The Blog from City Hall

There was a decision from the United States Supreme Court in the case of Kelo v. City of New London, Connecticut that I thought, at first would be sort of a back-page “inside baseball” legal opinion for local government people. But its reverberation through the popular media, especially talk radio, has been anything but back-page, “inside baseball”, or quiet. The Court’s decision in Kelo is generating a lot of heat; a bit of fire; but also a lot of good discussion about the role of city government in the arena of economic development.

Here are the facts of the Kelo case. After approving a redevelopment project designed to revitalize the local economy and taxbase, the City of New London, CT proceeded to purchase most of the property necessary to do the project from willing sellers. However, when the City could not acquire the last few parcels of land they needed through “willing seller” transactions, the City initiated condemnation to acquire the land using the power of eminent domain. The landowners who did not want to sell their land to the City took the matter to the Courts, where they lost in the State Courts and then ultimately lost at the Supreme Court.

But first a few words about eminent domain. First, the power of eminent domain is a long established principle of law in this country that provides the government the authority to “take” property by the process of condemnation from private land owners in order to provide for the public good. Property owners, however, must be compensated for their land. It is not just taken from them. Sometimes the compensation can be quite lucrative. Sometimes only fair. But land is not appropriated from private owners without compensation through eminent domain. Second, what is squarely at issue in Kelo is the evolution of the eminent domain authority of cities from condemning land for projects that are for a “public use” for such things as roads, water plants, parks, schools, etc. to condemning land for projects that are for a “public purpose” for such things as affordable housing, slum removal, and new jobs. The long legal march towards fully legitimizing “public purpose” condemnation ended with the Court’s affirmative decision for it in Kelo. It is legitimate. I think we’ll see more of it.

But there are many interpretations of the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo. Some of them wildly frantic about this decision “overturning” private property tights in America. That’s too dramatic. Way too dramatic. In fact, the Kelo decision, for many states, only reaffirms existing State law in the practice of eminent domain for cities. In Minnesota, I’m not sure if anything is changed by Kelo. Cities could condemn for economic development purposes pre-Kelo. If any community knows that, it’s Eden Prairie. We lost the headquarters of a world-class corporation (Best Buy) because another Minnesota community (Richfield) was willing to condemn private homes and businesses to redevelop the site at the intersection of 494 & 35W for Best Buy’s new world HQ.

I think that League of Minnesota Cities executive director Mr. Jim Miller did a nice job summarizing the potential impacts of the case in a piece that he wrote for the Star Tribune. For the “sky is falling” perspective, here’s a link to a piece written by lobbyists from the Minnesota Auto Dealer’s Association, also printed in the Star-Tribune.

We will face this decision in Eden Prairie in the near future. As we work through our Major Center Area Study we will need to discuss how we feel about the City’s potential exercise of eminent domain for economic development purposes. Is it OK for the City to condemn the final parcel or two of a large redevelopment area in order for a new private development project to be realized that will be beneficial to the entire City? What if it means that the City would have to condemn half the parcels in order for the project to go forward? What about all of them? How should the City government balance a project that negatively impacts a few and positively impacts many?

These are tough questions. They will take considerable public dialogue to resolve.

This is an architect’s rendering of how our new Fire Station will look in August of 2006. We call it Station #4 because (surprise, surprise) it will be our fourth operating Fire Station.

This is the view of the new Fire Station site looking down from above.

There is a new storm water holding pond planned for the upper right hand corner of the site. To the left of the pond, there will be a separately platted lot that the City will sell to a developer to develop a small commercial development for the neighborhood. We don’t know what that development will be yet, but it’s likely to be something that will cater to the commercial retail needs of the adjoining neighborhoods. The site for the new station is at the intersection of Dell Road and Lindewood Court. There’s not much retail business in this part of town, so I think it will be appreciated by residents when it’s done.

