The Blog from City Hall

There was a big meeting at Camp Eden Wood this morning. The City and Friendship Ventures hosted the Minnesota Senate’s Capital Investment Committee today for an hour long breakfast meeting/presentation. The Committee was here as part of their due diligence to learn about the projects that are under consideration for inclusion in the 2008 State bonding bill.

We have a project. Eden Prairie has submitted a requested for just under $6,300,000 for a major renovation of Camp Eden Wood. So today we had the opportunity to woo the Senator’s support. I told them what we wanted and why we wanted it. Our project architect told them the details of the project. Friendship Ventures staff shared the Friendship Ventures story and what they would do if the camp were to receive the state funds. And we ended the presentation with presentations from three families whose children use the camp. They were inspirational and motivational stories which I hope stay in the memories of the Senators.

Following the presentation the Senators got into their van and drove back into the camp area a little further to see some of the buildings that might be removed and hear a little bit more about the history of the camp.

I think the presentation went pretty well. We will follow-up with the Senators and get ready to push this initiative ahead in 2008.

I don’t get to do much international diplomacy in my capacity as Eden Prairie’s city manager, but occasionally the opportunity presents itself and yesterday was just such an opportunity.

I had the opportunity to welcome Loudi City (China) Vice Mayor Xintao Xiao and her traveling delegation to City Center yesterday. A little over two years ago the City of Eden Prairie and Loudi City made an agreement called the “strategic community partnership”. The agreement encourages both cities to keep in contact to help increase the level of political and economic understanding between the people of our respective cities and countries. The Vice Mayor and her delegation were in Eden Prairie yesterday to meet with city and school officials as part of her official travels in the United States on behalf of the Loudi City municipal government. Most of their time in Eden Prairie was dedicated to meetings with School District officials to discuss the results of recent student and teacher exchanges and to plan additional exchanges in the future.

Vice Mayor Xiao is the Vice Mayor in the Loudi City municipal government in charge of education. K-12 education is the responsibility of the city government in Loudi. Vice Mayor Xiao serves the Mayor of Loudi almost as a Superintendent of Schools/School Board chair for Loudi city schools. She is a physician by training is still the Chairwoman of The Red Cross Society of Loudi City. She is an engaging internationalist. She wants to learn how education is managed in the United States. As much as we are amazed by the proficiency of Chinese students to master the rigors of math and science, the Chinese are amazed by the abilities of our students to solve complex multifaceted problems both as teams and as individuals.

Our visit was short. She had time to exchange gifts and stand for photos in our Council Chambers. Vice Mayor Xiao invited the Mayor and I to visit Loudi City. I told her that we would discuss her invitation with the City Council and that we both hoped we might travel to Loudi someday as official representatives of Eden Prairie.

We held our Fall 2007 Town Hall Meeting last night at Fire Station #4. We had 26 residents (not counting elected officials and staff) attend the meeting. 11 residents spoke. We had five speakers in favor of the City continuing to employee an immigrant services liaison; three express concerns about the change in fees at the Community Center; one was concerned about the City’s Capital Improvement Program budget; one concerned about the way we do the Town Hall Meetings; and one concerned (primarily) about our deer management program.

It was cold out last night, but it was warm in the fire station. We had plenty of microphones and speakers, but the acoustics weren’t so good. The evening wrapped up at around 7:45 pm.

The resident that commented about our Town Hall Meetings offered some insightful nuggets for us. We’ve been having our Town Hall Meetings out in the community - intentionally outside of City Hall - in order to attract more and different people to our meetings and to provide an atmosphere that is less formal and less stressful for the average citizen. The downside of taking these meetings outside of our Council Chambers, however, is that the logistics sometimes get in the way of very simple things like being able to physically hear the residents speaking. If we continue to have Town Hall Meetings in 2008, we may bring them back into our Council Chambers and do something unique with the live television feed, telephones and email. Maybe something like a “Virtual Town Hall Meeting”?

