The Blog from City Hall

This is the SouthWest Metro Transit Commission.Pictured from left to right; Vicki Ernst, Bob Moeller, Jean Childers, Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Ron Case, Craig Peterson and Chad Dockter

The Commission is responsible for oversight of the SouthWest Metro Transit agency. The Commission is composed of one elected official and one appointed citizen from each city (Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, and Chaska) with each Commissioner serving a three-year term. In addition, there is also one member of the Commission, called the Rider Representative, that is selected specifically from the ridership of SouthWest Metro Transit. The Rider Representative serves a two-year term.

The current chair of the Commission is Chanhassen City Councilmember Craig Peterson. The Vice-Chair is Chaska representative Bob Moeller. The Treasurer is Eden Prairie Councilmember Ron Case. The Secretary is Eden Prairie Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens. The current Rider Representative is also from Eden Prairie. Her name is Jean Childers.

The guy I’m shaking hands there on the right is Mr. Len Simich. Len is the Executive Director of SouthWest Metro Transit. Len is the CEO of the organization. He works directly for the Commission and keeps all the metaphorical balls in the air at one time. Len is recognized widely in the transit field as being one of the top transit managers in the state. We’re fortunate to have him here in Eden Prairie. He’s been a key partner not only in developing a first-class transit operation, but also in developing the commercial and residential areas around SouthWest Station. That area would not look like it does today without Len’s support and vision.

SouthWest Metro Transit is one of the City’s Key Partners in providing a high quality of life to our citizens. It’s a well run organization. Quality leadership producing a quality product.

Catch the bus sometime. You’ll be surprised how easy it is.

I have a thermometer in my car that measures the outdoor air temperature. When I got into my car this morning at 6:15 am to come to work, the outdoor temperature in Minnesota on January 27 was 45 degrees - above zero. Unbelievable! But, as most Minnesotans know deep in their thawing souls, we’ll all have to pay, somehow, for this unseasonably warm weather. And how will we pay, you might ask? One word: Potholes.

Potholes are created by the freeze-thaw cycle. Streets freeze and thaw. The more cycles of freezing and thawing that streets go through, the more apt they are to develop potholes in their weak spots, typically where moisture has seeped into the pavement. This freezing and thawing weakens the pavement. Vehicle traffic weakens the weak spots even more causing the asphalt to eventually crumble and pop out.

Spring is prime pothole season in Minnesota because the freeze-thaw cycle can happen often and quickly. Unlike late fall or early winter where our temps start a slow steady dependable decrease down to the zero range, late winter/early spring can be very different. Today it’s relatively balmy, but we all know that tomorrow (or the next day or the one after that) could be back down to frigid temps again. The more often the temps swing, the more negative the impact it has on our streets. The same is true for the height and depth of these temperature swings. Bigger is not better in this respect.

If you encounter a pothole on an Eden Prairie street that you’d like to tell us about, you can call our Street Maintenance Division office at 949.8533 to report it. The more precise your description of the location of the pothole, the better. This office is staffed Monday-Friday from 8 am - 4:30 pm. The phone is equipped with voice mail, so if you’d like to call after hours, that’s OK too. You can also report potholes online at the City’s website at www.edenprairie.org. Just click the “contact us” button near the bottom of the page.

The speed of our response depends on the seriousness of the pothole. We’ll look at the type of traffic and the size of the pothole to make this judgment. As we get closer to spring, we will launch a widespread pothole repair program to, hopefully, rid our fair city of this menace to safe and enjoyable driving.

We’ll give it our best shot, anyway.

My 2006 State of the City address is now available on the City’s website in streaming video format. It’s a little over 30 minutes long. You can find it at www.edenprairie.org. This is a great innovation.

