the equal of women has never seen a man trying to wrap a Christmas present. ~Anonymous

Council 12-18-07 Update

We picked up two more votes for the final Budget Tuesday to make it a 5-0. I was happy to see the Budget and Levy were both passed by 5-0 votes. The fiscal discipline in the budget will prepare us for the future. Next year will be a tougher process as the mortgage and foreclosure debacle continues and possibly worsens undercutting property tax and utility payments. Tuesday was a good night for the City but I have already started working on the 2009 budget process because our decisions will be even tougher.

Did anyone notice the only local city, county or school district that did not get big spreads about taxes was Isanti? Perhaps that is because Isanti was the only one in the region to actually cut taxes. We are now officially at a 59.91% levy rate.

The Council voted 3-2 to move forward with the liquor store expansion process, Duff and I voted against. I voted against for all the reasons I have stated so many times before.

I will be posting my Isantian article here in a few days along with my 2008 priorities.

December 18th Council Meeting

The last Council meeting of the year has 18 agenda items but will center on the levy, budget, liquor store and an exciting new company we have been working with.

The property tax levy will be presented at 59.91%, the lowest in the region. This is made possible by using fiscal discipline in the budgeting process. It has been a long process and a few points still have to be agreed to at Tuesday's nights meeting, but it has set Isanti on the right course. The 2008 budget took a lot of work and many hard decisions.

With all this the 2009 budget we start working on in a few months will be 10 times harder as the housing debacle and all it entails will be hitting us full force next year. It was critically important to keep City spending low this year in anticipation of the 2009 budget work that is in store for us all.

The request has come up again to go out for bids on the architecture of the liquor store. I just do not see the point at this time. The reality of the numbers as I have laid out in the past just do not make this an option. I will not go over this all again here as I have give all my reasons previously. We simply need to make the repairs that are needed and move on.

I wanted to highlight another business we have been working on bringing to town. Hi-Lo Manufacturing is a sixty-year-old manufacturing firm with both a product and CNC contract machining business. They will be in front of the Council asking to assume the requirements of a previous business agreement. This means that a now empty building in our industrial will be bursting with activity. Hi-Lo will be looking to expand as they have also asked for an option of a further parcel of land. This will be their head quarters facility. There are roughly 40 current employees with good wages in this machining company. I would anticipate another 10 good paying jobs in the next two years.

I will keep you posted as always.

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Neighborhood Watch

Villages On The Rum Neighborhood Watch Meeting

Wednesday: December 12, 2007
7:00 p.m. @ City Hall

On the Agenda:
Discussion on light installation in Riverside Park.
Creating "safe houses" in the neighborhood.
Updates on homeless man down by the river.
Miscellaneous neighborhood discussion.
Police Chief Ron Sager will answer our questions.

I will also be attending.

Truth in Taxation Update

I wanted to share some of the facts presented at last nights meeting.

The first set of numbers is the level of City expenditures by year:

2004----$ 1,576,920.00

2005----$ 2,168,170.00

2006----$ 2,856,136.00

2007----$ 3,481,635.00

2008----$ 3,495,443.00

The levy rate from 2002 to next years as will be presented December 18th.

Year-----Levy Rate

2002----77.17%

2003----77.75%

2004----73.85%

2005----74.21%

2006----68.41%

2007----64.66%

2008----59.91%

Our City expenditures have leveled off for 2008 and our tax levy continues to decrease.

Ever Cat Fuels Ground Breaking

Ever Cat Fuels is breaking ground on the Bio-diesel plant December 6th. This is a great triumph for Isanti. I have enclosed a link to a past post to bring you up to speed if you are unaware of the project.

http://georgewimmer.blogspot.com/2007/10/october-16th-council-meeting.html

Ever Cat Fuels Website

http://evercatfuels.com/

Truth in Taxation

The City of Isanti's Truth in Taxation hearing will be held at Isanti City Hall December 5th at 7pm.

December 4th Council Update

The Council tonight handled several difficult decisions that will have lasting impact on our Community. The two major decisions regarding the water treatment plant and City membership on the County EDA led to some vigorous debate. The third item was the liquor store expansion.

The City Council voted unanimously to raise City water rates $10.47 per 7,000 gallons per month. This will take the rate from $21.62 to $32.09 or an increase of 34 cents a day. I have written and spoken about this extensively. This rate increase was the only way the City could honestly pay for the water treatment plant and the water treatment plant is the only way the City can guarantee healthy drinkable water.

As a father of an almost three old beautiful girl and a five year old amazing son, I could not fathom the idea of their long term health could be impacted by cancer causing radium. This is a hard fact all parents face…a fact all residents face. This simply came down to a health and safety issue. We must ensure our water is safe. If a City is unable to do that then there is no reason to have a City.

Isanti is currently blending water from separate wells to keep radium content at a safe level. This will only work if the levels in the one good well remain low and the levels in the two higher volume wells does not increase. We are also in a situation that we can not use both high volume wells at the same time because we do not have enough safe water to blend with from the low volume low radium well.

With the votes tonight to provide the revenue for the water treatment plant and to start the design phase we are on track to have a completed facility by the end of 2009 and full operation by the beginning of 2010. This long lead time was another reason to start this project as soon as possible.

There is not a single Council Member that wanted to raise the rates and we all understood the impact of this decision. The entire Council however has been working on this issue and has seen the serious facts we face. We can not stick our heads in the sand and wish away the radium issue nor can we pretend we have the money coming in by using inflated estimates as was done with the east 65 debacle.

I wish the City had raised development fees years ago to cover such infrastructure cost but it did not. I wish the City had started to reserve money for the project years ago, but it did not. There are many things I wish were handled differently in the past but I can not rewrite history.

Conservative revenue projections were used relating to future growth in order to make sure we are able to fund the project and not build up any more devastating debt. The plant will be built using a low interest state loan which we qualify for because of the radium issue. The plant will also bring the high levels of iron and manganese under control.

The next item is the County EDA. The Council on a vote of 3-2 voted to opt into the County EDA. CM Duff and I voted against because we have not received any description of what the county EDA intends to do or how much they are looking to tax County Residents. With too many questions outstanding we felt we needed more answers to questions before we moved forward. We were however out voted. I was recommended by the Council to Commissioner Pagel to represent the City on the County EDA and to make sure our City’s interest were protected. The appointment as a non-voting member to the County EDA is Commissioner Pagels. The County EDA’s membership is made up of the five county Commissioners and 1 non-voting member from each commissioner district.

The County EDA could accomplish great things if it is organized in the right way with the right mission. The EDA will be a success or failure by the decisions in its first few meetings. I will keep you updated on its development. We have witnessed a birth…a birth of what I do not as of now know…

The liquor store renovation was halted tonight but not completely killed. The votes were not there to go ahead with the unneeded and costly renovation but the votes were not there to outright end further discussion either. Everyone seemed to agree that the partial numbers we received were not enough to base a decision on…that’s a good thing. There was however a consensus to get accurate information before a final decision was made. I do not think a renovation can be done at a cost the City could afford. I am hopeful that if accurate numbers can be together the vast majority if not all members will see the City just can not afford a renovation that reduces liquor store profits to the general fund. I might be dreaming but I hope common sense can prevail.

Liquor Store by the Numbers II

The Finance Committee met Friday and staff presented us with their numbers. Ok so the initial quotes presented at the last Council meeting was $600,000 and for my analysis I used $700,000. Well Staff's information places the total cost with contingencies at $799,500.

There is $225,000 in available cash from the liquor fund after cash needed for operations is deducted. To be clear this is only "extra" if the city does not transfer it to the general fund to pay for city services which helps keep property taxes down. We will come back to this later...

So we have $225,000 in the liquor fund to lower the $799,500 to $574,500. Staff put together the debt payment schedule for a 15 and 20 year pay back. I am going to use the 15 year since it is cheaper. Each amount is the yearly payment amount for the next 15 years.