We received a presentation this morning at our Rotary Club meeting from representatives of the City’s Community Technology Task Force. In the photo, that’s Eden Prairie A.M. Rotary Club President Greg Albrecht on the left. Immediately to Greg’s left is Bill Coleman. Bill is an independent consultant from a company called Community Technology Advisers. Bill assisted the City’s Community Technology Task Force. To Bill’s left is Kiran Mysore. Kiran is an IT manager at GE Capital here in Eden Prairie. Kiran chaired our task force. And last, but not least, to Kiran’s left is David Lindahl. David is the City’s Economic Development Manager. David was the City’s official liaison to the task force.

The City Council approved the creation of the task force to study the public and private telecom infrastructure in Eden Prairie with the goal of providing answers to three fundamental questions:

1. What is the telecom infrastructure in Eden Prairie?

2. What do we need in the way of telecom infrastructure in Eden Prairie?

3. How do we get the telecom infrastructure that we need in Eden Prairie?

The task force included representatives from some of the City’s largest private companies (ADC, GE, SUPERVALU, CH Robinson), small businesses, home-based business, and public organizations, such as the Eden Prairie Library and Eden Prairie Schools. The task force established a vision; conducted an open public process and produced a final report which is available at the “Special Reports” section of the City’s website. The recommendations of the final report are organized under five headings: Digital Inclusion, Competitive Environment, Gathering Data, Municipal Considerations, and Next Steps.

I’m not going to get into the details of the report findings because I’d like people to go to our website and take a look at the full report. The Council has received the report and final presentation from the task force. City staff will be using the final report recommendations as a basis to build our 2008 Work Plans, so take a look at this document. You’ll be seeing it put to use in Eden Prairie very soon.

What a headline: “It’s Too Easy For EP”. And boy, was it ever.

The photo kind of gives it away, but for those of you who don’t already know, Eden Prairie High School wrapped up the Minnesota 5A football state championship on Friday night with a very convincing win over the second best team in the state, Cretin-Derham Hall, by the score of 50-21. If you missed the game, read John Millea’s account of it in the Saturday, November 24 edition of the Star Tribune at this link: Eden Prairie 50, Cretin-Derham Hall 21.

I was at the game. I missed the opening five minutes of the game because while I arrived 30 minutes before game time, there weren’t enough ticketing windows open causing long lines of fans outside the stadium. That was more than a wee bit frustrating for those of us in line, let me tell you. When I finally got in the score was 7-7 and I thought that maybe Cretin was going to give Eden Prairie a game.

And they did give us a game, for a quarter. But then EP turned it on in the second quarter and it was over from there. EP scored every time they had the ball recording 30 first downs in a game that is only 48 minutes long. The Eagles completely dominated Cretin in the second half keeping their exciting offense on the sidelines by grinding out long drives on the ground and consuming the clock. It must have been frustrating for Cretin and their fans to watch. Had to be.

Congratulations to the Eden Prairie Eagles for the big win! That’s two years in a row. They ended the 2007 football season ranked #1 in the state of Minnesota and #25 nationally by Rivals.com…and that was before the win over Cretin-Derham Hall in the championship game. Can they make it three in a row next year? Who knows, but the start of the 2008 high school football season is less than 300 days away…..and counting.

I call the feedback I get from blog “blogback“. Occasionally I like to share snippets of recent blogback with my readers so that you can get a feel for the kind of things that people react to when reading my blog. Here’s just a few:

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Blogback #1: “I’ve been following your blog for awhile now — great forum for extra

information going in Eden Prairie. I was hoping, either through a direct email or through your blog entries,

to describe the work on Valleyview Road just east of Prairie Center Drive. As a further suggestion, maybe you could include more regular periodic updates about the road and other construction going on in the city.

Thanks.”

Scott said: I followed up with the request directly to tell the writer what was happening on Valley View Road.

Blogback #2: “I was reading your entry about the goose problem, and I was wondering if you

ever considered landscaping to prevent geese. It’s so effective; they did

it at Como Park and I used to see huge amounts of geese and now I don’t

think I’ve seen a single goose all summer. Basically, geese like expanses

of lawn and you just need to create barriers around water and throughout the

lawn like shrubs and native plants to deter them. I’m surprised no one in

your community has thought of this, it’s not like it’s an unusual or

expensive solution. I think you’ll find this an incredibly effective and cost effective long

term solution.”

