Monday Monday. It’s back to work day. Instead of an inspiring message for my blog today about budgets or storm sewers or goose management, I thought that I’d lead the week with some photos I snapped this morning at Purgatory Creek Park.

The fountains are working. The Lambert Pavilion looks good. you can see our fishing pier. And the flowers on a warm Monday morning were gorgeous.

Enjoy your Monday.

That’s me on the left and Sgt. Carter Staff on the right. This photo was snapped last week during a lunch hour cookout in the loading dock area of City Center. The cookout was care of the Police Department chaplains. The chaplains provide lunch to the Police Department employees a couple of times each year. They do it as an act of service to those who serve and because it gives them a chance to get to know our officers a bit better.

Just the week before, the City hosted its annual appreciation luncheon for the chaplains. Sgt. Staff is the chaplain program coordinator. He organized the luncheon and gave the group a few well chosen words about why the chaplaincy program is important and what it means to have chaplains available to officers and to residents who have suffered tragedy.

Some people get a little nervous when thinking about the fact that a government, such as the City of Eden Prairie, associates with churches and people of faith, such as the local ministers that serve as our chaplains. There is a history of division in our country between the government and the church. I appreciate that division. Church tethered to government is not good for the church, and vice-versa, in my opinion.

But the chaplaincy program is different. It is not a proselytizing environment for the ministers involved. There is none of that. They don’t do it. We don’t allow it. Our chaplains care for the officers needs when they are involved in public or personal tragedy. Most of us don’t encounter death scenes in our day to day work. It can be tough to deal with sometimes. Chaplains can be very helpful with the right words at the right time.

The same is true for chaplains connection to residents who forced to deal with the untimely or unexpected death of a loved one. Police officers must sometimes be the one to inform someone with tragic news. But it’s often the chaplain who can stay and talk and comfort someone until the shock of loss has dissipated. Again, chaplains are trained ans experienced in the art of comforting someone in shock and despair. They have exactly the right skill set for some of the sad situations our officers face in the community.

Our Police Department is a better Police Department because we have a chaplaincy program. We are fortunate to have them as part of our city government.

There was an editorial in the July 17 Star Tribune about affordable housing in the Twin Cities that deserves some attention, and some Eden Prairie context.

The editorial gives some credit to cities that have been working on meeting their goals and admonishes those that are not making much progress. The Metropolitan Council has a rating system that rates cities efforts in meeting their 2010 affordable housing targets. A score of zero means a city has not started toward meeting its goal. A rating of 100 means the city has met its 2010 goal. To be on track a city should have a rating of at least 67.

The best scores, so far, are: St. Francis, 152; Circle Pines, 143; New Brighton, 113; St. Anthony, 108; St. Paul, 105; Burnsville, 92; Coon Rapids, 85; Minneapolis, 75; Minnetonka 73; Chaska, 71

The worst scores, so far, are: Excelsior, 0; Dayton, 0.5; Long Lake, 1; Arden Hills, 3; Mound, 4; Orono, 4; St. Louis Park, 9; Jordan, 10; Brooklyn Park, 10; Vadnais Heights, 13.

Eden Prairie has a current affordable housing score of 70. For more information on what makes up Eden Prairie’s score, click on this link: TCHousingPolicy.org.

If you’d like to read the entire Star Trib editorial, I’ve copied it below:

Editorial: Metro failing to meet housing goals

Most cities lag far behind on affordable housing targets.

Published: July 17, 2007

http://www.startribune.com/561/story/1306204.html

The poet Robert Frost couldn’t linger in the woods, he wrote, because he had “promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.”

Dozens of Twin Cities local governments have miles to go in keeping promises made a decade ago to expedite affordable housing within their borders. More than 100 metro cities, as part of the Livable Communities Act of 1995, pledged to add 106,000 affordable homes by 2010. In exchange, the Metropolitan Council offered a broad array of development grants.

Now, 12 years later, the cities should be at least two-thirds of the way along on their goals. But most have fallen far short, producing fewer than 42,000 affordable units, or about 40 percent of the target.

Some are doing well. St. Paul and New Brighton have exceeded their 2010 goals. Minneapolis, Chaska, Coon Rapids, Minnetonka and Burnsville are ahead of schedule. Eagan, Stillwater and Eden Prairie are nearing their goals on rental units.