• $500,000 borrowed = $46,557
• $600,000 borrowed = $55,868
• $700,000 borrowed = $65,180

So back to our net profit analysis from the last post. A 7% net profit yields $7,000 for every $100,000 in sales. $46,557 in debt payments would need $665,000 in new sales or a 35% increase in sales just to cover the new debt payment. This is pure fantasy...
If the expansion yielded a 10% increase in sales, which I think would be quite good considering city growth has slowed to a crawl. Liquor store sales grew 20% from 2003 to 2006. It took 4 years of rapid residential growth to increase sales by 20%. I think 10% in one year with an expansion and no city growth is generous.
10% increase from, lets be generous, $2,000,000 at the end of this year will give us an extra $200,000 in sales. 7% of $200,000 is $14,000. So lets extrapolate this all the way out. $14,000 increase in net profit could make debt payments on $150,000 borrowed over 15 years.
$150,000 plus the $225,000 of cash on hand gets us to $375,000. This however wipes out the cash on hand and gets us exactly no more money to the general fund than we have today. In a few years the growth might get us a few more dollars coming in but then we need to also calculate the lost value of the $225,000 on hand. Simple 5% gives us $11,500 in interest or almost the equivalent a $150,000 would bring to our bottom line.
There are some needs that have to be addressed for a building and equipment that is nearing 20 years. We need a new cooler, registers and some of the exterior block needs to be sealed. We have had issues with the sprinkler system and these need to be addressed. A roof will be needed in about 5 years. All I am asking is that we fix what needs to be fixed so we can get to a point where the market either makes a new store or a sale of the existing store feasible. We are no where near that point.
Last point on that "extra" $225,000. If this is used and the existing sales have to pay for the expansion there will be very little to transfer to the general fund to help off set property taxes. I want to see a budget from those Council Members who push this through that does not dramatically increase property taxes or cut essential city services.
The decision is clear. We need to be conservative with our financial resources to keep taxes low. It was bad decisions like this that has caused City debt to balloon. Decisions that subsidized development at the cost of the tax payer. Decisions that make a needed water treatment plant fall almost entirely on our citizens when this infrastructure should have been paid mostly by development. Our City faces tough decisions, a little more liquor will not wash away the harm of the past nor will it blind us to the course we must follow.

Liqour Store by the numbers

The liquor store debacle continues to unfold. A few more facts for the public to understand. The three Council Members that voted for this project did so on the most dubious set of facts. The quote provided for the expansion was based on numbers CM Johnson gathered. The numbers he received was from one contractor and was not in the form of a binding quote. The other salient fact is it was for only a portion of the project. The quote did not cover any mechanical work (electrical, heating, plumbing), the sprinkler system, parking lot or landscaping work, signage or any equipment. My understanding is this portion was a guess by CM Johnson.

So the majority of three voted to start the expansion project without any way of knowing the true cost of the project. They did not even ask staff to gather proper quotes before they decided to fund the expansion.

This is of course on top of the fact they did not decided how they were going to fund it. I asked staff after last week's 3-2 vote to provide me with the city's options and the cost. The cost provided by CM Johnson state $600,000 for the whole project. I find this to be dubiously low considering all the items that we do not have actual quotes for. Lets use $700,000, which still may be low but considering the architecture fee alone is $37,500 it looks to be closer to the truth.

$700,000 cost minus $200,000 in cash from the Liquor fund leaving $500,000 to be financed. Total financed cost of $548,200 spread over 15 years is $36,546.67. Now the three voting in favor of this motion said the new liquor store sales will easily pay for this. Ok, well lets see how much in new sales it would take. Our liquor store has had a 7% net profit the last couple years, State average of off sale stores is 8% per the 2005 State Auditor's report. So from $100,000 in sales we bring $7,000 to the bottom line. $36,546.67 divided by $7,000 is 5.22. That means we would need over $522,000 in new sales to pay for the project, or roughly a 28% increase in sales.

These are the numbers I am comfortable using. But lets say we can use $300,000 out of the liquor fund without hurting tax payers to much, the increase in sales still has to be $430,000 or a 23% jump in sales. The assumptions being made here are just that. They seem fair ones though...5% interest on the money borrowed and using historical profit levels. Again maybe profits margins will increase but with the fundamentals we have, they would need to increase dramatically.

This scenario is to just break even on the store expansion let alone add any value to the city taxpayers. Perhaps the cost of the expansion will be lower and profits higher. We simple do not know because the proponents of this project have not provided any actual numbers or assumption nor have they asked staff to calculate anything. I am pressing hard for answers and transparency.

I am baffled how anyone could vote to spend over $600,000 with no proof that the numbers are real and no explanation as to how it will be paid. Maybe they are right and I am wrong. If this project goes forward I hope I am very wrong or the city tax payers will be losing money once again because of an irresponsible spending spree.

Share our Thanks

We face another year with our soldiers in harms way. Let us remember their sacrifices and the sacrifices of their families. It is often easy to forget the freedoms we take for granted each and every day. We must never forget those that make those freedoms possible.

We are faced with another year of a difficult housing market. Many families in our community have lost or are about to lose their homes. The greed of a few has destroyed the dreams of many. The Isanti community will overcome this as it overcomes all adversity. One of the great programs for those in need is the Isanti Lions Christmas project. Tom Pagel and the Isanti Lions give so much to the community all year long but during the Christmas season they do the work of Angels. Please consider giving to this project that brings joy to those that have so little. Here is the contact information:

Please call Tom Pagel at 763-444-6560 for further information. Donations should be made payable to the Isanti County Christmas Project and mailed to: Isanti Lion’s Club, c/o Tom Pagel, 28339 Bayshore Drive NW, Isanti, MN 55040.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

The First Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought to pass bitter things against his own Covenant people in this wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst of his judgements he hath remembered mercy, having remembered his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure against us for our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion, and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation Threatened, and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late with many of our Confederates many signal Advantages against them, without such Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been sensible of, if it be the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, It certainly bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure disappointed or destroyed; and fearing the Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of his returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as not standing before Him with Thanksgiving, as well as lading him with our Complaints in the time of pressing Afflictions:
The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being persuaded by the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and souls as a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ.
-Date: June 20, 1676-By: Governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts
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President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.

They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.- Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation October 3, 1863

Once, when my feet were bare, and I had not the means of obtaining shoes I came to the chief of Kufah in a state of much dejection, and saw there a man who had no feet. I returned thanks to God and acknowledged his mercies, and endured my want of shoes with patience- Sadi, The Gulistan

Do not get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, For we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.- Galatians 6:9
For flowers that bloom about our feet;For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;For song of bird, and hum of bee;For all things fair we hear or see,Father in heaven, we thank Thee!-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while others praise Him for putting roses among thorns."-Anonymous

Since the Pilgrims observed the initial Thanksgiving holiday in 1621, this occasion has served as a singular expression of the transcending spiritual values that played an instrumental part in the founding of our country.One hundred and twenty years ago, in the midst of a great and terrible civil conflict, President Lincoln formally proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving to remind those "insensible to the ever watchful providence of almighty God" of this Nation's bounty and greatness.

Several days after the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield, the United States celebrated its first national Thanksgiving.Every year since then, our Nation has faithfully continued this tradition. The time has come once again to proclaim a day of thanksgiving, an occasion for Americans to express gratitude to their God and their country.In his remarks at Gettysburg, President Lincoln referred to ours as a Nation "under God."We rejoice in the fact that, while we have maintained separate institutions of church and state over our 200 years of freedom, we have at the same time preserved reverence for spiritual beliefs. Although we are a pluralistic society, the giving of thanks can be a true bond of unity among our people. We can unite in gratitude for our individual freedoms and individual faiths. We can be united in gratitude for our Nation's peace and prosperity when so many in this world have neither.As was written in the first Thanksgiving Proclamation 120 years ago, "No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God." God has blessed America and her people, and it is appropriate we recognize this bounty.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, in the spirit of the Pilgrims, President Lincoln, and all succeeding Presidents, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 24, 1983, as a National Day of Thanksgiving, and I call upon Americans to affirm this day of thanks by their prayers and their gratitude for the many blessings upon this land and its people.-Thanksgiving Day Proclamation 1983-By: Ronald Reagan

Water Rates

Here are the current water rates:

City--------------7000 gallons-----14,000 gallons

St Francis------$28.50-------------$46.00

Cambridge-----$29.79-------------$50.93

Current Isanti-$21.62-------------$40.24

Proposed ------$31.96-------------$51.14

I want to be upfront about the possible rates. The longer we wait the higher the construction cost. The outcome will be a water treatment plant that will remove iron, manganese and radium. The water quality will improve dramatically. The water will be safe to drink. This is a fundamental turning point for our City. The rate increase is roughly 35 cents a day to get rid of the cancer causing radium.

