Alternative Transportation Day

Alexander And Abigail helping out

Riders at the Isanti Rest Stop

Wagon train moving through Isanti

Best of both worlds

Today in Isanti ended up being alternative transportation day. We had Rum River Classic and the wagon train fund raiser. The wagon train helps raise funds to send handicapped children to camp.

Great morning in Isanti, two events that help raise money for our greater community.

Governor's Deer Hunting Opener

Governor's deer hunting opener will be in Isanti this fall. The incredible Spectacular Events will be hosting a key event in the process. The area Chambers of commerce and the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association.


http://isanticountynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4101&Itemid=1

August 19th Council Agenda

Here is the link to the Council Agenda for August 19th.

http://www.cityofisanti.us/Trudi/08-19-08-CC%20agn.pdf

We will be honoring John Bettendorf for his recent accomplishment, discussing the 3rd Ave improvement by the soccer fields and pulling about half a dozen letters of credit to finish and or correct numerous Iverson infrastructure issues.

Rum River Classic

August 16, 2008 - Rum River Bicycle Classic

The fantastic Rum River Classic is on tap for Saturday August 16th. The following link gives all the details. I will be operating the Isanti rest stop with Carla Vita and the Isanti Ambassadors. Should be another great weather for all the riders.

http://www.mntrails.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=1292&TM=50472

Council Audio

We now have the Council Audio on the City website. You may listen directly or download the audio.

http://www.cityofisanti.us/govern_citycouncil_audio.php

Ms. Larson's Nonsense

I have read the letter to the editor and Ms. Larson's nonsense response. I was disappointed that the County News did not seem to follow their own policy. I was not mentioned in the original letter to the editor but Ms. Larson brought me up in a derisive tone and I was not afforded the same opportunity she was given to respond. If I respond now Ms Larson will be given another chance at free space to have the last word.

Thankfully her response was filled with a mindless mush of inaccuracy. The Campaigning Couple of Johnson and Larson are but echoes of a bygone era. As echoes fade with time so does the influence of these 2.

I found some of her statements quite revealing. Her first "fact" about conflict of interest was amusing because of her campaign companion. I had challenged Mr. Johnson in years past about his conflict of interest of voting for Mr. Iverson's development projects when he had been working for Mr. Iverson. Ms. Larson did not support my challenge at that time. I hope she will in the future.

Ms. Larson's next statement about how the property taxes are eventually paid is at best incomplete and worst naive. The taxes do eventually get paid but not by the original developer. They are paid by whomever picks up the mess that has been left. The City also has to deal with what could be years of non-paid taxes leading to fewer services or if Ms. Larson had her way higher taxes on the rest of us who actually pay taxes, unlike her developer friend.

I was surprised that Ms. Larson brought up developer fees since she was one of the main reason residential development fees had been so low for so long. These fees are mandated by the state. Ms. Larson's statement makes it appear as if the developer is like Santa Claus handing out gifts from the goodness of his heart on Christmas morning.

The "fact" that developer fees were so low for so long only enriched the developers at the cost of the City. It took an independent audit - which cost us as well - of our fees to finally prove the point I had been making for years that residential development fees were far to low. Some of the lowest in the entire region.

So why should a resident of Isanti care - because we end up paying for it. A classic example is our water treatment plant. The "fact" that developer fees were so low for so long has led to inadequate fund balances for infrastructure improvements needed due to the rapid residential growth. So instead of the developer paying for the needed infrastructure, you and I have to pay high water rates to fund the water treatment plant.

This is only one example of how wrong Ms. Larson is. Another quick example is the hundreds, if not thousands, of hours spent by City staff on our tax payers dime to deal with all the failings of the rapid residential growth we experienced in Isanti.

I was also surprised that Ms. Larson seems to look at the Mayor's position as nothing more than a traffic cop at council meetings. Perhaps this is all she intends to do - but why does she want the position so bad if she thinks so little of it? She is right that a Mayor needs a good Council to get an agenda approved and acted on. Thankfully CMs Duff and Kolb were there to give us the 3-2 margin of victory for our first ever spending and tax cuts in recent Isanti history. Larson and Johnson tried hard to block it but to no avail. When I proposed Long Term Financial Planning, Development fees that cover the cost of development, Development Impact List and spending/tax cuts before becoming Mayor they were rejected by the previous Mayor, Johnson and Larson. Who we elect matters, especially in the Mayor's position.