Other cities have made little progress, according to an analysis of 2005 Met Council statistics by TCHousingPolicy.org, a research effort of St. Paul’s Housing Preservation Project and the University of Minnesota. Among major suburbs, St. Louis Park, Brooklyn Park, Forest Lake, Apple Valley, Lakeville, Woodbury, Bloomington and Maple Grove are falling far short. Excuses abound. Most frequently cited are high land costs and low-density zoning that forbids small lots and multifamily housing. Opportunities for affordable housing are so bleak in the St. Croix valley that Washington County recently returned $440,789 in tax credits to the state for lack of proposals and possible sites.

Local governments can do nothing about land prices. But they can, and should, provide the zoning to help achieve their affordable housing goals. If they can’t do that, they should offer density bonuses, or set-asides that require a few affordable units in every market-rate project.

In reviewing a new round of comprehensive plans next year, the Metropolitan Council should cast a skeptical eye on cities falling short of housing targets. How can cities that failed to deliver in the 1995-2010 period be trusted to succeed in the 2011-2020 period to be covered by the new plans?

Good plans aren’t enough, said Timothy Thompson, president of the Housing Preservation Project. “You have to act,” he said, citing Chaska for actively seeking affordable developments.

Indeed, a stronger political will and a greater sense of regional obligation is needed. More than 170,000 lower-income families live in housing they cannot afford. The central cities and inner suburbs should not be expected to house all of the region’s needy. A metropolitan community cannot be truly strong and competitive without sharing this and other responsibilities.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Metro cities should be 67 percent on their way to meeting their 2010 targets.

• Best percentages so far: St. Francis, 152; Circle Pines, 143; New Brighton, 113; St. Anthony, 108; St. Paul, 105; Burnsville, 92; Coon Rapids, 85; Minneapolis, 75; Minnetonka 73; Chaska, 71

• Worst percentages so far: Excelsior, 0; Dayton, 0.5; Long Lake, 1; Arden Hills, 3; Mound, 4; Orono, 4; St. Louis Park, 9; Jordan, 10; Brooklyn Park, 10; Vadnais Heights, 13.

Source: TCHousingPolicy.org

Congratulations to our friends in Chaska for being named one of Money magazine’s Top Ten Best Places to Live in America for 2007. Chaska came in at #8 in the nation. You can read more about the recognition in this article from the Star Tribune: “Moneyska makes Money’s ‘Best Places to Live’ top 10“

Eden Prairie was #10 on Money magazine’s 2006 Top Ten list for the category of cities between the populations of 50,000-300,000. This year the magazine analyzed cities with populations between 7,500-50,000. Chaska fits into the latter category with a population of 22,500. Eden Prairie’s current population is around 61,000.

Chaska is a very nice small town. I wish them congratulations on their recognition. .

Earlier this year the City wrestled with a development proposal from a developer who wanted to convert the current Bent Creek Golf Course into a new residential development. The City did not grant the developer the approvals required to move their development plan forward. After not receiving the approvals, the developer threatened to sue the City. However, we’ve heard nothing from the developer in the ensuing months. Why?

We believe haven’t been sued or heard anything from the developer because there has been a case pending at the Minnesota Supreme Court called Wensmann Realty, Inc., et al., Appellants, vs. City of Eagan, Respondent. The Supreme Court finally ruled on the case last week. You can read the decision by clicking on this link: A05-1074.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper did a short story about the decision in their July 13 South edition. Here’s what they said:

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Court says Eagan may prevent homes on golf course, compensation question remains

The city of Eagan had the right to deny a developer’s plans to build homes on the former Carriage Hills Golf Course, but it’s unclear whether the city must compensate the course’s owner for the value of the property as a result, according to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

By Sarah Lemagie, Star Tribune

The city of Eagan had the right to deny a developer’s plans to build homes on the former Carriage Hills Golf Course, but it’s unclear whether the city must compensate the course’s owner for the value of the property as a result, according to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

In a decision issued Thursday, Justice Lorie Gildea wrote that Eagan cited valid reasons for refusing to change city land-use plans to let Wensmann Realty build 480 homes on the 120 acres. The city and many residents argued that the golf course, which was closed in 2004, is valuable green space and that developing it would create traffic problems and overcrowd nearby schools. But the court ordered the case returned to District Court over the compensation question.

Golf course owner Ray Rahn and Wensmann, which signed an agreement to buy the property in 2004, contested the city’s decision. They said the property was no longer profitable as a golf course and argued that the city’s refusal to allow development forces the landowner to bear the economic burden of maintaining green space that benefits the entire community.

Rahn and Wensmann won in District Court in 2005, but the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed the decision last year.