The Fire Station site planning process is going through the same regulatory approval process as a private development would go through in Eden Prairie. The site plan has been approved by the Planning Commission. Next stop: the City Council on Tuesday, July 5. If it gets through the City Council on July 5, staff can proceed to put the project out to bid. If things all go according to plan, we will open bids for the project on September 1, 2005. If we like the bid, we’ll take it to the City Council for official approval on September 20, 2005. If the contract is awarded on September 20, the project can start construction as early as October 10, 2005 and should wrap-up by August 2006.

The City paid $1,900,000 for the site. We believe the building will cost in the neighborhood of $2,800,000. It will be attractive and functional. It will be a great addition to our City’s great Fire Department.

Our Police Department employees take time to be involved in the community. It’s important for the public to see that those charged with enforcing our laws are also law-abiding, community-minded citizens as well. This photo shows a good example of that. They may not look like Police Officers in their running gear, but that’s Lt. Tracey Luke on the left and Officer Ann Bogren on the right (with a torch in her hand) running in the Law Enforcement Torch Run for the Minnesota Special Olympics. The run came through Minnetonka; into Eden Prairie; and then on to Edina. This is a shot of the run during its Eden Prairie leg.

It takes a fair amount of planning to carry out an event like this. This is a shot of what the support operations looked like for the run. It included bicycles and a patrol car.

I’m proud that our officers were willing to help promote an organization and event so honorable as the Minnesota Special Olympics. You can learn more about the Minnesota Special Olympics by checking out their webpage at: http://www.somn.org/index.htm

That’s him. That’s him in profile, anyway. In the center of the photo in the gray suit. That’s the Mayor of Mosquito Heights, Minnesota - The Honorable Buzz Olson. We had the honor of hosting Mayor Olson in our Council Chambers yesterday. Normally, I would be quite a bit more protective of my Mayor’s Council Chambers, but this was a special circumstance.

You see, Mayor Buzz Olson is only a pretender. He’s an actor. He is a character created by the League of Minnesota Cities for a series of training and educational videos designed to help new (and old sometimes too) elected officials get familiar with their new roles as elected representatives on City Councils across our state. In the series, Mayor Buzz Olson leads the fictitious City of Mosquito Heights through many hypothetical public policy challenges, with an occasional stumble and goof, all in the name of creating better local government in Minnesota.

What I did not know about the City of Mosquito Heights until about a month ago is that they meet right here in the City Council Chambers in Eden Prairie. I got a call from League staff last month asking me for permission to shoot the new training video in our Council Chambers and it was then that I learned that all of the video series segments had been shot in our Chambers.

This is a view of Mayor Olson being interviewed by a fictitious news reporter (perhaps from the Mosquito Heights News, or maybe the Mosquito Heights Sun-Current) about something going on in Mosquito Heights. Sorry about that bright sun spot in the middle, but the film crew had quite the array of lights and microphones around the Chambers. It was difficult to get a good view of the action.

I’m happy that we can contribute to the League’s training efforts by sharing our Council Chambers with Mayor Olson and the City of Mosquito Heights. We are fortunate here to have such an attractive and functional City Council Chambers. Its simple, but dignified, design is something that Eden Prairie citizens can be proud of.

This is an aerial photograph of Eden Prairie taken in 2004. Do you see the two parallel curvilinear lines that run together to the center of the photo and then abruptly stop? That’s Highway 312. The road stops here….for now.

But, if State Legislators and the Governor don’t come together soon and reach a compromise on the next state government budget, Highway 312 will continue to dead-end at Eden Prairie Road for the foreseeable future.

In 2004, Highway 312 was granted the extraordinary honor of moving, almost, to the head of line for state highway projects. It was advanced ten years on the Minnesota Department of Transportation priority chart and funding was authorized to construct Highway 312 from its current ending in Eden Prairie all the way out to County Road 147 in Carver County.

