4/28/11
The Council is holding a joint work session with the Parks and Planning Commissions on May 3rd at 600pm at City Hall. The agenda is sustainability and strategic planning. Based on the discussion the during the Council's 4/25 work session during which council members attempted to articulate the purpose and agenda for this joint meeting, the Insider thinks Shorewood residents should attend or watch this 5/3 meeting as a first demonstration of what this Council and especially the new members and Mayor can actually get accomplished.
See: http://windowsmedia.alphameetings.com/LMCCShorewood/042511shorewood.wmv at the 1 hour 36 minute point for the 4/25 work session video.
The Insider has the following observations and comments:
- Earlier this year, Council directed that the Planning Commission review sustainability in context of Shorewood and bring recommendations as to what sustainability means to the City. Staff, at the 4/25 meeting, reminded Council that the Planning Commission had been working on this while council member Siakel and others seemed to have forgotten despite Siakel being the council liasion to the Planning Commission.
- Lizee demonstrated she could say "sustainable" and "green." The Insider invites readers to count how many times Lizee does this and then measure how much she actually contributes to the conversation about what they mean.
- Hotvet struggles to articulate anything that's coherent as to the objectives of a 5/3 meeting.
- Siakel makes several attempts at listing agenda topics and comes close to something usable.
- Lizee wanders off on a monologue about working with other cities on the County 19 trail. Hotvet joins in later mentioning trails. Both seem to have forgotten the Trail Committee council established and of which Hotvet is a member. If council and Parks are going to discuss trails, where is the Trail Committee in the discussion?
- Lizee mentions that the Planning Commission should have a 2011 work plan. Great idea! This was supposed to have been created by staff and the Commissioners months ago, but is not in place. Siakel should be riding herd on this, but apparently is not.
- Woodruff seems to listen during the whole session and then, at the end, comments that department heads should attend, but not other staff, going on to say that department heads can bring strategy back to their staff.
- Zerby?
- Finally, Heck says he has enough to develop the 5/3 agenda. Something like making a silk purse from a sow's ear?
Watch this blog next week for more about the 5/3 meeting, sustainability and green.
Happy Reading!
The Insider
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Mayor Lizee - Doing favors?
4/23/11
During the 4/11/11 Shorewood Council Meeting, a resolution to make April 16th Healthcare Decisions Day was approved. Per the meeting packet and the discussion at the meeting, the Mayor was approached by the Grathwol Law Firm of Excelsior with a request for Shorewood to adopt this resolution. That the City would consider this seems appropriate since, among many other reasons, the Governor had already proclaimed the same.
What bothers the Insider is that the action recommended once the resolution was made was to send it back to the law firm and nothing else. This smacks of doing a favor for a business rather than encouraging general public adoption of Healtcare Directives.
See http://windowsmedia.alphameetings.com/LMCCShorewood/041111shorewood.wmv at the 59 minute mark for the discussion and Mayor Lizee's explanation. Does this pass your smell test?
Happy Reading!
The Insider
During the 4/11/11 Shorewood Council Meeting, a resolution to make April 16th Healthcare Decisions Day was approved. Per the meeting packet and the discussion at the meeting, the Mayor was approached by the Grathwol Law Firm of Excelsior with a request for Shorewood to adopt this resolution. That the City would consider this seems appropriate since, among many other reasons, the Governor had already proclaimed the same.
What bothers the Insider is that the action recommended once the resolution was made was to send it back to the law firm and nothing else. This smacks of doing a favor for a business rather than encouraging general public adoption of Healtcare Directives.
See http://windowsmedia.alphameetings.com/LMCCShorewood/041111shorewood.wmv at the 59 minute mark for the discussion and Mayor Lizee's explanation. Does this pass your smell test?
Happy Reading!
The Insider
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Using weevils to treat milfiol in Christmas Lake?
4/20/11
The Insider has learned that a project to use weevils to control milfoil seems underway for Christmas Lake. It seems the Minnehana Creek Watershed District will be providing funding and be working with a local environmentalist, Mark Washa, some Christmas Lake residents and local businessman and marina owner, Gabe Jabbor.
Weevils have been shown to be successful in limited situations in other states. Mr. Washa has been beating the drum to use them in Lake Minnetonka vs. the chemical treatments now being tested. The DNR has repeatedly stated they do not support weevils in Lake Minnetonka due to conditions that would make them ineffective.