Blogback #3: “Why can’t we take steps to increase the amount of water available to pump

per day? Bloomington has no watering restrictions because they got out front

of the problem and secured enough water. We do not have to have watering restrictions year after year if the proper planning is put in place. I think the Community Center should be run by a private (for profit)

company - supplying water is a service that should be managed by the city.

You should increase our water supply instead of advertising false shortages. Thanks for your time,”

Scott said: I assured this person that the City was not creating false water shortages. I told him that our water supply is controlled by how much water we can pump out of the earth, and that is regulated by the State of Minnesota. Bloomington is in a different position because they have a water system interconnection with the City of Minneapolis which uses the Mississippi River as its water source.

Blogback #4: “Hi Scott, I have been reading the Eden Prairie Blogs for a while now. Even though I

do not live in EP I find them interesting to see how another see is doing things. I have never commented before but after reading Andrew Sullivan’s guest blog I have too. He needs his own blog! Who would have thought he could make new water meters that funny. I think there might be some space on the page

with Dan Carlson’s departure…. Keep of the good blogs

Scott said: I thanked this fellow for reading the blog, and passed along his praise to Andrew Sullivan, which, if you haven’t read it, is a wonderful essay on the pleasures and dangers of reading water meters. If you haven’t read it, use the search function on my blog to go back to the middle of 2007. Read it. It’s pretty good. In fact, I recommend reading all the guest bloggers I’ve had this year. They are insightful and provide a nice change of pace from my writing style.

Our 2007 Fall Town Hall Meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday night, November 27. The Town Hall meeting will begin at 7:00 pm. It will be held at the City’s newest fire station - Fire Station #4 - which is located near the intersection of Dell Road and Highway 312. This photo was taken at the City’s 2006 Fall Town Hall Meeting. It was held in the auditorium at Summitt Place Senior Living Center. It was a very nice venue, with a very nice audience. We even had the chance to dine with the Summitt Place residents prior to the event.

In 2004 and 2005, we held off-site Council meetings at the Eden Prairie Library, Eden Prairie Center mall, and the Riley Jacques Barn. The logistics of holding formal off-site Council meetings became formidable, so we decided to adapt our goals and practices into the Town Hall Meeting format. We have been holding two Town Hall meetings each year for the past two years. We have been holding one in mid spring and one in mid fall. The Town Hall meetings are always held “off-site” - meaning they are held outside of the City Council Chambers in City Center. We’ve held previous Town Hall meetings at Forest Hills Elementary School (spring 2006) and Hennepin Technical College (spring 2007).

The purpose of the Town Hall Meeting is to give residents a chance to share their ideas, thoughts, complaints and commendations directly with the City Council. Residents may share whatever is on their mind, as long as it can be (at least) loosely connected to city government. We like to hold our Town Hall Meetings off-site because the City Council Chambers are “our turf”. The Chambers can be an intimidating place for residents to address the Council. We think the off-site locations provide a more neutral venue and a lower key atmosphere for citizens to share what’s on their minds.

We ask residents to fill out a comment/question card when they arrive at the venue. We then send those cards up to the Mayor, who facilitates the event. The Mayor then calls on people to come to the microphone and address the Council. The format of our Town Meetings is meant to provide a chance for residents to speak to the City Council, not for the City Council to speak to the residents. The City Council speaks to the residents in our standard formal Council Meetings during the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month. That’s what makes our Town Hall Meetings are great opportunity for residents. Our format requires Council Members, and senior City staff members, to listen to you speak.

What’s more, not only do we listen to you speak, we respond to what you tell us. That response may be a piece of information. It may be a change in the way we do something. It may be a commitment to have a Council conversation about your concern in the future. It may be a polite rejection of your idea. If you share something with us that asks for a reply, you’ll get one. I can’t guarantee it will be the reply that you want, but I can guarantee you a reply.

The microphone will be open next Tuesday, November 27 at Fire Station #4. There’s nothing else on the agenda that night, except the most important thing a local government can do for its citizens: listen to them.

Here is my weekly Friday Report to the City Council for Friday, November 16, 2007:

OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER½Friday Report

DATE: November 16, 2007

TO: Mayor and City Council

FROM: Scott H. Neal, City Manager

RE: Friday Report for November 16, 2007

1. Thanksgiving - Next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. City offices are closed on both Thanksgiving Day and the Friday following Thanksgiving.

