The Blog from City Hall

Mayor Tyra-Lukens and I attended the annual organizational meeting today of the Municipal Legislative Commission (MLC). The Mayor is seated in the middle (white shirt) of the photo below. To the right of the Mayor is Mr. John Gunyou, City Manager of Minnetonka. To her left is The Honorable Mary Hammon-Roland, Mayor of Apple Valley.

The MLC is an advocacy organization originally founded by City’s that were effected negatively by the State’s property tax sharing system called the Fiscal Disparities Program. The MLC cities were the net contributors to the program. Some called them the net “losers”. I’m not sure of the original composition of the group, but today it consists of the cities of Plymouth, Minnetonka, Edina, Eden Prairie, Bloomington, Burnsville, Apple Valley, Eagan, Woodbury, Maplewood, and Shoreview.

Today was the annual organizational meeting of the MLC. We elected officers for the upcoming year and appointed committees. I was appointed to the Legislative Program Committee. This committee helps put together the program of legislative initiatives that the MLC staff strives to achieve.

The MLC is administered and staffed by the St. Paul law firm of Messerli & Kramer. Mr. Tom Poul is the chief administrator and organizer of the MLC. His trusty assistant is Ms. Liz Shields Keating. They are ablely assisted by Bill Schrieber and James Clark.

Today’s meeting also included a guest speaker: Mr. Dan McElroy, State Commissioner of Finance. Commissioner McElroy is Governor Pawlenty’s chief budget manager. He spoke to us about what he sees coming for the State’s short term and long term budgets. It was not optimistic, at least in my opinion it wasn’t.

Today’s meeting was held at the new Bloomington Civic Plaza. It is located about a 1/2 mile east of the old Bloomington City Hall on Old Shakopee Road. It was a beautiful building. This is not a great photo, but here’s what it looks like from the east:

Our meeting was hosted today by the Mayor Gene Winsted, who was elected the President of MLC at our meeting today, and Mr. Mark Bernardson, Bloomington City Manager. That’s the Mayor in the center and Mark on the left in the photo below:

I believe the MLC provides the City with an exceptional value. The Messerli & Kramer staff are skilled at legislative advocacy. They are recognized by legislators as being very good at what they do.

We are looking for a short, but potentially tumultuous State Legislative session in 2004. We will be prepared.

Development marches on in “downtown” Eden Prairie. I’ve snapped a few photos of two new projects in the Purgatory Creek Recreation Area-SouthWest Station on Technology Drive. I took these shots from the top of the SouthWest Metro parking garage. It’s quite a view.

Looking West at New Apartment Complex

This photo shows the start of grading for what is planned to be 280 apartments. This area is just west of the SouthWest Station. The units will probably upper-end rental apartments, but we are still working with the developer to see if we can get them to put some affordable-rental units in the project as well. The tall structures on the left side of the photo are the piling machines. The soils in this area are notoriously poor. Concrete pilings must be drilled deep into the earth to allow for the structure security of the future buildings. This step has been necessary for all the buildings in this area.

Looking SE at Future PRCA Park

These two photos show the start of grading for the new Purgatory Creek Recreation Area Park. The top photo shows a view of the park looking over the Pickeled Parrot. The second photo shows the park looking over the future restaurant strip center that is part of the SW Station development. This strip will include such new eateries as Noodles & Company, Caribou Coffee, Chipotle Grill, among others.

But back to the park… The new park development has been in the planning stages for a decade. The City awarded the first major construction contract for the project earlier this spring. The winning bidder was Liberty Construction. The contract is for just $1,800,000.

The new park will include new flower planting areas, new restrooms, several gazebos, benches and paved walking areas, and our first public fountain - courtsey of funding from the Eden Prairie Foundation. When it’s all said and done, it will be our “Central Park”. It will be a great amenity for the employees who work in this area, and for all the citizens of Eden Prairie.

Keep an eye on construction. You will see the PRCA Park really begin to take shape this fall. It will be a fullfledged park by next year.

We are so fortunate in Eden Prairie to be living on the high bluffs of the Minnesota River Valley. Our views of the valley are just stunning, almost year around. Here are a couple views that I got when I pulled my car to the side of the road last week when I was northbound on Flying Cloud Drive, following a great lunch at the Lion’s Tap.

Looking East

Looking South/West with ValleyFair in the Distance

Another View to the South and West

Some of the land in these photos is privately owned, but most of it belongs to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The City owns some of the bluffs from which these photos were taken. The Metropolitan Airports Commission owns a good share of the bluff land as well.

