Magellan Pipeline Maintenance

This spring the Magellan pipeline management company will be doing maintenance of their pipeline easement in Maplewood. The work will involve removal of brush and trimming of trees. It may be that some trees will have to be removed. The city has been in contact recently with Donald Jensen the pipeline maintenance foreman for Magellan. Mr. Jensen has indicated that this work is required for safety and access within their easement. Magellan will be contacting property owners in the area about the work. If you have some questions you can contact Mr. Jensen at 612-991-0141.

The picture above shows where they will be starting their work in the south portion of Maplewood.

Future Mayor?

At about 6:30 pm on Sunday Maplewood's latest future voter was brought into the world. The addition of Carter Matthew Rossbach adds Grandpa Rossbach to my title. Carter's stats were 8lbs 9oz, 21 inches. That's a big boy!

Spring Clean Up

Are you totally into getting rid of that trash that has been accumulating around your yard? Then you don't want to miss the Maplewood Spring Clean Up Day, April 24th, 8am to 1pm at Aldrich Arena. Along with that garbage maybe you you have some gently used items which could benefit others through Bridging, or a bike that you don't use anymore that with a couple of repairs could work well for someone else. Then there is that old paint or other hazardous material that you have been meaning to dispose of, well you can take care of it all at the clean up day. I'll see you there.

Goodbye to Bob

At the end of April Bob Mittet will be leaving his Maplewood position of Director of Finance for new challenges. Mr. Mittet submitted his resignation at the end of January. He is scheduled to work until the end of April of this year.

Mr. Mittet first came to Maplewood in March of 2007 which was chronicled in the Maplewood Review . As indicated in the story, Mr. Mittet joined the city at a pretty crazy time. As you may recall Greg Copeland was the City Manager and the council was Longrie, Hjelle, Cave, Juenemann and myself. Many city employees had left or had been "reorganized" out of a job. Bob came into a bad situation in the Finance Department. All but two of the previous employees had left, so Bob was pretty much on his own to figure things out.

I have to tell you that I was impressed then and now with Bob's attitude and dedication to the job. He was continually putting in extra hours to try to get the department back on line and to have the work done on time. Mr. Antonen expressed similar feelings in the letter he sent to the staff letting them know of Bob's departure, "Bob's kind demeanor and work ethic will be missed".

Due to the difficult position that Mr. Mittet stepped into, each step along the way was a struggle. It was difficult to get the yearly budgets done in the time frame that we were hoping for. The yearly city audits were particularly difficult. Imagine the frustration you would feel if you had to account for the actions and procedures of people who were there before you, knowing the information was there but not having the benefit of being able to just ask someone where the information was , or what procedure had been followed booking the information. I would have to think that the first year would have been especially bad since I was told that Mr. Copeland would not allow Bob to contact the previous staff to ask for some help. After Mr. Copeland was gone Bob was able to have Dan Faust and Gayle Bowman come back as consultants to help with some training and knowledge transfer.

2007 and 2008 were tough years for the Maplewood Finance Department due to the whole restaffing of the department, but Bob hung in there and did his best to bring the department back on line. During that time Chuck Ahl commented on the state of Maplewood's finances to reassure the public.

The good news is that his hard work paid off. Each year since Bob took over the Finance Department was able to improve on their performance. In the early years the department required some additional help to prepare the audit and budget information. This year they have been able to operate on their own. Some additional training was needed to bring everyone back up to speed on the computer software programs and procedures we use to track all of our financial information. This has allowed the staff to return to more of a "normal operating" mode. In a normal mode our financial staff is able to provide all the information requested by the external auditing firm that the city hires to perform the annual audit. During the last three years we had to hire additional help to provide this information. Every few years we bring in a different auditing company to insure that fresh eyes are reviewing our finances. It is also worth noting that even with the difficulties that we have had to work through, the Finance Department has continued Maplewood's over thirty year record of being awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. Click here to view the 2007 certificate.

The last odd item was that the staff could not track down a $93,000.00 balance deficit. They finally were able to locate some expense items from electric franchise fees that had been booked twice. This made it appear that we were missing the $93000.00 when it was there all along.

The posting for a new Director of Finance has closed as of last Friday. I of course am hoping that we have received some good applicants for the job. Only time will tell, but I want to thank Mr. Mittet for all that he has done to help us stabilize the situation and bring us back to a functional state. I wish the best for Bob in whatever he does next.

Wrapping up the Trip

Tuesday I attended the Opening Session which featured four speakers but I only had time to hear Karen Mills, Administrator of the Small Business Administration and then we had to head up to Capitol Hill for our scheduled meetings.