2. LMC Fall Meeting - The League of Minnesota Cities annual fall metro regional meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 29 at the Hotel Sofitel in Bloomington. The meeting starts with registration at 1:30pm and adjourns at around 7:30pm. If any Council Members are interested in attending this event, please contact Lorene if you would like our assistance to register.

3. Employee News - We have four new employees who have just started or will be joining us soon. Kari Knoll is our new Communications Coordinator. She starts her new job on November 26. Lori Kerns is our Human Resources Technician. She also starts on November 26. Mark Pearson is a new Street Maintenance Worker who will start on November 19. Jerad Hoff is a new 9-1-1 Police Dispatcher who started on November 6. Welcome aboard!

4. NIAOP Fiscal Disparities Information - Attached to this report is a new publication from NIAOP that explains the State’s Fiscal Disparities program. Eden Prairie is the second largest net-contributor of commercial/industrial tax base to this program.

5. MLC Legislative Agenda - Enclosed with this week’s FYI Packet is the draft legislative agenda for the Municipal Legislative Commission. If you have any questions or concerns about the draft agenda, please let me know. The MLC Board is scheduled to review and approve a final legislative agenda on December 13.

6. Faces of Change Exhibit - The Human Rights & Diversity Commission is sponsoring an exhibit at the Eden Prairie Library on November 29 from 6:30-8:30 pm called “Faces of Change” which details the ways in which immigration, both past and present, has changed the face of Minnesota. We have distributed information to the Council on our outsourced human services contracts. The HRDC will extend a formal invitation to Council Members to attend this event.

7. Senate Capital Investment Committee - City staff met with Friendship Ventures staff to begin planning for the upcoming site visit to Camp Eden Wood of the Minnesota Senate Capital Investment Committee on Friday, November 30 in connection with the City’s request for funding through the 2008 State Bonding Bill to improve the camp. The visit is 8:30-9:15am. This site visit will be a very important opportunity for the City and Friendship Ventures to make the case for an investment by the State into Camp Eden Wood. Council Members are welcome to attend this event.

8. CMS Presentation - I spoke to the students in Lea Ann Thielman’s CMS class this week about city managers and city government, in general, and what they liked and didn’t like about Eden Prairie, in particular. It was a group of 13 and 14 year old kids. They liked the Eden Prairie High School football team. They think we should build a bigger high school football stadium. They like the mall. They think we need a Perkins restaurant. They want Krispy Kreme to return. They miss the basketball hoops Briar Hill Park. They think that snow plow drivers have bad hours, that Regional Center Drive is a boring name for a street, and that I do a lot of paperwork. That’s a short summary of what I heard.

9. Planning for 2008 Council Retreat - Department Directors and I are meeting next week to begin the planning process for a 2008 City Council Retreat sometime in January. As I said at this week’s Council Meeting, I would like Council Members to begin firming up your personal and work calendars for January 2008 so that we can try to schedule this retreat at our December 3 Council meeting.

10. Year End Report - Staff are currently working on assembling stories and photos for our annual report. If you have any suggestions for the report, please pass them on to me at your earliest convenience.

- end -

Here are just a few photos from our 2007 Veterans Day event at Purgatory Creek Park. It was a perfect beautiful fall day. Just perfect. We had a great turnout at the event. I’d say close to 300. Bigger than last year. Next year will be bigger than this year.

The Patriot Guard was there. They are a group of veterans who attend the funerals of military personnel and provide a necessary level of security to protect the decorum of the funeral from protesters and others who try to disrupt military funerals. They were welcomed at our event by Mayor Phil Young who emceed the event. State Senator David Hann, State Representatives Erik Paulsen and Maria Ruud and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar attended the event and lent their voices to sharing the stories of some specially honored veterans.

We raised the flags at the site of the future veterans memorial for the first time. Next year, we hope to have more progress on the memorial to show off. John Mallo, the key guy in the veterans memorial committee (tan trench coat and white hair) announced that local businessman Ed Flaherty (in the final photo above) has agreed to donate $100,000 to the memorial effort in the form of a challenge grant. Over the next year, he will match donations dollar for dollar to turn his $100,000 gift into a $200,000 gift. That’s about what the committee needs to finish the project. It’s going to happen. I hope it can happen in time for next year. That will be a challenge, but it’s certainly a challenge that’s worth taking on.

