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