Eagan may have to pay for the property if it doesn’t want to allow development on the golf course, Gildea wrote, but only if Rahn has no other reasonable options for using the property. That’s an issue for the District Court, she wrote.

The city’s land use plan defines the golf course as parkland, where campgrounds, swimming pools, tennis courts and other recreational uses are also allowed.

Sarah Lemagie • 612-673-7557 • slemagie@startribune.com

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How all of this affects the proposal to redevelop the Bent Creek Golf Club in Eden Prairie is still unknown. City staff and legal counsel are reading the decision and conferring with other legal experts. We’ll figure it out, but it’s fair to say that the decision is a mixed bag. I would not be surprised to hear the words “Bent Creek” back in our Council Chambers later this year. Not surprised at all.

That’s a crack pipe. Why I am writing about crack pipes? Because as I’ve been working with our new Budget Advisory Commission (BAC) over the last month, I’ve been involved in more than twenty hours of formal presentations and Q&A sessions about what the City is doing; how we’re doing it; and why we’re doing it. The BAC has given me a great deal of feedback on how they think we can improve our City services and operations.

After a five hour meeting last night with the BAC, I was driving home when I happened to catch a story on CBC radio explaining that the City Council in Ottawa, Ontario had just voted 14-7 to end a City-sponsored program of providing free crack pipes to anyone who needed one. The City’s Police Chief said the program was a bad idea. It enabled people to break the law and increased drug usage. The City’s crack users said the program helped them stay healthy. Well, healthier than they would have been had they not been using crack in the first place, I suppose. Anyway, the program has been canceled. Crack users will now have to supply their own crack pipes.

At the end of this radio story I found myself thinking about the hours I’ve invested over the past month listening to my staff justify and explain to the BAC the many, many things that we do as a City. I thought they did a wonderful job of explaining the who, what, when, where, why & how of City services. And then I felt this warm feeling of relief that it wasn’t me facing the BAC or the City Council having to explain and justify a City crack pipe distribution program. Whew.

Have a nice weekend.

This is my intern this summer. His name is Luke Fischer. Luke is going to be a senior at St. John’s University this fall. He has an interest in becoming a city manager. I hope he’s still interested in that field after spending his summer with me. Luke is a pretty good guy. He has one major flaw however, and that is his wholesale rejection of my frequent use of the word “incent”. Luke is a young man, but he is a stodgy English Language Traditionalist.

Luke wants me to use the word “incentivize”. Can’t do it. In my opinion, I don’t need to do it either. The American Heritage Dictionary Online - 4^th Addition - does indeed list the word incent as a word. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary also lists the word incent as a transitive verb. Both dictionary sources also list incentivize, but lists incent as a separate and distinct listing.

Eight years ago I read a book that influenced my view of the English language. That book was “The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of the First Millennium.” It was written by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger. Good book. I recommend it. It was an excellent look back to life on the island we now refer to as England in 1000, which at the time was an island of warring tribes of Saxons, Angles, Danes, Vikings and Celts.

There was an English language in use at that time in England, but it was in its earliest stages of development. Lacey & Danziger devote considerable effort in their book to comparing and contrasting the English language of 1000 with the English language in use just 1,000 years later in 2000. They conclude that despite the fact that we speak the same language in 2000 as they did in 1000, it is so different today that it would be unintelligible to a person living in 1000, and vice-versa.

English language is a “living” language, in a metaphorical sense. There have always been new words added to the language. There have always been words that become obsolete and fall out of general use. English is a populist language. Unlike French or Latin, it has never been formally controlled by a central authority, or a ruling class or an intelligentsia. The language is controlled by the people who use it. Dictionaries, while they may be the formal repository of our language, react and respond to the use of the language, not the other way around.

In my view, that’s the way it ought to be. As long as my use of the English language successfully communicates ideas and concepts to my intended audience, who has the right or obligation to correct me? America is all about “what works, is what’s right”. I believe that is true with my language as well.

Therefore, I will continue to use the word incent as much as I want to. So there.

The City of Eden Prairie has a program to manage the local population of Canada Geese. Our program seeks to limit the size of their population in our city. We want to have less Canada Geese call Eden Prairie home for two primary reasons. They diminish the water quality of our lakes and ponds with their feces. And, they disrupt human use of beaches, yards and other public spaces.

For the past five years, the City has contracted with a former wildlife biology professor at the University of Minnesota to conduct our goose management activities. He coordinates the collection and relocation of geese out of Eden Prairie. In the early years of the program, many of the geese went to goose preserves. But the goose preserves no longer want additional geese, so geese collected under our program now go to metro area food shelves to feed the hungry and needy.

