City Bean Counting Update

Wondering how the bean counting at city hall is stacking up? The city has had the budget solutions bean counter game on loan from the League of Minnesota Cities since the first of the month. I wrote about it in this post "Be a City Bean Counter". Players get six beans to distribute among 8 budget choices.

Here are the results from the “City Bean Counter.”

Police 93
Clean Water 61
Parks & Recreation 54
Streets & Sidewalks 46
Sewers & Garbage 44
Libraries 44
Economic Development 42

The traveling display has to move on, but the city manager has announced that Bemidji will create its own model and continue to encourage citizens to participate in the budget balancing activity.

Be a City Bean Counter

Going to city hall to vote or pay a bill? Take time to play the “Be a City Bean Counter” game. It’s your chance to tell the city how you would like the city budget spent.

The setup includes eight receptacles labeled to represent various city services. Your job is to choose where to spend your beans. Just one catch; you only get six beans.

What is most important to you? Or, put another way; what is least important to you? The rules are taped to the counter at the city hall reception desk:

I’ll give you a six bean budget that you can choose to spend on these eight services that many Minnesota cities provide. You can spend it however you like. Put all six beans in one jar or spread them out. Thank you for your participation. Your opinion counts!

Choose among these services:

• Police
• Economic Development (business recruitment, business retention, south shore development)
• Clean Water (storm water, water utilities)

• Parks & Rec. (maintenance, improvements, recreational activities)
• Libraries
• Fire (medical emergency response, inspections, education)

• Sewers & Garbage (wastewater, garbage services)
• Streets & Sidewalks (street sweeping, plowing, maintenance)

How often are you asked to give budget feedback? The city manager asked the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) to bring the Bean Counter display to Bemidji. It will be here for a couple weeks and is one way to send a message to city council on what is important to you.

Funny How Time Slips Away

Summer's slipping away and I haven't blogged much at all.  Maybe a couple of times. Well, summer is almost gone--it's September next week (aack!) and it's time to get back in the habit of blogging on a regular basis.

I like blogging because it gives me a way of sharing my opinion (everybody's got one), highlighting the good things happening in the city (I see lots of great things), or venting on bad things that are happening in the city (no shortage there either, unfortunately). I know, facebook gives you that outlet too and I admit, FB is part of the reason I haven't blogged. FB is quick and short and mindless. It kind of sucks you in and -poof- the whole night is gone. Blogging takes more thought and maybe even a bit of work--research, developing your narrative, writing complete sentences. You know, thinking.

Another reason to start posting again is because I am running for city council. I hope that my blog posts will help the people of Ward 4 get to know me and my ideas on city issues.

Getting ready for door knocking. My candidate pin.

But my ultimate reason for blogging is to get more local government information out to city residents, try to help make sense of it and encourage civic participation.

For example, did you know that there is a city newsletter posted on the city's webpage every week? Here's the link to archived newsletters.
Did you know that there are city volunteer openings on two commissions? City Charter Commission and Joint Planning Commission (JPC). These volunteer positions have been open for quite a while.

You'd think that citizens would be anxious for opportunities to have a voice in the city's affairs, but the city has had a difficult time keeping their six spots filled on the JPC, even though it's a paid volunteer position ($50 per meeting). Personally, I think the JPC is too large (12 members, 6 township and 6 city reps.). I think that reducing the membership to 8 would encourage better attendance (there is rarely full attendance) and tighten up meetings.  Having 12 members just seems to allow members the ability to be free-riders. I imagine members thinking:

"If the other 11 members prepare, I really don't have to. I don't have to read the whole packet, I can skim  it. Who would notice if I'm not  prepared for the meetings? Everybody can't talk, there are 12 of us, for crying out loud!"

Don't get me wrong. I believe the JPC members take their roles seriously and work hard, but  I watched the JPC tonight. There were only nine in attendance. I think it needs to be smaller.

It's good to be back writing a blog. I hope you'll return again. In the mean time, "gee ain't it funny, how time slips away" (courtesy of Willie Nelson).

No Primary in Bemidji Ward 4

Is it me or JD?

As many of you know, I filed for election to Ward 4 of the Bemidji City Council against the incumbent. This article in The Pioneer outlines all of the local races and notes that Ward 4 is the only one that won't go to a primary.

