Councilmember Ron Case has served the citizens of Eden Prairie as a member of the City Council for twelve years. I had a chance to sit down with Ron and three of his four kids last week to record a podcast for today about what it’s like to be the child of a City official. [...]
Monthly Archives: December 2006
President Gerald R. Ford: Rest In Peace
December 28, 2006 – 5:52 am
President Gerald R. Ford died on Tuesday, December 26, 2006. He was the 38th President of the United States serving from August 9, 1974 to January 20, 1977.
You can learn more about President Ford’s presidency by reading his official White House biography at this link: President Gerald R. Ford.
Rest In Peace President Ford. You served [...]
It’s Unanimous. We’ve Got A New Budget.
December 27, 2006 – 5:59 am
It’s unanimous. We’ve got a new budget.
That’s what happened last Tuesday night at the City Council’s final Council meeting of the year. On a unanimous vote of 5-0, the City Council approved the proposed City budget for 2007. Here’s a link to a short story in the Eden Prairie news about the vote and the [...]
Performance Reviews
December 26, 2006 – 1:51 pm
This is a sign that I tape to my door during the final two weeks of every December. I’m an “open door” guy, so the fact that my door is closed and this sign is on the door, is eye catching to people who drop by for a visit. The message is tongue-in-cheek, but it [...]
Podcasting with The Chiefs
December 22, 2006 – 9:38 am
It’s been awhile since I last podcasted. No real good reason for that, other than it adds a couple of steps to the blogging process. I like doing a podcast and I get great reviews on them. I’ll try to be more regular about that in 2007.
I had the great opportunity [...]
First Gentleman and First Daughter: Jeff & Claire Lukens Day
December 21, 2006 – 6:13 am
That’s Claire and Jeff Lukens, daughter and husband of Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens. First Daughter and First Gentleman of our fair city, if you will. The photo on the far left was taken during the Mayor’s final Council meeting this week. Jeff and Claire stayed for the entire meeting. The photo to the right of that [...]
Waffles for Charity
December 20, 2006 – 12:36 pm
Many organizations do internal fund raising campaigns encouraging their employees to make payroll deduction charitable causes. We do one each year. Employees are encouraged to contribute to our charitable contribution program which channels funds to one of three charitable organizations: United Way, Community Health Charities, or our local food shelf - PROP.
We don’t twist anyone’s [...]
20-40-15
December 19, 2006 – 8:02 am
The Mayor and I hosted a small press conference yesterday to announce a new energy initiative for the City that we are calling the 20-40-15 plan. The objective of the plan is to increase the overall efficiency of the City government’s use of electricity, fuel and other energy resources. The plan calls for increased energy [...]
Discord in Maplewood
December 18, 2006 – 5:51 am
There is plenty of holiday season discord at City Hall in Maplewood, according to an article in today’s Star Tribune. For those of us in city government biz, we’ve been watching the discord grow and bloom for a couple of years now. For example, I think it was just last week that I got an [...]
A Good TIme Was Had By All
December 14, 2006 – 6:48 am
“A good time was had by all”. That about says it all, doesn’t it? It’s a phrase commonly used in small town newspapers when they are describing the results of last week’s bridge tournament at your Aunt Mabel’s house over in Smalltown, USA.
It is also the perfect phrase to describe our annual employee holiday [...]
Hennepin County Budget Approval
December 13, 2006 – 6:41 am
Hennepin County Board approves 2007 budget, tax levy
The Hennepin County Board today (Tuesday) adopted a 2007 county budget aimed at maintaining the county’s financial health as the demand for services continues to rise.
The board approved a budget of nearly $1.5 billion, with a net property tax levy of $565.2 million, an increase of 5.5 [...]
LEED
December 12, 2006 – 6:52 am
This is the future Lake Smetana Business Center - Building B as seen from the 10400 Building at 10400 Viking Drive. Doesn’t it look so real? And yet it’s only an architect’s rendering of what the finished building will look like, perhaps during the late summer of 2007.
The building is under construction right now. If [...]
Danger
December 11, 2006 – 6:47 am
The following is a press release that was released by the City one week ago today:
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On Monday, Dec. 4 at approximately 9 p.m., Eden Prairie Police officers responded to a call of a suicidal 24-year-old adult white male who was reportedly threatening to kill himself.
A person familiar with the individual made the initial call to [...]
NLC 2006: Day 2
December 7, 2006 – 5:00 pm
I snapped this photo of the mountains east of Reno out the window of my 7th floor hotel room. The sun was dropping quickly and was casting a shadow on the city, but showering a beautiful sunset on the mountains.
I spent most of the day inside today at the National League of Cities (NLC) conference. [...]
National League of Cities: Day 1
December 6, 2006 – 9:16 pm
I’m attending the National League of Cities annual conference in Reno, Nevada this week. Today was Day 1 of the conference. The big event today was the opening of the show room floor. There were over 100 vendors of all sorts. I picked up information from vendors selling products for trail maintenance, new lapel pins, [...]
