About Me

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I have served the City of Isanti as Mayor since 2007. We have accomplished great things together and I look forward to building on our success. United, we move forward to a better future. You may contact me at 763-442-8749 or e-mail me at george@georgewimmer.com.

Monday, December 03, 2012

2012 Winter Isantian Article


I want to congratulate Steve Lundeen, Dan Collison and Adam Johnson on winning their elections. Everyone who ran should be commended for wanting to make Isanti a better place to live, work and play. With this election there are two new Council Members out of our existing four Council Member positions. Our upcoming Goal Setting Session with our new members will be very important in determining the City’s direction over the next few years. Please contact the Council or myself with any issues or concerns you would like to see addressed by the City.

The Community Center Levy vote presented by the Isanti Community Center Task Force failed with only 35% of the City voting in favor of increasing taxes to make needed improvements to the facility. This will put the operation of the Community Center in jeopardy past 2013. The Task Force is still working diligently to find a financial solution to this problem. The final decision will be in the hands of the new Council in 2013.

I want to thank the Sponsors for this year’s Mayor’s Great Yard Award. Above All Rooftops to Remodeling, Inc. was our 1st place sponsor and is an amazing business located on Main St. in Downtown Isanti. StarTac Construction has been our 2nd place sponsor for several years and in my opinion is one of the best contractors/builders around. KJD Signs is also a multi-year sponsor whose work has graced Isanti in numerous ways. Thank you to all our gracious sponsors for making the program a success. Over the 6 years, since I initiated the Award, we have had 54 winners collecting a total of $3,150.

Legacy Park Trail, located in our City’s northwest quadrant, was opened this fall with great success. I continue to hear from our residents who use and love this unique community asset. I am working with our local Scouts to further enhance this gem in our Park and Trail system. It’s important to note that we negotiated to receive the land for free from the Bank that owned it. The trail construction was paid for from park and recreation dedication fees, which are paid by a developer in accordance with State Statute. We have developed an amazing Community Asset, in an incredible cost effective manner. 

Housing and business development activity is on the rise. With 387 foreclosed properties sold to date. we have 37% fewer occupied & unoccupied foreclosed homes in Isanti. Our Rental Ordinance and Maintenance code continue to ensure that rental properties are maintained to appropriate standards. This is more important each year as more homes are being converted to rental properties. We have seen the number of non-homesteaded properties from 2010 to 2011 nearly doubling; and this trend will continue into the future.
The Council continues to move forward with the necessary completion of road and trail improvements along South Passage SE and Railroad Avenue SE.  This project will improve the safety of drivers, bikers and pedestrians. We continue to make progress in making Isanti a safer and more efficient City regarding transportation improvements.

After years of trying to get the sidewalk completed on CSAH 5 through traditional methods, I proposed a new approach to the Council. I asked for support in developing a plan that could get us past a major hurdle – the lack of City easements along CSAH 5. We are developing a design that would not take away any business or property owners’ usable land. This took a leap of faith that we could accomplish this project.  We, through the work of our City Engineering firm Bolton-Menk, have been able to make this a reality. We then used this plan to get support from the County who owns and controls activity on CSAH 5 and from all the affected property owners. We have successfully received our last needed easement and a show of strong support from all involved. We have a lot of heavy lifting to do in the area of finding funding for the project but I am confident that the need for this safety improvement should gain overwhelming support from the Council, County and Community. I will keep you updated on our progress.

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

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