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2003-03-07 Friday News The Friday News March 7, 2003 Kristen Schabacker Appointed to City Finance Director Position On Tuesday night, the City Council promoted Kristen Schabacker to the department head level position of Finance Director. Kristen is a registered CPA and has worked with the City since 1998. In the last year she worked closely with Larry Shaughnessy to manage the City finances including the budget, audit, annual reporting requirements and the day-to-day financial operations of the City. Congratulations Kristen on your promotion to Finance Director! Governor Appoints Metropolitan Council Members Governor Pawlenty announced his appointments to the Metropolitan Council. The 16 council members include four incumbents—two originally appointed by Governor Carlson and two originally appointed by Governor Ventura. The appointees include at least four individuals with experience as a local elected official and at least two former legislators. The Governor’s appointments follow a two-month selection process that included the appointment of a nominating committee that interviewed applicants and made recommendations to the Governor. The recommendations of the nominating committee were non-binding. The Governor’s appointments include eleven individuals recommended by the nominating committee, one individual interviewed but not recommended by the nominating committee, and four individuals that did not submit formal applications. We are pleased to report that Tom Egan, former Eagan Mayor was reappointed to District 15, which includes Mendota Heights. If you are interested in seeing a complete list of the appointments, go to www.amm145.org/newsletter.htm EAW Draft th On February 19, we received the preliminary draft EAW for the Bluffs project prepared by developer Ron Clark. Staff and the City Attorney reviewed the draft agreement, and recommended that the City hire Barr Engineering to conduct a review of the EAW draft submitted. Minnesota Rules 4410.1400 state that the City as RGU “shall promptly determine whether the proposer’s submittal is complete.” Although there is no strict timeline for review, the rules impose a standard of reasonableness for the review period. The City Council voted to retain Barr to review the EAW draft and assist the City in responding to public comments about the draft. Barr’s review of the draft EAW will be on the City st Council agenda at the April 1 City Council meeting. Freeway Road Water Main In September 2002, the City Council approved a street reconstruction project for the Freeway Road neighborhood as part of Town Center Development. At the time, two residents requested that the City replace some water mains during the street project. The Council, at that time, considered two options. They considered approving an agreement with St. Paul Regional Water Services to turn the Mendota Heights’ water supply infrastructure over to St. Paul. St. Paul would then agree to replace the mains. The Council also considered paying for the water main replacement ourselves. In September, the City Council opted to not sign the agreement with St. Paul water and to also not replace the main ourselves as the cost for the replacement exceeded $250,000. At the meeting on Tuesday, the Council again addressed the issue of an agreement with St. Paul Regional Water services. The Council asked staff to research a number of issues related to the agreement and report back to the City Council. The Council will be considering the agreement th and the potential replacement of the water mains at the March 18 City Council meeting. Village at Mendota Heights Websites If you are interested in looking at floor plans for the Town homes or Condominiums planned for the Village at Mendota Heights, take a look at the following websites: www.countryhome-builders.com and http://www.dfalandscape.com/featureproject3.html Firefighters in West St. Paul On Saturday, March 1, our firefighters responded to a mutual aid request to West Saint Paul for an apartment fire on Oakdale Avenue. South Saint Paul and Inver Grove Heights also assisted. A male resident in the apartment where the fire originated was seriously burned and was transported to the hospital. One of our engines provided water supply to the West St. Paul aerial team and to our firefighters, assembled as the RIT Team (rapid intervention team). RIT is designed as a safety team to rapidly deploy and rescue firefighters should a catastrophic event occur. The WSP firefighters that responded on the first call did a very good job containing the fire to the original units involved. Unfortunately, the building did not have automatic fire sprinklers so the damage was greater than it might have been otherwise. Firefighters at the Legislature Several Mendota Heights firefighters joined over 600 other firefighters at the State Capitol on Thursday to meet with legislators. Fire Chief Maczko, Captain John Lapakko and Firefighters Ken Weisenberger and Jay Taylor met with Representative Pugh and Senator Metzen. The fire service organizations (Minnesota Fire Chiefs Association, Minnesota Fire Department Association and the Minnesota Professional Firefighters Association) have jointly agreed on 3 legislative issues: Terrorism and Hazardous Material Response Team Funding, Firefighter Training, and Firefighter Illness Legislation. For more information about the issues, see the “Minnesota Fire Service Joint Council 2003 Legislative Issues” which is attached. Heights Highlites The next edition of the Heights Highlites is in the works. If you have ideas for articles, please let us know. Watch for this next edition at the beginning of April. Five Finalists Chosen for Police Chief Interviews The City narrowed down its pool of 40 applicants for the Police Chief position to five top candidates. Through a written exercise, the City Council was able to narrow the pool to the following individuals: Tim Brennan, acting Chief in Mounds View, John Gannaway, Bayport Police Chief, Greg Hestness, Deputy Chief in Minneapolis, Mark Kempe, St. Paul Sergeant, and Larry Lotzer, a Sergeant in Richfield. The five th candidates will undergo a two-part interview process on Saturday, March 15. They will interview with three members of the Police Department and then with the City Council. We hope to have a new Police Chief on board in April. Article about Connie Berg Please see the attached inspirational article about Connie Berg, wife of one of our Code Enforcement Officers Paul Berg. Final Thought “Nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens the conscience like individual responsibility” –Elizabeth Cady Stanton Respectfully Submitted, Cari Lindberg Administrator Attachments: Pipeline, Planning Application Synopsis, ARC Agenda, Park & Recreation Agenda, Pioneer Press article “Citizen group sues over permits for utility,” Northfield portraits 2003 “Surviving Breast Cancer taught Connie Berg to Cherish Each Day,” “Minnesota Fire Service Joint Council 2003 Legislative issues” and LMC Friday Fax.