Why weevils would be appropriate to Christmas Lake is unclear to the Insider, but the conditions there may be different from those in Lake Minnetonka. It's unclear if the DNR is participating in this project. One thing is clear, the DNR would have to be involved somewhere in the permitting process.
Stay tuned and the Insider will provide more information as it is available.
Happy Reading!
The Insider
The Insider has learned that a project to use weevils to control milfoil seems underway for Christmas Lake. It seems the Minnehana Creek Watershed District will be providing funding and be working with a local environmentalist, Mark Washa, some Christmas Lake residents and local businessman and marina owner, Gabe Jabbor.
Weevils have been shown to be successful in limited situations in other states. Mr. Washa has been beating the drum to use them in Lake Minnetonka vs. the chemical treatments now being tested. The DNR has repeatedly stated they do not support weevils in Lake Minnetonka due to conditions that would make them ineffective.
Why weevils would be appropriate to Christmas Lake is unclear to the Insider, but the conditions there may be different from those in Lake Minnetonka. It's unclear if the DNR is participating in this project. One thing is clear, the DNR would have to be involved somewhere in the permitting process.
Stay tuned and the Insider will provide more information as it is available.
Happy Reading!
The Insider
Voter Photo ID - a new unfunded mandate?
4/20/11
The insider has been tracking various proposed state legislation changes. Requiring a photo ID to vote has been under discussion for some time and now, appears to be moving forward. See: http://www.lmc.org/page/1/electionbill-hf210.jsp from the League of Minnesota Cities for details.
While requiring an ID, photo or not, may be a reasonable idea for voting, much of the rest of the contents of this proposed legislation appears to be new features and requirements for conducting elections at the local level, all of which lay additional burdens on the cities and which, at this point, will not be funded by the State. It's way too early to tell what monetary effect this legislation might have on Shorewood, but in the Insider's view, any cost should be borne by the State.
If after reading the details, you're as concerned as the Insider is, send an email to Connie Doepke and Gen Olson who represent Shorewood in the legislature. Their email addresses are:
rep.connie.doepke@house.mn
sen.gen.olson@senate.mn
Happy Reading!
The Insider
The insider has been tracking various proposed state legislation changes. Requiring a photo ID to vote has been under discussion for some time and now, appears to be moving forward. See: http://www.lmc.org/page/1/electionbill-hf210.jsp from the League of Minnesota Cities for details.
While requiring an ID, photo or not, may be a reasonable idea for voting, much of the rest of the contents of this proposed legislation appears to be new features and requirements for conducting elections at the local level, all of which lay additional burdens on the cities and which, at this point, will not be funded by the State. It's way too early to tell what monetary effect this legislation might have on Shorewood, but in the Insider's view, any cost should be borne by the State.
If after reading the details, you're as concerned as the Insider is, send an email to Connie Doepke and Gen Olson who represent Shorewood in the legislature. Their email addresses are:
rep.connie.doepke@house.mn
sen.gen.olson@senate.mn
Happy Reading!
The Insider
Friday, April 15, 2011
Fire Dept - 6% spending increase for 2012?
4/15/11
The Excelsior Fire District Board is considering a preliminary 2012 budget increase of 6%. All of the proposed increase seems to be to fund the firefighter pension account. The 2011 budget increase was virtually zero and the Fire Board used reserves to deal with the pension funding problem. Now, it seems reserves aren't being considered.
Shorewood provides about 50% of the Fire Districts budget dollars. So standby to see if the pension funding problem hits a wallet near you in 2012.
The pension funding shortfall issue is one being dealt with across Minnesota and the country due to the recent financial market problems and significantly reduced yields on pension funds invested. Unfortunately, the problem is made worse by pension funds making very optimistic assumptions about earnings on invested money and/or allowing growing pension benefits when income doesn't match the growing expense. The Excelsior Fire District's pension has these structural problems and just throwing more tax dollars at them is not the real answer. Of course the Board can take the politically easy out, but do you want more spending or pension reform? The Insider would like to hear from you.
Happy Reading!
The Insider
The Excelsior Fire District Board is considering a preliminary 2012 budget increase of 6%. All of the proposed increase seems to be to fund the firefighter pension account. The 2011 budget increase was virtually zero and the Fire Board used reserves to deal with the pension funding problem. Now, it seems reserves aren't being considered.
Shorewood provides about 50% of the Fire Districts budget dollars. So standby to see if the pension funding problem hits a wallet near you in 2012.
