The Blog from City Hall

The City Council held a special workshop last night to continue deliberating on the proposed 2008-2009 City budget. I led off the night with a presentation of the newest version of the budget, which we call version 1.8. Version 1.8 looks like this:

City Services: City service levels in v1.8 are similar to the City’s current level of services. The two employee positions in our Housing & Community Services Division that had been proposed for reduction have been included back into v1.8. V1.8 also includes a new Police Officer, new IT employee and new Facilities employee at the Community Center in 2008. It also includes the reduction of three staff positions in 2009 through attrition. It provides a market rate wage increase for City employees in both 2008 and 2009. It also plans for all new amenities to open on time at the Community Center in 2008. General Fund spending increases 4.8% in 2008 and 3.1% in 2009 in v1.8.

City Taxes: You can’t have City services without City taxes. Taxes increase in 2008 and 2009 under v1.8. However, I believe the tax increase can be fairly described as very modest by any reasonable standard. The City property tax increase for the Median Single Family Home required to fund v1.8 will be less than 1.0% in both 2008 and 2009. For the taxpayer in the Median Single Family Home (valued at $374,800) that tax increase is $9.00 in 2008. Not $9/per day. Not $9/week. Not $9/month. That’s a $9 increase for the year. It’s another $9/year increase in 2009.

V1.8 keeps current City services in place and limits the rate of growth of City taxes. What are we doing in v.18 that makes this rare combination possible? Two things. Thing #1: We are Transferring In $250,000 from reserves into the General Fund in 2008 and another $250,000 in 2009. Thing #2: We are reducing our annual $1,000,000 Capital Improvement Plan tax levy to $750,000 in 2008 and to $900,000 in 2009. The impact of both these actions is that they both add revenue to the General Fund, which means the City can lower the level of tax it needs to collect in 2008 and 2009.

There are many details in a $40,000,000 annual operating budget. Many indeed. But we’re working through them and we’ll be ready to go with our annual Truth-In-Taxation hearing on December 3. That’s the Big Night for city budgets across the state of Minnesota. We’ll be ready with our final budget by then.

It’s Monday, October 29 today and yet I’m writing about something that happened on Saturday, October 6. I should have written about our annual Police & Fire Open House back then, but I misfiled my photos of the event and moved on to other things. But I found the photos this morning, so we’ll take a short trip back into the past.

It was a beautiful autumn morning on Saturday, October 6. There was a chill in the air, but only a wisp of clouds in the sky. It was a perfect day for our annual Police & Fire Open House. We do this annual event for a couple of reasons. We want residents to feel comfortable around our public safety people and equipment. We know from our 2006 Quality of Life Survey, and from plenty of anecdotal experience, that the more residents come into direct contact with city employees, the more they trust them and the more confidence they have in their competency. This event provides a forum for contact with our residents that is second to none.

Another reason we organize and present an Open House is because it provides an opportunity for internal team building and staff development. This is a complex event. It takes a lot of planning and good team work for it to come off the way the way it does. Those are important skills to build in a Police Department and Fire Department. The event also requires these two departments to work together. Cooperation and teamwork between our Police and Fire Departments is an important part of our public safety culture in Eden Prairie. This event helps to reinforce that.

The most obvious reason for the event, however, is: The Kids. It’s a lot of fun to be around kids at this event. They have a great time meeting McGruff, shooting a fire fire hose, sitting in a Police squad car and, of course, “driving” the Fire Truck.

Hats off to our Police and Fire employees for a great Open House. A good time was had by all.

I’ll give a short update today on the status of the Community Center remodeling project. If you haven’t drive by the Community Center are lately, you’re missing a big construction project. The new baseball stadium is essentially completed and waiting patiently for the Boys of Spring to give it a go next year. There is what appears to be a nice carpet of green grass on the field right now, but it’s much too tender to play on. We’re hoping it will be sturdy enough to play on next year.

Next to baseball stadium, just to the west, is a new parking area. I took the photo on the left from the new second floor of the Community Center looking east toward the baseball stadium. You can see the lights of the stadium and the new parking area in the foreground. You can also see the new drop-off area for the Community Center.

In the photo in the center is a view of the second floor fitness area looking to the south, toward Round Lake. The new fitness area will be full of fitness machines and TV screens, but is designed to be very open. There will be several large south facing windows to bring natural light into the new space, which is at least five times larger than our current fitness area at the Community Center.

