The Blog from City Hall

This is an AED: Automatic External Defibrillator. The City has been engaged in a cooperative program with the Eden Prairie School District to put AEDs into all of our public buildings in Eden Prairie. This particular AED was installed a couple of weeks ago in the bottom level of City Center.

Other cities in Minnesota are working on similar goals to increase the presence of AEDs in their communities. So are other School Districts. What we believe is unique to Eden Prairie is that the City and the School worked together to raise private money from the community to fund the effort. To date, we’ve raised over $40,000 of donations to get the program started. We believe we’ll need around $70,000 to meet our goal, so we are still trying to raise money.

Increasing the survivability of a heart failure episode is important to us. In addition to the AEDs themselves, we are starting a training program to train all of our employees in CPR and AED operations. We are planning to train 50% of our staff this year and 50% next year in order to make this goal.

If a citizen goes down in one of our facilities, we want to be able to give them our best shot at continued life. It’s a worthy goal.

There is a good story in the Star Tribune today about an upcoming challenge coming in the Minnesota House. There is a coalition forming of outstate legislators and inner city legislators to take up the issue of Local Government Aid (LGA). In last year’s budget bill, the Legislature balanced the state’s budget by mkaing significant changes to the manner in which it distributed financial assistance to cities.

This assistance, called LGA, was decreased for almost every city in the state. Eden Prairie lost 100% of its LGA. Most cities similarly situated to Eden Prairie also lost 100% of their LGA. Eden Praire was not very dependent on LGA. It comprised about 1% of our total General Fund revenues. Before I came to Eden Prairie, I worked in Northfield. In Northfield, LGA accounted for about 33% of our General Fund revenues. So a big cut in Northfield was a much bigger deal than a total cut in Eden Prairie.

Nonethless, it appears that this coalition, which appears to be led by Rep. Dan Dorman (R-Albert Lea), wants to re-open the debate and seeks more financial assistance from the state. They are particularly critical of the financial positions of the suburbs, like Eden Prairie.

At this point, Eden Prairie receives $0 from the state of Minnesota for our General Fund budget. We’ve got no state money to return to the state to give back to other needy cities. We support our own financial position in our city on the backs of our own taxpayers. We’d like other cities in the state to do the same.

Nancy Tyra-Lukens is serving in her first elected term as Mayor of the City of Eden Prairie, elected in November 2002, with her current term running from January 2003 through December 2006. She was first elected to the City Council as a Councilmember in November 1994 for a four year term from January 1995 through December 1998, and then was re-elected in November 1998 for a four year term from January 1999 through December 2002. Upon the untimely death of Mayor Jean Harris in December 2001, Ms. Tyra-Lukens was appointed Mayor to serve the final year remaining on Mayor Harris� term from January 2003 � December 2003.

Ms. Tyra-Lukens other related community service includes Chair of the Suburban Transit Association, Board member and former Chair of the Southwest Metro Transit Commission, Board of Directors member of the Family Housing Fund, serving on the Mayors� Regional Housing Task Force, member of the Board of Directors for both the Municipal Legislative Commission and the Eden Prairie Foundation, Chair of the Eden Prairie Community Needs and Resources Council, a member of the Financial Planning Committee for the Eden Prairie Schools Vision 2000, and a member of the Board of Directors on the Fairview Hospital Auxiliary, plus many others.

Ms. Tyra-Lukens has a Bachelors of Arts degree in Biology from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), a Masters of Science degree in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), and a Masters of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities campus).

Among the other duties of the Mayor are her responsibilities to community affairs. In the photos below, the Mayor is participating in the grand opening ribbon cuttings at the new Take & Bake Pizza and Print & Pak stores:

Mayor Tyra-Lukens puts in an extraordinary amount of time and energy into her role as Eden Prairie’s Mayor. She works hard and she works smart for Eden Prairie residents.

There was a considerable story in today’s Star Tribune about the public pensions system that serves the police and fire employees of Minnesota cities and counties.

The story, written by Mark Brunswick and Tony Kennedy, describes a number of situations in which a pensioner of the system is or has abused the system. Specifically, they describe a number of situations in which a healthy person was receiving a disability pension.

