July 15th Council Update

We had a good Council meeting tonight. Senator Olseen and Representative Eastlund did a great job discussing legislative issues with the Council. I asked several pointed questions about our LGA disparity. The statement they made was that Isanti is so well run now that we are not given as much aid from the state. I told them it is not fair that we do the right thing and get punished for it. Lowering taxes and cutting spending is a good thing.

We all agreed that a city that is a bedroom community is really at a disadvantage. One of the many reasons why I champion increased commercial growth. The state gives extra money for job growth in a community and the current LGA formula reflects this. Business growth is the key and we must make sure the old policies of subsidizing residential growth do not come back.

We approved a revision of the nuisance ordinance to allow 1 boat/trailer to be parked in driveways April 1st to November 30th. The boats and trailers must be operable and licenced. The previous ordinance did not allow any boats in driveways. This change will help create a better ordinance. Frankly we were unable to truly enforce this aspect as we have numerous other nuisances that we have been working on along with all the foreclosed properties.

The great news of the night as I prefaced was that the water treatment plant came in $1.6 million less than estimated. I asked staff to start working on the new numbers so we can lower our water rates. The previous water rate increase was due to the construction of the water treatment plant so it only makes sense that we should lower our water rates to reflect the lower cost of construction. I hope to have the new rate proposal soon. I will move this forward through Council and with enough support we should be able to lower our rates.