City Council Election

Two council seats are up for election this fall. We need hardworking, honest and dedicated people to serve our City. The filing fee is only $2 and you can help shape our community's future. Filing opens in a few months - if you have any questions about running or what it takes to serve please let me know and I will help you in anyway possible.

2011 Goal Setting

the Council's 2011 Goal Setting will be at Isanti City Hall 8:00 to 12:00 Monday the 24th.... Incredibly serious issues will be discussed.... I have linked the Agenda so if you are interested the meeting is open to the public...

http://www.cityofisanti.us/images/stories/minutes_agendas/cc_agenda/2011/01-24-11_city_council_goal_setting_agenda.pdf

March Special Election Update

We are down to 2 candidates for the special March election to fill the Council seat. I am concerned that if we do not get the right person elected that many of the long term improvements to the City will be in jeopardy. We can not go backwards into a past of poor planning and no fiscal direction. We are trying to dig ourselves out of the horrific decisions made by past Councils and Mayor to fund development of the east side of 65 at tax payer expense. I hope people will remember that on a 3-2 vote the past Council and Mayor took land rights from a 70 plus year old couple and gave those land rights the developer of the east side all at our expense. The cost of which we all had to pay along with the infrastructure that was built.

The City was put on the hook for all those millions of dollars and those bills are coming due NOW!!!! How can we afford to put those same ideas back in power.... Elections matter greatly..... We have a clear choice of moving forward or falling backward..... I hope every voter thinks long and hard about their decision....

Special Primary Election January 11th Update

Lundeen 50
Strieff 28
Collison 14

There are 2 absentee ballots that will be counted tomorrow so the vote can change slightly....

Special Primary Election January 11th

Make sure you get out to vote tomorrow in the Special Council Primary.... Elections matter.....

January 4th Council Meeting

City Council meeting Agenda for this evening

http://www.cityofisanti.us/images/stories/minutes_agendas/cc_agenda/2011/01-04-2011_city_council_agenda.pdf

Interesting Council Meeting

I will write more tomorrow but wanted to comment on a few items from tonight's Council meeting. We had a good introduction to the 5 new and expanding businesses in Isanti this month. We talked about the millions in added tax base, dozens of new jobs and the infrastructure fees that will be paid to the City.

************ We will be receiving over $140,000 in back taxes and assessments along with tens of thousands of dollars of sac/wac and other fees to help fill our dwindling coffers. *****************

The other item of note tonight was the on going liquor store discussion. We basically summed it up this way - we need good information to make good decisions. I want to keep the store if we can prove it is doing what it should. I also left the Council with a statement at the end of the meeting. I am done bringing this issue up until the Council is willing to make a decision on what to do. It does no good to keep rehashing the issue with zero progress. If the Council is willing to let the liquor store continue on its current path then so be it - I have raised the alarm what that will do to our general fund budget in the years to come.

County EDA

We had a curious request from the County EDA (made up of the County Board and their appointees) recently.... They asked in the City of Isanti supported a brand new tax on County residents. There was no end goal for this EDA tax other then to accumulate money. They have asked the other cities as well I believe. We of course said there is no way we would support a new County tax.

The odd thing is I am not sure why this even got to this point. At least 3 of the 5 County Board members have professed in their recent elections that they are against any tax increases.

County Commissioner District Boundaries

I had a few questions about where the County Commissioner Districts even are.


District 1 George Larson
Represents:
City of Cambridge (West)
Cambridge Township

District 2 Larry Southerland
Represents:
City of Braham
Dalbo, Stanchfield, Maple Ridge,  Wyanett, & Springvale Townships



District 3 Alan Duff
Represents:
City of Isanti & Bradford Township


District 4 Kurt Daudt
Represents:
Spencer Brook, Stanford, & Athens Townships


District 5 Susan Morris
Represents:
City of Cambridge (East),
North Branch, Isanti, & Oxford Townships


District 1 and District 5 are up for re-election. The County Commissioner is roughly the same amount of work as is the City Council but they make on average with salary and per diem over $30,000 a year - Council is $3,000. All you need is $50 to file for County Commissioner as compared to $2 for City offices. 

