May is Senior Awareness Month in Eden Prairie, as so declared by the Eden Prairie City Council. The Council has recognized Senior Awareness Month every year since 1993. It’s a good idea for every city to take stock of the importance of their senior population, at least for one month during the year. I think it’s especially important for a relatively young city like Eden Prairie because our population is “graying” relatively faster than other cities. Our demographics are becoming more similar to our neighbors, and more similar to most cities in America.

Our Senior Center staff has planned a month full of special activities at the Senior Center for Senior Awareness Month. I popped over there yesterday for their Lunch and Learn presentation on our Police K9 unit delivered by one of our two K9 Officers Jess Irmiter. That’s Officer Irmiter in the photos above with his dog Brix.

Officer Irmiter did a wonderful job of explaining the many aspects of a Police K9 unit, along with all the interesting information about how police dogs are trained and managed. He is a very good speaker. He connected well with his audience and delivered an interesting and informative presentation.

I always enjoy the opportunity to attend community events and presentations where City staff are representing the City so well. Officer Irmiter really delivered on that yesterday. Nice job Jess!

The State Auditor conducts an annual review of the profitability of municipal liquor stores each year. They do this as part of their “watch-dog” role over local governments. They want citizens to know if their local municipal liquor stores are losing money or are creating a drain on local property taxes, instead of creating additional revenue for their owners.

I’ve copied in an article from today’s Star Tribune about that annual study. There are several municipal liquor stores that are losing money. In Eden Prairie, however, our municipal liquor store operation was rated #1 in the state in terms of net profit in 2006 - the latest year for which the state has complete data. Our Return on Investment (ROI) in 2006 was 10.47%. In 2005 it was 10.42%. In 2007 it was 10.5%. We’re looking forward to a healthy 2008.

Liquor profits in Eden Prairie go right back into the community via our Capital Improvements Program. The money goes for such things as parks, sidewalks, trails, streets and other public improvements that we would otherwise have to tax our citizens for, or just not do.

Here’s the article. Congratulations to our fine staff who run a first class operation!

Municipal liquor stores made $20 million in 2006

According to a state auditor’s report, 44 cities that operate municipal liquor operations across the state lost money in 2006, including four communities in the metro area - Robbinsdale, Mound, Shorewood and Farmington.

THE LATEST: Minnesota cities that operate municipal liquor stores collectively had record sales for the 11th consecutive year and turned a net profit of $20 million in 2006, according to a report recently released by the state auditor’s office.

People generally don’t think much about the lowly fire hydrant. It’s just there. Quiet. Unobtrusive. Residents don’t really need it, until they really need it.

Fire hydrants are important. They are equally important to the Water Utility side of our business as they are to the Fire Suppression side, but most people don’t really think about that too often.

Fire hydrants have been making the news in other parts of the country recently - because people are stealing them. It’s unbelievable. Read on………………..

California Metal Thieves Target Fire Hydrants

Posted: 03-26-2008

Updated: 03-27-2008 10:07:50 AM

BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA
Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.

HESPERIA — Fire hydrants are the newest target for Victor Valley scrap metal thieves.

Thieves are getting about $4 to $6 for the hydrant parts, though it costs $125 plus the cost of labor to replace the part, said Scott Weldy of the Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company.

The hydrants are owned by the water companies.

“We have had more than 100 calls of brass caps and even the brass threading being stolen from fire hydrants in the last six months, making the hydrants inoperable,” said Deputy Dan Rodriguez of the San Bernardino County sheriff’s Hesperia station.

The scrap metal, he said, ends up in recycling centers.

In February, Rodriguez began to send out compliance packages to Hesperia recycling centers and gave them 30 days to become compliant with various state and city codes including gathering information from their customers. They are expected to be in compliance by April.

“We want to help quell this problem anyway we can,” said Jed Holley, general manager of A-1 Recycling in Hesperia. “Especially in the cases of the hydrants, this is not just a theft issue but a safety issue.”

Hesperia recyclers can face a variety of penalties ranging from misdemeanors to felony charges that can include incarceration if they are found not to be in compliance or if it is discovered that they knowingly took in stolen property, Rodriguez said.