I’m sure that if one looks for abuses, you would find them in any pension system. I think you must remember that this is the Star Tribune opining on our city’s police and firefighting employees who the authors refer to as “baton-swinging street officer or ladder-climbing firefighter.” Not very respectfully, I might add.

The police and fire pension system was designed to insure that police and firefighters who are disabled in the course of serving the public are provided for appropriately. If the system is being exploited unfairly, police and firefighters will be the first ones to stand up and recommend a solution. After all, it’s their pension fund that is being exploited.

But I hope the legislature is careful not to compromise the entire police and firefighter pension system. It is important to provide for the men and women who assume the risk of protecting you and me from the perils of the modern world.

If you live in Eden Prairie, you are also a citizen of Hennepin County. Hennepin County is the largest county in the state of Minnesota in terms of its population, wealth, and economic activity. It is the 15th largest county in the United States by population. It is a driving force in Minnesota culturally and politically.

Eden Prairie is represented by two Commissioners on the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners.

Randy Johnson, Commissioner, District #5

Most of Eden Prairie (everything south of Valley View Road) is represented by District 5 Commissioner Randy Johnson. Commissioner Johnson is currently the chair of the Hennepin County Board. He is a veteran County Commissioner. He is well known across the United States in County Government circles. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer on county government.

Here’s a map of his district:

Linda Koblick, Commissioner, District #6

Commissioner Linda Koblick is a rookie on the Hennepin County Commission. She was elected to her first term on the Commission in 2002. She is not a rookie in politics, however. Before joining the Commission as the representative for District #6, Commissioner Koblick was a member of the Minnetonka Charter Commission and the Minnetonka City Council.

Here’s a map of District #6:

Commissioner Koblick also took time to speak to the local morning Rotary Club in Eden Prairie last week. Here’s a quick shot of her with former state senator Roy Terwilliger:

Get to know your County Commissioner. They are important.

At last night’s City Council meeting, the Council approves plans to proceed with offering Eden Prairie voters the opportunity to approve a parks & recreation bond issue of approximately $22,500,000. The package of improvements finance by the bond issue includes, among other things, a new outdoor swimming pool, improvements to the Community Center, the purchase of land for trails, and seed money for a new sheet of ice.

The referendum has been scheduled for May 11, 2004. I will write more about this subject matter in the future. There’s alot of public education to do. The effort starts today.

(L to R) Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Donna Tilsner, Nicole White, and Carla Kress

Eden Prairie is well know for its exceptional park system and its exceptional parks & Rec staff. This photo was taken at a recent City Council meeting when representatives of the Minnesota Recreation and Parks Association (MRPA) presented its annual Dorthea Nelson Award for 2003 to Eden Prairie Parks & Rec staff member Carla Kress. Carla is the City’s Therapeutic Recreation Coordinator. She also coordinates the operations and activities at the Eden Prairie Senior Center.

>>If you’re not familiar with the field of Therapuetic Recreation, hit this link for more information on TR.

Assisting in the presentation were Donna Tilsner, representing the MRPA, and Nicole White, who also works for the City as a Therapuetic Recreation Specialist. She and Carla developed a new Leisure Education Program for the City in 2002.

The Mayor accepted the MRPA’s 2003 Award of Excellence. The City recevied this award for the implementation of the Leisure Ed program developed by Carla and Nicole.

We’ve got a great staff here. It’s nice to see them recognized by their peers.

On the left: Mike Opat, Hennepin County Commissioner
On the right: Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins

The Minnesota Senate’s State & Local Government Committee, Chaired by Sen. Linda Higgins, DFL-Minneapolis, held the first legislative hearings on the professional sports stadium issue(s). The committee heard presentations on Wednesday, February 11th, from the Governor’s Stadium Screening Committee, representatives from both the Twins and the Vikings, and representatives from the cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Eden Prairie, and the County of Anoka. Minneapolis and St. Paul are finalists for the proposed baseball park. Anoka County and Eden Prairie and finalists for the proposed football stadium.