The pension funding shortfall issue is one being dealt with across Minnesota and the country due to the recent financial market problems and significantly reduced yields on pension funds invested. Unfortunately, the problem is made worse by pension funds making very optimistic assumptions about earnings on invested money and/or allowing growing pension benefits when income doesn't match the growing expense. The Excelsior Fire District's pension has these structural problems and just throwing more tax dollars at them is not the real answer. Of course the Board can take the politically easy out, but do you want more spending or pension reform? The Insider would like to hear from you.
Happy Reading!
The Insider
Milfoil Control - Funding Approved
4/15/11
At Shorewood's 4/11 Council Meeting, $6,000 was approved as Shorewood's part of chemical milfoil control for Phelps and Gideons bays in 2011. The money goes to the Lake Minnetonka Associtaion which is managing the control project and raising the funds needed to do the treatments. The vote was 5 for and 0 against the funding. You can watch the discussion and vote at: http://windowsmedia.alphameetings.com/LMCCShorewood/041111shorewood.wmv and go to the 1 hour and 5 minute point in the video.
As previously reported by the Insider, the 2011 budget for this project was $4,000. The LMA asked for $3,000 for each bay and the Mayor asked Council to approve this in that it is the same amount was was approved in 2010. Council Member Woodruff initially challenged the above budget spending citing the Mayor and Council Member Zerby as having voted to approve the 2011 budget in December after lots of hard work to control expenses for 2011. Woodruff then went on to say that the Phelps treatment in 2011 was going to cost much more than in 2011 due to needing to treat a much larger area and that only allocating $3,000 to Phelps was actually cutting support for the residents of Enchanted Island. Zerby justified the cut saying that the LMA had asked for $3,000 for each bay.
As a sidebar, the 2011 funding was discussed during a LMA presentation to Council at the 3/28 Council Meeting. Residents supporting the funding were in the audience. However, the Mayor did not ask Council for any funding decision. Instead she waited two weeks when no residents were in the audience to have the final discussion and vote. Seems a strange strategy to the Insider.
So, the LMA got what it asked for, but is it what the Enchanted Island residents really deserve? The insider want ter wants to hear from you.
Happy Reading!
The Insider
At Shorewood's 4/11 Council Meeting, $6,000 was approved as Shorewood's part of chemical milfoil control for Phelps and Gideons bays in 2011. The money goes to the Lake Minnetonka Associtaion which is managing the control project and raising the funds needed to do the treatments. The vote was 5 for and 0 against the funding. You can watch the discussion and vote at: http://windowsmedia.alphameetings.com/LMCCShorewood/041111shorewood.wmv and go to the 1 hour and 5 minute point in the video.
As previously reported by the Insider, the 2011 budget for this project was $4,000. The LMA asked for $3,000 for each bay and the Mayor asked Council to approve this in that it is the same amount was was approved in 2010. Council Member Woodruff initially challenged the above budget spending citing the Mayor and Council Member Zerby as having voted to approve the 2011 budget in December after lots of hard work to control expenses for 2011. Woodruff then went on to say that the Phelps treatment in 2011 was going to cost much more than in 2011 due to needing to treat a much larger area and that only allocating $3,000 to Phelps was actually cutting support for the residents of Enchanted Island. Zerby justified the cut saying that the LMA had asked for $3,000 for each bay.
As a sidebar, the 2011 funding was discussed during a LMA presentation to Council at the 3/28 Council Meeting. Residents supporting the funding were in the audience. However, the Mayor did not ask Council for any funding decision. Instead she waited two weeks when no residents were in the audience to have the final discussion and vote. Seems a strange strategy to the Insider.
So, the LMA got what it asked for, but is it what the Enchanted Island residents really deserve? The insider want ter wants to hear from you.
Happy Reading!
The Insider
Friday, April 8, 2011
Milfoil Control - Latest
4/8/11
At Shorewood's 3/28 Council Meeting, there was a discussion about funding chemical treatment in 2011. As predicted by the Insider in the 3/15 post to this blog, plans are to do Phelps and Gideon's bays in Shorewood and the Lake Minnetonka Association is, again, asking Shorewood to contribute towards the cost
More area of Phelps is to be treated in 2011 than in 2010 and this would be the first treatment for Gideon's.
Mayor Lizee stated that she'd like to contribute more than the $4000 in Shorewood's budget (as predicted by the Insider). However, after a brief discussion, no decision was made or called for. Watch for an upcoming Council Meeting agenda item in which the Mayor wants to spend more than is budgeted. Of course, she voted for the budget last fall, but you readers conveniently have forgotten that, haven't you?