Thieves have hit Apple Valley hydrants about 50 to 75 times and Victorville has seen approximately 200 thefts in the past six months, according to city and fire officials.

“There are obviously recycling centers who are still taking in items that have been stolen,” said Sylvia Lewinson, office manager for Ecology in Hesperia, which also manages American Best in Victorville.

Any salvage yard found to be in possession of any fire department equipment will be criminally charged, said Yvonne Hester, spokesperson for the city of Victorville.

While there have been no reports of public safety being compromised because of the thefts, the potential is enormous, said Art Bishop, deputy chief of the Apple Valley Fire District.

Many High Desert recycling centers have already been working with sheriff’s stations providing customer information.

“We have had deputies from all over the High Desert ask us for help — one even comes from Barstow,” Lewinson said.

When a recycler sees the same person bring in a lot of scrap metal or coils of copper wire, that really should raise a red flag, Rodriguez said. The type of scrap metal a person brings up should also be a warning.

Scrap metal stolen from High Desert cities does not necessarily get recycled locally, Rodriguez said.

“Many of these people know that we do thorough checks and work with the police and will just go down the hill,” Lewinson said.

In an effort to assist law enforcement, Holley started the High Desert Recycling Association. Among other issues, it discusses new ways to help identify scrap metal thieves. Currently, the association has four members and hopes to add more from Barstow.

According to the Hesperia crackdown, those who try to sell scrap metal will also be required to obtain a business license. If they sell to area recyclers more than twice in a 12-month period, they will also be required to get a seller’s permit.

This does not affect those recycling California redemption value items such as aluminum cans or plastic bottles.

For more information about the new requirements for recycling customers, call 947-1500.

Recycling centers who wish to join the HDRA can call 947-5522.

To see more of the Daily Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.vvdailypress.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Daily Press, Victorville, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Yes, it’s that time of year again. It’s pothole season. With the freeze and thaw and freeze and thaw cycle in full gear right now, we will begin to start seeing our old driving nemesis more often - the pothole.

We have a new feature for our residents to assist us this year in fighting potholes. We have installed a new link at the City’s website - www.edenprairie.org - that will allow residents to report potholes directly to our Street Division office. The link will lead you to an e-form. Use the e-form to give us a location description of the pothole. We would also like to know who is reporting the pothole so that we can follow-up with you, if we need to. There is also a link to report potholes on state highways. We don’t fix those potholes, but we will make sure they know about them.

It sounds like we will get a ton of heavy wet snow today, but it will likely be melted by tomorrow. Lots of moisture and temperatures fluctuating between 20 and 40 F are ripe conditions for potholes. We’d appreciate your help in attacking this annual nuisances as they grow.

Are you a wine connoisseur, or would you like to be? If your answer is “yes”, you might enjoy a membership in our new Wine Club. We rolled out the Wine Club at our spring wine tasting event earlier this month. You can buy a Wine Club membership at any of our three municipal liquor stores.

Members of the Wine Club get a 15% discount on all wine purchases from our liquor stores and free admission at our community wine tasting events. Members will also receive invitations to our events and special members-only discount opportunities.

$25.00. That’s it. That’s the price of the Wine Club membership. All of that for $25.00 for the year.

We’re selling a lot of these right now. Please join us.

I composed (with the very able editing of Communication Manager Joyce Lorenz and Public Works Director Gene Dietz) a commentary piece about water production and consumption for Eden Prairie’s two local newspapers last week. It got into the Eden Prairie News last week and will hopefully make the Eden Prairie Sun Current this week. Here’s the courtesy copy for the blog. Enjoy.

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While a public water utility is a complex business operation, the operating concept is not. The city pumps water out of the ground to a central water treatment plant where it is treated with chemicals to soften it and make it safe for human consumption. The treated water is then pumped to a storage tank or water tower where it waits to be distributed via a system of underground pipes.

Our water utility is financed by the customers of our system through user fees. Property taxes do not support our water utility operations. It’s an important distinction from other cities that cross-subsidize their water utility systems with tax dollars. These cities can get into financial trouble when taxpayers figure out they are paying more taxes than necessary in order to subsidize water customers who are paying lower water rates than they ought to, or vice-versa.