We spent time during the day meeting with the staff of Senator Klobuchar and Franken and with Betty McCollum and staff. Neither Senator was available for the meeting but we did get a chance to speak to them briefly later on in the trip. We did have about an hour to spend with Betty McCollum. We presented the same information to all three offices which highlighted a surface water project at Gervais Pond, phase two of the Fire Fighter Training Center, and a energy proposal at the City Hall campus.

The Gervais Pond project is tied to the replacement of the stop light at English and Highway 36. The pond has seasonal flooding and impairment issues which need to be resolved before the actual intersection project can proceed.

We were a little handicapped on Phase two of the fire Training Facility due to the fact that Governor Pawlenty had line item vetoed the final funding of Phase one on Monday. But we introduced the concept and told them we would be back.

The city campus energy project is a concept of photovoltaic, wind power, and geothermal energy. We want to explore all of these options but first need to do some engineering studies to determine which form of energy generation or what combination of systems would work best for our situation. No matter what the results of the study indicate, a project that could provide for all of the city campus energy and possibly more would be expensive, and we would need every grant or earmark we can get.

There was a reception for everyone back at the convention that evening which was capped off with a performance of The Capitol Steps. If you ever get the chance I would certainly recommend them. They pick on everyone and were extremely funny.

On Wednesday we attended Senator Franken's weekly breakfast and went to a gathering of the MN delegates from the convention and all of Minnesota's nationally elected officials. The officials who showed up spoke for five to ten minutes and answered some questions. After that we headed for the airport and home. It was an interesting trip and we learned some things that we will have to improve on for the lobbying side of the trip. The convention was worthwhile both from the learning opportunities and the networking side. I would guess that we will go again next year but for now it is nice to be back in Maplewood.

Working in Washington.

Monday's start of the NLC Conference was the Opening General Session. Ronald Loveridge, the current president of the NLC kicked it off with a report on the conference and the many activities in which the NLC's involves itself. We then heard from Valerie Jarrett the Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President on Intergovernmental Affairs and Engagement. The keynote speaker was Judy Woodruff of PBS and Washington News Hour. Ms. Woodruff spoke to current issues in a well balanced way. She spoke at the end of her presentation about the divisions in Washington and across the country between political parties and her belief that at no time in her history has she seen it so bad. She made an appeal to local elected officials to set the example and return to bi-partisan government practices. It struck a chord with me. It is about doing what is best for the people and areas which we represent and that can not be compromised by political one upsmanship. As an aside, without regard to any person's political beliefs, everyone that I spoke to in Washington had the same response, just vote and quit fighting about it.

The first workshop of the day for me was Advocacy 101:Strategies for Lobbying Congress. Tomorrow Mr. Antomen will spend most of our day doing just that so it seemed like a good choice.

There was a networking lunch were I hooked up with the mayor of Coon Rapids and a mayor from Florida and compared some of our recent city activities. We also had some discussion with representatives from Kansas who were at out table but they had a group of their own and were more focused on their discussion. After lunch I attended Successful Neighborhood Stabilization Programs, which was interesting but not exactly what I expected. However at the meeting a gentleman asked a question of interest on the topic and identified himself as from St. Paul. We talked after the session was done and shared some ideas that were more on track with what I had hoped the session would be about. I was glad that I had attended that session just to have had the opportunity to met him.

The conference wrapped up with the Afternoon General session where we heard from Ray LaHood Secretary of the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Steven Chu the Secretary of the Department of Energy, and Arne Duncan the Secretary of the Department of Education. All were interesting but Steven Chu presented some particularly interesting information about the country's efforts to move towards a new "green" economy.

I then went to a reception on Capitol Hill for Minnesota delegates and our representatives in Washington and rounded out the day by having dinner with the mayor and a council member from Moorhead. Those guys must have gotten ten updates on this year's flooding problems while we were there. I was interested to hear about their twenty year program to make trips to Washington to meet with their representatives and some of the results from those trips.

I was very tired by the time I returned to the hotel and slept well that night.

A Trip to Washington

After a less than stellar start to the trip, weather made us miss our connecting flight in Chicago, we made it to Washington DC in the evening on Saturday. We are staying at the Days Inn on Connecticut Ave. It is a little removed from the conference so you have to ride the Metro but the rooms are nice and the price was better than the other hotels.

Yesterday I attended two seminars, Managing Communication Style Differences and Dealing with Difficult People: Managing Conflicts and Differences. Both seminars were interesting and at the end left me wanting to hear more.

The full conference starts today and I have a full slate of activities that should provide some useful information. We will see.