There is a high level of public support for our goose management program. But not everyone likes it. Recently, representatives from the Humane Society of the United States appeared at a City Council meeting to demand that we end our current goose management program. They believe that we can manage geese in a manner that is more humane than our current program. I agreed to examine their program. I’m looking at it now.

The HSUS has pushed the issue in the Twin Cities media. Over the past month, I’ve done several TV and newspaper interviews about goose management - a subject matter I never imagined that I’d have to master when I was in college preparing for my future career in city management. Last week, for example, KSTP - Channel 5 did a 10pm evening news story about our program. The reporter (Tim Sherno) interviewed a representative from the HSUS; an Eden Prairie resident who is pestered by geese; and me. The story was even-handed and generally accurate, and yet it created the following voice mail message for me the day after the story was on TV:

For the record, I am not an Atheist. I am a Christian. Genesis 1:26-28 fairly describes how I feel about animals. I am not a Redneck, but I did grow up in Iowa, if that’s what she means. I am not a hunter, but I don’t have any problems with people who hunt, or those who fish either. And I won’t get into whether I’m “unattractive” or not. My goodness, that’s a cheap shot.

The voice mail came from an anonymous caller, so there’s no privacy for me to protect. I don’t know who the caller is. I don’t need to know who the caller is. I decided to share this voice mail on my blog to give my readers a chance to hear the kind of feedback that we’ve received on this issue. It’s passionate, to say the least. I don’t like the cheap shots, but it comes with the territory sometimes. The 1st Amendment is a good thing. The 1st Amendment is a good thing.

The City does not operate a goose management program out of a desire to hurt animals. We do it as respectfully and as humanely as possible, and yet still achieve the level of effectiveness we are looking for. We will evaluate new ideas and techniques to manage the goose population in Eden Prairie. But, in the end, we will manage this issue for the primary benefit of our human, not our goose, population. After all, humans pay the bills.

The 4th of July is one of those holidays that is celebrated on whatever day of the week that the 4th day of July occurs. We can’t move it to Monday or Friday to make it more convenient for our workplaces. City offices are closed on the 4th of July, but we still have many City employees that are on the job. Police still work. Our 911 dispatchers are working. Firefighters are on call and ready to respond. Water Plant workers are still making water on the 4th of July. Public Works employees are picking up garbage and responding to call. Facilities Division employees are cleaning and making sure the air conditioning is working. Liquor store employees worked the 4th of July. It’s a busy day for them. And finally, lots of our Parks & Rec employees work the 4th of July because they organize and carry-out the 4th of July community celebration event at Round Lake Park.

The 4th of July week typically brings a lull in the demand for many of our services, and so we’re able to decrease our general staffing levels and allow employees to needed time away. I was out of the office on the 4th of July, 5th of July and 6th of July. A lot of my co-workers were as well. But today is the 9th of July and it’s time to get back to work.

The City has added a new step to its biennial budget preparation process. The addition is the Budget Advisory Commission (BAC). The BAC was appointed by the City Council earlier this year. The purpose of the BAC is to bring business leaders in to take a deep look at our budget with the hope that we will gain advice and insight from them to improve what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.

City staff started the BAC off with a series of educational sessions to get them familiar with city government services. Last week, staff made its first set of presentations to the BAC on the 2008-2009 budget in two separate 4-hour sessions. The BAC received presentations from the Public Works Department and Fire Department, plus the Finance Division, Communications Division, IT Division, and Administration Division. Everyone else (Parks & Rec, Police, Community Development, Human Resources, etc.) are scheduled to make their budget presentations to the BAC next week in two more 4-hour sessions.

The purpose of the budget presentations is for the BAC to offer me their feedback, input and ideas for the 2008-2009 budget. Following the completion of the initial presentations (the last one is scheduled for July 12), I will consider all of the feedback, input and ideas offered to me by the BAC and then come up with the second version of the 2008-2009 budget. This budget version will be presented to the BAC on July 25. The BAC will consider my budget recommendation and then come back together on July 31 to offer me their final recommendations. I will use their final recommendations to base my final budget version that I will advance to the City Council on August 21.

The addition of the BAC to our budget process has added work load and time to the task for preparing the budget. But, so far, so good. The BAC has added value to our process already. The act of preparing budgets for presentation to an “outside” group of business leaders has caused City staff to be more precise with their numbers and more prepared with their rationales. There’s nothing wrong with that.