The funding of the Highway 312 project was a surprise for those of us in city government. Make no mistake about though, it was definitely a good surprise. We certainly have House Majority Leader Erik Paulsen and Lt. Governor Carol Molnau to thank for this surprise. They did the political heavy lifting to make this project happen.

But now all that heavy lifting might be set aside for awhile. If the State government is shutdown on July 1, 2005, as things currently stand today, the Highway 312 project would be shutdown as well. The contract for the project has been awarded. The contractors are ready to get started. But if there is a state government shutdown, there is no authorization to pay this contract, and no authorization to start the project.

The Governor and the Attorney General are locked in a little battle of their own about who is going to Court to try and prevent essential government services from being shutdown on July 1st. There was an article about their dispute in today’s Star Tribune.

The Highway 312 project will be built. The project is not in danger of being shelved or reprioritized. The State received a very good bid for the project from a contractor (Zumbro River Constructors) that is capable of successfully completing this project.

The biggest risk we run with the shutdown of State government and the delay of the Highway 312 project is that it is sure to increase the level of public cynicism towards government in general. And that hurts us too.

It’s not really common for cities to own and manage cemeteries, and you probably don’t hear about it too often either. Eden Prairie owns a cemetery. This is the second city in which I’ve worked that has had municipally-owned cemeteries. The first was Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.

The City of Eden Prairie owns and manages Pleasant Hill Cemetery. The cemetery is on the north side of Pioneer Trail, just west of Pax Christi church. We’ve managed the cemetery since 1986 when it was conveyed to the City by the private non-profit cemetery association that previously owned it.

In the old days, it was common for cemeteries to be owned by churches, townships, and private non-profit cemetery associations. But as those groups are eliminated (townships through annexation); move (churches); or die off (volunteers for the cemetery association); it has been more common to see those cemeteries absorbed by nearby cities and counties. That’s how we go to be the owners of Pleasant Hill Cemetery.

This is Wes Dunsmore. He is an operations supervisor with our Parks and Recreation Department. He is in charge of the operations and maintenance of our cemetery. He is showing me a map of the cemetery and explaining to me how he meets with families to pick out grave sites during their time of need.

There are 1,390 lots in Pleasant Hill Cemetery. 670 of those lots are full. There are only 408 lots left unsold. The rest are purchased, but not full yet. A lot in Pleasant Hill Cemetery costs $400 for an Eden Prairie resident and $600 for a non-resident.

Earlier this year the City Council appointed a Cemetery Task Force to examine the operations of the City’s cemetery. They are charged with examining the operations, finances, and aesthetics of the cemetery. You might wonder what there is to examine. Here’s an example. If you look in the photo above with Wes Dunsmore, you’ll see immediately behind him a number of grave markers that are flush with the ground. Currently, we allow only this type of marker to be placed in the cemetery. Now, look at this photo below.

This is a nice sized grave stone. It was placed in the cemetery prior to 1986. Grave stones like this one are certainly attractive, but they present more maintenance difficulties than the grave markers that are flush with the ground. They are particularly more difficult to mow around. The flush grave markers allow a mower to pass right over the marker. For a grave stone, a mower gets close to it, but then someone else must comeback later and weed-whip around it. This may seem like an insignificant burden, but when you multiple it by 1,000 lots and then by the number of times we must mow each year, it begins to compute into real money.

Currently, we do not spend property tax revenues at the cemetery. We spend money gained through cemetery operations fees, such as the sales of lots, etc. We must be careful to manage our current operational costs so that we do not have to burden current taxpayers with cemetery maintenance costs. We might have to someday, but it’s our goal to avoid that.

Another example: Should the cemetery be a place where we intern our deceased friends and family members, or should it be a place where members of the public can go to visit or sit and contemplate the matters of the day? Or, can it be both?

And if it is going to be both, how do we manage the cemetery to serve both of those needs. Should we have more benches, more trails, more trees, etc? Or, should we minimize public interaction with the cemetery? The latter option would probably have lower operational costs compared to developing the cemetery for more public access, but maybe developing more public access should be the higher priority. That is really a matter for the Council to decide at some point in the future.

