Summer 2012 Isantian Article

The summer and fall of 2012 will be quite active for Isanti. We have a full summer of events with Redbirds baseball, soccer tournaments, BMX racing, Jubilee/Rodeo Days and the new Vision Wake Park. On June 20^th we will celebrate our employers at the Mayor’s Employer Appreciation Luncheon; which highlights our hard working businesses and all they contribute to Isanti.

Isanti has been proactively working through nuisance issues; such as the parking of cars, boats and trailers on grass as well as piles of debris and outdoor storage; and long grass and weeds.  For those residents receiving violation letters; it has resulted in a few complaints. We have also received complaints from residents and businesses; wanting to ensure that Isanti is an attractive City in which to live and conduct business.  We hear from real-estate agents and brokers trying to sell residential and commercial property in our City that nuisance issues are making it even harder in these tough times to sell property. This is a tough problem considering everyone has their own standard of what should be and should not be allowed. We all want to be “King or Queen of our Castle” and protect our property rights. The problem occurs when one person’s property rights lock horns with the next person’s property rights. Living in close proximity to so many others in a city necessitates the need for more rules governing behavior. This is never fun for those being regulated or for the Council that bears the final responsibility for passing City ordinances. However, the Council is working to protect the entire City and our property values.

These ordinances do at times change.  For instance, after I became Mayor, I requested that work vehicles be allowed in residential areas. The previous rule did not allow for any work trucks or vans, such as a telephone or power company vehicle, to be parked in the driveway of a residence.  My Yukon is not much different in size than a construction workers truck or power company van or many other vehicles that our residents use every day to make a living. So we went through the process and changed the ordinance, so it made sense. I hope to hear from anyone that has suggestions on how to make our community a better place to live, work, and play.

I wanted to share some highlights from our latest’s Audit Report.

• ·         City Administrative costs are 23% lower in Isanti than our peer group of cities
•   City net debt is down 57% since I became Mayor
•  Economic Development spending is 400% higher than our peer group of Cities
•  General Fund Balance is up from 58% to 89% due to cost cutting
•   Park and Recreation spending is 42% less than our peer group  cities
• Liquor Store gross profit is up over 10% since our reorganization

We have put Isanti on firm financial footing as we face several more tough years. I am very optimistic about the economic development projects we have been working on. We have assembled an excellent team to manage our City into a brighter future.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please contact me at 763-442-8749 or email me at George@georgewimmer.com . You may also follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/mayorwimmer Facebook at www.facebook.com/MayorGeorgeWimmer or my blog at georgewimmer.blogspot.com .