The 2006 State of the City address is also programmed rather generously on EPTV-16. Wondering what else is on EPTV-16? Here’s the current weekly program schedule:

Sunday
9:00 Life in the Prairie
9:30 State of the City
10:30 History Special
12:00 State of the City
1:00 PLANNING COMMISSION
4:00 History Special
5:00 State of the City
6:30 Life in the Prairie
9:00 History Special
10:30 Life in the Prairie
11:30 State of the City

Monday
9:30 State of the City
10:00 Life in the Prairie
10:30 History Special
12:00 State of the City
2:00 Life in the Prairie
4:00 History Special
5:00 State of the City
7:00 PLANNING COMMISSION
9:00 History Special
11:00 Life in the Prairie
11:30 State of the City

Tuesday
9:30 State of the City
10:00 Life in the Prairie
10:30 History Special
12:00 State of the City
2:00 Life in the Prairie
4:00 History Special
5:00 State of the City
6:30 Life in the Prairie
7:00 EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL
9:00 History Special
11:00 Life in the Prairie
11:30 State of the City

Wednesday
9:30 State of the City
10:00 Life in the Prairie
10:30 History Special
12:00 State of the City
2:00 Life in the Prairie
4:00 History Special
5:00 State of the City
9:00 History Special
11:00 Life in the Prairie
11:30 State of the City

Thursday
9:30 State of the City
10:00 Life in the Prairie
10:30 History Special
12:00 State of the City
2:00 Life in the Prairie
4:00 History Special
5:00 State of the City
6:30 Life in the Prairie
9:00 History Special
11:00 Life in the Prairie
11:30 State of the City

Friday
9:30 State of the City
10:00 Life in the Prairie
10:30 History Special
12:00 State of the City
2:00 Life in the Prairie
4:00 History Special
5:00 State of the City
9:00 History Special
11:00 Life in the Prairie
11:30 State of the City

Saturday
9:00 Life in the Prairie
9:30 State of the City
10:30 History Special
12:00 State of the City
1:00 EDEN PRAIRIE CITY COUNCIL
4:00 History Special
5:00 State of the City
6:30 Life in the Prairie
9:00 History Special
10:30 Life in the Prairie
11:30 State of the City

These are the consolidated traffic stats for the City’s blog home page. They show the traffic at the blog site over the past three years. In year #1, most, if not all, of the traffic is mine alone. But starting in 2004, the traffic is impacted by the addition of blogs from Fire Chief George Esbensen and Police Chief Dan Carlson.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about analyzing internet website traffic data. I’m sure that I have readers that could tell me whether this data is good, bad, or otherwise. I’m told that the number of unique visitors to the blog site each month is a good stat to watch. Tracking just that stat in December of each year shows that it doubled from 2003 to 2004 and doubled again from 2004 to 2005. That’s probably good.

I also know that in December 2005 there were 3,371 “pageviews” for my individual blog homepage and 4,057 pageviews of my individual blog RSS feed, but someone out there will have to interpret those two numbers for me.

There are more people out there like me that are using the blog medium to connect with citizens. I’m on the lookout all the time for ways to make this blog more interesting and valuable to the people that read it. Later this spring our blog site will be changing hosts. We think the new host will allow us to be more innovative in the future.

My personal innovation goal this year: The official City Manager Friday Podcast. Look for it here….later this year.

Eden Prairie-based business are grabbing statewide headlines all the time. Supervalu announced today that it has acquired the Albertson’s grocery store chain, the second largest grocery store chain in the United States. Supervalu is one of our highest profile local businesses.

But we also know from the results of our 2005 Business Satisfaction Survey that the bulk of Eden Prairie’s business community is composed not just of large high profile companies, but really hundreds of small businesses. In fact, our business community might be best described with the following two facts from that survey:

- 70% of Eden Prairie’s businesses employ 10 or fewer fulltime employees.

- 24% of our businesses operate out of private homes.

Our 2005 survey repeated a business satisfaction survey first completed in 2002. We asked the survey businesses to reflect on the changes that have occurred in the local economy from 2002 to 2005. They reported the following:

- Nearly 8 out of 10 businesses gave Eden Prairie an ‘A’ or ‘B’ grade for its business climate.

- Only 11 of the 400 survey respondents gave Eden Prairie a ‘D’ or ‘F’ grade for its business climate. This number is less than half the number of respondents that gave these grades to the City in the 2002 survey.

- Only 1 in 10 of the surveyed businesses have any plans to move from Eden Prairie within the next five years. This is the same figure as the 2002 survey.

- Nearly 50% of the businesses survey have operated in Eden Prairie for more than ten years.

