September 16th

Today marks the 3-year anniversary of the Rogers tornado. My thoughts and prayers are with the Wendt family.

Off to DC

On Saturday, 3/14, the City Council (with the exception of Steve Rauenhorst who was unable to go) and City Administrator Stahmer travel to Washington DC in hopes of obtaining additional Federal Stimulus money to fully finance the 101/94 interchange. We are meeting with Oberstar's Chief of Staff and directly with Senator Klobuchar and Congressman Paulsen. Let's hope that we are successful...I'll post recaps of the meetings as soon as I can.

Last Few Meetings

At the past couple of Council meetings, there has been significant discussion on a proposed Respectful Workplace Policy. The policy is more geared toward City employees, but would also apply to elected officials, appointed positions and volunteers. One topic in particular garnered a lot of attention – guns and those individuals who have a permit to conceal/carry. There was a fine line as to when elected officials are “conducting City business”. A conversation at the grocery store about taxes could be construed as “conducting City business”. Or, a hunting trip out west where taxes come up could be construed as “conducting City business”. At least one Council member has a permit to carry and I believe another is in process of obtaining the same permit. I personally enjoy hunting and own several guns. I have no issues with anyone carrying a legally permitted weapon and believe strongly in the 2nd Amendment. Ultimately, the provision related to the elected officials was pulled, and the balance of the policy was approved.

Another item involving considerable discussion is the potential of Federal Stimulus money and the potential upgrade to the 101/94 interchange. On March 16 & 17, the Council is heading to DC to lobby our congressional delegation to get funding for this project. Using rough numbers, the project is in the $16M range. We previously received about $7M in Federal Funding. We are trying to get additional funding to fully fund the project, with no cost to the City. I am optimistic that something good can happen. This is the closest we’ve been…stay tuned. For more information on the alignment, see www.erstarnews.com. Bob Grawey is writing a two-part article on the project.

New Council

I apologize for the delay in getting a new post up, but here it goes…

So far, there have been two meetings with the new council and I have to say I have been pleased with the discussion so far. I was not sure what to expect. There have been a couple of items that there was disagreement. Rather than providing a generic recap of the meeting, I will focus my posts on items where the Council is divided.

First, we discussed giving non-union staff a 3% salary increase. In these economic times, that did not seem right. Every day, it seems another company is cutting jobs. Ultimately, after much discussion we decided on a 4-1 vote (Steve Rauenhorst dissenting) to give staff a 1.5% raise now and then re-look at the economic conditions by no later than June. As a reference, this is the same methodology as Elk River used. Also, one of my co-workers is on Otsego’s City Council and he told me that he thought their staff received a 2.5% raise. Looking back, however, I think I should have agreed with Steve on this one.

The second item was which paper to use as our official newspaper. Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with the content either paper does or does not publish. This designation is only for where we put our legally required notices – public hearings, special meetings, etc. The issue came up to cost versus circulation. The Star News is a free paper distributed throughout ISD 728. It cost us about $2000 more to advertise in this paper versus the Crow River News, which has a circulation of about 700 households in Rogers/Hassan and requires a $38 or so/year subscription. I sited a discussion at a Park Board Meeting, as well as my own personal experiences, with delivery issues of the Star News. Again, after much discussion we decided on a 3-2 voted (Steve Rauenhorst and I dissenting) to go with the Star News. I really could have gone either way on this, but ultimately decided to lessen the financial impact in difficult economic times. I was personally torn, as I campaigned two years ago on improving communication. At the same time, I also vowed to be fiscally responsible. It was really was not an easy decision. Let me know your thoughts – I look forward to the feedback.

Results are in…

Yesterday, the citizens of Rogers elected a new mayor (Jason Grimm) and two new council members (Jay Bunting and Rob Bell). I would like to say congratulations to these three individuals. Your hard work paid off. Speaking from my own experience, enjoy the next few days/few weeks - soak everything in. But, then start thinking about what you've promised to do and how you can achieve those objectives and hit the ground running in January 2009.

I look forward to continuing to work with Mr. Grimm, as well as working with Mr. Bell and Mr. Bunting at a different level. I look forward to having productive discussions at future City Council meetings. I want to be clear - just because I supported these three individuals, I do not expect us to agree on every issue. There have been several items from the planning commission that I have not agreed with that Rob and/or Jay supported. Likewise, I have not always agreed with Jason on every issue facing the City Council over the past 6 years. My hope is that we can have open conversations/dialog and involve the residents, business owners and civic groups to avoid the nasty letter to the editor war that we have seen in recent months.

Two days to go...

With only two days left to the election, I think back to this time two years ago. I know this is a very hectic time for a candidate - thinking all the what ifs - just to name a few:
Should I have ordered more signs?
Should I have knocked on more doors?
Should I have distributed another piece of literature?
Should I have said something different in a flyer?
Should I have not said something?

Speaking from my own experiences, Election Night is a stressful night - waiting for the results to come in is the worst part of it. Once 8pm roles around, you breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that it's over and there is nothing you can do now. But then you have to wait for the votes to be counted and certified. There's nothing like the feeling though of knowing your hard work paid off when you see that checkmark by your name

Now that I am at the half-way point, in the next week or so I intend to review my own pieces of literature to see how I have done against what I've said I would. I'll share my thoughts.

Lastly, there is a change to the polling locations. If you live north of I94, you vote at the Rogers Activity Center (RAC) - the ice arena. If you live couth of I94, you still vote at the Rogers Community Room. See the City's website if you have questions:

http://rogers.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={64CFF0EA-3DF6-4F6E-A885-D0E378F87605}

Make sure you get out and vote and I will offer my thoughts on the results on Wednesday.

Final Endorsements

With one week remaining until the general election, I have decided it is time to endorse candidates in the race for Rogers City Council and Rogers Mayor. My decisions are based on who I want to serve with and where I think the most can be accomplished to benefit the City. None of the candidates formally approached me and asked for an endorsement. These are my opinions only.

City Council
Jay Bunting - I previously wrote a letter supporting Jay. See the link below.
Rob Bell - Along with Jay, Rob is the only other candidate I saw at Council Meetings. I base my decision on my interactions with Rob and Jay as members of the Planning Commission, as well at regularly scheduled Council meetings.

Mayor
If this election would have been 12 months ago, without a doubt I would have been supporting Scott Adams. For about 3 years, Scott and I were in the minority on several issues. In fact, I disagreed with Jason Grimm on a number of these issues during that time.

Overall, on most issues the three of us all agree on how to proceed. However in the past 12 months or so, it seems like there have been a couple of significant issues that I have not seen eye to eye with Scott and agree more with Jason. I am not going to go into any specific issues - they've been covered in the local media and in various letters to the editor(s).

That said I will be supporting Jason Grimm for Mayor.

I refuse to say anything negative about any of the candidates, as to why I am not supporting a particular candidate. There is enough of that at every other level.