November 20th 2007 Council Meeting Update

Well I guess I will start with the Comprehensive Plan. This along with the housing moratorium were approved on a 5-0 vote.

We also discussed the Water Treatment Plant tonight. The authorization for the design process was to be voted on. I stated I was uncomfortable with moving forward until the Council voted to adjust the water rates to fund that plant. Currently Isanti's rates are considerably lower than Cambridge and St Francis who draw from the same aquifer. Each of these cities has a water treatment plant because they are faced with the same cancer causing radium issues we have in Isanti.

Our water rates will need to increase to fund the water treatment plant. Partially because the benefit will be for all users and partially because the water infrastructure fund can not afford to pay the full cost because of the low developer fees that were historically charged in Isanti. We have fixed this issue moving forward but there is nothing we can do to recapture what I believe is lost revenue. I would look for a way to delay this project in anticipation of more development fees. Two issues with this is that development has slowed to a snails pace and frankly the health concerns have to be addressed ASAP. As stated previously this is a 3-4 year project. The City has 3 wells. The low volume well is a safe source of water but it must be mixed with either well two or three. We can not mix with both because we only have enough safe water to mix with one at a time. This is at best a short term solution. When we start to grow again or add more commercial development we will not have enough safe water.

The water rate increase the first year is estimated at 48% then 3% per year after that. This rate would take effect in 2008 to start building the funds needed to pay for the $5,000,000 plant. It is a terrible option to face. Either do nothing and eventually we can not provide safe water to our residents or raise rates dramatically to fund the plant so we do not increase our citizens risk of cancer. I personally get mad each time we discuss this when I think of the missed opportunity to have made development pay a greater share of this infrastructure. The Council will vote at the next meeting on the water rates in order to fund the water treatment plant. If the Council does not vote to fund the plant then it will not be built and we will have to face the consequences. I do not believe it is fiscally responsible to vote to spend money until we can show we have the money. Sounds like common sense I know but wait till you read the next item on the liquor store.

There is no good choice, but between the two I have to side on the safety of our citizens. We could have used funds from the liquor store revenue fund to also help lower the rate increase. Unfortunately the majority of the Council decided to spend over $600,000 to renovate the liquor store. Here's that debate.

Two options that were discussed at length were expanding the current store or replacing old equipment and redoing the interior layout. The first of these options has an estimated price tag over $600,000. The second proposed option was around $100,000. The first option will expand the store and replace old equipment. The problem with the first option is that the city will have to borrow at least $400,000 to help fund it. This assumes that the estimate is accurate. The $400,000 will be on top of the 1.2 million the city has to borrow to finish paying off the east highway 65 expansion.

There is no study stating how much more revenue will be generated by the major renovation of the store. There was also nothing presented this evening explaining how the city will pay for this. Yet a majority of the Council decided to spend money we do not have on a project we do not need. This will have a serious impact on the the Long Term Financial Plan. I have been working hard to bring some fiscal discipline to Isanti's spending habits. This was dealt a serious set back tonight. CM Duff was the only one that stood with me on this point. We have to stop spending money with no idea how it will impact Isanti fiscal health.

November 20th 2007 Council Meeting

A couple items from the upcoming Council meeting. The Council will be voting on the new Comprehensive Plan and a moratorium for residential development. The moratorium only restricts new subdivisions and will not impact any of the 402 platted units. The 402 units range from single family to apartments. This equates to 5 years of aggressive growth or 10 years of normal growth. Since we are in such a housing lull it would probably be closer to 10 years. The moratorium will be in force for one year or when all residential ordinances are in compliance with the new comprehensive plan, which ever comes first. The Council will be appointing a sub-committee to complete the residential ordinances so we may have a quick completion to the project.

A few other important items include our storm water management practices, water treatment facility plans, liquor store options, County EDA update and the hiring of our Police Lieutenant.

I will leave the details of this group of items in the hope we will get a few more visitors to our council meeting......November 20th, 7pm at Isanti City Hall...

Comp Plan

The City Comprehensive Plan passed 6-0 in the Planning Commission. There were only a few technical issues raised and these were addressed. The Planning Commission held the public hearing and made their recommendation to the City Council. This is the process proscribed by state statute. I was a bit surprised that there was only one person that made public comment considering the comprehensive plan will guide City development for the next decade.

The Council will take it up on the 20th and make the final decision. It should be clear though that the public hearing was at the Planning Commission. The Council does not hold a second public hearing. The council will sift through the Comprehensive Plan and vote to either approve, table or deny.

Isanti Comp Plan

The Isanti Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing on the new Comprehensive Plan. The public hearing will be at Isanti City Hall November 13th at 7pm. Here is the link to the comp plan on the Isanti City website.

http://www.ci.isanti.mn.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={82A3D932-CDE8-43B0-84F3-7721176A62E1}

This is your chance to be heard. Decisions are made by those that show up.

When Country Calls

My Uncle Dave sent out a poem he recently found from my Grandfather. He wrote to my Grandmother in 1917 as America was preparing to fight in World War One. His words worked quite well. They had 14 children, 11 boys and 3 girls. We must honor our soldiers and their families each and every day.

A poem written by Ted Wimmer to Agnes

When Country Calls

I feel so very lonesome tonight
I don’t know what to do
I feel so blue and downhearted right
So I’ll write a few lines to you.

I was dreaming of the days gone by
And the hours I spent with you
My eyes grew dim, and with a sigh
I said your love must be true.

There’s a sort of pain that hurts my heart
When I think of the hour drawing nigh
The sad day when we two must part
When I’ll kiss you and say good bye.

Remember me and do not fear
To you, I’ll always be true
I’ll always think of you my dear
And I hope to return to you.

Rivers, mountains and the ocean may lie
Between your soldier and you
His love for you will never die
If you’ll promise you’ll be true.

Your soldier begs of you to say
At the rising of the sun
A prayer for him, that this very day
May not be his last one.

And when this war to an end has come
And the troops God spared return
The world again its peace has won
Your soldier’s love for you will burn.

And if the giver of all good
Hears the prayers of your spotless heart
At least I hope and pray he would
That I return never more to part.

Fiscal Future Signature Project---Website

The new City website that is being developed will provide valuable information to our residents, visitors and business community. The basic format will follow these three categories. An example would be if you are a visitor to Isanti for one of our many events, you could click on the visitor tab and see a list and location of places to eat, lodge, shop and fill up with gas. A resident may be looking for the latest City Council agenda or want to look up what they would need if they wanted to finish off their basement.

An audience I hope to serve well will be those looking to locate a business in Isanti. In this area of the website you would find a list of all the commercial/industrial land that could be developed or current open buildings. We would work hand in hand with real estate agents, commercial brokers, landowners and developers to make sure we keep our information fresh and accurate.

We are also exploring the ability to have licenses and permits pulled and paid for online. This would help bring greater efficiency to City Hall and serve our residents and businesses better by allowing them to apply and pay online for permits and licenses. Not everyone can get to City Hall during the normal operating hours.