The City earned pretty good numbers from the business community in the 2002 survey, and that was repeated in the 2005 survey too. You can download a copy of the final report for the survey at the City’s website at www.edenprairie.org.

The City Council met with Department Directors and me for a Council-Staff retreat this past Saturday. The biggest topic of discussion was the process we use to prepare the City’s annual budget. I think it’s fair to say that nobody involved in that process this year came away from it satisfied. The retreat discussion on the budget seemed to be centered on the following points:

1. Information - How deep do Councilmembers want to examine the individual expenses that make up the budget? How should staff handle the situation when one member of the Council wants a large amount of detailed budget information and the other Councilmembers do not? How much staff time should the City devote to a research effort like that?

2. Choices - Should staff offer the Council its best recommendation and justification on the budget, or should it offer the Council a menu of budget/operational choices?

3. Public - When should the public get a chance to comment on the budget? At the beginning? In the middle? At the end? All three? None?

4. Timing - When should the budget process start? How long should it take?

5. Politics - At what point in the budget process do Councilmembers exercise their political judgment about what the community wants and/or needs?

The Council did not reach complete agreement on any of these points, and I did not expect them to. Different points of view is healthy and expected in our elected representatives. The Council seemed to reach consensus on the following:

1. The Council wants an earlier start to the budget preparation process.

2. The Council wants an earlier point in the budget process to formally accept public feedback.

3. The Council wants staff to give some thought to developing a process to periodically evaluate the City’s policies, programs and functions. They want staff to evaluate for both effectiveness and budget impacts.

4. The Council wants staff to analyze the City’s early budget forecast for 2007 and report to the Council on what the “top ten” factors will be that drive our revenue and expense estimates in that budget.

We’ll get started on that right away.

Can you see them in the photo to the right? There, attached to the boom-arm hanging over the street. Cameras. Surveillance cameras. Are they fixed on a specific point, such as that street intersection of the crosswalk? Or perhaps they are roving cameras that can be panned and zoomed by a camera operator in a distant windowless office somewhere? And who exactly is operating these cameras and for what purpose?

Closed circuit television surveillance cameras are finding a larger place in American life every day. Why? One reason might be that citizens are becoming more comfortable with them. Another might be that citizens believe that cameras can deter crime. It’s probably a combination of those reasons, and maybe some more I haven’t considered.

The City is currently engaged in conducting a survey of our citizens asking them to tell us their feelings about the use of surveillance cameras in Eden Prairie. We are asking them for their thoughts on cameras in places such as public parks, public parking lots, private parking lots, and around Eden Prairie Center mall. We are also asking them for their feelings about the installation of cameras at signalized street intersections, so-called “photo-cop” cameras, that could be used to enforce traffic laws remotely.

The surveys are starting to come back in now. We sent out 450 surveys to a random sample of citizens. As of yesterday, I think we had about 150 returned. A pretty good return rate for a mail-back survey. This project started out as an intern project for a student who is entering the Humphrey School’s Master of Public Administration program. He is doing all of the data entry, analysis, and preparing a final report.

We do not have a community surveillance camera program in Eden Prairie right now. We’re not actively planning one for the immediate future. However, it’s a subject that is going to present itself to us someday. I see this survey as a chance for citizens to give us an early signal on the subject. I’ll share the results in this blog when they are ready.

I started working in Eden Prairie in April 2002. Starting in January 2003, I assumed a tradition we have here of the City Manager giving an annual State of the City address in January. I gave my first State of the City address to the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce in 2003. I did it again in 2004. And again in 2005. I guess they liked it because I’m doing it again today.

I am fortunate to have a great story to tell. The State of the City of Eden Prairie on January 19, 2006 is excellent. I will be telling the assembled group today at the Chamber’s monthly meeting about all the things the City accomplished in 2005, and about a few things we did not complete in 2005. There’s a lot more in the former category than in the latter. I will also talk about the City’s plans for 2006. It’s going to be a busy year.

The address will be videotaped and replayed on EPTV-16. Check our website at www.edenprairie.org for times and dates.

I am also planning to give the State of the City address to many of our employee groups. I’ll pop into their staff meetings and roll calls during the next few weeks and share our progress and plans directly with the people that made it all happen. I am also planning to take the show on the road and give the address to interested community groups.