May 4th Council Meeting

The Isanti City Council Agenda for the May 4th 2010:

http://www.cityofisanti.us/images/stories/05-04-10_City_Council_Agenda.pdf

April 20th Isanti City Council Meeting Update

A couple topics from the meeting last night. We had a request from the C-I Competitive Baseball Association to waive the fee for their usage of the baseball field. The association was notified last October of the fee policy but only recently approached the city. The City charges a $15 fee for a full day of usage of the field which equates to just pennies a day for each player. Several other groups including church groups have paid or are willing to pay this nominal fee. The fee is needed to maintain the field and ensure the field stays open. Several area fields have closed and I want to ensure we continue to have fields for our youth to learn and play on.

2nd item is that the Public Works Union rejected the tentative agreement we had negotiated with their leadership yesterday. We will continue to try to get to an agreement  but the Council will also start working on contingency plans to ensure our level of service at an appropriate cost.

Lastly I want to share of few numbers from our City Audit. Our Administration cost is 33% lower in Isanti as compared to our peer group of cities throughout Minnesota. Our net debt per person has gone from a high $1904 per man, woman and child when I was first elected to $826 per person. This is a 57% cut in debt per capita. We have also had a 24% improvement of debt to assets for the City. We are running the City of Isanti leaner and more efficient than it ever has and this will help us as we face over $500,000 in lost property taxes and state funding next year alone.

City Billing Issues

We have had a number of growing pains with our new billing service that handles City service billing. Some of the issues were caused by Connexus mishandling of the transfer of records and partially from the new company not communicating properly with City staff. I have met with our new service previously and they were in front of the Council tonight and it was made very clear the issues of the past can not repeat themselves.

Possible Town Hall Meeting

In an ongoing blog conversation the idea of a Town Hall meeting has come up. I would be very willing to conduct such a Town Hall meeting but I would like to expand it to include all levels. I will be asking our State Senator Olseen, State Representative Eastlund and County Commissioner Duff to conduct such a meeting at Isanti City Hall this summer. This will give the unique opportunity to have all 3 levels of government in one room at the same time to answer you questions....

It might be difficult to arrange with conflicting schedules but I do believe it would be a milestone event and I hope all will participate.

Rail Industrial Park Update

Last night the Council followed the unanimous EDA recommendation to move forward with a concept plan for a rail industrial park. This is the first step to evaluate the feasibility of a a rail park location in Isanti's existing industrial zoned property. If a rail park is built in Isanti it will be a unique asset in the entire region and would lead to many more good paying jobs.

Marla Properties, LLC received Council permission last night to assume the responsibilities of job creation from the previous Midwest Metal project. This means that this roughly 25,000 square foot building will go from vacant to another operating business in Isanti with corresponding jobs and tax base.

The Council approved our goals from the goals setting session. They are as follows for 2010:

• Economic Development Comprehensive Plan
• Downtown Plan
• Consideration of EDA to an EDA/HRA
• Rail Industrial Park Development
• Budgeting without LGA
• Establishing a prioritized list of budget cuts
• Determine the percentage of general funds to reserve
• Restructuring bonded debt

The Council and appropriate committees will be working through this list of goals to make them a success.

Council Meeting Wednesday

Just to remind everyone that the Council meeting this week is Wednesday and not on Tuesday as normal. The meeting was moved due to DFL and Republican Caucuses tonight.

Isanti City Goal Setting Session

The Isanti City Council will start its Goal Setting Session Monday morning January 25th at 8am at Isanti City Hall. This is a public meeting and is held in the Council Chambers.

I will be going over a summary of our current Fiscal situation and discussing a number of difficult decisions we will have to make as a Council over the next few years.

We will be getting an update from the Goals set by Council at the beginning of 2009. All Council Members will be discussing what goals they would like considered for the next year.

Quick Update on Tonights Council Agenda

The Council voted to move forward with the Pedestrian Bridge Project with 80% federal funding, roughly 8% from MnDot and 12% from the City Park and Recreation Fund. City park and recreation funds by state statute can only be used on new acquisitions. The City is waiting for the remaining federal funds to be approved. It will still be several years I think before a bridge will be built assuming all the federal dollars are allocated. It would be difficult if not impossible to build this regional project without the remaining federal dollars.

