Monthly Archives: May 2008

The Graduate

What are you going to do this weekend? I’m going to read the Police Department’s 2007 Annual Report; plan for my new intern to start on Monday; and (no foolin’) review our new Draft Goose Management Plan.
But the most important thing that I’m going to do this weekend is to attend the high school graduation [...]

Congrats to Communications!

Congratulations to the City’s Communications Division staff (L-R: Kari Knoll, Joyce Lorenz and Katie Beal) and the City for receiving three awards last week at the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators annual Northern Lights Awards ceremony.
We got an Award of Excellence, the highest level of achievement for government communications in the state of Minnesota, in [...]

The Session Is Over

The Minnesota State Legislature has wrapped up its 2008 legislative session. I’ve seen some media reports that throw in the “finally” between the words ‘has’ and ‘wrapped’. There are lots of things the legislature could be criticized for, but you’ve got to give them some credit for completely their session on time. They needed to [...]

ROD

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has issued its official Record of Decision (ROD) for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that was prepared by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) for their proposed improvement projects for Flying Cloud Airport (FCM). I know, TMAIOS (Too many acronyms in one sentence).
This is an important decision because it marks the [...]

Rededication

These are three photos from the grand opening and re-dedication of the Eden Prairie Community Center this past Saturday. It was a beautiful sunny morning to hear a few speeches and cut the ribbon. We had a small turnout initially, but it grew throughout the early afternoon. The Community Center staff gave tours, served cake [...]

National Peace Officers Memorial Day

The is the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial in St. Paul. The memorial is dedicated to the lives of the men and women who have dedicated their lives to keeping the peace and enforcing the laws in our communities.
I am including this photo in my blog today because it is May 15, National Peace Officers Memorial [...]

Eden Prairie in the Business Section

It’s not hard to see references to Eden Prairie businesses and residents in the Business section of the Star Tribune. I see it almost everyday. This past Monday there wasa very nice story about Eden Prairie resident and business owner Kelli Hueler (that’s her photo) and her company Hueler Associates. The story discusses Kelli’s business [...]

Strive

I attended the Eden Prairie A.M. Rotary Club’s annual Strive Banquet today at the Community Center. The banquet is the Rotary Club’s chance to recognize the participants of the Strive program which is a mentoring program sponsored by the Rotary Club at Eden Prairie High School. The banquet give a chance for each mentor to [...]

Jeff Berg: Rest In Peace

I attended the funeral today of Officer Jeff Berg at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Chaska. Jeff passed on last Tuesday after a long struggle against cancer.
There were many family members today at the service, including almost every officer, records clerk and 911 dispatcher in our Police Department. He worked in our Police Department for [...]

Stepping Up and Out at the Senior Center

May is Senior Awareness Month in Eden Prairie, as so declared by the Eden Prairie City Council. The Council has recognized Senior Awareness Month every year since 1993. It’s a good idea for every city to take stock of the importance of their senior population, at least for one month during the year. I think [...]

Thumbs Up, Again

I had my annual performance review with the City Council last night. The Council hires an outside consultant to facilitate the review. The consultant seeks employee input, blends that with Council input, and then adds my self-assessment input. The consultant presents the full report to the Council in a closed session. I do not attend [...]

From Intern to Peer

That’s Kristi Luger. Kristi is the new City Manager for the City of Excelsior. She started there on Monday, April 21. I went up to Excelsior today to take her out for lunch to welcome her to the Twin Cities.
Actually, it’s really more like welcoming her back to the Twin Cities. You see, Kristi is [...]

Fighting Crime with Officer Fietek

I had the opportunity this past Friday to spend a couple of hours fighting crime with Officer Chris Fietek. To be honest, she fought crime. I observed her. During our two hours together, we responded to a medical call of a resident who thought he was having a heart attack; issued two traffic tickets; and [...]

We’re #1 (in 2006)

The State Auditor conducts an annual review of the profitability of municipal liquor stores each year. They do this as part of their “watch-dog” role over local governments. They want citizens to know if their local municipal liquor stores are losing money or are creating a drain on local property taxes, instead of creating additional [...]