The last highlight fits this same category. Council Meetings could be broadcast on our new website. It can be difficult for individuals to make meeting times. If we have an option for residents to watch a meeting streamed over the internet or download and watch at your convenience, we will be making our government more accessible to the citizens and taxpayers in whose name we govern.

These are just a few highlights. I hope to be able to announce its launching within the month.

November 6th Council Update

The Council vote 5-0 to move forward with the preparations for the Water Treatment Plant. There is really no other option for the health and safety of our residents. The cancer causing radium issue, the iron/manganese issue and the competitive edge of competing with our neighboring cities that have or will have a water treatment facility makes a difficult decision a bit easier. Our water rates, which are lower than Cambridge and St Francis currently would have to increase to their levels to pay for the facility. I wish we did not have the radium issue especially but since we can not move our city we have to deal with the problem head on.

The moratorium on new residential development passed on a 3-2 vote. CM Johnson and Larson voted against. I was not surprised by the vote but was hopefully they would see the benefit to the city and to developers. The moratorium would only affect new residential development. The roughly 400 unbuilt plotted lots would still be able to be developed, keeping builders busy for 5 to 10 years.

The moratorium on residential development gives the city time to bring all ordinances up to date when the new comp plan is adopted. This is important so that a development does not start under the old ordinances then is rejected because the new ordinances would not allow it. This saves time and money for the developer. If as suggested we simply allow the old ordinances to stay in effect then the City never should have paid the hundred thousand plus for the new comp plan. The moratorium can last as long as one year but could end sooner if the r1, r2, r3, r4 and pud subdivision ordinances are completed before that time.

We are moving forward with placing a like at Riverside Park. Hopefully we will have a light up and working ASAP. . .

Late Night

The Council meeting went a bit over 11:00 pm tonight. I will update on items Wednesday......

November 6th 2007 Council Meeting

I wanted to highlight five of the items from tonight’s Council meeting. The first is the water and sewer rate study. The study was commissioned to evaluate our current rate structure and make sure we are in line with where we need to be. Another main reason for the study is to determine how we would pay for the water treatment facility.

Tonight the Council will start the process by discussing the methodology for paying for the facility. Should everyone pay or should it fall mostly on new developments? I think since the treatment facility will benefit the whole city, the cost should be shared by new and current residents alike.

One of the hard facts we face is the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars due to the Council’s actions several years ago to lower sewer and water rates without understanding the impact. Then in 2005, my first year on the council, we were informed that the sewer and water funds were losing money. The money lost can not be replaced and caused the Council in 2005 to raise rates to start breaking even once again on operations. The other issue was the low fees charged to new developments for infrastructure improvements. The low developer fees hurt our ability to build needed infrastructure. We have rectified this situation but still suffer from the ill effects.

Now we are looking at a rate increase to fund the treatment plant. The rate would be inline with what Cambridge pays to fund their water treatment facility. East Bethel to the south is also building a water treatment facility. The hard facts are not only do we have hard and at times foul smelling water, it also contains cancer causing radium. Even if the Council green lights a project this year it will be roughly 3 years before it is up and running and producing healthy drinkable water. There is no easy way to pay for the facility, especially with the missteps of the past, but we must protect the health and safety of our citizens.

The next item is a proposed moratorium on residential subdivisions. The moratorium is needed to take effect after the new comp plan is approved to allow for City ordinances to be updated. This does not affect the already approved plats with the 5 to 10 years of housing stock.

The third item is the Sub-committee for residential ordinances. The Council members will be asked to make two appointments each to the sub-committee. The sub-committee will help shape the new residential ordinances. I asked that each member be allowed to make their appointments independently so all views are represented. I did not want a majority of three to make all the appointments.

The fourth item is placing a street light at Riverside Park. For some reason this was not done when it was built and we need to fix this problem ASAP. It is a child safety issue and would be paid for out of park and recreation dedication fees.

The last item is Union negotiations. Currently the personnel committee, on which I serve, is negotiating with the Police and Public Works unions. I believe we will be able to come to a sensible contract with each union. I only mention it here so the public is aware of the work that is being done. The negotiations are time intensive and set the wage scale for the entire city. It will not be easy but both sides are working in good faith. I hope to have resolution to both contracts soon so our employees can continue their good work with the knowledge of a contract that ensures they are treated fairly. This of course does not happen in a vacuum. The City has financial restraints which I have written and spoken about often.

Foreclosure Story

Interesting story in the StarTribune about the impact of foreclosures on city governments. Ties in well with the Article in the County News last week.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1530780.html

Fiscal Future Signature Project---Budget

We touched on the LTFP in the last installment. I will briefly discuss the budget's key points. Many of these topics tie together. One can not occur without the other.

This was the first budget I could actually vote for. The 2005 and 2006 budget process exploded city spending by over 40% and left Isanti with a difficult legacy. We had to make the tough choice earlier this year to eliminate one of our building inspection positions due to the construction slow down.

The original staff presented budget and tax levy had significant increases. I spent several months working on the budget and bringing it in line with our needs and means. We were able to cut the tax levy by 5%, which is a realized 8% property tax cut, and cut spending for the fist time in the decade. It is critically important to get spending under control as residential growth has slowed dramatically. The property tax cut is the only one in the region. This is made all the more remarkable by the fact our Local Government Aid (LGA) was cut by 21%. Fiscal discipline is important in running an efficient government.

Some of our budget highlights:

• 5% Property Levy reduction
  – 8% realized property tax reduction
• Spending reductions
• New Police Lieutenant Position Fully funded
• City in compliance with pay equity
• Increased Capital Replacement funding
• Created community funding policy
• Community Service Officer Fully funded
• Reformed City Fund Accounts
• Reformed Administrative funding
• Smoothed volatile spending
  
  The budget does not get finalized till December. The preliminary budget passed on a 3-2 vote. I hope the final budget will receive a 5-0 vote so the city’s taxpayers do not have to worry that this progress is in jeopardy.
  
  I will touch more on the budget and taxes after we get through all the signature projects. I mention the budget twice since it is critically important to ur economic future.

Isanti's Fiscal Future Part 3

I recently gave a speech and presentation to the Isanti Area Chamber of Commerce. This is the base for my third instalment of Isanti's Fiscal Future. I talked about our busy year and our achievements. I want to share this with you and will go through each area in depth. In order to do this without putting you to sleep I will present the outline and discuss each section in order, roughly one a day until complete. The first major section will be our Signature Projects. Within this section there are 6 major components.

Isanti 2007

• Signature Projects
• Budget and Taxes
• Tax Capacity
• Reform
• Communication
• My 2008 Business Goals

The Signature Projects for Isanti

• Long Term Financial Plan
• Budget that included spending reductions and tax cut
• New City Website
• Pedestrian Bridge
• Isanti City Partnership
• Ever Cat Fuels

Long Term Financial Plan (LTFP) has been a goal of mine for the last 2 ½ years. It took last falls election to bring the Council around to the same goal. The LTFP will map out our city’s expected financial obligation, future expenditures and revenues. The LTFP will end the days of not knowing the consequences each time the Council is asked to spend money.
I have written and spoken about this for years and it will be one of our crowning achievements as a City, although most will not be aware of its existence. That is actually kind of good. For when it works well, it will be an invisible hand helping to guide all of our fiscal decisions. I will be asking that we do however communicate the end result to our tax payers. This would be accomplished by sending an illustrated summary of Isanti’s future fiscal decisions to our taxpayers as part of the Isantian News Letter.

Not to get to political, but once established it can only be undone by a Council that will ignore it or undo it. Elections matter, make sure you keep electing candidates that believe in fiscal responsibility and the tools that make it possible.

Welcome Back Dinner was a Great Event

Welcome Back 2007 was an incredible event. Vietnam Veteran's Chapter 684 were tremendous host. MC Don Fredlund kept us on task and guest speaker Sergeant Major Bob Boone put the sacrifices and successes of our soldiers and their families into living detail for us all.

I would like to especially thank Jaysen Guthmueller for doing so much of the hard work behind the scenes to make this all happen.