These are just a couple of the questions that our Cemetery Task Force is going to be discussing and developing recommendations on for the City Council. I’m looking for a final report from the task force later this fall.

Early forms of local government in America, especially in New England, relied on the “Town Meeting” as the primary vehicle to provide legitimacy for government action. Citizens were notified of an impending Town Meeting by public notices that were posted in public places. When they showed up at the Town Meeting, they debated the proposals of the day before ultimately submitting them to a vote of all who attended the meeting. Up or down. Pass or fail. Change or status quo.

We’re going to have a Town Meeting tomorrow night here in Eden Prairie, but with a very different purpose in mind.

In our Town Meeting, City Councilmembers and members of the City’s Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission, along with City staff, will describe a proposed package of improvements to our City’s parks and recreational facilities that would be submitted to the voters of Eden Prairie this fall at election time in November.

Staff, the Parks Commission, and the Council have developed and reviewed this proposed package of improvements. Last Tuesday night, the Council endorsed it as the draft package and asked staff to put together this Town Meeting to gather feedback from the public. This is the first formal opportunity that members of the public have had to express individual opinions about the package of improvements, or even about the thought of having the referendum or not.

This will not be a classic New England Town Meeting. There will be a presentation by staff and other City officials to those assembled about the proposal. There will be lots of time for those assembled to make comments; to express concern; or to express support. There may even be a little debate. But there will not be a vote at the end of the night.

The Council is schedule to make a final decision at their July 5 Council meeting about whether to have, or not to have, a referendum this fall on the proposed improvements. The purpose of this Town Meeting is to continue the process of gathering information for the Council to synthesize to develop a position on the issue. We’ve gathered them many facts and figures. The Town Meeting is a good opportunity to temper the facts and figures with the intangible (and invaluable) citizen feedback which is so important in reaching a decision on an important public policy issue.

So if you’re interested, the Town Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers here at Eden Prairie City Center. We’re at 8080 Mitchell Road.

I hope to see you there.

The City is engaged in building (i.e. - “digging”) Well #15. The site for the well is on Technology Drive on property donated to the City by Eaton Corporation. It is just north of our complex here at City Center; just west of Mitchell Road.

Here’s what the site looked like in January:

And here’s what it looked like last week:

I took both of these photos at 9:00 a.m. on their respective dates in January and June. Look at the sky. What a difference six months makes in Minnesota!

Keyes Well Drilling company is drilling Well #15. The well starts off at the top with a 36 inch diameter casing. The casing pipe keeps the hole round and structurally solid down to about 60 feet. At a depth of 60 feet the casing size is reduced to 30 inches and continues to reduce down to a diameter of 16 inches at a depth of 400 feet deep.

At 400 feet deep, the contractor will use dynamite to create an underground cavern. This cavern will serve as a collection point for water to flow into. When the cavern has a sufficient amount of water in it, the water will be pumped to the surface for treatment at our Water Treatment Plant and then pumped into our municipal water system.

We need this well in order to support the demand for potable water here in Eden Prairie. We think that we’ll need two more wells after this one. We are hoping to bring Well #15 into production early this fall.

…if the State government goes into shutdown mode?

Well, we’re not exactly sure at the moment, but we’re studying it at a fast and furious pace. Eden Prairie is not reliant on State government financial assistance, so we know that we will not be immediately financially impacted. Many cities that rely on local government aid will be impacted and they will have to make some immediate plans to absorb the blow.

Here’s what the League of Minnesota Cities has to say [I clipped this from their website] about the impending shutdown and what might happen if the Governor, the House, and the Senate do what we anticipate they will do: shutdown State government on June 30, 2005:

Local impacts of state government shutdown

Below are examples of the local impacts of the impending state government shut down. A more detailed list is being complied by IGR staff and will be listed in next week�s Cities Bulletin publication.