Council Member Larson’s own 2006 Council re-election campaign material stated and I quote “We need to be realistic and understand that in order for our city to continue to be increasingly viable and economically sound that taxes will need to increase”. She has not been so transparent in this campaign but her voting record speaks volumes.

Just one more quick note, we should not forget the hundreds that were hurt tremendously last year by a slew of liens placed on individual family homes because Mr. Iverson did not pay his contractors for much of the work he was obligated to do per his agreements with the City. The City has been dragged into this as well since the contractor is now demanding the City pay Mr. Iverson's unpaid bills. More staff and City Attorney's time wasted....guess who is paying for that.

The consequences of Ms. Larson's votes and policies have caused devastation far and wide. Lets not fall for it again.

Council Poll Results

First, this is in no way a scientific poll and their were multiple votes but it was fun to watch the results come in. Here are the votes:

Ross Lorinser ------90-----36%
Jim Kennedy -------79-----31%

Jeff Kolb -----------66-----26%
Steve Rask ---------13-----5%
John Booth---------4-------2%

Poll Change

Two more days left for Council Poll. I will then place a poll for County Commissioner.

Campaign Update

My second day on the campaign trail was tremendous. The response has been overwhelming and I will continue to go neighborhood to neighborhood. I would have preferred to start door knocking several weeks ago but family obligation prevented that. It has actually really worked out well as I hear about the traveling circus of Johnson and Larson trying team up on me in their couples door knocking.

Ms. Larson's Record

http://georgewimmer.blogspot.com/2008/07/cm-larson-is-running-for-mayor.html

My Record

http://www.georgewimmer.com/record.html

I found it interesting that Johnson has a large sign on Highway 65 on Iverson foreclosed property - this just days after Larson and Johnson voted to continue to protect Iverson and his bank from the City pulling their letter of credit so we can repair the failing infrastructure Iverson is responsible for.

To volunteer

http://www.georgewimmer.com/volunteer.html

To be added to the confidential email update list email me at george@georgewimmer.com

Wake-up Call

As the residents of Isanti can see by the couple signs, there is still support for the combo platter of Larson and Johnson. They will work very hard and we have many new residents that do not know of their past decisions or actions. I need everyone helping and working if we are to overcome their tactics.

Door Knocking

Tonight was my first night door knocking and it was great. The response and support was tremendous. I will be making my way through each neighborhood and making my case for the coming November election. We have gone through all of our new signs and are having to recycle our signs from the past election. We will if necessary purchase more signs as needed. It is a great show of support to see our signs populating the City, this will only grow as we start actively campaigning.

Mayor's Great Yard Award for July

Yes we will work on holding up the awards next time.....

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Landmark funded 1st prize for $100

Isanti Hardware Hank funded 2nd place for $50

Northland Landscaping funded 3rd place for $25

Thank you to all the sponsors for helping us celebrate wonderful yards in Isanti.

Water Treatment Plant Ground Breaking

Isanti County Incomes

I thought it would be good to show where Isanti County is with average incomes. Minnesota incomes grew an average 5.6% and Isanti County grew at 3.1%. To put in another way 83% of all Minnesota Counties had faster average personal income growth. It looks worse when you adjust for inflation. The State is at 1.3% and Isanti County is at .01% "real" income growth when adjusted for inflation.

We are well into the budgeting process and as we have to deal with higher gas, insurance, employee and other, cost we need to realize our Taxpayers have no more money to give. We can not tax our way out of this - simply put we must continue to cut cost as we did last year.

Facts are stubborn things.

August 6th Council Meeting Update

I wanted to follow-up on 3 items from last nights meeting.

The first item was the nuisance abatement of 459 3rd Ave NW. This is a property that has piles of garbage auto parts and numerous cars strewn all over the place. We have been working with the property owner since last October and had 9 visits/ letters to try to get this resolved. The property owner was quite adamant about his position but we could not allow such violations to continue. The Council voted to remove all the violations and then bill the owner. If the owner does not pay this charge then it will be assessed to his property taxes.

The next main item was regarding the many unfinished Iverson projects and his multiple Minnesota Pollution Control Agency violations. The City is in the process of pulling the numerous letters of credit - these are guarantees from banks that if a developer does not complete their municipal improvements the City can demand the bank provide the funding - to complete or correct projects that Mr. Iverson has failed to complete as part of his development agreements. These include roads, trails, holding ponds and so on.