Some may wonder about the rationale the city uses to charge its customers for the water they consume. Why does the unit price for water go up as the amount consumed increases? What’s wrong with selling people as much water as they are willing to buy?

Water is unlike other commodities like gasoline, diamonds and wheat that are produced and sold in a private market. For a good to be produced and sold in a private market, consumers must have the option to buy it or not to buy it. Eden Prairie property owners do not have an option to buy our water. For public health reasons, the city mandates that every occupied building must have water. It’s the law.

Because water is a mandatory good, its price cannot be left to the marketplace, which would set prices at the intersection of supply and demand. Water rates are set by our City Council to finance the annual operations and the current/future capital needs of the water utility. There are no profits to be generated. No dividends to be paid.

The city cannot pump, treat and distribute an unlimited amount of water, regardless of customers’ desires. Three key parameters control how much water the city is able to produce and sell: natural, mechanical and regulatory.

The natural parameter is easy to understand. If there isn’t water in our 15 wells, we can’t pump it out of the ground. During the past three summers, we’ve seen well levels drop so much that we will have to reconstruct at least two of them to reach deeper into the ground for water. Minnesota is blessed with good water supplies - relative to other parts of the country - but water is not an unlimited resource.

The mechanical parameter refers to the capacity of our water treatment plant, wells, water towers and piping system. When operating at 100 percent of capacity, it can produce 22,500,000 gallons in a 24-hour period. To reach 100 percent production, we must operate every mechanical function at its full capacity, which stresses our production equipment (and staff) and creates a greater potential for mechanical failures, jeopardizing personal and emergency water use.

The final parameter is regulatory. The city is granted an allocation by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The permit restricts the amount of water we are allowed to “draw” out of the earth on an annual basis. The city’s current permit is 3.45 billion gallons per year. In 2007 we actually pumped 3.56 billion gallons - in violation of our permit. We will continue to seek an addition to our allocation, but we must demonstrate to the DNR that we have a legitimate need to take more water from the reservoir we share with many other metro-area cities.

We know that the winter time average daily water consumption for Eden Prairie is about 6,000,000 gallons. During the growing season the daily consumption regularly rises to the mechanical maximum of 22,500,000 gallons per day - entirely attributable to outdoor watering.

To secure approval from the DNR for new wells cities must demonstrate that they are serious about water conservation. One requirement is to adopt and enforce a water conservation program, which charges user fees that discourage excessive water consumption through a progressive rate structure. We also reduce consumption with an odd/even watering system and a total ban from noon to 5 p.m. daily. House File No. 3238, currently proposed at the Legislature, would mandate that all water suppliers serving more than 1,000 customers have a “conservation rate structure” like ours.

It’s challenging to manage a city service which we know does not meet the desires of many of our customers. But first the city must manage its resources in a manner that is consistent with federal and state law, in the best interest of taxpayers and especially to meet priority needs for our water - household, commercial/industrial and fire protection. We must be good stewards of our natural resources and environment.

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Erin go Bragh!

The second phase of the new Eden Prairie Community Center opened on Saturday, March 1. The major component to open on Saturday was the new front door. The new front door opened at 5:30 am, and shortly after that the building was full for most of the day with residents, visitors and youth hockey players and their families & fans. I don’t really want to call it a “grand opening” because we have picked out a beautiful Saturday in May for the Grand Opening, but it was an important milestone. We will be able to provide much better service to our residents and customers through our front door, and much better parking options as well.

I have added a number of photographs that I took on Monday when I took my first walk through the front door. I want to encourage everyone in Eden Prairie to come see the Community Center. It’s fantastic now, and it will get better between now and May. Come see it, soon.

There was a very nice article in the Star Tribune on February 5 written by Laurie Blake titled “Eden Prairie may get arts center.” I thought she captured the story well. I was glad that she went into a bit of detail on Roger Sampson. I’m sure people will be interested in the man whose gifts in life created what may be a very nice final gift to our citizens.

Also, thank you Laurie for a nice winter photo of the Sampson building.