Happy Reading
The Insider
At Shorewood's 3/28 Council Meeting, there was a discussion about funding chemical treatment in 2011. As predicted by the Insider in the 3/15 post to this blog, plans are to do Phelps and Gideon's bays in Shorewood and the Lake Minnetonka Association is, again, asking Shorewood to contribute towards the cost
More area of Phelps is to be treated in 2011 than in 2010 and this would be the first treatment for Gideon's.
Mayor Lizee stated that she'd like to contribute more than the $4000 in Shorewood's budget (as predicted by the Insider). However, after a brief discussion, no decision was made or called for. Watch for an upcoming Council Meeting agenda item in which the Mayor wants to spend more than is budgeted. Of course, she voted for the budget last fall, but you readers conveniently have forgotten that, haven't you?
Happy Reading
The Insider
Monday, April 4, 2011
State budget woes to affect Shorewood?
4/4/11
Short answer: Probably, yes.
The latest tax bill in the legislature calls for cuts in many areas affecting cities as well as extending the levy limits for two more years. Here's how this might affect Shorewood.
The levy limits call for a maximum 3.9% per year tax increase, but also, no more increase than the "implicit price deflator", a measure of inflation the Dept of Revenue calculates. So, if the levy for 2012 were to be set today, the maximum increase would be about 1.5% due to the implicit price deflator. Or course, the deflator could go up before the end of the year, but don't count on it. There's also a "back door" that allows increases in levy that were available in prior years, but not previously used by a city. Shorewood hasn't raised its levy for three years. So, there is some wiggle room available.
The State provides limited financial support for Shorewood. Mostly this is in the form of police and fire aids for things like training and pensions. These appear to be heading for major cuts or elimination. Much of the money for these comes from surcharges residents pay on homeowners and auto insurance, not taxes. The legislature wants to divert these funds to pay for general fund deficits.
So what happens in Shorewood? Right now, it's hard to tell. Probably it is not good. If the council has to increase payments to police and fire to maintain spending for training and pensions and budget for any inflation, tax increases will be needed. However, the amount of any tax increase possible is limited. So, cuts in programs and services may be needed.
Council reviewed a 10-year financial for Shorewood on 3/28 (see: http://windowsmedia.alphameetings.com/LMCCShorewood/032811shorewood.wmv at 1 hour 48 minutes and 45 seconds). It showed proposed 2% per year tax increases as well as proposed increases in fees such as for storm sewers, just to remain solvent. If the City has to pay for things the State was funding and the City can't raise taxes, other programs and services will have to be cut. Keep reading this blog for more as the year goes by.
Happy Reading!
The Insider
Short answer: Probably, yes.
The latest tax bill in the legislature calls for cuts in many areas affecting cities as well as extending the levy limits for two more years. Here's how this might affect Shorewood.
The levy limits call for a maximum 3.9% per year tax increase, but also, no more increase than the "implicit price deflator", a measure of inflation the Dept of Revenue calculates. So, if the levy for 2012 were to be set today, the maximum increase would be about 1.5% due to the implicit price deflator. Or course, the deflator could go up before the end of the year, but don't count on it. There's also a "back door" that allows increases in levy that were available in prior years, but not previously used by a city. Shorewood hasn't raised its levy for three years. So, there is some wiggle room available.
The State provides limited financial support for Shorewood. Mostly this is in the form of police and fire aids for things like training and pensions. These appear to be heading for major cuts or elimination. Much of the money for these comes from surcharges residents pay on homeowners and auto insurance, not taxes. The legislature wants to divert these funds to pay for general fund deficits.
So what happens in Shorewood? Right now, it's hard to tell. Probably it is not good. If the council has to increase payments to police and fire to maintain spending for training and pensions and budget for any inflation, tax increases will be needed. However, the amount of any tax increase possible is limited. So, cuts in programs and services may be needed.
Council reviewed a 10-year financial for Shorewood on 3/28 (see: http://windowsmedia.alphameetings.com/LMCCShorewood/032811shorewood.wmv at 1 hour 48 minutes and 45 seconds). It showed proposed 2% per year tax increases as well as proposed increases in fees such as for storm sewers, just to remain solvent. If the City has to pay for things the State was funding and the City can't raise taxes, other programs and services will have to be cut. Keep reading this blog for more as the year goes by.
Happy Reading!
The Insider
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