Hill Murray In Tournament Again

Hill Murray is in the state high school hockey tournament again for the twenty fourth time since 1975. During that time they have brought home the championship three times, took second place six times, came in third two times, and won the consolation two times.

Last night they battled back from a two goal deficit to win their game in the quarterfinals to advance to today's semifinals. The St. Paul Pioneer Press ran this story about the game.

If you check out their web page you will see that they excel in many areas, not just hockey. Way to go Pioneers!

Poor Decision

Today, Wednesday March 10th The St. Paul Pioneer Press ran the article Maplewood Mayor Pays for Hunting Lapses. The story lays out an event of which I am not proud. The events reported in the story however are true. I shot a deer while standing on a roadway and I was within 500 feet of a house. I have no defense of my actions. In the process that followed I cooperated with the DNR and the Cook County prosecutor. I appeared in court and took responsibility for my actions.

If I was a normal individual that would have been the end of the story. But, I am the Mayor and my actions will reflect poorly on Maplewood. This above all else I wish I could change, but I can not. I issue this apology to all the citizens, staff, and friends who have put their faith in me. I have let you down.

I found long ago that excuses tend to diminish an apology so I am not offering any. On the contrary, I understand that this may lessen your opinion of me or cause you to question any beliefs you may have developed. All I can say is that I will work as hard as I can to make up for this error.

Honoring Russell W. Anderson

At our council meeting last night (March 8th 2010) we were honored to be part of an effort to try to get a long overdue Purple Heart for Russell Anderson. Below is a copy of the staff report for the effort.

Recently, on Veterans Day, fifth grade students from Weaver Elementary honored Infantryman Russell Anderson for his service in WWII. In preparation of honoring Mr. Anderson it was learned that he served two tours in WWII and was injured by enemy shrapnel on D-day. After being hospitalized for nine months, he was honorably discharged. Mr. Anderson, now 93 years old, has never received a Purple Heart for that injury. Weaver Elementary Grade 5 teacher, Ms. Sara Paul and the following students made a commitment to work on Mr. Anderson's behalf to get his long overdue recognition in the form of a Purple Heart.

Kayla Anderson, Robert-Noel Anihbogu, Makda Araya, Nathanael Arnquist, Jeni Barrera-Marin, Tyler Bayers, Anthony Benitez, Madison Brenhofer, Kevin Clothier, Cory Griffin, Jada Harthan, Miftah Hassan, Ashley Hermann, Nicole Jensen, AmberLea Johnson, Brandon Johnson, Mariah Larson,Brandon Lee, Zoo Nkauj Lee, Olivia Mortenson, Jeffrey Munter, Emma Nelson,Hayley Ness, Gabriel Rodriguez Donch, Peterson Thao, Naree Vue, Tianna Welk, Ethan Yang, Kevin Yang, Elizabeth Zoya.

Russell and all of the other veterans who have served our country throughout history are of course the heroes we need to honor, but sometimes it takes the kids to point out the obvious. It was this class of fifth grade students who, after their Veterans Day celebration, said "we need to honor our veterans every day, not just on Veterans Day". They also were the ones who, upon learning that Russell had never received the Purple Heart that he deserved, said "why don't we get the medal for him?" They produced this video as part of their effort.

[Linked to video on external animoto website, not embedded]

They also sent out information to any elected officials or government units they could think of who might help in their effort. They have gotten the attention of Maplewood, Oakdale (Russell's home town), State Senator Wiger, Representative McCollum, and Senators Franken and Klobuchar. There may be others of whom I am not aware.

Their efforts also have gotten the attention of some of the media. I was interviewed by WCCO radio yesterday and KARE 11 covered our meeting last night, KARE 11 has this news item posted on their site. They also ran this news story on the 10pm news.

I am glad that Maplewood was able to help the students efforts and I am hoping that their work is rewarded. But if not at least Russell Anderson has a permanent place in local history as a reminder to everyone that we would not enjoy the quality of life we have with out him and everyone like him.

March Citizens Forum

On Saturday March 7th I was honored to host my first Citizen's Forum. The Council had recently made some changes to the Citizen's Forum by rotating the host amongst all the Council members and moving the meeting location around the city to hopefully get a wider group of citizens involved in the meeting. The Council had also asked that each meeting have a theme or topic to start the meeting, so for now we are featuring a different city department at each meeting.

This meeting was held at Fire Station #4 which is in south Maplewood on Londin Lane. We had about twenty people in attendance and about nine were from the south leg. For at least four of those people this was their first Citizen's Forum.