Parks & Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer and I met with the City’s Arts & Culture Commission last week to outline the assignment given to them by the City Council: research how to effectively operate a community arts center and make a recommendation back to the Council in 60 days. The commissioners were excited to receive the assignment. They are off and running. They will meet almost weekly between now and the end of March to work on this assignment. They are scheduled to make their final recommendation to the City Council at the April 15 Council meeting.

A group of 14 City employees from our Police Department, Fire Department and IT Division have been spending a lot of time lately in a series of demonstrations by vendors of public safety software packages. Over the past three weeks, the group dedicated a day (yes, an entire day) to four different vendors in order to begin understanding the software packages that are available in the market right now. The information the group gathered from these four demos will be used to create a Request For Proposals (RFP) that will be released later this month. We are planning to receive and evaluate proposals in March and April. We will submit the recommended proposal to the City Council for approval in May.

The software we’re purchasing is the key link connecting you to the City’s public safety services. It will be the root of our 911 dispatching system, our public safety radio and mobile computer communications network, and our public safety records systems. Our current system is reaching the end of its useful life. The new system was authorized by the Council during the 2008-2009 budget process. We are estimating that it may cost over $1,000,000 so it’s very important to be very sure we know what we need and to negotiate a good deal with the preferred vendor.

In order to be very sure we know what we need, we are dedicating staff resources to study the issue. We’re talking to police officers, 911 dispatchers, police records technicians, IT support techs, and fire fighters. We need to hear their ideas and concerns to be able to translate them into software features and functionality. The “translation” stage is where everything is right now.

If we do this right, the transition from the old system to the new system will be seamless. You won’t notice a thing. That’s what I’m hoping for.

Tomorrow (Saturday, January 26) the City is hosting an Open House event at the Community Center. The Open House starts at 8:00 am and warps up around Noon. You will be able to tour the new fitness center, which is up and operational right now, and get a preview of the rest of the facility. Also, if you’re interested, you can enjoy open skating tomorrow at the Community Center from 1:30-3:30 pm for just $1.00.

So if you haven’t seen the new fitness center yet, or caught a glimpse of what the Community Center is turning into, check it out. We’re very proud of it.

At our 2008 State of the City event last night Mayor Phil Young made a very special announcement. The owners of this building, the Sampson family, have offered to give the building and land to the City for use as a community arts center.

The building is located at 7650 Equitable Drive. The building was built in the mid 1990’s by Mr. Roger Sampson. Mr. Sampson was a successful businessman who built the building as a place to create art. Mr. Sampson passed away a short time ago. His wife and his children wish to donate the building to the City so that it can be an arts center for the community like it was for their family.

This is a very exciting development for Eden Prairie. An arts center has been a community amenity that Eden Prairie city leaders have been wanting for many years. I think the time for an Eden Prairie Arts Center may be here. The City Council will talk more about this development at their January 22 Council meeting to discuss what comes next.

Very exciting!

WCCO did a pretty good story comparing community centers to YMCA’s to private fitness centers in the Twin Cities. The story uses the Eden Prairie Community Center as one of the examples. You can read the text of the story and see the video of the story at this link: WCCO.com

I think our Community Center looks good. Read the story carefully though. If you look at the rates for the Maple Grove Community Center you need to add to their Community Center’s rates the Lifetime Fitness rates in order to get a fair comparison to our Community Center rates. They note that in the story, which I appreciated, but you still need to do your own math.

The Community Center opened its fitness center area on January 2. It is spectacular. Come visit. Come join. You’ll be glad you did!

What is that occasional pink stuff in your toilet, shower, pet’s dish or in your teen aged son’s bathroom sink? It’s most likely a bacteria called Serratia marcescens bacteria.That’s a lab dish full of it in the photo to the left.

Each year, a few customers call the City of

Eden Prairie ’s Water Utility to ask about a slimy pink substance that sometimes forms in moist areas around their homes. They most frequently observe it in toilet bowls, on surfaces in shower stalls and bathtub enclosures, on tiles, in sinks, and in pet water dishes. A red or pink pigmented bacteria known as Serratia marcescens is the most common cause of the pink “stuff”.

