January 6th City Council Update

2009 Oath of Office

Council Members Kolb and Kennedy were sworn in right after I was. After a vacancy was declared since Council Member Duff was elected to the County Board - Ross Lorinser was appointed by the Council to fill the remaining two years of the term. The vote was 3-1 with me voting against. I do not believe in appointing Council Members with so much time left on the term of office. I believe Mr. Lorinser will make a good Council Member and my vote in no way reflects on him. I voted the same way in 2007.

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I had the privilege to award a certificate of appreciation to Officer Valerie Zeman. Officer Zeman won the Isanti County Officer of the Year Award. We have excellent Officers working for us in the City of Isanti and we need to do everything we can to maintain our Police force.

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I made the following appointments tonight to Council Committee Assignments -

Economic Development Authority - Wimmer, Kennedy
Park Board - Wimmer
Planning Commission -Lorinser, Larson
Community Education - Lorinser
C-I Arena Board - Larson
Cable TV - Kolb
Community Involvement - Larson
Fire District - Kolb (alternate-Kennedy)
North TH 65 Corridor Coalition - Lorinser (alternate-Larson)
School Liaison - Wimmer, Kolb
Development Advisory Committee - Wimmer, Lorinser
Finance Committee - Wimmer, Kolb
Building & Grounds Committee - Larson, Kennedy
Personnel Committee - Wimmer, Kolb
C-I Bike/Walk Trail - Wimmer
Liquor - Larson, Lorinser
Police - Kennedy, Lorinser
Public Works - Kennedy, Larson

The Council voted unanimously to move forward with the budget amendments. This was a painful decision but we need to make sure we have a plan in place to deal with the many economic realities everyone has to deal with. I would like to thank the Council for their support of the plan and the groups that were asking for funding. The Chamber, Rum River BMX, Community Involvement Team and the Friends of the Library all had been asking for funds but each was respectful and responsible in their responses to the cuts we had to make.

The plan that was adopted tonight is posted here - http://georgewimmer.blogspot.com/2008/12/2008-and-2009-lga-solution.html

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This is a difficult time for all of us and together we will work our way through to a brighter tomorrow.