As I said, I feel very fortunate to have a good story to tell. I’m going to start telling it today - about 35 minutes from right now.

This is a photo of a smiling, almost gleeful, Janet Jeremiah at this morning’s staff meeting. In fact, if I’d snapped this photo two seconds earlier, you could have seen Janet’s “happy dance”. But alas, I was too slow with the camera today.

So what, you ask, might make a Community Development Director so full of glee at a regular Wednesday morning staff meeting. Well, the City Council adopted the Major Center Area Final Report at last night’s meeting. The findings and recommendations of the final report are definitive statement from the City about what it sees as the future of the Major Center Area, the area located generally around the Eden Prairie Center mall. You can download your own personal copy of the 80+ page report at the Special Reports section on the City’s website. Click on MCA Final Report.

Janet has developed and managed the City’s MCA Study process from beginning to end, which has been about fifteen months and counting by now. And while it’s not really at its ultimate end at this point, the Council’s action last night is important. The action does not make any regulatory changes to anyone’s private property, but it does tell the owners of private property how the City would like to see the Major Center Area develop in the future, and what the City will do (and not do) to help achieve that vision.

Next steps: Catch our breath. Take a short break. Then begin devising the regulatory changes that must be adopted by the Planning Commission and the City Council to achieve the MCA Study vision.

This will take awhile, but we’re on the way.

The City Council will have a joint meeting tonight with the Senior Issues Task Force to discuss their final report, cleverly entitled: The 2005 Senior Issues Task Force Final Report. The task force was created by the City Council in May 2005 with the objective of taking the original Senior Issues Task Force report completed by a task force of the same name in 1995. The premise was simple: take the 1995 report and its recommendations and evaluate the City’s progress in implementing the 1995 recommendations.

Well, maybe a simple premise, but it was a lot of work. The task force started its work in July 2005 with the goal of completing its assigned tasks by the end of 2005. They did it, and they created a very well written, well researched report. I recommend it. You can download your own personal copy of the 2005 final report at the City’s website at www.edenprairie.org.

The original task force was appointed by the City Council in 1995 to study the community’s readiness for an aging population. Eden Prairie’s population boomed in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The city’s population went from 16,263 in 1980 to 39,311 in 1990 to 54,901 in 2000. And the population growth did not have a normal age range to it. Eden Prairie boomed with a new population that consisted largely of young families. The City Council knew this population would age and wanted to see if the community was ready for that aging process. The 1995 task force report studied the issues related to aging in the community and gave the City a set of recommendations which, if followed, would make Eden Prairie more senior-friendly.

The objective of the 2005 task force was to see how the City did in implementing the recommendations. It’s report card time! So, how’d we do? There’s no letter grade in the report, but if there were, I think it would be a B+. We did OK. We could do better.

The report lays out the following new set of Priority Recommendations:

DEMOGRAPHICS
1. Detailed demographics should be updated every one or two years, with appropriate adjustments to projections.

2. Increase efforts to measure the new immigrant populations with special attention to non-English speaking senior populations.

HOUSING
1. Continue to partner with private developers and government agencies to develop affordable senior-friendly housing options, similar to the City�?s 1995 Housing Initiatives and Goals. Hold developers of properties used by seniors to standards which take into account the unique health, physical and safety needs of seniors.

2. Offer incentives for development of mixed use residences within walking distance of senior-friendly retail shopping.

SOCIAL SERVICES AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS
1. Create a Transportation Commission to review the existing problems and recommendations in this report and pursue collaboration of public, private and volunteer systems to expand services to seniors.

2. Since so many requests for information come initially to the City and Senior Center receptionists, there needs to be better training for individuals in those positions so they know where to direct callers and internet inquiries. All City media, such as the EP News�?s Community Guide, City publications, City website, etc. should direct citizens to trained staff at the most common entry points: Senior Center, Senior Outreach and the Eden Prairie Familink Resource Center.

3. Maintain a safety net of programs to ensure that Eden Prairie seniors, and other residents, have resources/services to assist them in times of need.