Mike Opat presented the Twins stadium proposal on behalf of a parntership between the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County. Senator Kelley attended as a representative of the Governor’s Screening Committee.

We were the final presentor of the day. Mayor Tyra-Lukens, Economic Development Manager Dave Lindahl, and I made the presentation. I don’t believe anything very significant happened at the hearing, or because of the hearing. I believe it was the first legislative step in long, long journey. It was important to be there.

Dr. Melissa Krull is the Superintendent of Schools for the Eden Prairie School District. She became the Superintendent not long after I became the City Manager in Eden Prairie. Dr. Krull and I have sought from the start of our joint tenures here to maximize the way in which our respective organizations work together to serve the citizens of Eden Prairie.

The photo above is a snapshot of the tail-end of a joint management staff meeting that we held in late January 2004. Dr. Krull and I gather our respective management staffs together of a joint staff meeting four times each year. We discuss matters of mutual concern. We coordinate plans. We discuss how we can work together to be more effective, and more cost-effective.

We also meet to plan for two joint meetings each year of our respective governing boards: the City Council and the School Board. The spring meeting of those two groups is coming up on February 17th.

We are lucky to have a good working relationship with Eden Prairire Schools. It’s good for the City. It’s good for our citizens.

The City and the Purgatory Creek Watershed Board are involved in a joint project that will substantially change the appearance of the Purgatory Creek Recreation Area. If you’ve driven by there lately (Technology Drive and Prairie Center Drive), you have noticed the digging equipment and the trucks hauling dirt, mud and muck out of the wetland area. Here are some shots of what it looks like close up:

and:

The project is a “clean waters” project that involves the removal of 77,000 cubic yards of material out of the wetlands to create a better functioning 13 acre pond. It also includes the removal of dead trees and other obstructions. It will not only improve the environmental condition of the PCRA, but also its general appearance as well.

It also includes the Gathering Bridge to honor the memory of the late Mayor Dr. Jean Harris.

Total project cost: $4,000,000. We split the cost 50/50 with the Watershed Board. It’s a project that has been on our drawing board for many years. The project started in mid-January and is supposed to be completed by March. The extremely cold weather has been perfect of this project. Frozen muck is much easier to move than warm mushy muck, I’m told.

Here’s a couple of shots of the area from the top of the SW Metro parking deck:

and:

This photo was taken at the grand opening and building dedication for ITT Technical Institute. ITT Tech moved into a new building at the intersection of Flying Cloud Drive and Anderson Lakes Parkway. This is their first site in the Twin Cities. It’s a remarkable facility. We are fortunate to have them here.

L to R: Pat MulQueeny, President of the EP Chamber of Commerce; me; Michele Ernst, Director of ITT Technical Institute; Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens; Omer Waddles, President & COO of ITT/ESI; and Kelly Salwei, Board Chair of the EP Chamber of Commerce.

This photo was taken at the grand opening of the new Memorial Blood Center facility in Eden Prairie. Again, they could have chosen to build this facility in other places. We’re glad they chose Eden Prairie.

L to R: Pat MulQueeny, President of the EP Chamber; City Councilmember Sherry Butcher; and David Lindahl, Eden Prairie’s Economic Development Manager.

I attended the grand opening and public open house for the South Metro Public Safety Training Center in Edina this past Saturday afternoon. The facility is located in the southwest corner of Edina’s Braemar Park, just south of their ice arena.

The facility is jointly owned and operated by the cities of Edina, Bloomington, Eden Prairie and the Metropolitan Airports Commission. I have written about the facility many times in this weblog, so I won’t go on and on about the project again. Needless to say, it is a project that I am very proud to be a part of personally and professionally.

In the photo below (L to R) we’ve got Mayor Gene Winsted, Bloomington; City manager Gordon Hughes, Edina; me; and Mayor Dennis Metszold, Edina.

Congratualtions to all our partners in this project. I wish the best to the many police officers and fire fighters that will use the facility. You are important to the quality of life in our communities. This facility is a sign to you of how much we value your public service.

Thank you.