We made sure that our veteran's were appreciated on October 26th 2007. Let us continue to honor and serve our veterans each and every day. If not for them we could not endure.

Freedom is not free. . .

Interesting Demographic Data

We received some demographic data from the State Demographer. I took the raw data and took out Isanti County's data and then made a few graphs to illustrate some of the trends. Interesting data that shows Isanti will overtake Cambridge in total population by 2025. Another interesting fact is the cities will go from 37% to 44% of the total County population by 2035.

These are of course trends and many variables may change. As cities grow and add more land from a township that could increase that city's population trend and lower that specific township's population trend. We also have St Francis's purchase of land in Athen's township for municipal utilities. An Anoka County city growing into Isanti County could also change the dynamic of future growth.

City Comp Plan

The City Comprehensive Plan process is drawing to a close. If you have not had a chance to look at the draft plan go to:

http://www.ci.isanti.mn.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={82A3D932-CDE8-43B0-84F3-7721176A62E1}

Take a look at the plan chapters and if you have any questions or comments please let me know or contact city staff. This document will be the Isanti's road map to the future.

Welcome Back Veterans 2007

Vietnam Veterans Chapter #684 presents

Welcome Back Veterans 2007!

Date: Friday, October 26
Where: Spectacular Events
Isanti, MN

Social: 6:00 pmDinner: 7:00 pm

Extensive Silent Auction

Dinner Tickets: $40:00

Please join us in celebrating the return of ourmodern era Veterans!
Sponsor a Table of 10 that would include2 Veterans and their spouses or a total of4 Veterans for $400.00!

Also, if you know of a recently returnedVeteran please call 763-444-4554 to placetheir name on the referral list.

Tickets available at: Minnco Credit Union’s 4 locations -American Family Insurance - Isanti DJ’s Grill House &The Isanti Chamber of Commerce or by calling 763-444-4554

Ever Cat Biodiesel Facility Update

The Ever Cat biodiesel facility passed unanimously. I am excited for us to move forward with this project. I will update you when we break ground...

October 16th Council Meeting

The Council will be conducting a work session at 5:45 to discuss several topics including bringing cameras into the Council Chambers. I believe being able to record and broadcast our meetings through cable access and on the city's website will bring city government to our citizens. This democratizing act would be paid for by the cable company’s franchising fee.

The Council meeting at 7pm will focus on Ever Cat Fuels. This is a cutting edge biodiesel technology company. The technology was developed at the University of Minnesota and Augsburg College. I have been working on bringing Ever Cat Fuels to Isanti since March of this year. I've seen the technology at work and in production from the lab to the test facility. I had the privilege of escorting Congressman Oberstar and State Senator Olseen on tours of the test facility.

The idea that this technology, with over 150 years of combined PhD research behind it, can help solve the world’s energy problems is simply amazing. The fact that Isanti is leading the way is monumental. The facility in Isanti will be a demonstration plant producing 3 million and then potentially 30 million gallons of biodiesel. As we approach larger capacities rail service will be needed. A side note: this could get us to a rail industrial park which would be the only one in the region and have significant economic offshoot. The demonstration part is important because as this technology gets adopted, Isanti can expect to receive 1000 or more visitors per year to learn about the technology. This is another important offshoot for local businesses and any future hotel project.

I also drew comfort from the fact that the parent company, SarTec has been in business for over two decades.

http://www.sartec.com/

The raw materials can range from soybean to corn to waste food oils to even algae. The process does not have any of the “soap” by-products from current biodiesel processes and can actual use the “waste” product from both ethanol and other biodiesel plants. The algae option is really the most exciting source. One of the options for growing algae is using the excess heat and co2 that comes from coal power plants, as demonstrated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In this process, the lost heat and pollutants from a coal generating electric plant are captured and turned into energy. A clear win/win for everyone involved.

I will not attempt to explain the science here, but I do encourage everyone with interest to attend the October 16th Council meeting to see Ever Cat’s presentation themselves.

Here is their website, which is still under construction…

http://www.evercatfuels.com/

The benefits of this project to Isanti are:

• Good paying technical jobs
• $5,000,000 facility bringing 3 acres of industrial land onto the tax rolls
• Cutting edge technology
• Increased business travel
• Real life example of science applied for our students to experience
• Future possible spin off businesses
• Puts Isanti on the map for both high tech and green technology companies
• Locally grown feed stocks can be used

The benefits to the nation and beyond include:

• Profitable even without government subsidy for biodiesel production
• Lower dependence on foreign crude oil
• Renewable
• Biodegradable and low toxicity
• Environmentally friendly
• Improvement of rural economies
• Lower combustion emission profile
• Use without diesel engine modifications
• Good engine performance
• Improved combustion because of its oxygen content
• Ability to be blended with traditional petroleum-based diesel fuel

Ever Cat will bring the highest paying jobs to Isanti of any Industrial Park project to date. It is important to me that any new business I work with has good paying jobs. This facility is new and the jobs created are new jobs, not simply transferring current employees around.

The potential for dramatically increasing business travel in our area is key to the placement of a motel/hotel in Isanti. We are an event city. Everything from the Rodeo/Jubilee days to soccer tournaments, BMX events and the numerous other events bring tens of thousands of visitors to our city--mostly on the weekends. The missing component is the Monday to Thursday traveler that sustains a motel/hotel. Ever Cat helps fill that role.

The biodiesel plant will highlight Isanti. I intend to leverage this project into other high tech and green technology businesses. Our City will be discussed by legislators, business owners and many others that would never have come in contact with us if not for this project.

The last economic advantage from Ever Cat is the future ability to leverage increased biodiesel production into a rail industrial park. I have been working on rail industrial development for nearly a year. I would still hold to clean industries if we progressed to a rail industrial park. A clear advantage would be having the only rail industrial park in the region. I believe we need to look at all options as we strive to increase Isanti’s business growth.

And, oh by the way, it helps save the world . . .

Ever Cat Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dr. Clayton McNeff
Ever Cat Fuels, LLC
(763) 421-1072
claytonmcneff@evercatfuels.com

The Mcgyan Process:

A Continuous Biodiesel Production Process from Inexpensive Feedstocks
(Anoka, MN) – (August 22, 2007) Ever Cat Fuels, LLC announced today its intention to build a 3 million gallons per day biodiesel production facility in Isanti, MN that uses a revolutionary process of biodiesel production dubbed the “Mcgyan Process,” after its inventors, Dr. Clayton McNeff, Dr. Arlin Gyberg and Dr. Bingwen Yan.

The process was developed by a sister company, SarTec Corporation, also located in Anoka Minnesota. SarTec has developed a patent pending process for continuous biodiesel production that involves the chemical reaction of a lipid source (e.g. algae oil, yellow grease, animal tallow, or acidulated soapstock) and alcohol through a reactor that produces biodiesel with no waste streams, unlike the state of the art methods that use large amounts of corrosive chemicals, produce large amounts of salts and which are water intensive.

The Mcgyan process catalyzes the conversion to yield pure biodiesel with no waste products. Biodiesel is renewable fuel for diesel engines derived from natural oils like soybean oil, and which meets the specifications of ASTM D 6751. Biodiesel is readily biodegradable and nontoxic. Glycerin is a byproduct of biodiesel production that can be refined and is commonly used in foods, beverages, medicines, and personal care products.

Dr. Clayton McNeff, the Vice President of Research at SarTec and Chief Science Officer of Ever Cat Fuels, explains, “the chemical process of producing biodiesel is achieved by the combination of a triglyceride or free fatty acid with an alcohol to produce biodiesel and some benign byproducts. The traditional large-scale production of biodiesel is achieved by a base-catalyzed transesterification reaction that uses methanol, sodium hydroxide and a triglyceride source such as virgin soybean oil. There are a number of caveats to the current process including unwanted side reactions with free fatty acids to produce soaps, and numerous water-intensive neutralization and fuel washing steps. The Mcgyan process overcomes almost all of these issues and allows for the ultra fast continuous production of biodiesel without waste and unwanted glycerol byproducts.

