2006-11-03 Friday News The Friday News
November 3, 2006
BONFIRE
This Tuesday night was the City’s Annual Halloween Bonfire. Even though it was cold and windy, there was still an
excellent turn out. All 1200 hot dogs and pops were given out. This event is put on by the City’s Firefighters.
Thanks to them (15 Firefighters were on hand braving the cold to start the fire and hand out the hot dogs). The brush
pile was very clean this year and dry so the fire burned much faster than normal, which was good because even
though the turn out was good, residents did not linger because of the cold. Everything went like clockwork. Thanks
again, Fire Department!! (Even Fire Chief Maczko’s early April Fool’s trick on me was fun.)
LE CORDON BLEU
The president of Le Cordon Bleu met with City staff this week to discuss further phasing in of their initial plans
fo r the school, including moving the “Minnesota Room,” restaurant from its current location at Brown College
into the Le Cordon Bleu building. School staff is concerned about identifying and addressing any City
concerns. It has been a while since the Conditional Use Permit was issued; city staff will work with the school
to address their continued growth.
RETHINKING RECYCLING
The Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board for the Twin Cities has been working on a new public
education program entitled “Rethinking Recycling,” for use by local units of government. The program
includes pre-made articles, advertisements, images and more, complete with a style guide for utilizing these
materials effectively. The concept is that residents around the twin cities will be exposed to similar images and
messages, increasing awareness of recycling issues.
The Rethinking Recycling program will focus on different areas of recycling, starting with paper. The program
will include radio and internet ads, featuring the www.greenguardian.com logo and web page link. For
Mendota Heights, this means that we will have one more method for getting the word out to our residents on the
importance of recycling.
ELECTION UPDATE
Next week will be a busy one at City Hall with the General Election on Tuesday. City Hall will be open this
Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for absentee voting and then from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm on Tuesday.
If absentee voting is an indication (it usually is) we will have another great election turnout. There have already
been about 700 absentee voters, or over 8% of our roughly 8500 registered voters.
Kathy Swanson hopes to have the election results available on Tuesday evening for the City Council to conduct their
Canvassing Board as part of their regular meeting. (If not, they will meet the following day at 5:00 pm) The
Canvassing Board is required by law for the City Council to accept the City’s election results.
JUST A REMINDER
Council Member Schneeman informed me last week that she is having a victory celebration party at her house on
November 7th after the City Council meeting (about 9:30). S he is anticipating that the Mayor , Council Member
Duggan and she will be “so lucky” as to win their seats back. That day is also the Mayor’s 25th wedding
anniversary, so we will also be celebrating that event. City Staff, Commissioners and Council Members are all
invited by Council Member Schneeman to the celebration!!
ARC MEETING
Due to a scheduling problem with one of their guests, the ARC has changed their November meeting date from
November 8th to Wednesday November 22nd.
CITY HALL CLOSED – VETERANS’ DAY
Next week will be a short week due to City Hall being closed on Friday in observance of Veterans’ Day.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Danielson
City Administrator
Attachments: Just the Facts, Pipeline, City Council Age nda, Election 2006 Voters Guide, South-West Review
Article “Mary Jeanne Schneeman runs again for MH City Council”, Tennis Flyer, Star Tribune Article “Search of
ex-bet’s home turns up child porn” and St. Paul Pioneer Press Article “Unlicensed vet faces child porn charges”.