One the larger owners of bluff land is Browning-Ferris Industries, more commonly know as BFI - the old landfill site. Someday man will figure out a way to redevelop that land, and when that happens, there will be a land rush there like we haven’t seen in this country for many years.

And with views like these, it will be a pricey land rush at that.

Maybe.

Earlier this afternoon the City of Eden Prairie and the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce released a joint news release announcing a joint effort to facilitate the development of the new Vikings’ football stadium in Eden Prairie.

Read what the Star Tribune had to say. However, Eden Prairie News gave the story more depth.

No. We do not have the financial solution for this project. At this point, I have not heard of anyone who has the financial solution for this project. But, if we don’t toss our name in the ring sometime, I’m afraid we might miss an opportunity to keep the Vikings in town.

The Vikings are an Eden Prairie company. I believe City officials would be remiss if we did not at least try to keep them in Eden Prairie. That’s what we would do for any other Eden Prairie business.

This is a long, long road. City, County, and State officials must all reach consensus, and then reach consensus with the ownership team of the Vikings, for this effort to ultimately be successful.

We’ll give it a try. We’ll do our best.

Skol Vikings,

The three photos below show what I call “chip & seal” materials on our streets. If you’ve driven around Eden Prairie much, you’ve probably seen a street or two that looks like this:

I get questions every year from citizens about why we do this to our streets. The “chip & seal” process has three steps. First, a sticky oily material is spread over the street. Second, very small rock chips are spread over the oily mixture. And third, you and I drive on this mixture to grind it into the pavement below.

As we drive on our streets, we slowly wear away the top driving surface of the street itself. You might think this surface is hard, but it cars and nature will wear it down. The chipped rock material adds new hard surface to street. The new hard surface adds longer life to the street.

This process is a relatively inexpensive maintenance technique. It is typically applied to streets that are less than ten years old. It is much less expensive than removing and replacing the original asphalt street. We try to do that only when their is a need to repalce the underground utilities under the street or when their is a substantial pavement failure in the street over time. As Eden Prairie ages, we’ll certainly begin to see more of both.

There is a possibility of getting the sticky material on your shoes or your car. If you do, call our Engineering Division Office at 952.949.8300 and they can give you some advice on how to take care of that. This process can also make it look like we are going back to gravel roads in Eden Prairie. I can promise you that we’re not doing that.

Summer road maintenance. We have to do it. This process, while it has a mess associated with it, is really a good idea for our roads and our taxpayers.

This is Jeff Cordes. Jeff works for the City as a Forestry Technician. Jeff’s job is to assess and resolve tree problems in Eden Prairie. Let me tell you, there are a lot of trees in Eden Prairie. In addition to all the trees on public land, Jeff also assesses tree issues on private property that is covered by conservation easements. That covers a huge percentage of land in Eden Prairie.

Jeff is a good guy. Solid employee. He was deployed this week with the 34th Infintry Division to Bosnia to support the U.S. peacekeeping mission there. There was a nice article in the Eden Prairie News about Jeff and his mission.

I had the opportunity to attend an informational event for employers of Reserve soldiers at the 34th’s headquarters in Rosemount about a month ago. Bob Lambert, our Director of Parks & Recreation and Jeff’s direct supervisor, attended the event. We met many of Jeff’s co-workers and supervisors. We learned about their mission.

I came away from that event very impressed with the organization of Jeff’s unit and respectful of their mission. These soldiers are making very significant sacrafices to follow through on the political commitments of our elected officials. This is not an easy mission. I look forward to Jeff’s safe return, and to peace in the Balkans. That is the end result he is seeking as well.

Godspeed, Jeff.

WAFTA is an acronym that stands for the Western Area Fire Training Association. It is an organization of eleven cities in Hennepin and Carver Counties that formed an association in the 1970’s to manage a new training center for their respective volunteer fire departments.

The WAFTA cities are: Mound, Excelsior, Watertown, Mayer, St. Bonny, Long Lake, Victoria, Eden Prairie, Chaska, Chanhassen, and (maybe) Waconia.

The fire training center was a former NIKE missle base granted to WAFTA by the Department of Defense. The feds were decommissioning the base and it seemed like a great reuse for the site.

There was an excellent article in the Sunday, July 13th edition of the Star Tribune about WAFTA.

There is a problem with WAFTA. The site is contaminated. The other problem with WAFTA is that the polluting parties are in various states of willingness and ability to pay for their pro rata share of the clean-up costs at the site.