In fact when acidulated soapstock is used as a feedstock the byproduct is water. Since the reactor catalyzes both transesterification and esterification reactions simultaneously, oils with high levels of free fatty acids can be converted to biodiesel, which means that very inexpensive feedstocks can be used.

Furthermore, the process is so clean that in theory it could be used to supply fuel a diesel engine directly and can be implemented via mobile units at the farm-level.” Larry McNeff, President of SarTec and Chief Manager of Ever Cat Fuels notes that, “One of the largest roadblocks to the use of alternative fuels is the change of performance noticed by end users. Biodiesel has many positive attributes such as lowering our dependence upon foreign oil, being environmentally friendly with no additional green house gas emissions and being renewable, but by far the most noted attribute is the similar operating performance to conventional petroleum diesel fuel and the fact that it can be blended with petroleum diesel in any proportion and run in any diesel engine.

The Mcgyan process is completely scalable from farm sized reactors all the way to industrial scale. The Mcgyan Process when combined with vast sources of renewable lipids like oil produced from algae, offers a way to meet our growing
energy demands and yet be a responsible steward of the environment.”

About SarTec Corporation

SarTec Corporation is a privately held company founded in 1983 and based in Anoka, Minnesota. SarTec manufactures a wide variety of natural plant derived saponin based products for the agricultural industry and an automatic lawn fertilization system for the lawn care industry. About Ever Cat Fuels, LLC Ever Cat Fuels, LLC is a privately held limited liability corporation founded in 2006 and based in Anoka, Minnesota. Ever Cat Fuels intends to build and operate a first of its kind biodiesel production facility located in Isanti, MN that uses the patent pending “Mcgyan” process.

ReNew Main Street Barbecue

City Hall will be used as a rain contingency plan for the barbecue and presentation. Hopefully we will have a pause in the rain to allow for an outside event but if not we are prepared.

ReNew Main Street Barbecue

You are cordially invited to a Free Barbecue on Friday, October 5 from noon to 2:00 PM at 30 West Main (across from Creamery Crossing Cafe).

Brian Ross from Hometown Minnesota, Inc. will be the guest speaker.

Brian will discuss creating and implementing design goals for our community's downtown and how to make our downtown a vibrant asset which successfully combines economic, social, and visual elements of our community. Newly available financing programs will be discussed.

If you have any interest in revitalizing the downtown business disstrict you are encouraged to attend this event.

RSVP to admin@isantichamber.com or call Diane at 763-444-8515
Sponsored By Landmark Community Bank

October 2nd Council Update

The Council received input from the residents of Palomino Acres neighborhood. The consensus was to explore the rain gadens option. We are going to put together a presentation of what this would entail and then present this information to the residents in November. I was happy my idea of rain gardens is at least being explored. I can not say that rain gardens are the right answer but they are a lower cost option that will save trees, replenish our water table and save our city taxpayers money.

The Council did approve moving forward with the street improvemnent project along the rail line and Elizabeth without sidewalks. This project will improve the sanitary sewer system by increasing capacity and replacing the old clay sewers.

The Council approved both the water/sewer rate study and the 429/special assessment policy reform. Both of these items will put Isanti on a better finacial footing and save the tax payers money.

The Police Lietenant position was approved and is being posted at the police department before it goes out to the public in general. I am happy we can finally move forward with adding a needed police officer. This improvement will help structurally as well as adding more police time on the streets.

The last item of nuisance abatement was moved forward. The city is working to adopt administrative tickets that can be issued and acted on quickly to speed up the process. It has been painfully slow but I am dedicated to make this a fair, transparent and qucik process.

“Justice delayed is justiced denied”
---William E. Gladstone

October 2nd Council Meeting

We have a couple agenda items I want to discuss. The items are the possible 2008 street improvement project, water/sewer rate study, special assessment policy for petitioned projects, police lieutenant and nuisance enforcement time lines.

The first item relates to two different street projects. the first is the Palomino Acres neighborhood. The streets included are Pinto Lane, Appaloosa Lane and Buckskin Blvd. The Council invited, by letter, all the residents of this neighborhood to discuss the possible placement of curb and gutters. The streets in this area were constructed without the necessary curb and gutter to handle the water from rain. this causes localized flooding. In essence the water from this neighborhood unfortunately floods through a few yards. The Council has received numerous complaints and we are asking the neighborhood for their input. We can use ditches to slow the water, build up to date curb and gutter improvements or leave as is. The first option is less expensive but would eat up a lot of land, destroy many mature trees and cost home owners on average $4,500. The second option is more expensive at an average cost of $6,600 but would bring the system up to modern standards. The city as a whole would still be picking up a majority of the cost. There is no good option here to fix a past planning mistake. The curb and gutters should have been installed when the area was first built to handle the water runoff issue.

Another option I will ask about is what would the impact of rain gardens throughout the entire neighborhood have. Is this a plausible option and would the residents be willing to take on this low impact option.

The second major street project is upgrading the existing sanitary and storm sewer bottlenecks. This includes the area of 2nd ave from Spirit Brook to Elizabeth, Elizabeth Street from 2nd Ave to BNSF, Alley west of BNSF and Broadway at alley intersection.

The Council will be awarding a bid to have our water and sewer rates studied. This study will include the water treatment plant and an option without it. Once we receive the outcome of the studies The Council will decide the final rates and how to fund the water treatment plant.

The special assessment for petitioned projects (429) is one of those items that quickly make you fall to sleep except for the fact they can cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. The idea behind these 429 projects is that if a group of land owners agree they can ask the city to build the road and utilities infrastructure and assess back 100% of the cost to the landowners. The current process however does not charge enough for city staff time and carrying cost of money---since the city acts as the banker. It is critically important that the city makes development pay for itself.

The police lieutenant position will add a necessary supervisor to our Police department. We had originally worked to hire a Sergeant but we received a number of union complaints about the process and the position classification. It was important to us to have a position that would still have a majority of policing activity but not be in the current union so supervision of officers would not be an issue. With the passage of this position we will hire a lieutenant and if filled by a current department employee we will add another patrol officer as well. This will give us a net gain of 1 police position.

The Council has for the first time has put teeth into nuisance abatement. We have been frustrated however by the amount of time it takes to resolve these nuisances. The City Attorney will present a way to dramatically improve the time line for a number of the nuisances.

Welcome Back Veterans 2007

Vietnam Veterans Chapter #684 presents
Welcome Back Veterans 2007!

Date: Friday, October 26

Where: Spectacular Events

Isanti, MN

Social: 6:00 pm
Dinner: 7:00 pm

Extensive Silent Auction

Dinner Tickets: $40:00

Please join us in celebrating the return of our
modern era Veterans!

Sponsor a Table of 10 that would include
2 Veterans and their spouses or a total of
4 Veterans for $400.00!

Also, if you know of a recently returned
Veteran please call 763-444-4554 to place
their name on the referral list.

Tickets available at: Minnco Credit Union’s 4 locations -
American Family Insurance - Isanti DJ’s Grill House &
The Isanti Chamber of Commerce or by calling 763-444-4554

3rd Annual Park Day

Isanti County on Verge of Tax Increase

Unfortunately the Isanti County Board looks to be raising county taxes. They will be holding a follow-up meeting September 25th at 9:00 am to complete discussions on the preliminary budget and property tax levy. I had greater hopes that Isanti County would follow the leadership of The City of Isanti and reduce spending and taxes...at the very least not raises taxes.

Rambling Rave

Well tonight's Council meeting unfortunately had yet another rambling rave by Mr. Iverson. I did not comment when he made his goofy remarks a few weeks ago and asked that I resign as Mayor and leave town. Engaging someone who has such a causal relationship with the facts is unnecessary.

I do however feel compelled to comment on his ridiculous claim tonight that the behavior of the City of Isanti and I towards him, equates to the brutal invasion of the Soviet Union by the Nazis.