The photo on the right shows the area where we considered installing a “green roof” earlier this year. That big opening will be a large window when sometime very soon making this roof area very visible to people who use the second floor of the facility. This area, while it would have been a good place for a “green roof” is also where we can expand the building vertically someday, so if we would have installed the green roof here, we would have had to move it for any kind of vertical expansion project in the future.

The project is going well. The fitness area is still on schedule to be open by January 1, 2008. The full project is still slated to be completed by the end of March 2008.

If you drive by the SW Station area in Eden Prairie this week, chances are you are going to slow down and dodge a little bit of late season construction action. This is a photo of the work being done in Technology Drive. This is a good thing. The SW Transit station, Culvers and the group of restaurants in the strip building are getting new water and sewer utilities this week.

If you’re familiar with the area, you’ve seen blue plastic pipes laying on the ground for the better part of the summer. This was the public water supply for the buildings in the SW Station area. For reasons which are still being sorted out, the underground utilities in the area failed and needed to be replaced. A water supply line laying on the ground in the summer is not great, but it is feasible. In the winter, it’s neither good, nor is it feasible. It looks like the property owners are going to get this project done just before things start to get really cold here.

We are expecting them to finish this project by the end of this week.

This is a photo I took of former Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens and Max McGee, former Green Bay Packer great and Twin Cities businessman. The photo comes from the grand opening of Eden Prairie’s The Original Pancake House. The Original Pancake House restaurant is just one of many business interests that McGee maintained in the Twin Cities. The restaurant hit a niche in Eden Prairie that we needed. It was fun to meet meet him. He told a couple of good stories and showed off his Super Bowl ring, all in low key classy manner.

Mr. McGee died on Saturday from injuries sustained in a fall. There will be a public service for Mr. McGee at Grace Church here in Eden Prairie on Sunday, October 28 at 3pm. You can read more about Mr. McGee at this link to a story in today’s Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “Very, very large crowd expected at Twin Cities funeral for Packers legend Max McGee“.

Rest In Peace Max McGee.

The Eden Prairie Reads book this year is “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. The annual Eden Prairie Reads community event is tomorrow night at St. Andrews Lutheran Church. The agenda for the night looks like this:

Book discussions - 6:00-6:45 p.m.
Vietnam vet panel - 6:45-7:30 p.m.
Lynn Elling, WWII veteran presentation - 7:30-7:45 p.m.
Children honoring vets - 7:50-8:00 p.m.

Tim Kasprowicz, a teacher at Eden Prairie High School and a veteran of the Army, Bob Grant a veteran of the Marines, Lou Ellingson a veteran of Navy swift boat operations, and Wes Dunsmore a Marines infantry veteran have agreed to serve as a panel of Vietnam War veterans and to reflect on their experiences in that war. I will be moderating their discussion

The annual Eden Prairie Reads is a good opportunity to learn, talk about and consider Big Ideas as a community. There’s no admission fee. Even if you didn’t read the book, come on out to the event tomorrow night and join in the discussion.

I’ll see yo there.

City staff and City Council continued our discussions yesterday about the shape of our 2008-2009 City budget. Laurie Blake wrote a short piece about the meeting in this morning’s Star Tribune: “Eden Prairie Weighs Budget“.

We held our discussion yesterday in an extended Council workshop format. We typically start our pre-Council meeting workshops at 5:30pm, run them to around 6:30 pm, then move into our Council Chambers for Open Podium from 6:30-7:00pm. Our Council meetings start at 7:00pm sharp. We started yesterday’s Council workshop at 4:00pm in order to provide more time for presentation, discussion and some Q&A.

I gave the Council a short Power Point presentation that should the numbers that make up the four basic budget scenarios, which we are calling Version 1.0, Version 2.0, version 3.0 and Version 4.0. We also have variations on those four basic budgets: Version 3.1, 3.2, 4.1 and 1.5. That’s a lot of numbers to keep straight. Not only that, it’s a lot of operational scenarios to keep straight as well. Each budget version has tax and service implications for our residents. It’s important for our Council Members to have a good understanding of each budget version and its respective operational impacts so that they will be able to make the best decision when they approve the budget sometime during the next 7-8 weeks. So even though it seems like we may be spending more time talking about the budget this year than in previous years, that’s not a bad thing. Council Members take their budget responsbilities very seriously. Talking is good. Not talking about the budget would be a real problem.

Next up for the Council on this matter: A special Council workshop scheduled for Tuesday, October 30 at 6:00 pm in the City Council Chambers. This will be an entire evening dedicated to budget discussion because there is not a Council meeting that night. The Council had a robust discussion last night about the budget. I’m looking forward to helping them move that discussion through a process of culling some of the budget options on the table right now and getting down to a more specific plan. October 30 will be a good opportunity to accomplish that goal.