For example, in addition to the WAFTA cities, Minnegasco and NSP both trained their employees in fire fighting techniques at the WAFTA site. There is som evidence to suggest that they actually trained there more than some of the WAFTA cities.

And it is almost certain that the Department of Defense left the site contaminated when they turned the site over to WAFTA. Some of the contamination at the site could only be traced to the military use of the site.

The WAFTA cities, as the owners of the site, have taken this project on and will provide a drive to complete the clean-up of the site. With this much needed federal appropriation of $250,000, it will be possible to get to the next step of apportioning financial responsibility.

Thank you Congressman John Kline for your help with this appropriation. You have enabled us to take the first step to resolving this issue.

The new Krispy Kreme doughnut store is on the way. The photos below show the status of construction of Krispy Kreme’s new Eden Prairie store on July 9, 2003. The first shot is of the entry into the new SW Metro Transit parking facility. You can see Krispy Kreme under construction to the right of the parking garage sign. The other two photos are of the store under construction.

The new Krispy Kreme store is just one part of the new SW Station development. Drive by on Technology Drive between Prairie Center Drive and Mitchell Road and see the construction going on.

Thanks to the good folks at SW Metro Transit, there is more to come…..

It was exciting Monday to come to work and see the energy and interest generated by the Shriners at the Eden Prairie Center. The Shriners, who are in Minneapolis this week for their annual convention, held their practice and motor skills competitions in the Eden Prairie Center’s parking lot, outside of Mervyn’s.

The annual convention brings Shriners from all over the United States (and maybe the world) together to discuss their programs, services, and future direction. The activities in Eden Prairie focused on one of the Shriners’ more high profile activities - their motor sports operations. There were big cars, little cars, motorcycles, dune buggys, and many other different types of motorized vehicles at the Eden Prairie Center.

I saw Shriners running around the parking lots in formation practicing their routines. That looked a bit odd, but I’m sure it is necessary for their safety. There were lots of interested people watching the drills and routines. It was nice gesture from the Center to host the event.

One of the things that I enjoy most about my job is the opportunities I have to connect with our employees that are actually out there serving the public on the front lines. I spend so much of my time in City Hall, or in meetings somewhere else, that it’s easy to forget that city government is not about meetings, it’s about providing services to the taxpaying public. Whether it’s the guys that mow the parks or fix the water line or put out the fire, it’s always (and I do mean always) a great experience for me to get with these folks and get a feel for what their jobs are like.

This is Officer Steve Velner. I snapped this photo of him last night at about 9:00 p.m. in front of the Eden Prairie Community Center. I did a “ride along” with Officer Velner last night. Among other duties, Officer Velner and I stopped at the Community Center so that he could pick up and deliver their daily cash deposit.

Officer Velner and I cruised the town. We did speed patrol along Highway 212 with the newest laser speed gun. It was very easy to use. I took some speed readings on cars myself! We could not use my readings to pull anyone over because I am not certified or trained in the use of the equipment. But I now see how easy it is to use, and how easy it is to catch a speeding vehicle. We actually pulled over a speeder that Officer Velner clocked and gave him a warning ticket. Officer Velner noted that the guy was apologetic and contrite. I think that’s probably the right way to act if you’re ever pulled over for speeding by a police officer.

Officer Velner and I started working for the City of Eden Prairie on the same day: April 29, 2002. We both talked about how fortunate we feel to have ended up here. It really is a great place to work.

Officer Velner is a good representative of our police officers. He is a very good officer. We pay our police officers well. I think they’d say that, too. But we also get the cream of the crop, too. That’s our strategy. This strategy allows us to hire “off the top” everytime we hire new officers. When we hire new officers, we typically get over a hundred applicants and we typically get to hire the best candidate (or two) out of that bunch. It’s like having a pro football team composed of all #1 draft picks year after year. After awhile, you get a pretty good team. That’s what we’ve got in our Police Department. Top to bottom.

Our police are high visibility employees. We want our high visibility employees to be very good employees and to represent our organization well with the public. Our police do that very well.

Thanks for the ride, Steve.

Until next time, this is your crime-fighting City Manager signing off……..

We enjoyed an excellent field trip to Scott County yesterday to talk to their Deputy County Administrator, Mr. Gary Nelson, about their IT system.

They have dedicated a substantial level of resources to their IT system, both their internal works and their website. Their experience with the Stellent products has been very good.

Our group will take some time to debrief the trip and discuss what we can take away from this trip South of the River.