Counts vary but the total is roughly 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 men, women and children killed on the Eastern Front. Again counts vary but of this number 13,000,000 to 18,000,000 were civilians.

Mr. Iverson's statement is a great insult to the tragic loss of life in the face of the most heinous regime in human history. I do not know if I should be offended by his statement or simply pity its author for his complete lack of knowledge and understanding of his comments.

Community Center Reroof Project

The community build project to reroof Isanti's community center is moving along nicely. This all volunteer project will provide much needed repairs to our community center. Josh Fedder of Million Dollar Homes and Jan Peterson of the Isanti Area Chamber of Commerce and Realty Executives are taking the lead on this project.

Here is the posting and link from the Isanti City Website with all the details:

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

The City is seeking volunteers to assist in the following areas for the re-roofing of the Community Center. Types of volunteers needed are:
· Adults who have skills in re-roofing, please bring appropriate tools.
· Adults to do ground work (placing shingles in dumpsters – picking up nails – general clean up, etc.)

The project is scheduled for Saturday, September 22nd and will start at 7:00 a.m. at the Community Center located at 208.5 1st Avenue North (north of Isanti City Hall).

This project has been coordinated by the Isanti Area Chamber of Commerce and the City thanks Jan Peterson and Josh Fedder for organizing the project.

A thank you to the Lions who will be volunteering their time on the project as well as serving food.

Contacts:
Josh Fedder 763-286-1697
Jan Peterson 612-716-1703
Rick Sames 763-444-5512
(City of Isanti Building Inspector)

http://www.ci.isanti.mn.us/

Isanti Fall Music Fest Thanks

I would like to thank the Isanti Fall Music Fest Committee and especially Jan Peterson for all the hard work they put into Saturday's event. It was a lot of fun. The Isanti Ambassador's did a great job getting the dancing going. The involved all the kids and really were the life of the party. Again, thank you for all the hard work and representing Isanti so well.

Property Tax Update

I see in the local papers once again our neighboring cities are all uniformly raising their property taxes, one by over 16% in the preliminary levy. I do not state this to add injury to our neighbors but to simply draw a contrasting note.

The majority of the Council voted to support my spending reductions and tax cut plan. Placing Isanti on a firm and responsible economic footing will bring benefits for years to come.

I would also like our business community to take note. Property taxes hit businesses harder than anyone. My Long Term Financial Plan is taking shape. This incredibly important tool allows us to manage our City's finances and to avoid the poor planning of the past. The ever improving commercial tax base will help fuel Isanti's continued growth and economic development.

Isanti has an ever improving climate for locating and expanding commercial opportunities. Pass the word along...

Main Street Free Barbecue

Friday, October 5 from noon to 2:00 PM the Isanti Area Chamber of Commerce will be having a Renew Main Street Free Barbecue. It will be held at 30 West Main. Brian Ross from Hometown Minnesota, Inc. will be the speaker.
Please RSVP to admin@isantichamber.com or call Diane at 763-444-8515

Brian will discuss creating and implementing design goals for our community's downtown and how to make our community's downtown stand out as a vibrant asset which requires successfully integrating economic, social, and visual elements of the downtown and the larger community.

Please plan on attending this important event.

Isanti Fall Music Fest Repost

Isanti Fall Music Fest

Isanti is hosting the 5th annual Fall Music Fest September 15, 2006 on Main Street. Once again, the Festival will offer a classic car show, street vendors, a street dance featuring the White Sidewalls and a beer garden.The Isanti Fall Music Fest Committee is continuing on the path of making this festival enjoyable for all ages.

Activities start at 2pm. The Color Guard will present at 5:45 followed by my official welcome. The White Sidewalls start playing at 6pm.

The Festival will have family friendly activities such as various street vendors, moonwalk, potato painting, face painting, duck pond, scavenger hunt, sack racing, and tug of war. New Activities for all ages this year are a Cake Walk and The Chicken Raffle. I am looking forward to this great city event.

This is a great event and I hope everyone will come out and have some free fun.

If you have any questions please contact Isanti Fall Music Fest Chairperson Jan Peterson at 763-444-9090.

Tax Update

The preliminary levy amounts are in for each of the municipalities in Isanti County. I am proud to announce Isanti is the only City to lower its property tax rates.

Isanti faced a 21% reduction in our Local Government Aid and a dramatic drop off in developer/building fees due to the housing crash. The majority of the Council made the hard decisions and cut spending to reduce our taxes by 5%. It is not always about how much money you make but how much you spend.

I hope everyone takes notice of the different reactions to tough economic news. Isanti is working hard to increase our commercial tax base so we may continue to lower property taxes, create jobs and provide goods and services our residents need and want. As City government becomes more fiscally responsible trust will be garnered by our citizens and businesses alike.

In the third installment of Isanti's Fiscal Future I will detail how Isanti is saving tax dollars and improving services to our citizens.

Preliminary Budget and Levy Update

Well we did it. With a vote of 3-2, CM Duff, Kolb and I voting in favor, the Council set the preliminary budget and property tax levy. We cut spending and reduced the levy by 5% to 60%. The first actual cut in budgeted city spending for nearly a decade, possibly longer. My records only go back as far as 2000.

To give a point of reference, I have included the levy % since 2001 when rapid residential growth started. 2002 levy was the first year that responded to the rapid growth. This also shows the argument that rapid residential growth pays for itself is nothing short of false. What follows is the year and the actual tax levy as a percentage of actual expenses.

2001---45%
2002---73%
2003---72%
2004---72%
2005---69%
2006---64%
2007---65%

2007 is a budgeted number that is trending closer to 70% year to date.
2008---60% preliminary passed September 4th 2007.

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Our tax dollars have been paying the cost of residential development. My goal is that development pays for itself. I will not give up on that goal.

The state average of 55% is within reach over the next two years. Isanti has faced the predictable issues of drastically reduced Local Government Aid and builder/development fees drying up. Isanti has faced this not by raising taxes as many city's do but by reigning in spending and cutting taxes.

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This is a great accomplishment for our community and should be trumpeted throughout the region. I think it is also important to note that the reason we have two new Council Members and a new Mayor is because the City was on the wrong track. We are moving aggressively to correct past decisions. I also believe it proves elections matter. Who we pick to represent us is more important now than ever.

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I promised to fight to lower taxes. I presented a plan and it was approved by a majority of the Council that also desires to make Isanti a better City. CM Duff and Kolb should be commended for making the hard decisions that had to be made.

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We still have a lot of work to do but tonight was a great victory. I am happy to have delivered on another campaign promise.

September 4th Council Meeting

The 2008 preliminary levy will be set at the September 4th City Council meeting. I have put forward a plan that will reduce the levy rate by 5%. The 5% levy rate reduction from last year’s 65% to 60% of our tax capacity brings us half way to my three year goal of the state average of a 55% levy rate. We should also not forget the initial budget proposal had a 70% proposed property tax levy rate.

In a period of difficult financial times it is important to note Isanti is reducing taxes and spending. We are getting our financial house in order as we face greater uncertainties. The solid fiscal base will give us greater flexibility no matter what the future brings.

I am adding links to three previous pieces that might give some greater clarity of Isanti’s fiscal state without rewriting everything thing here---

http://georgewimmer.blogspot.com/2007/07/isantis-fiscal-future-part-1.html

http://georgewimmer.blogspot.com/2007/08/isantis-fiscal-future-part-2.html

http://georgewimmer.blogspot.com/2007/08/august-21st-budget-special-session.html

The Council will be receiving an update on the water treatment plant process. The test plant process went well. We will be able to treat for the cancer causing radium and the hard water causing iron and manganese. The next step is to decide when we will be building the facility. This decision will then help give a time table for the varied financial options. I will keep you updated on this important project.

The next item on the agenda I want to discuss is the proposed 2008 street and sidewalk project along historic Elizabeth and Broadway. This project failed last year because several council members wanted to force sidewalks into this area. I have been opposed to destroying these sensitive neighborhoods by tearing down mature trees and virtually eliminating front yards. The lots in these low traffic areas were not designed to support sidewalks. I believe it is important to protect Distinctive Isanti Neighborhoods.

