Another winter is passing us by, as we prepare for the
weather changing into a glorious spring. As always in our town; other changes
are unfolding as well.
The first item we need to discuss is the request by
regional and county emergency experts to change the name of County State Aid
Highway (CSAH) 5 within the corporate boundaries of the City of Isanti. The
need arises from duplicate addressing in the City and Townships along this
corridor. Many of these addresses have been around for decades but with the
growth in our region and the technology changes for how 911 calls are handled,
these duplicates, along with the potential for many more in the future have required
this adjustment to be made. This has
happened because township addressing and City addressing are handled
separately. This could continue to occur as the community grows to the east due
to the differing addressing systems used by various entities. If we change the name of CSAH 5 then the
house numbers would stay the same but the street name would be different, thus
solving the problem. No one on the City Council wants to change the name but
the safety concerns are far too great for us not to take action.
The next item I want to touch on is the 2013 City Council
Goals as set by unanimous City Council vote. These goals are as follow:
Finalize decision on Community Center viability
Downtown Business Loop
CSAH 5 Aesthetic Standards (appearance issues)
City Website Update
Maintain Consistency on City Standards at all levels
Utility Billing brought back into City Hall
Continuing Economic Development to Diversify and Increase our Tax Base
The Council believes it is important to maintain and improve
upon our City Standards to ensure a thriving self-sustaining community. We
discussed the need to move forward with a number of planned projects that will
help improve and diversify our tax base to ensure continued success of our
City. Many volunteer efforts are underway to fund the Community Center and the
success of these will help the Council make a final decision this summer on its
long term viability. The Business Loop item refers to the concept we developed
a few years ago, to have a continuous business loop from CSAH 5 to 1st
Ave NW to Main St to Credit Union Drive NE or Dahlin Ave NE. This would help create
a critical mass of businesses that would ensure the long term success of our
downtown businesses. Much work needs to be completed and full community
involvement will be necessary to make this concept a success. More details will
be forth coming as milestones are reached. Utility billing is currently
outsourced and has been for decades. This approach however has resulted in
increased costs, control lost and customer service lacking. We believe it is
necessary to take direct control of billing for City services to ensure better
service to our residents and business at an acceptable cost. Our City website
has served us well to a point but is lacking in several areas and showing its
age. We want to make the website more accessible to our residents and
businesses and leverage its use as an economic development tool.