At least two agencies that are key to city operations�the Departments of Revenue and Finance�will be funded through the 2006-2007 biennium with the Governor�s approval of the omnibus state departments� bill at the end of the Regular Session. The Department of Revenue administers the LGA and market value homestead credit programs as well as most of the current local option sales taxes that have been previously approved by the legislature and the Department of Finance issues the payments for the aid and credit programs.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) would not be issuing any permits or completing any environmental review during a state shutdown of non-essential services. That means that no wastewater facility permits (new or expansion), air permits for power generation facilities, or storm-water permits for larger new development projects would be issued and that final approval of environmental impacts on major projects would not be completed. The agency would continue to monitor and maintain polluted sites for which the state is responsible, continue air quality monitoring and associated health alerts, provide Emergency Response Remediation for hazardous materials containment and clean-up, and provide training and licensing for environmental professionals, including wastewater treatment facility operators.

At a hearing earlier this week, the Department of Transportation officials painted a gloomy picture of what a shut-down would mean for transportation. Without passage of a biennial transportation budget, the following are some activities that would likely be forced to halt:

� operation of highway rest areas (88 in all);

� funding to 69 Greater Minnesota transit programs;

� flow of state aid to county and municipal governments for state aid road projects (note that maintenance aid payments will be made in advance of June 30);

� processing of truck permits for over-weight and over-width loads;

� operation of highway message boards and other motorist information; and

� activities of the Freeway Incident Response Safety Team (FIRST) on the metro freeway system.

That’s Father Tim Power, retired pastor of Pax Christi Catholic Community here in Eden Prairie. Father Tim was our guest speaker today at the monthly membership luncheon of the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce. Today’s luncheon was held at Bearpath Golf & Country Club.

I put Father Tim under the title of “True Friend of Blue and Red” because that describes an important aspect of the City’s relationship with Father Tim. Father Tim is a chaplain for both our Police Department and our Fire Department. He responds to Police and Fire calls when there might be a need for special attention to a crime or fire victim, or for one of our police officers or fire fighters.

Father Tim knows exactly what to do and what to say when the chips are down; day or night; week day or weekend. He is the consummate professional. He and the other chaplains are really important to addressing the human emotional needs that are present any time that a crime or a fire disturbs someone’s personal equilibrium.

I had the honor of sitting with Father Tim at the head table at today’s luncheon. Here’s a shot of Father Tim talking to former Eden Prairie City Councilmember Patricia Pidcock. Patricia’s company, Edina Realty, sponsored today’s luncheon.

The subject of Father Tim’s speech at today’s luncheon was his pilgrimage to Santiago, Spain called The Ways of St. James. It is a 500 mile pilgrimage from St. Jean, France to Santiago, Spain. Father Tim walked it. He walked 500 miles. Here’s a map showing the pilgrimage trail. Father Tim walked the route marked in orange.

He discussed the trials and tribulations that occur in a 500 mile walk. He told us about the fellow travelers he met along the way and gave us insights about what makes one go on a 500 mile walking pilgrimage. It was interesting and inspiring.

Father Tim is a great man. We are very lucky to have him as an active member of our community.

If you live in Eden Prairie and you buy your television signal from a cable television company, you are a customer of Time Warner Cable - but not for much longer.

Time Warner Cable and one of their national competitors in the cable television business, Comcast, have reached an agreement to “exchange” customers in certain markets so that they will no longer have to compete against each other directly. This will allow them to focus their individual corporate competitive strategies against a common foe: satellite television.

Comcast came to Minnesota in 2002. They are the largest cable operator in the Twin Cities. Their service area covers St. Paul and the eastern suburbs, but also stretches around the north side of the metro area and catches places like, Anoka, Blaine, Maple Grove, and Plymouth.