LEGAL ANSAFETYTY ISSUES
1. Continue to maintain trained and well-equipped emergency response teams and consider establishing a permanent position of �?Senior Liaison�? police officer who would coordinate legal and safety seminars for seniors and information programs such as scam identification and prevention, household hazards and the File of Life program, on a more regular schedule.

EMPLOYMENT AND LEISURE OPPORTUNITIES
1. The City should continue to provide and maintain appropriate space to meet the current and future needs of senior programs and services and a system of volunteer coordination to facilitate matching volunteers/opportunities; coordinate efforts with Eden Prairie Volunteers, a web site developed and maintained by School District 272.

2. Establish partnerships between the Senior Center and principal senior residences for purposes of enriching programs and services, avoiding unnecessary duplication and continuing efforts to make all seniors feel included in community activities.

GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES
1. Communicate the 2005 Senior Issues Task Force Report to the City Council, Mayor, Commissions and to appropriate supervisory/management City staff.

2. The timing of the Senior Issues 2005 report coincides with the City�?s need to develop a Ten Year Comprehensive Plan. Task Force members think it is important that plans and actions on their recommendations be considered for inclusion in this document.

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The objective of the 2005 task force was to see how the City did in implementing the recommendations of the 1995 task force. It’s report card time! So, how’d we do? There’s no letter grade in the report, but if there were, I think it would be a B+. We did OK. We could do better.

These are the members of the City’s Heritage Preservation Commission. They are (L-R) front row: Robert Amell, Molly Gilbertson (Vice Chair), and Nina Mackay. Back row (L-R): Deborah Barkley,Ed Muehlberg, Jane Plaza, and Betsy Adams (Chair).

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It’s time for our annual recruitment drive to interest citizens in serving on one of the City’s citizens advisory boards and commissions. There are several boards and commissions to choose from:

- Arts & Culture Commission
- Heritage Preservation Commission
- Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission
- Planning Commission
- Human Rights & Diversity Commission

And our two newest commissions, established by the Council just this past year:
- Flying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission
- Conservation Commission

Our citizen advisory boards and commissions are important to the proper functioning of city government. They add a critical dose of representativeness (I don’t think that’s a real word, but you know what I mean) to our deliberative process. Not only do Eden Prairie citizens control their city government through the electoral process, but they are also served by appointed citizens through the advisory board and commission process. These additional citizen/officials assist both the staff and the Council by providing direction on a wide variety of public policy questions.

There’s a lot going on in city government. Paid City staff are capable of getting all the work done, but without citizen boards and commissions, I think we’d miss a critical connection with our citizens.

The deadline to apply for one of our boards and commissions is February 3. The application is available on the City’s website at www.edenprairie.org. Staff and commission members will host an Open House at City Center (8080 Mitchell Road) on Tuesday, January 24 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

If you’re considering applying and want to know more about the details of being on a board or commission, drop on by and we’ll answer your questions live and in person.

An eight member expedition team of City staff traveled together to Ft. Collins, Colorado yesterday to do a field visit to the City of Ft. Collins to see firsthand how that city government has implemented a sophisticated document management system that we are considering purchasing for our city.

The Eden Prairie team included IT Division staffmembers Lisa Wu & Mike Hutter; Police Department staffmembers Sandy Mitchell and Jim Morrow; Building Official Kevin Scheimg; Chief Finance Officer Sue Kotchevar; City Clerk Kitty Porta; and my Executive Assistant Lorene McWaters.

They got up early, flew to Denver, drove to Ft. Collins and then back to Denver, and flew home late last night. It was an all day adventure, and I appreciate the team’s willingness to put in the extra time and effort to go on this trip. This is an important project. They’ve been working on this project as a team for several months, so it was important to me that they take this one last step of due diligence before we make a major new investment in hardware and software. Once we buy it, we must make it work.

We are interested in a new document management system for several reasons. First, we maintain filing systems for paper documents in many different city offices using many different filing protocols. The system we are looking at would unify our filing systems and provide easier access to all files (with some exceptions, such as Police files) to employees in any department. So it would improve our ability to do work.