The Athena Award is presented annually by the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce to a man or woman in the community who demonstrates excellence, creativity and initiative in their business or profession, provides valuable service by contributing time and energy to improve the quality of life for others in the community, and actively assists women in realizing their full leadership potential.

The 2007 Athena Award Winner in Eden Prairie is our very own Eden Prairie Firefighter Kim Cummings. Kim was nominated by Fire Chief George Esbensen. The surprise announcement was made yesterday at Fire Station #1 as part of City Government Day, part of the Chamber’s Leadership Eden Prairie program. That’s Kim in the blue shirt in the photo to the left. She is flanked by representatives from the Athena Award Committee and Chief Esbensen.

We congratulate Kim as she joins more than 5,000 men and women in the United States, Canada, China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom who have received this award since its inception in 1982. First Lady of Minnesota, Mary Pawlenty, will be speaking at the Chamber of Commerce Luncheon next Thursday when Kim will be presented with the official Athena Award sculpture.

Congratulations Kim! We are very proud of you and all that you’ve accomplished for the City.

I happened upon this sight (you can click on the photo for a larger view) a couple of Friday afternoons ago. I was giving a new employee tour of Eden Prairie. This photo was taken at the intersection of Co. Rd. 62 and Dell Road, right at the border of Eden Prairie and Minnetonka. The police were there helping the driver when I rolled by. The police had already called the wrecker service to come get the vehicle, and to help clean up the post-accident mess.

A traffic signal pole is an unfortunate obstacle to hit. It’s unfortunate for the driver in two ways. First, the physics of a traffic signal require the post to be anchored very, very solidly into the ground so that it can support the horizontal weight and force of the mast arm with the weight of the signal heads. The post must support not only the weight of the signal heads, but also the weight of the signal heads multiplied by wind, rain and snow conditions. Unlike most of our traffic signs, which are designed to snap off quickly if they are hit by a vehicle, this post did not move much when the vehicle hit it. It’s not designed to move. That makes an extra physical impact on a driver that hits one.

The other unfortunate aspect of hitting a traffic signal post is that traffic signals are expensive, and when drivers hit them, we do our utmost to go after the driver’s insurance carrier to pay for the repairs. After all, if we know the party responsible for damaging public property, why shouldn’t we require that party to restore that public property to its pre-accident condition? The traffic signal post, past arm and signals in this photo would cost anywhere from $75,000-$150,000 to replace. That’s a hefty bill for an auto insurance carrier.

No word on what happened. Did the driver lose control of the vehicle? Was the driver distracted and just drove straight into the traffic signal? Did the driver hit the signal post in order to avoid hitting another vehicle, or a pedestrian, or a deer? All of these explanations are possible. The police will figure it out.

On the way into work this morning I heard the news: “Light snow in Bemidji today…..” Yes, it’s only October in Minnesota, but snow will soon be finding its way into the Twin Cities from Bemidji, and we need to be ready for it. At our City Council meeting last week, the Council approved first reading of a new ordinance which will require Eden Prairie property owners (not all of them, but most of them) to remove the snow from the sidewalks that are adjacent to their property.

The fact that city was removing snow from sidewalks in Eden Prairie until 2007 will be surprise for many of my city manager colleagues. It’s not very common for a city to do that anymore. If the Council approves the new ordinance on its second reading next Tuesday night, the new ordinance will go into effect for this winter.

The purpose of the ordinance is to expand the options available for residents to walk safely during the winter. The new system expands access to trails and sidewalks during the winter months for kids to walk to school, for joggers, dog walkers and for the general public to get from here to there. This is all accomplished by an increased city government effort, but also by asking residents to do more too. We’re splitting the new workload, so to speak.

For more information about the ordinance, check out the City’s website at www.edenprairie.org You can click on a map that give you more detail about the sidewalks and trails that are part of this new ordinance, and most importantly, who is responsible for removing the snow: you or the city. If you’re interested in reading the actual text of the ordinance, see below:

CITY OF

EDEN PRAIRIE

HENNEPIN COUNTY , MINNESOTA

ORDINANCE NO. -2007

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF EDEN PRAIRIE, MINNESOTA AMENDING CITY CODE CHAPTER 6 BY ADDING SECTION 6.21 RELATING TO SNOW AND ICE REMOVAL AND ADOPTING BY REFERENCE CITY CODE CHAPTER 1 AND SECTION 6.99 WHICH AMONG OTHER THINGS CONTAIN PENALTY PROVISIONS.