Comcast is the nation’s largest cable operator. It’s roots are in The South. It started out as a small cable television company in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1963 under the leadership of the Roberts’ family. In fact, a member of the Roberts’ family, Mr. Brian Roberts, is the Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the company. The 2004 revenues for Comcast were $20,307,000,000. Yes, that’s right. Over twenty billion dollars.

Comcast and Time Warner have now officially approached Eden Prairie and the other cities where customers will be “exchanged” to seek City Council approval for this deal. Federal law requires the City to act upon their request for approval within 120 days of yesterday. That’s when I met the Comcast government affaris manager and he handed over the FCC Form 394 Application, which is what triggers the official 120 day clock to start ticking.

But before anyone gets too excited about what we might extract from the cable giants in exchange for a favorable ruling, let’s be sure to acknowledge that the regulatory deck is indeed stacked in their favor. City Councils are restricted to considering the “legal, technical, and financial” wherewithal of the absorbing cable company. Cities cannot consider programming, community involvement, or any other factor outside of the Big Three when deciding whether or not to grant approval for the deal to go through here in Eden Prairie.

So based on the legal technical, and financial capacities of Comcast, I’d be very (very) surprised if Comcast was not Eden Prairie’s new cable television provider by the end of this year, or early into the next.

Learn to like them. They’ll be your only choice for cable television. That’s just the way it works.

That sign says it all. If you live, work, or drive in Eden Prairie this summer, you will be inconvenienced by road work. We call them “road improvements”, which is true, but many of you will call it a pain.

The Technology Drive project started this past week. The project runs from the intersection of Mitchell Road on the west end to the start of the existing four-lane portion of Technology Drive a bit east of ADC. The project will make Technology Drive a four-lane road from Mitchell to Prairie Center Drive. There will be a median in the middle with left turns permitted at several key locations, like MTS and St. Andrews Church, and ADC.

The project is being completed by Park Construction of Minneapolis. It is being paid for largely by ADC. It fulfills a commitment that ADC made to the City when they built their new campus on Technology Drive a few years ago. We believe it will improve the flow of traffic through the Technology Drive area, as well as improving the efficiency of the Technology Drive-Mitchell Road intersection.

Road Construction = The Price of Progress

Catchy title? I can answer that question. For most, but not all, of the Mayors that I’ve served in my local government career, the answer is “probably not enough”. For the current Mayor I serve here in Eden Prairie, the answer is “definitely not enough”. The same is true for City Councilmembers.

The current annual salary of The Honorable Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Mayor of Eden Prairie, is $9,900. For Members of the City Council, the annual salary is $7,200. Both the Mayor and City Councilmembers can earn $35/meeting for Special Meetings outside of their standard City meeting schedules. The City also reimburses the Mayor and Councilmembers for reasonable expenses they incur in carrying out their official duties.

There was a very informative article in the Star Tribune on Sunday [yesterday] about the salaries of local government elected officials by David Peterson.

The article talks about the level of service that citizens receive from elected officials and the lower-than-expected salaries. Peterson specifically comments in the article that “Edina, Eden Prairie, and Woodbury and a host of other upscale suburbs lead the way with small-scale salaries.” Mayor Tyra-Lukens is quoted in Peterson’s article.

These are Eden Prairie’s Mayor and City Council. They are (L-R): Councilmember Brad Aho; Councilmember Phil Young; Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens; Councilmember Sherry Butcher; and Councilmember Ron Case.

Elected officials, at least the ones that I’ve had the pleasure to serve, aren’t in government for the money. There’s not enough money in local government service for them to do it as a profession. They sacrifice varying levels of their personal, work, and family lives to serve citizens. We couldn’t have responsive local government without their respective sacrifices.

All levels of government care a lot more about security today than they did before the tragic events of September 11, 2001. See that security camera in the photo below? It’s watching you while you’re in the parking lots of City Center.