Mychal Fowlds, the head of Maplewood's IT Department, was the featured speaker. He did a great job of explaining his department and explaining the many features and applications that are available on the Maplewood website. There were several suggestions from the participants on ways to improve the website or changes which we might what to consider. Some were: should we charge people who wish to access your advanced mapping system, we need a easier way to access individual employees contact information, rework a confusing arrangement of options that access the city council minutes, and include the meeting topic for the Citizen Forum in the published information.

The meeting then moved to open discussion of whatever topics the participants wished to discuss. One of the questions that was asked was whether we are planning on closing fire stations in the city. The short answer is no we are not. The person that asked this question is the same person who asserted at the last Council meeting that we were planning on closing fire stations. Chief Lukin addressed that issue at the meeting. You can watch the video by clicking here. On the streaming video page click visitor presentations or simply slide the button under the video to almost the end of the meeting. The Chief's responds immediately after Visitor Presentations is completed. There was a continuing discussion at the Forum about some of the various options and items that are being looked at by the Fire Department. There was then discussion about the recent police sting operation with a split on opinions about whether it was a bad thing to do or not. I would say the majority were not in favor of that type of sting. City Manager Antonin said that at least one good thing came of the sting and that was all the free press. In his opinion there are most likely more people buckling up now than there were before. The group indicated that if that was the case that we should do a better job of reporting all the stings to achieve that same effect. Some discussion took place as to whether the city is improperly storing snow off our streets in wetland areas in the south leg. Mr. Antonin and I indicated that there had been some discussion of this late last year and that it was being addressed. The meeting finished up with a discussion of administrative fines and whether they were a possibility for Maplewood.

The End of NEST

The Northeast Suburban Transit (NEST) service will be ending on March 26, 2010. NEST has provided local dial-a-ride services for Maplewood, North St. Paul, and Oakdale for many years and was created to fill a void in bus service within the area. The three cities contributed to the funding although the majority of the funds were provided through the MET Council. The Met Council has determined that it's funds can be better utilized in its new Transit Link service. General information about the change in dial-a-ride services is available here.

In general the new service will provide an expanded area which you will be able to travel because the system is county based vs city based. However the new system is set up to supplement the fixed route services currently provided by Metro Transit so there will be some limitations on service based upon your proximity to fixed route stops.

We will have to wait and see how this new plan works before we can determine if it is comparable to the service that NEST delivered, but there is no doubt in my mind that Transit Link is a more efficient use of tax dollars. We should expect that in the future that many city services will have to be reviewed to see if a regional approach makes more sense financially and then balance our decisions with whether the new service provides what we want and need.

Extreme Green Makeover

Maplewood has a long history of working to be a "green" city. Perhaps you have seen some of our over 600 rainwater gardens which have been installed through out the city or maybe you were involved in Maplewood's recent update of the wetland buffer ordinance. These are both efforts to enhance or protect our surface water resources. The problem is that even with over 600 rainwater gardens and protections of wetlands more is needed. We will not have the type of impact that is needed until and unless we all work to make our yards part of the solution and not part of the problem.

If you wish to learn more about what others are doing and what you can do you should consider becoming involved in the Extreme Green Makeover. This is an effort to provide information and resources to create sustainable yards in Maplewood. There is also one lucky Maplewood home owner who will win a $15,000 green yard makeover.

The kickoff event will be held at the Ramsey County Library on Thursday, March 18, 6:30- 8:30pm. The library is located by the Maplewood Mall at 3025 Southlawn Drive. At this event you will be able to see a presentation of residential landscapes, learn how to apply to win the Green Yard Makeover, and meet the landscape designer from Earthworks. There will be some refreshments and door prizes.

Pre-registration is appreciated by calling 651-249-2170.

2010 Basic Skywarn Spotter Course

Do you want to learn more about how to interpret cloud formations and recognize potentially severe weather conditions and also learn more about how severe weather develops and the actions you should take? If so you should sign up for the 2010 Basic Skywarn Spotter course offered by Ramsey County and Maplewood Emergency Management.

The class will be held on Saturday, April 3, 2009 from 8:00am to 12.00pm at Maplewood fire Station #2 1955 Clarence Street.

After you complete the course you may become a volunteer member of the Ramsey County Skywarn Unit. The Skywarn Unit is activated when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS) have indications that conditions exist which could develop into severe weather.

I had taken the class back in 2004 and found it to be full of interesting information. I did become part of the Skywarn Unit for a short period of time until my schedule did not allow enough time to continue. But if you are interested in the weather (and what Minnesotan isn't) this may be for you.

If you wish to be part of the class you should call 651-249-2800 no later than April 1st to reserve your spot.