The City has to complete these projects which include the business frontage road east of 65 so further economic development may occur, repairing the trail along 5 that is falling apart and numerous other Minnesota Pollution Control Agency items. We had a bit of debate as the bank holding the funds does not want to release the money. The bank wanted another 30 days for Mr. Iverson to complete the projects but as we discussed at the Council meeting last night there have been numerous broken promises to complete projects in the past.

The developer or the bank has till August 11th to complete before the City pulls this particular letter of credit to complete the issues for Villages on the Rum 3rd Addition. Unfortunately it was a 3-2 vote to pull the letter of credit. CM Duff, Kolb and I voted to pull the letter of credit to repair the crumbling infrastructure and CM Johnson and Larson voted to give Mr. Iverson and his bank more time.

The last item is the Council has approved putting our meeting audio on the City website for all to hear. This is a great step forward in adding to the transparency of our City government. I will inform you when the meeting audio is up and running.

Stolen and Damaged Signs

Its sad that signs are already being stolen. Please report anyone you see stealing or damaging anyone's signs. It is illegal and can not be allowed to stand. Trying to silence political speech is so desperate. A lawn sign may not seem like a big deal but it is the property owner expressing their support and the candidate's financial investment in getting out their message.

Some of this is random kids being kids but unfortunately it has been my experience that it is also politically motivated. We have 3 more months of campaigning ---

August 6th 2008 Agenda

AGENDA
CITY OF ISANTI
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2008 – 7:00 p.m.
CITY HALL

A. Call to Order
B. Pledge of Allegiance
C. Roll Call
D. Adopt Agenda

E. Proclamations/Commendations/Certificate Awards
1. Mayor’s Presentation of Great Yard Awards for the Month of July

F. Approve City Council Minutes
July 15, 2008 – Regular and Closed Meeting
July 29, 2008 – Special Budget Meeting

G. Citizens Input

H. Announcements
1. Planning Commission Meeting Tuesday, August 12, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
2. Rum River Classic Saturday, August 16, 2008
3. Special City Council Budget Meeting Tuesday, August 19, 2008 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
4. City Council Meeting Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
5. Park & Recreation Board Meeting Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.
6. EDA Meeting Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

I. Council Committee Reports


J. Public Hearings

1. Nuisance Abatement – 459 3rd Avenue NW
a. Resolution Approving Nuisance Abatement
(CSO Officer Steve Wacha)


K. Business Items

1. Isanti Area Chamber of Commerce Isanti Fall Fest
(Jan Peterson)

Community Development Director Carla Vita

2. Resolution Authorizing the Purchase and Placement of Signs for Bluebird Park



Police Chief Ron Sager

3. Resolution Authorizing Traffic Control Device Procurement and Installation
4. Resolution Approving Joint Powers Agreement and Authorize Police Officers to Work the Republican National Convention


Finance Director Rita Pierce

5. Reimbursement Resolutions:
a. 2008 Street & Utility Improvement Project
b. Water Treatment Facility Project

City Administrator Don Lorsung

6. Resolution Relating to Aluna Proposal for Web Audio
7. Villages on the Rum 3rd Addition
a. Extending Call Date of Letter of Credit
b. 3rd Avenue Improvement

More Ground Breakings

We will have our Ground Breaking for the Water Treatment Plant Wednesday at 5pm. This as we have discussed numerous times is a great benefit for Isanti.

We will have the Ground Breaking for Isanti Retail Meats in downtown in the next week as well. We have so many important projects that continue to steam ahead along with Ever Cat Fuels. We are quickly moving Isanti forward into a brighter future. Each of these projects are a tremendous success and will make our community safer and economically stronger.

Owls coming to Town

Pictures courtesy of ESP1000/Russ Eastburn Photographer

The ground breaking for the Civic Arena expansion was a lot of fun tonight. Representatives from the Minnesota Owls, http://www.minnesotaowls.com/, were well represented along with members of the Arena Board, EnComm - building contractor-, our Ambassodors and Council Member Kolb. The Isanti Civic Arena will be the home ice for the Minnesota Owls, a Minnesota Junior Hockey Team. The Owls will be a great asset to to our Community and I am proud to welcome them to Isanti.

Sign Placement

We have placed about 35% of the current requested signs and will be working to get the rest placed Friday. I appreciate all the request for signs and look forward to more coming in. I want to thank all those that have requested signs and those that have helped work to get sign locations. This helps beyond measure as we continue to move our issues forward.