I shared some stats from a recent poll I asked the Chamber of Commerce to conduct on opening the City liquor Store on more holidays. The results were quite strong.

66% felt there is enough business traffic to justify opening the Liquor store on more holidays.

58% believed that other area businesses would benefit from the Liquor store being open more

82% stated that even if we were not sure if the store being opened helped - the City should at least try it this year.

We received an update on two speed studies the City has been contemplating. It has been a long term goal to lower the speed limit on Whiskey going south out of Isanti. We have received information that if we asked for an official speed study MnDot - yes MnDot controls the speed limit on this road - will RAISE the speed limit going south from 5 on Whiskey to Dogwood to 35 from 30 then change the speed from 55 to 50 to the S curve. So MnDot would raise the speed limit by the Church and School crossings which would be very difficult to accept. If the speed limit is raised to 35, drivers will go 45 which is to dangerous. The Council decided to drop this request.

The second speed zone issue we looked at was highway 5 heading east from 65 to the S curve on your way to Spectacular Events. MnDot will lower the speed limit to 40 from highway 65 to the cemetery on Highway 5 but then bring it back up to 55 by 8th which the major north south street leading to the Middle School. It also looks like there will be no support for us placing a school zone in this area either.

It is frustrating when the major roads in our City are controlled by the state. The City has no control over these roads and like a beggar with a tin cup we have to beg for a few crumbs of common sense.

Interesting First Meeting

It was an odd meeting tonight when we were trying to schedule our Goal Setting Session for the end of the month. I have been pushing to spend time at the meeting to go over our financial plans for the next couple years to make sure the Council understands our fiscal predicament and to lay out policy decisions on how we will spend our dwindling resources. This would be just one of the topics we discuss and other items and goals the Council wants to discuss would be given the same amount of time as they always do. Generally each Council Member brings a list of items they want the Council to consider.

Council Member Larson went off for what seemed like ten minutes about all the things the City should be doing - this would be fine except for the fact these items are already being worked on. 80% to 90% of the items she raised are transportation issues which are being addressed in our Multi-model plan which she saw at Planning Commission - which she sits on - as well as at Council.

I was surprised she thought the City Taxpayer should start securing private right of way for a fictional 5/65 overpass which could cost the City hundreds of thousands of dollars for a state project. If the Council should ever think of doing that it might be the first time a City on its own accord did this for a state highway project that is not even on the state's funded 20 year plan. This is just one example of her desire to spend money we simply do not have. It would be nice instead of subsidizing the State's highway construction fund - the State might actually pay the City of Isanti the hundreds of thousands of dollars it owes us.

Other items such as rail industrial development is being worked on by the EDA which if she read the EDA minutes all Council Members receive she would know that. The hotel and Senior housing are also being worked on and recent meetings have been held on both topics as has been discussed by those committees responsible. She said the City should work more with the Chamber of Commerce... again just a few minutes earlier I reestablished the Chamber Liaison position. This position is a key link between the City and Chamber. I am also giving the State of the City at the Chamber's February luncheon meeting. The Council will also get a full review and assessment of our City's economic planning when the new Economic Director is hired per the plan the full Council has discussed.

These were just some of the items she raised which again would be fine but they are all being addressed. I do not know if she is planning to run for Mayor again or what the motivation is but it just seemed a bit silly.... I would say grandstanding but that comment has been over used of late.

An Exciting New Year

We have our first Council meeting of the year tonight. We have great challenges but I am so excited to meet them... We will face each issue and come through stronger as a City. The State of Minnesota has failed us in so many ways but we shall not fail in our duty to provide the safety, services and structure our Citizens and Taxpayers deserve. I will give a full accounting in my State of the City address which will be presented to the Isanti Chamber of Commerce February 17th.

A William Shedd quote comes to mind ~ “A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.”

County Truth & Taxation Meeting

The Isanti County Truth & Taxation meeting will be Monday, December 21 at 6:00 pm at the courthouse in Cambridge. At the preliminary budget meeting, the Board approved a 2% increase in 2010 property taxes on a 3-1 vote with Duff opposing and Morris not present at the vote (she later said she supported the majority opinion of a 2% increase). If you want to voice your opinion on the county budget, this is your last chance to be heard.