But another reason we’re interested in the system is that would improve our ability to provide greater access to public records to citizens. Most of our files are accessible to citizens via specific request under the State’s Open Records law. These requests, however, are not always easy to satisfy - for the City or for the person who wants the information. We believe the new document management system will improve our ability to respond faster to requests for information, perhaps even online. This improved ability to respond to requests will also benefit our productivity as well.

I will be getting together with the staff team and debriefing their field trip, and then we’ll make our final decision soon. We are planning to purchase and implement the new system in 2006.

One of my goals for the City’s newly designed website: www.edenprairie.org is that it starts to become a repository of interesting information about the City. We do dozens of special reports each year about many different aspects of city government. We complete some of the reports with our own staff. Other reports are completed by private consultants.

In either case the information is public information. I believe that it should be available to the public in a format that is inexpensive and convenient to access. The best way to meet both of those objectives is to post the special reports to our website.

Two special reports have been added to the City’s website this week: the Senior Citizen Task Force report and the Major Center Area (MCA) report are now online at www.edenprairie.org.

The reports can be found by clicking on �City Government� and �Special Reports.� Additional Special Reports will be made available on this same link in the future.

A lot of hard work went into each of these reports. It’s interesting information. It’s also information that the City will be using to make future public policy decisions.

And be sure to stop back at the website throughout the year to see more special reports.

Former City Councilmember David Luse died yesterday at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina after suffering an unexpected cardiac problem. David served on the Eden Prairie City Council from February 5, 2002 through December 31, 2002. He was 50 years old when he died.

David’s term of service on the Council was relatively short. He was appointed to the Council when current Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens vacated her Council seat to become Mayor following the death of former Mayor Dr. Jean Harris. David was appointed to the position because he wanted to represent the business community on the Council. He also wanted to help select the new city manager.

That “new city manager” that David helped to select is me. Through the selection process and then working for David for the latter half of 2002, I got to know him pretty well. David was a character. His approach to government was so different that people inside city government often did not understand what he wanted to accomplish. He had a unique point of view, and a unique way of expressing himself. Whenever I figured out what he was trying to tell me, more often than not, his advice was right on the mark. Way more often than not, actually.

There was never any doubt about where David’s heart was. He loved Eden Prairie and he was proud of his service on the Council. I’ll miss David. He helped me get to Eden Prairie, and for that I will be forever grateful to him.

I extend my sincerest condolences to the Luse family on behalf of Eden Prairie’s elected officials and city staff.

The start of the new year is a good time to reaffirm important organizational policies, practices and expectations. Yesterday I reaffirmed for City employees our organizational standards for Customer Focus.

These standards were developed by our Human Resources Division staff and are based on traditions and practices that many Eden Prairie city employees have been using for years. These standards will be our organizational expectation for customer focus from this point forward.

Here they are:

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Welcome Others

* Go out of your way to make our citizens or customers feel welcome. Act happy to see them. Make eye contact.

* Smile and greet. For example, in person: �Good morning or afternoon, may I help you?� On the phone: Smile and say, �Good morning [or good afternoon], this is _______ at the City of Eden Prairie�s __________ [department or division], may I help you?�

* Use language that will be easily understood by customers. Avoid jargon or acronyms.

Project Professionalism

* Wear identification or clothing that identifies you as a representative of the City in a prominent place.

* Dress to inspire confidence in others. Project a visual image that demonstrates that you take your job seriously.

* Maintain a clean, organized work space.

* Publicize your schedule. Personalize your voice mail greeting to indicate the date and your availability. Keep your outlook calendar current. When out of the office for more than 24 hours, acknowledge this with the �Out of Office Assistant� in Outlook and a personalized voice mail greeting indicating when you will be returning.

Take Ownership

* Return all phone calls and e-mail within 24 hours.

* Listen and respond with support to each request.

* Take charge if a customer has been transferred by phone or in person more than twice.

* Follow through in responding to customer concerns or requests. Keep your commitments.

Emphasize the Positive

* Focus on what you can do for the customer rather than what you can�t do.

* Offer alternatives or options for customers.

* Whenever possible, avoid �fighting� words like �no,� �can�t,� �never,� �always,� and �should�

* Educate while enforcing rules or laws.

2006 is going to be a very busy year for the City. I look forward to 2006 because we�ve got a great team of employees here. We work well together.