I found this interesting website: http://www.compsych.com/jsp/en_US/core/home/index.jsp?cid=1 by following a link in this month’s Employer’s Association newsletter. I like to read this newsletter because it gives me some insight into HR and payroll issues in the private sector. I found this particular news story on the disconnect between managers and employees on strees in the work place to be an interesting read. What do you think?

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Jennifer Hudson ComPsych® Corporation (312) 595-4048 www.compsych.com

Stress Disconnect: 60 Percent of Employees Report High Levels of Stress; Managers Beg to Differ Only 45 Percent of Managers Perceive Workers as Highly Stressed

CHICAGO - Jun. 25, 2007 - The majority of employees report having high levels of stress, while less than half of managers think their workers are highly stressed, according to ComPsych’s StressPulse SM survey. ComPsych Corporation is the world’s largest provider of employee assistance programs and the worldwide leader in GuidanceResources (EAPs, behavioral health, work-life, wellness and crisis intervention services). “The results of this study suggest managers may be kidding themselves in terms of their workers’ stress levels,” said Dr. Richard A. Chaifetz, chairman and CEO of ComPsych. “Employee stress is not always outwardly visible in the workplace. Rather, it often manifests itself in increased absences and reduced productivity. “Managers should be attuned to employee workloads and stress levels, and should ensure employees are aware of available support services,” he added. “This can include employee assistance and work-life programs, which help employees better manage stress and work-life balance.” HR managers were asked: Do you believe your workforce is stressed? 45 percent Said employees have high levels of stress 42 percent Said employees have constant but manageable stress levels 13 percent Said employees have low stress levels Employees’ StressPulse Results - First Half, 2007 Stress Levels Point Change from 2H06 60 percent Have high levels of stress, with extreme fatigue/feeling out of control +5 33 percent Have constant but manageable stress levels -9 7 percent Have low stress levels +4 Work Priorities 57 percent See accomplishing basic responsibilities as most important 0 25 percent See being present as most important 0 18 percent See performance improvement as most important 0 Causes of Stress 35 percent Cite people issues -1 37 percent Cite workload -1 18 percent Cite juggling work and personal life -4 10 percent Cite lack of job security +6 Impact of Stress Upon Daily Productivity 42 percent Lose 1 hour or more per day in productivity due to stress +2 35 percent Lose 15 - 30 min. per day in productivity due to stress -3 23 percent Report productivity is unaffected by stress +1 Impact of Stress Upon Attendance Point Change from 2H06 49 percent Miss 1 to 2 days per year due to stress +2 30 percent Miss 3 to 6 days per year due to stress -3 21 percent Miss more than 6 days per year due to stress +1 Impact of Stress Upon Effectiveness 56 percent Come to work 1 to 4 days per year when too stressed to be effective +8 22 percent Come to work 5 or more days per year when too stressed to be effective -3 22 percent Say stress does not impact effectiveness -5 Impact of Personal Tasks Upon Daily Productivity 52 percent Lose less than 30 min. per day due to personal tasks -10 25 percent Lose 30 min. per day due to personal tasks +12 23 percent Lose more than 1 hour per day due to personal tasks -2 Most Common Reasons for Absences 40 percent Cite stress and personal relationship issues -6 41 percent Cite medical reasons/illness (self) +3 19 percent Cite caregiving responsibilities +3 Coping Strategies for Stress 62 percent Take frequent “stress breaks” at work to talk with others -4 28 percent Work harder +4 10 percent Take a day off 0 The StressPulse survey was conducted from April 1 to May 2, 2007, receiving responses from employees of more than 1,000 ComPsych client companies nationwide.

About ComPsych Founded in 1984, ComPsych is the world’s largest provider of employee assistance programs and is the leading provider of fully integrated EAP, behavioral health, work-life, wellness, crisis intervention services and outsourced HR solutions under the GuidanceResources brand. ComPsych provides services to more than 25 million individuals and 10,000 organizations throughout the U.S. and 92 countries. Clients range from the Fortune 500 to smaller public and private concerns as well as government entities and Taft-Hartley groups. ComPsych creates “Build-to-Suit” programs which help employers attract and retain employees as well as improve employee productivity and performance. For more information, visit www.compsych.com

Sunday, November 11 is Veterans Day in the United States. There will be a recognition of local veterans in Eden Prairie at Purgatory Creek Park at 11:00 am on Sunday morning. The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. If you can go to the event, you should. It will be emceed by Mayor Phil Young. Speakers will include State Rep Maria Ruud, State Rep. Erik Paulsen, State Senator (and Vietnam Veteran) David Hann and United States Senator Amy Klobuchar.