Serratia bacteria are common inhabitants of our environment and can be found in many places, including human and animal feces, dust, soil, and in surface waters. The bacteria will grow in any moist location where phosphorous containing materials or fatty substances accumulate. Sources of these substances include soap residues in bathing areas, feces in toilets, soap and food residues in pet water dishes. Many times, the pinkish film appears during and after new construction or remodeling activities. Others have indicated the pink “stuff” occurs during a time of year that their windows are open for the majority of the day.

These airborne bacteria can come from any number of naturally occurring sources, and the condition can be further aggravated if customers remove the chlorine from their water by way of an activated carbon filter. In recent years, the popularity of home water filtration systems has grown tremendously, and the presence of Serratia has appeared more and more frequently in homes which remove the chlorine disinfection from the water supply. Serratia can also grow in tap water in locations such as toilets in guest bathrooms where the water is left standing long enough for the chlorine residual disinfectant to dissipate. Serratia will not survive in chlorinated drinking water. The public water supply in Eden Prairie contains just enough chlorine to provide safe, disinfected drinking water at your tap, and when left standing in an open container for as little as 30 minutes, our tap water looses its chlorine disinfectant into the atmosphere.

Serratia marsescensis not known to cause any waterborne diseases. Members of the Serratia genus were once known as harmless organisms that produced a characteristic red pigment. More recently, Serratia marcescens has been found to be pathogenic to a very small percentage of people, having been identified as a cause of urinary tract infections, wound infections, and pneumonia in hospital environments.

Once established, the organism usually cannot be eliminated entirely. However, periodic and thorough cleaning of the surfaces where the pink slime occurs, followed by disinfection with chlorine bleach is the best way to control it.

To clean pet water dishes, bathroom and kitchen surfaces

? Scrub the surfaces where phosphorous and fatty substances or the bacteria accumulate with a brush and a household cleanser.

? Then disinfect the surfaces where the slime has formed with a strong chlorine bleach solution.

? Leave the disinfectant solution on the affected surface(s) for 10-20 minutes before thoroughly rinsing away with clean water.

? Use care with abrasives to avoid scratching the fixtures, which will make them even more susceptible to the bacteria.

To control pink “stuff” in toilets

? Clean the bowl thoroughly and spray chlorine bleach into the bowl and under the bowl rim.

? Add carefully ¼ cup of bleach to the toilet tank and stir it up.

? Let the bleach stand for 15-20 minutes.

? After 15-20 minutes, flush the toilet a couple of times to rinse the disinfectant out of the tank and the bowl.

? The bleach should not be left in the toilet tank for prolonged periods; it will damage the rubber valves and seals inside.

? Whenever a pink film starts to reappear, repeat the cleaning and disinfection process.

Cleaning and flushing with chlorine will not eliminate the problem, but will help to control these bacteria. Keep bathtubs and sinks wiped down and dry to avoid this problem. Using a cleaning solution that contains chlorine will help curtail the onset of the bacteria.

If you have any questions about this bacteria, please contact the City of Eden Prairie Water Plant office at (952) 294-8530.

The City of Shorewood is out of the municipal liquor business. In 2007 three of the five members of the Shorewood City Council examined the future of the City’s municipal liquor operations and decided it was not a lucrative enough venture for the City to continue to be involved in. Laurie Blake has a story in today’s Star Tribune. You can see the story by clicking on this link: “Municipal liquor sales: No business for a city?”

The decision about staying in (or getting out of) a municipal liquor operation can be a difficult one. Or, for some, it can be an easy one. Some people believe a City should control the distribution of liquor in a community because they believe it will be more controlled under the non-profit management of a city government than under the for-profit management of a private business owner. Others believe a city should not be engaged in any sort of retails sales operation, liquor included. The middle ground is typically occupied by people who feel it is a bit off target for a city to be in the liquor business, but they like the idea that liquor profits are used, primarily, to fund improvements to public streets, trails, parks, police cars, fire trucks, etc. that would ordinarily be funded by property taxes.

