urbanMSP

There has been enough entertainment coming from Lake Elmo lately, I expect much more based on the state of affairs. We've had wild times and seeming dysfunction in Maplewood too, a few more years back.

With as many suburban units of government we have in this metro area a thread was reasonable for collecting the latest train wrecks, silliness, and dysfunction.

And to start things fresh, not Lake Elmo, but Golden Valley.

They had SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) session and not nice comments about the council were made.

http://www.startribune.com/survey-of-go ... 318074161/

Frankly, this sounds like staff members being upset that they don't get to make decisions.

Staff has too much power as it is. I *want* my city council and mayor deeply involved in staff discussions. We can all cite countless examples of career staff making decisions with a 20-year-old outdated understanding of conditions on the ground.

Staff is great. They're needed. But they need to play their proper role, which is to listen to the elected officials who represent the people and act on the decisions of the elected officials.

I wish elected officials would override staff a lot more than they currently do.

There certainly is a spectrum for this. I can't say which this falls on, but when a city has drama like this you just think there should be an intervention team.

Or you grab the popcorn.

They had SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) session and not nice comments about the council were made.

I haven't heard that term for 25 years. We used that back when I worked in insurance a career ago.

I just saw the Southwest Transit Commisson use SWOT in their strategic programming. Still around but less common?

Not a "gone wild" post, but since there's really no where else to put this: http://election.startribune.com/results/2015/primary/

It seems that St. Paul and a handful of suburbs held primaries today for municipal elections, as well as various school board seats. This being the one year out of the 4 year cycle that Minneapolis doesn't have ANYTHING on the ballot, I hadn't really noticed. Turnout was abysmal I'm sure, as I don't think a single one of these was hotly contested, and they were all non-partisan primaries at that, meaning that for a bunch of the seats the top two finishers move on to the general election (which will also have pretty abysmal turnout, except for perhaps a few of the StP council seats)

Not a "gone wild" post, but since there's really no where else to put this: http://election.startribune.com/results/2015/primary/

It seems that St. Paul and a handful of suburbs held primaries today for municipal elections, as well as various school board seats. This being the one year out of the 4 year cycle that Minneapolis doesn't have ANYTHING on the ballot, I hadn't really noticed. Turnout was abysmal I'm sure, as I don't think a single one of these was hotly contested, and they were all non-partisan primaries at that, meaning that for a bunch of the seats the top two finishers move on to the general election (which will also have pretty abysmal turnout, except for perhaps a few of the StP council seats)

Wow, first I've heard of these.

Any guesstimates as to how long it'll take for Lake Elmo to become another Woodbury? While they recently rejected becoming a suburb, I doubt they won't change their minds later.

Apparently there was some "bush-league stuff" coming from Minneapolis regarding the sale of the water pumping site to Edina.

http://www.startribune.com/edina-counci ... 323275521/

Apparently there was some "bush-league stuff" coming from Minneapolis regarding the sale of the water pumping site to Edina.

http://www.startribune.com/edina-counci ... 323275521/

Is there any reporting about what the "easement" that was requested is for? I couldn't find anything and I'm kind of curious.

TBH, it seems kind of petty for the wealthiest city in the state to complain about six thousand dollars on top of a $1.072 million deal.

Farmington council member charged with impersonating police.

http://www.startribune.com/farmington-c ... 352402581/

Well.

Thought about posting this in the BLM/Police thread, since there once was a generic Police thread that got merged into that BLM/Police thread, but I think this would be too much of a diverged topic that thread has going.

Newport's city council voted to disband its police department and contract with Washington County.

http://www.startribune.com/newport-abol ... 362938631/

Nice quote: ”The simple matter is, Newport isn’t large enough to support it’s own police department, 24/7,” [council member Dan Lund] said during a lively council debate.

What other normal city-functions is Newport too small to provide? And shouldn't a discussion occur about merging with neighboring cities to provide that, as well? Superficially Newport, St. Paul Park, and Grey Cloud Island Township make an ideal candidate.

A bone chilling quote: "An inspection revealed that 14 confiscated weapons were missing, sexual-assault test results were contaminated and property relating to 1,138 cases wasn’t tracked, Hutton wrote in a November report to Deb Hill, the Newport city administrator.

Richfield has a city commission absentee problem.

http://current.mnsun.com/2015/12/26/ric ... mmissions/

Absenteeism is slowing down some city decision making.

Local Views: Disgusted By Lake Elmo City Council’s Ongoing Spectacle

http://www.stillwatercurrent.com/local- ... spectacle/

A watershed district in Anoka County needs a headquarters (they're renting an old office space) so they pass a 44% levy increase to pay for it. Ham Lake is in the watershed district.

http://www.startribune.com/anoka-waters ... 364597781/

Speaking of shenanigans, I am somewhat amused that Diana Longrie (former mayor of Maplewood and a lawyer to boot!) was cited for stealing city documents and then lying about it after she was caught: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... -city-hall

Be glad you aren't in Lake Elmo city government...

http://stillwatergazette.com/2016/01/15 ... city-hall/



It really feels like certain council members would rather let the city government burn to the ground. How long until this mess starts to affect desirability to live in the city? Honestly, were I wanting the sort of home found in Lake Elmo, with so many alternatives near it I would scratch it off my list of places.