The City and the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) live by an agreement called The Final Agreement that regulates the operations of Flying Cloud Airport. One of the more important provisions of the Final Agreement for the residents of my fair city is the provision that sets out the voluntary noise mitigation program. The program is [...]
Category Archives: Intergovernment
Recognizing Successful Progress
February 9, 2010 – 2:10 pm
It’s not uncommon for us to hear some form of the following “observation/allegation” each year when property owners receive their annual property tax statements:
“I know a guy who knows a guy who has a house in Woodbury (or Burnsville or Bloomington or Shoreview, etc.) with the exact same valuation as my house here in Eden [...]
Friday Report for January 15, 2010
January 15, 2010 – 9:25 am
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER Friday Report
DATE: January 15, 2010
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Scott H. Neal, City Manager
RE: Friday Report for January 15, 2010
1. MLC Regional Breakfast Meeting – The annual Municipal Legislative Commission breakfast meeting for west metro cities will be held on Friday, January 22 7:30 – 9 am. If you wish [...]
Sooner Than We Think?
January 14, 2010 – 9:11 am
Who would have thought that when former Gov. Jesse Ventura began his term as our Governor on January 8, 1999, that we would be riding a new light rail train connecting downtown Minneapolis to the Mall of America just five years later?
OK, five and half years later. The Hiawatha line opened for business on June [...]
Off and Running in a New Year
January 6, 2010 – 3:54 pm
The City Council held its annual organizational meeting last night. The annual organizational meeting is typically a quick one, and last night’s meeting was no exception – 35 minutes. The Council uses its organizational meeting to make a number of decisions that are somewhat, but completely, perfunctory. For example, the Council adopts a policy that [...]
Economic Review and Preview
January 5, 2010 – 2:06 pm
I am a member of the Eden Prairie A.M. Rotary Club. Each week we gather together on Tuesday mornings for breakfast and a program. This morning’s program was an economist from a Twin Cities investment adviser who gave us his view of what’s in store for the economy in 2010. Next week, we will hear [...]
Un-Unallotment
January 4, 2010 – 11:15 am
Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearin gave Governor Tim Pawlenty an unexpected and unappreciated surprise last week when she declared that his decision to unallot budgeted funds from a particular state government food program was unconstitutional. You can read more about the decision in this link from the Star Tribune: Judge Rules Against Pawlenty [...]
Water, water everywhere? No. It’s not.
December 14, 2009 – 3:56 pm
There is an interesting op ed article (at least I think it’s op ed) in today’s Star Tribune business section about water. Read it at this link: Water, water everywhere? Not anymore. The title of the article is a paraphrasing of the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The relevant lines [...]
Friday Report for December 11, 2009
December 11, 2009 – 1:01 pm
For today’s post, here’s my December 11, 2009 Friday Report to the City Council.
Enjoy!
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OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER½Friday Report
DATE: December 11, 2009
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Scott H. Neal, City Manager
RE: Friday Report for December 11, 2009
1. Brief Special Council Meeting – We have a number of liquor license renewals that have come in since [...]
Are Cities Like Lehman Brothers or AIG?
December 1, 2009 – 11:26 am
This is the provocative title of an article from Miller-McCune magazine. Are cities like Lehman Brothers or AIG?
The short answer should not surprise you: No. Cities are not like Lehman Brothers or AIG, or any other private sector business – no matter how bureaucratic they might be. When Lehman Brothers and AIG hit the skids, [...]
Preparing for the Pandemic
November 5, 2009 – 7:58 am
What would city government in Eden Prairie be like if 1/3 of our staff were sick with the flu, another 1/3 were home taking care of a family member sick with the flu, and another 1/3 were well and able to work? What would we do? What services would we continue to provide at their [...]
Mall’s Tax Appeal Backfires
October 29, 2009 – 8:12 am
There was an important story in yesterday’s Star Tribune written by Susan Feyder titled “Malls tax appeal backfires.” If you’ve got a couple of minutes, read it. It tells a rare story. The first line of Ms. Feyder’s story really says it all: “Maybe it would have been better to just leave well enough alone.” [...]
Meeting The Metropolitan Council
September 30, 2009 – 6:52 am
Like any city manager, meetings are a big part of my job. Some of them I run. Some of them I participate in. And at some of them I sit quietly, listen and take notes. I went to one of the sit quietly, listen and take notes meetings yesterday. It was in the City Council [...]
City Endorses SWLRT Route 3A
September 16, 2009 – 7:08 am
The City Council met last night. It was a short agenda. Among the actions from last night’s meeting, the Council approved a resolution that endorsed proposed Route 3A for the proposed Southwest Light Rail Transitway. The Council previously endorsed Route 3A in 2002 and again in 2006, so this action is no surprise. But it [...]
The Rest of the Story
September 11, 2009 – 12:45 pm
There was a good story in yesterday’s Star Tribune about an erosion problem along the north bank of the Minnesota River along our City’s southern border. Here’s a link to the story: “Help enlisted to diagnose erosion along riverbank.”
It’s a good title. The City and the Lower Minnesota River Watershed District have joined together to [...]