The numbers included in Blake’s story are interesting. The first number is total sales from 2005 and the second is the 2005 net profit from liquor sales in 2005. The source of the data is the State Auditor’s Office:

Metro Area City Sales Net profits

Anoka $3,189,297 $182,058

Apple Valley $6,405,618 $555,748

Brooklyn Center $4,610,091 $182,910

Columbia Heights $6,713,932 $228,532

Eden Prairie $10,023,770 $1,096,673

Edina $10,752,724 $1,003,411

Farmington $3,441,312 $267,924

Fridley $5,283,229 $375,866

Lakeville $11,481,091 $1,149,155

Lexington $2,598,458 $171,981

Mound $2,134,980 $-118,780

Richfield $10,016,562 $619,639

Robbinsdale $2,011,139 $13,652

Rogers $2,851,190 $137,880

Savage $5,749,755 $438,991

Shorewood $2,035,480 $46,792

Spring Lake Park $2,527,828 $25,129

St. Anthony $5,298,404 $269,061

St. Francis $1,717,092 $156,434

Watertown $22,195 -$69,215

Wayzata $3,101,217 $218,624

In 2005, Shorewood sold $2,035,480 in beer, wine and liquor in order to generate $46,792 for the City’s General Fund. That’s a 2.3% profit margin. Eden Prairie, by contrast, had 2005 sales of $10,023,770 and generated $1,096,673 - a profit margin of 11%, one of the highest municipal liquor profit margins in the metro area. Eden Prairie plugs its annual liquor profits right into our Capital Improvement Fund. From there it is distributed by the City Council to pay for many different kinds of public projects, such as road improvements, park improvements, new trail construction and improvements to public buildings and facilities. If the City did not have the annual municipal liquor profits, we would need to tax our property taxpayers for a like amount of revenue; or, reduce the number of road improvements, park improvements, etc. that we try to accomplish on an annual basis. It’s a tough choice.

The tough choice for municipal liquor belongs to the City Council. It takes a simple majority vote of a City Council to give up a City’s municipal liquor operations. And once you’re out, you’re out. Can’t go back again. Because it is a public-driven choice by a community’s elected officials, the City asked Eden Prairie residents in the City’s 2006 Quality of Life Survey what they thought about the City’s municipal liquor operations. Here’s what we asked them:

Do you favor of oppose the City continuing to operate its municipal liquor stores?

84% said they “favor”

9% said they “oppose”

7% said they were “Don’t know/Refused to answer”

The 9% who said they opposed the City’s continued operation of its municipal liquor stores were asked an additional follow-up question that went like this:

Do you still oppose the continued operation of the municipal liquor stores if closing the liquor stores would result in a $1,000,000 loss of revenue for the city?

50% responded they would still oppose the City’s operation of municipal liquor stores, even if it meant a financial loss for the City.

47% changed their minds after hearing the additional information about the loss of revenue if the City got out of its municipal liquor operations.

3% did not answer or did not have an opinion.

Staying in the municipal liquor business is a tough choice, even if the profits are good, and even if those profits go to a benevolent end. It’s one of the areas of city government where elected officials face the dilemma that something that is beneficial for the community may be in conflict with their personal philosophy of life, business or politics. Think being a member of a City Council is easy? Think about the arguments for and against the municipal liquor issue. It can be a tough choice.

Star Tribune reporter Laurie Blake had a very nice article in yesterday’s Star Tribune about Eden Prairie Street Division employee Mike Schmidt. Mike has worked for the City for ten years. He is a bright guy. In addition to his talents in the truck with a plow, which you’ll read about in the story below, he also did a research project for the City earlier this year to study the potential of changing the way we use salt and sand on winter road ice. We’re implementing Mike’s recommendations on a couple of test streets this winter and may expand the new system to our full street system next year.

Here’s Laurie’s story from yesterday’s paper:

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Skilled blader learns ‘to read his truck’

Eden Prairie’s snowplow crew has a champ on the team.

By LAURIE BLAKE, Star Tribune

Last update: December 27, 2007 - 12:28 AM

Minnesota’s Mr. Snow Plow is clearing streets in Eden Prairie this winter.

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Congratulations Mike! We’re glad to have you on our team.