And see that darkened glass 1/2 sphere on the ceiling in the photo below? That camera is watching you too while you’re inside City Center.

And do you see that thing on the wall (the one on the right)? It’s a card-reader for employee identification badges. You can’t get into City buildings or facilities without the appropriate identification and clearances during non-public hours. We keep track of who is going in and out of our buildings through analysis of employee access, just to make sure there is nothing funny going on.

Now here’s a security measure that you might not have recognized. This facility is at our Water Treatment Plant. Technically, it’s on the grounds of our Water Treatment Plant, but it is outside the security perimeter of the plant.

This device dispenses potable water. You get 1,000 gallons for a dollar. The City gets frequent requests to purchase mass quantities of potable water from pool and spa owners, private parking lot cleaners, and to landscapers. It’s not an unreasonable request and we’ve figured out a way to fulfill it and keep our Water Plant secure.

In the old days, if you needed a couple of thousand gallons of water, you’d find a Water Department employee and just open up a hydrant. Then, cities began to insert some order and process into these transactions and required water buyers to come to a defined location, such as a Water Plant for this service. Cities also wanted to make sure that the water was actually paid for, unlike the open-the-hydrant-days.

Now we’re at the next generation of that transaction. We want to provide that service, but we are not comfortable with people driving and parking strange trucks so close to our Water Treatment Plant. Security issues are a concern to us. So, we’ve built this station outside the security gates and made it available on a self-service basis.

Four quarters will get you a 1,000 gallons on water. It’s a good deal, and it’s more secure for our plant.

Sure, they’re cute at this age. But they grow up to become:

The geese cause problems. They create health problems with their droppings. They create traffic problems too. From the general public sentiment out there, the Canada Goose has almost achieved “pest” status.

Eden Prairie has the dubious honor of having roughly 9% of the Metro area goose population. The City of Woodbury has a similar population. Our Purgatory Creek Recreation Area (PCRA) has a large number of nesting and fall migrant geese and is a great gathering site for our population, along with the floodplain area and Olympic and Bearpath Country Clubs.

The City has a goose “collection program”. We employ a contractor to collect adult geese, an while I don’t want to get too graphic here, they eventually become donations to food shelves here in the Twin Cities. Collections this year will be focused on the following areas:

1. Hidden Ponds
2. Duck Lake (coming off the public access)
3. Purgatory Creek Recreation Area
4. Water Plant / City Hall pond (they tend to migrate back and forth)
5. Lake Smetana Park
6. Red Rock Lake Park

Round Lake and the Glenshire wetland mitigation areas will also be checked, but significant numbers of geese are not anticipated at these locations.

In the past, we’ve also had a program where goslings were collected and transported to a preserve in Iowa, although it looks like that preserve may now be full and that option is not likely to be available to us after this year.

We also assist local businesses with goose problems. The following businesses have requested to partner with the City for goose collection projects: GMAC, Rosemount/Emerson, and MTS. We will also be approaching Starkey Labs and ADC to enquire about participating as they also have active populations that migrate around to sites we are collecting at.

In addition, the City will also be conducting doing a one-day evaluation of the floodplain area to see if the geese are loafing in areas that would be readily accessible for trapping. This information will be used to approach Lower Minnesota River Watershed District and the airport to inquire about partnering in a goose capture program for this area.

The estimated budget for the City’s goose management program in 2005 is $15,000. However, an exact amount will not be known until the final collection is completed. The estimated budget for 2006 is $22,500 (this includes a cost �share amount for the Lower Minnesota River Watershed District area) and $20,000 for 2007. We are also discussing adding a fall evaluation in 2006 to check up on numbers in comparison with what we found in 2004 (an additional $2,500).

We must manage our local goose population in order to keep Eden Prairie a wonderful place to live, work, and play for the human population that pays the bills around here.

I’d like to thank our Environmental Coordinator Leslie Stovring for helping me with this post. She knows a lot about geese. Thanks Leslie.