Council Update June 3rd

Accepting Check from Mr. Owens

There are a few items from last night's meeting I want to mention.

I accepted a $350.00 check from Community Pride Bank President Greg Owens. This money will be used for the Mayor's Employer Lunch June 11th. I will be posting a full list of all the incredible businesses and individuals that are supporting this event.

I asked the Council to support a Booktown location at City Hall. This is in essence a book rack full of donated books. People may come and borrow the books to read at anytime or take and keep. The book rack and books are free and there is no City staff time used to maintain the books. Volunteers manage the location and check in at least once a week. There are several location already in place at several local businesses.

I appointed the members to the Isanti City Revolving Loan Fund Committee. This will allow us to start the process of infusing more funds to spark great economic growth.

We accepted the bid from our City Engineer to start the construction engineering portion of the Water Treatment Plant. I had mention previously we were extending the process for two weeks to get better bids. The original bid was at $440,000 and last night we accepted the bid at $325,000. The extra time allowed for more research into the true time and scope of the project and allowed us to get a more accurate idea of the services needed. Time well spent.

We authorized the application for using Municipal State Aid for Isanti's portion of the rail road crossing arms on Isanti Parkway. This would save the City $15,422.10 from this years budget.
A note to add on... The Council voted to not fund increased Chamber membership dues for the City. The Council reiterated its support of the Isanti Area Chamber of Commerce. We applaud its tremendous growth over the last few years and its growing reach into surrounding townships and the City of Cambridge. The Council has helped foster this growth by giving office space to the Chamber to operate from for $1. The Chamber moved out of this space early in 2007 to a rental space. The City also spends thousands of dollars of in kind donations for the many events the Chamber host.
The relationship between the City and the Chamber is closer than it ever has been as we formed the Isanti City Partnership last year. This is a joint group with three members appointed by the Chamber and three by the City.
I believe in the Chamber and the local business community so much that I am a personal member of the Chamber even though I own no business. I also buy all my campaign materials from Isanti businesses.