The City Council of the City of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, ordains:

Section 1. City Code Chapter 6 is amended by adding Section 6.21 which shall read

as follows:

SECTION 6.21. SNOW AND ICE REMOVAL.

Subd. 1. Purpose. The purpose of this ordinance is to require Owners and Occupants of real property to remove snow and ice from public Sidewalks and Trails that are adjacent to and abutting the public street system to prevent a public nuisance affecting the safety of the general public.

Subd. 2. Definitions. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this section shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this subsection, except when the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

A. “Daytime” for purposes of this section shall be the period of time from

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

B. “Owner” shall mean the fee owner and/or manager/agent of the building or lot as listed on the records of the Hennepin County Taxpayer’s Services Department.

C. “Occupant” shall mean the tenant or tenants with respect to one or two family dwellings, the manager or person having care, custody or control of the building or lot with respect to three family or larger dwellings, commercial premises, industrial premises, vacant lots or unoccupied buildings.

D. “Sidewalk” shall mean that 5-foot strip adjacent to or a portion of a street or highway right of way which is improved for pedestrian use and which is adjacent to the side yard or the front yard of a lot, constructed of concrete.

E. “Trail” shall mean that 8 or 10-foot strip adjacent to or a portion of a street or highway

right of way which is designated as a public recreational Trail for use by pedestrians and

bicyclists, constructed of asphalt.

F. “Last known address” shall mean the address for the Owner or Occupant as shown on the records of the Hennepin County Taxpayer’s Services Department.

G. “Department” shall mean the City of Eden Prairie Department of Public Works.

Subd. 3. Requirements for Removal of Snow and Ice.

A. The City shall be responsible for removal of snow and/or ice from Sidewalks or Trails abutting the following streets:

B. The Owner or Occupant having the care, custody and control of any building that is a

one-or two-family dwelling shall cause snow and/or ice to be removed from the public Sidewalk or Trail abutting or adjoining the lot upon which such building is situated, within the first twenty four (24) hours after the cessation of the precipitation, except from Trails or Sidewalks with the street rights of way listed in “A” above.

C. The Owner or Occupant having the care, custody or control of any building or lot (except one-and two-family dwellings) shall cause snow and/or ice to be removed from the public Sidewalk or Trail abutting or adjoining the lot upon which such building is situated, within the first eight (8) hours of daytime after the cessation of precipitation, except from Trails or Sidewalks with the street rights of way listed in “A” above.

D. Snow and ice shall be removed from the entire 5-foot width of Sidewalks. A width of 5-feet of snow and ice shall be removed from 8-foot width Trails.

E. Trails that are behind and/or between homes are specifically excluded from owner or occupant responsibility for snow and ice removal.

Subd. 4. Nuisance.Snow and/or ice which are allowed to remain upon any Sidewalk or Trail within the City referred to in Subdivision 3, B and C above for a period longer than is allowed by this section shall be declared a nuisance. The Department is authorized to remove the snow and/or ice or arrange for the removal of the same and charge the costs incurred against the abutting property Owner or Occupant.

Subd. 5. Notice.Before the Department removes the snow and/or ice, it shall serve or cause to be served upon the Owner or Occupant of the abutting property a written notice informing the Owner or Occupant that the snow and/or ice has not been removed from the Sidewalk or Trail pursuant to this section. Such notice shall describe the location of the snow and/or ice and inform the Owner or Occupant that the Department will inspect the property no earlier than twenty four (24) hours from the date of the notice to ascertain whether a nuisance exists. If upon inspection by the Department the Sidewalk or Trail is found to be in violation of this section, the Department may immediately schedule removal of the snow and/or ice by the Department or private contractor.

Subd 6. Service of Notice. Service of the notice may be completed by personal service, service by mail or by posting.

A. Personal service. Service of the notice may be completed by personal delivery of a copy to the Owner or Occupant or, in situations where the Owner or Occupant is not available, by leaving a copy of the notice with some person of suitable age and discretion at the Owner’s or Occupant’s last known address or, if applicable, by leaving a copy with the person of suitable age and discretion at the premises where the nuisance exists.

B. Service by Mail. Service of the notice may also be accomplished by mailing the notice to the last known address of the Owner or Occupant. Service by mail is complete upon mailing.

C. Service by Posting. Service of the notice may also be completed by posting a copy thereof in a conspicuous place upon the premises where the nuisance exists.

Subd. 7. Removal by City; Assessment of Costs.