If we are going to add sidewalks to the city lets place them where they are needed, along highway 5 and 23. $126,000 of taxpayer money is slated for the sidewalk portion of this project. Let’s put it where it is most needed and will add tremendous safety value to Isanti.

The agenda has 18 major items---some of which have subsets....there may very well be some other items that will generate some energy....I will let you know after the meeting.....

Welcome Back

I had the privilege to help welcome our 911 School Districts Staff back to school this morning. Unfortunately it was not my best public speaking event. I do want to express my support for district teachers and staff.

At the last City Council meeting I declared August 30th Isanti Teacher and Staff Day. There will be a lunch in our teachers' and staff's honor at Community Pride Bank. The lunch will be 11:30 to 1pm. I will be presenting the signed proclamations to the three Isanti principals.

Isanti Fall Music Fest

Isanti is hosting the 5th annual Fall Music Fest September 15, 2006 on Main Street. Once again, the Festival will offer a classic car show, street vendors, a street dance featuring the White Sidewalls and a beer garden.

The Isanti Fall Music Fest Committee is continuing on the path of making this festival enjoyable for all ages. The Festival will have family friendly activities such as various street vendors, moonwalk, potato painting, face painting, duck pond, scavenger hunt, sack racing, and tug of war. New Activities for all ages this year are a Cake Walk and The Chicken Raffle. I am looking forward to this great city event.

If you have any questions please contact Isanti Fall Music Fest Chairperson Jan Peterson at 763-444-9090.

August 21st Budget Special Session Update

The budget session tonight started out quietly and slowly and end in a burst of fury. After the presentation by the the Finance Director I opened the floor to the Council Members. I asked for any comments or suggestions. Hearing none I offered to layout my suggestions for reductions in new spending.

That phrase is key. Reduction in new spending. I laid out specific reductions totaling $253,496. I also asked that $100,000 be transferred from the liquor store fund which currently has $602,000. The total effect of the cost cuts and liquor store transfer would give Isanti a levy of 60.3% or almost a 5% property tax reduction. The initial budget proposal asked for nearly a 70% levy. This 5% increase in taxes is not acceptable.

The reductions in new spending were not easy. We are delaying the hiring of a police investigator for a least one year. This equates to a savings of $78,011 and $15,000 towards a city car. We still be adding one new police position. There was a staff request for a new part time secretary...this was rejected. Another tough decision was to reduce the amount of money the city gives to other non/not for profit and charitable groups. The number was $20,000 and this was reduced by half.

The last major area that was reduced was the equipment replacement schedule. The city has always under funded this area. Our goal is to fully fund but this will have to be eased into. We are increasing our replacement funds but will not be able to go the whole way in one year. If more funds become available or the city's LGA increases after a legislative special session, I will ask that the money goes towards the replacement funds.

None of this is fun or easy. Tough decisions have to be made to control city spending in a time of dramatic cuts in city revenue. The average property tax levy in the state is 55%. Isanti is the 15 highest taxed locality in greater Minnesota. Our current tax levy is 64.718%. My goal is to reduce our tax levy to the state average in three years. We are half way there in the first year. We should not kid ourselves however, the last 5% will be much tougher than the first 5%. CM's Duff and Kolb voted with me to reduce spending and lower taxes. CM's Johnson and Larson voted against reducing spending and against lowering taxes. The end of the session tonight ended in a heated exchange unfortunately and the vote was quite tense.

The other thought to leave you with is the increasing commercial development. These businesses will start coming on the tax rolls in the next two years helping to bring balance to our property tax base. Businesses pay 50% more in taxation per the same value as residential property and use less services.

We are faced with a simply but harsh reality. LGA and building fees are drastically reduced. We can either reduce spending or increase taxes. I believe we made the right decision.

August 21st Council Update

I wanted to update you on two items from tonight's meeting. The first item is the new liquor store. Building a new liquor in the end did not make financial sense. The $1,800,000 bonded debt and the $200,000 to $300,000 in cash the city would have spent did not bring the city and new revenue. We would have forgone roughly $40,000 in salary offsets and $100,000 in property tax relief per year.

The store would be able to reach roughly $40,000 in added revenue to the city by 2012 if the projections hold up. This is still $100,000 short of where we are today. I can not see spending so much for so small of a return in the future. This was a tough decision and the split vote reflects the debate. In the end council members' Duff and Kolb and I voted against building a new store. CM Johnson and Larson made good arguments in favor but I just could not agree. This was tough and a lot of work went into the process. It is always difficult to see a project not be completed but good money after bad is an even worse decision.

The other item of note is the discussion on the Community Center. We talked about the longevity and the need to fix the roof. I want to commend CM Johnson and Duff on their work on this project and for continuing to tackle this project.

Josh Fedder of Million Dollar Homes and Jan Peterson of Realty Executives Northland volunteered to help find support in the building community for the project. This type of volunteering is one of the many reason's our Community is so strong. I want to thank Jan and Josh and hope everyone recognizes their efforts.

Nominate Great Yards

Don't forget to nominate yards for the Mayor's Great Yard Award. Email me with your nominations. george@georgewimmer.com

August 21st Council Meeting

There are three items from the August 21st Council Agenda I want to discuss.

The first item is the Liquor Store Project. I had voted to support the first phase of this project. This included getting construction plans, construction budget and how a plan to pay for the project. The initial information seemed to show the project would pay for itself and still continue to bring in ever increasing revenue to the general fund. The numbers I have reviewed do not support this conclusion.

The increase in sales that would occur would not pay the associated debt for the store in the first 4 years. This would have a significant impact on each years budget leading to higher property taxes or greater cuts in other city services.

The two funding options are a level 20 year payment schedule, akin to a fix rate mortgage, or a 20 year end loaded payment schedule, akin to a hybrid of a fix and an adjustable rate mortgage. I do not believe it is fair to saddle the next generation with balloon payments for what will be at the time an almost 20 year old building. This will setup the situation when major repairs are needed the city will be paying the highest payments.....

It would be easy to leave the debt payments for the next generation to worry about, but I cannot.....I do not believe it is responsible for us to get a short term gain at our children's expense.

The next item is a reform of the nuisance noise ordinance. I just wanted to keep you informed as ordinances are improved. Any questions please let me know.

The last item is a debate on the Community Center. The council will be discussing what changes/improvements are needed. The discussion will also look at the long term view of renovation and longevity of the facility. I welcome your comments.

Update on Updates

The Council and budget updates will be published tonight. The last budget meeting is 5:30 at City Hall Tuesday the 21st.

40,000 Milestone Reached

I was on vacation for a few days and came back to see that the Blog has passed the 40,000 visit milestone. Just thought you would like to know...

August 8th Council Update

The new fee schedule was passed by a 3-2 vote. As predicted Council Members Johnson and Larson voted against. I have written so much on this topic I will simply conclude by saying with the passing of the new schedule, residential development comes much closer to paying for itself.

I was presented with a $500 check from the Rotary Club to help fund handicapped accessible picnic tables for Isanti parks. This was wonderful donation and I would like to thank the Rotary and Greg Owens of Community Pride Bank for presenting the check.

I read a portion of a letter from MnDot promising their support for the Pedestrian Bridge project. The commitment is at least $200,000. This helps dramatically reduce our local match from Park and Recreation dedication fees. The commitment is based upon the regional benefits of this project. There is still a lot of work to do on the project but I am committed to leaving Isanti with a completed trail system, including a pedestrian bridge.

The last item of note I want to mention is that the Council approved a moratorium on peddlers licenses. I asked for this because of the complaints I have received. I was further troubled when I was informed the City issues these licenses to anyone that applies. I felt the City should take greater responsibility to do some background checking before we license someone to go door to door selling products or services. I also wanted to have a system to track complaints.