The event will also be marked by the “First Flag Raising” at the site of the future Eden Prairie Veterans Memorial. The memorial will be a permanent way for Eden Prairie residents to recognize the contributions of our local veterans. For more information about the event, check out this website:

Eden Prairie Veterans Memorial.

I’ll see you there.

I did not take this photo this morning, but I’ll be taking a photo almost like it in a few weeks. As we get ready for winter in Eden Prairie this year we’ve got something new we have to talk about. On October 25, the City Council adopted a new ordinance requiring some property owners to remove snow and ice from public sidewalks and trails adjoining their property. We mailed out notice of the new ordinance and snow removal requirements to residents and business owners with properties located in the area covered by the snow and ice removal plan this week. That was over 3,000 individual letters. Needless to say, we’re getting a lot of calls this week asking for clarification and telling us this ordinance is a bad idea.

Until this new ordinance, the City removed snow from sidewalks, so this is a change. The purpose of this ordinance is to expand the network of sidewalks and trails available for public use in the winter months and ensure the safety of pedestrians, especially children walking to and from school. This new plan requires the City to clear more areas than it cleared in the past while relying on a partnership with property owners to assist with snow removal on some sidewalks and trails. The new ordinance requires these property owners to remove snow and ice from a 5-foot width of the public sidewalks or trails abutting or adjoining their property, with the exception of any trails running between or behind homes or private property.

This will be our first winter of the new City-Resident sidewalk snow removal partnership. We know there will be kinks. We’ll work through them. We believe this new ordinance will make Eden Prairie a better place in which to live in the winter.

This is Mike Bosacker. For over twenty years, Mike was a Police Officer for the City of Eden Prairie Police Department. He started her as a youngster and worked his way up to the rank of Captain, the second highest ranking position in our PD, by the time of his retirement earlier this year.

Mike was the best. Good judgment. Good leader. Good storyteller. During the last couple of years here, we “loaned” Mike to the Minnesota Joint Analysis Center (MnJAC) as our contribution to help get an intelligence fusion center started in Minnesota. There were some other cities and counties involved in that effort too, but it was Mike Bosacker that got thing established and moving forward.

This photo comes from a front page Star Tribune story from yesterday’s newspaper. The story talks about the MnJAC and the implications of the MnJAC’s activities on personal privacy and liberty in America.

I’ll be the first to say that I care about personal privacy and liberty, but the work that Mike and his colleagues are doing at the MnJAC is critical to maintaining the personal freedom and liberty that we believe is our God-given right in this country. Yes, we have more government officials looking over our shoulders now than we’ve had in the past. That’s regrettable. But as long as it’s people like Mike Bosacker who are in that important position of authority, you need not worry. He’s not just looking over your shoulder. He’s got your back.

In photo #1 (L) you can see TGI Friday’s in the background. Until a week ago, there was a building that blocked this view. In photo #3 (R) you can see the south side of an auto repair business. Until a week ago, you couldn’t see this view either because there was a building that blocked this view. In photo #2 (M) you can see the shell of a building that is being dismantled piece by piece by a backhoe. You can click on any of these photos to see them in a larger view.

What’s going on here? The answer is: Windsor Plaza. The new Windsor Plaza development has started. The Windsor Plaza development is located on Flying Cloud Drive west of Eden Prairie Center mall. It is bounded on the south by Regional Center Drive; on the west by Wal-Mart; and on the north by Singletree Drive. The project involved the demolition of three older multi-story commercial buildings at the site and replacing them with a five story development that will knock your socks off. There will be office, ground floor retail, two new restaurants and new public parking deck. This development is the start of our new Town Center initiative.

Check on it from time to time. Watch the progress. We expect big things from this development. It will be something that Eden Prairie will be proud of.