If after twenty four (24) hours following service of such notice the snow and/or ice has not been removed, the City may cause its removal by the Department or private contractor. An accurate record of the costs incurred therein shall be kept by the Department. The total cost of this removal, including administrative costs, shall be charged to the Owner or Occupant of the lot abutting the Sidewalk or Trail from which the City has removed snow and/or ice. If said charges are not paid within 30 days after a bill of the charges has been mailed to the last known address of Owner or Occupant, the City Council may assess and levy, and cause to be collected, the amount of such charges as a special assessment upon and against the property and buildings involved, in the manner as provided by Minn. Stat. § 429.101 or any similar provision hereafter enacted. Such assessments shall be paid in a single installment.

Subd. 8. Non-liability of City. No claim shall be made against the City due to failure of any Owner or Occupant to comply with this section.

Section 2. City Code Chapter 1 entitled “General Provisions and Definitions Applicable to the Entire City Code including Penalty for Violation” and Section 6.99 entitled “Violation a Misdemeanor” are hereby adopted in their entirety by reference as

though repeated verbatim herein.

Section 3. This ordinance shall become effective from and after its passage and publication.

FIRST READ at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Eden Prairie on the 2^nd day of October, 2007, and finally read and adopted and ordered published at a regular meeting of the City Council of said City on the day of , 2007.

Kathleen Porta, City Clerk Phil Young, Mayor

PUBLISHED in the Eden Prairie Sun Current on the _____ day of ___________, 2007.

There’s a pretty good article in today’s Star Tribune by Mike Kaszuba that talks about the protest that is being filed by the construction companies that did not get the contracts to rebuild the I-35W bridge. Click here to read the article: “Were savvy firms duped or outsmarted?” So which would you you rather be described as: Duped or Outsmarted? Not a great choice either way.

Is it sour grapes? One has to wonder. Were the locals thinking the contract was going their way, because they were locals? Or, were they thinking that they had made enough contributions to enough state legislative campaigns that MnDOT would go their way regardless of the official process? Or, did they think that the traditional method of government contracting of awarding the bid to the “lowest responsible bidder” would prevail again, despite the fact that MnDOT’s bidding instructions for this project were very clear that they were not awarding this contract on that basis?

It’s hard to say. But what isn’t hard to say is that it’s too bad that MnDOT is now going to have to spend time and energy chasing its tail in the media, in the courts and probably in the Legislature defending its project bidding procedures rather than getting actual work done. The rules of the process were clear. They were in writing. And, yes, there are costs to putting together a bid of this complex nature and it’s disappointing when you don’t win the contract. But that’s why MnDOT paid each bidder $500,000 to cover their costs in preparing the bids. That ought to be enough.

From what I’ve seen and know about the roads and bridges in our state, there’s going to be enough money spent by MnDOT over the next decade to go around for everybody in the construction business. So let’s quit grumbling and get to work to fix the transportation infrastructure of this state.

This is Ray Mitchell. Ray was the City of Eden Prairie’s first Fire Chief, past president of the Hennepin County Fire Chiefs and former Director of Buildings and Grounds for the Eden Prairie School District for over thirty years. Ray passed away Sunday evening. Ray was, and always will be, an important part of the fire service history in Hennepin County. It was his vision that started the Eden Prairie Fire Department some 40 years ago.

A visitation for Ray was held yesterday, Oct. 2, from 4 - 8 p.m. at the Wasburn McReavy Funeral Chapel here in Eden Prairie. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at St. Hubert’s Church in Chanhassen at 11 a.m.

Ray was an Old Timer. He could remember Eden Prairie as a small town, and he was integral in helping transform the City’s emergency services as Eden Prairie grew. He will be missed. The Mayor, City Council, City staff and I extend our great appreciation to Ray and his family for the many public contributions he made to this City. He will be in many of our hearts and thoughts today.

This is Sarah Schewe. She is an Eden Prairie resident and senior at The Blake School. Sarah is the 2006-2007 recipient of the American Planning Association’s (APA) High School Essay contest. She wrote an essay titled “Affordable Housing Plan for Eden Prairie, Minnesota”. Her essay proposed a plan for the conversion of vacant land into a multifamily housing development with accessibility, a mix of market-rate and affordable housing units, co-op day care, all while preserving an existing wetland and green space. Her prize: A $5,000 college scholarship + $100 of planning books from the APA online store.

If you’d like to read her essay, click here now: Affordable Housing Plan for Eden Prairie, Minnesota

Congratulations Sarah. Good paper.