It is interesting that two other candidates from Ward 4 chose to file for the at-large position. One of them, Byron Rock, told me that he thought the incumbent W4 council member would be hard to beat, hence his decision to run at-large. Hmm. I think JD is beatable.

The other at-large candidate from W4, Linda Lemmer, called me and indicated that she was thinking of running for W4, but had second thoughts when I filed. I got the impression that she did not want to run against me. Hmm. I think I am a great candidate too!

It should be an interesting campaign season.

Old Fairgrounds up for Bid

The former County Fairgrounds is for sale. While perusing the legal ads Sunday (2/28), I came across the County's advertisement for bids for (what remains of) the former County Fairgrounds. The 16.4 acre parcel is located south of Target and the Westridge Development.

I am not sure why the County has decided to put it on the market at this time, but if it sells, the City is in line to receive 50% of whatever it brings.

That's right, the County has to split the proceeds of the sale 50/50 with the City. The arrangement stems from a deal struck several years ago (ten or more?).

The County was contemplating building a new administration building on the fairgrounds site. The Downtown Development Authority wanted to keep the County employees downtown, so through the leadership of Mayor Peterson, the City "drained their reserves" and using $1 million or more, purchased an entire city block of homes for the county building. The residents were relocated, the new building was constructed, and "Lot 9" was built to serve the County buildings and the downtown.

In return, the County struck an agreement (County Administrator, Greg Lewis) to repay the City the equivalent of 50% of the fairgrounds property. The property was put out on bids at that time, but there were no takers. Then the County hired a broker to sell the property, but were again unsuccessful in selling the property. Maybe the third time is the charm.

Was it worth it? While dislocating a block of single family homes was controversial at the time, in retrospect, it was money well spent. Having the county "campus" and the scores of employees and customers it pulls into the downtown, has been a boon to downtown businesses and is one reason our downtown is still viable.

Putting off the sale of the property for ten years wasn't the worst thing that could happen either. The property is currently appraised at $1.75 to $2 million.

Two questions remain:
Will there be an acceptable bid?
Maybe the start of construction on the Menards store next month will be a catalyst for more development in the area.

What will the City do with the proceeds?
With the recent hits to the City's budget, there are plenty of places for any unexpected "windfall". Personally, I don't think it should go to a "one time" budget fix.

Given that the funds were originally leveraged for economic development, it seems reasonable to use the proceeds for economic development as well. That could be the creation of a new business revolving loan program, an investment in updating or expanding the City's liquor stores, or the creation of a set-aside for BREC operations. What do you think?

Last Days of Community Development

December 31, 2009 marked the last day of the Community Development office in Bemidji City Hall. My job was eliminated and I now join the other 175,000 unemployed workers that are currently drawing unemployment benefits in Minnesota.

The City Council eliminated the 2010 budget for my position in a surprise move (and I believe outside the authority vested in them by the Charter) during a work session in August. Many individuals and community organizations protested the decision, but the Council chose to ignore their pleas and instead suggested that the duties be distributed to other staff. Unfortunately, the work that is generally considered “community development” will probably not get done.

The city has reduced its workforce by 10% in the last three years. Not only is there is no other staff with the time for it, there is no staff with the passion for it.

The City will pay me about $585 a week to stay home until I find a new job (or for 72 weeks, whichever comes first). The State will send a quarterly bill to the City for reimbursement of my unemployment claim and there will be negligible savings realized from the elimination of the position. The costs to the community will never be known, a realization The Pioneer alludes to in today’s editorial—unbelievably, their first comment on the issue (emphasis mine):

Bemidji is on the cusp of something great, we only hope that increased development is both welcome and well-guided. That is perhaps our weakest link, as Beltrami County has halved its grant to the Joint Economic Development Commission and the city of Bemidji has eliminated its community development director position.

Still, 2010 holds promise as a great year for economic development in Bemidji. We’ll be looking for opportunities to foster that.

Kinda late. Many opportunities to foster development were lost when four members of the council orchestrated the elimination of the CD position. There is enough money in the City’s 2010 budget to fund the CD position; they have just chosen not to.

Didja Know?

There is a lot of information available for citizens on the City of Bemidji website. For example, you can see:

• What animals are in the city pound.
• The most up-to-date news in the Manager's weekly newsletter. This week's edition features a story about the waste water treatment facility.
• The Bemidji City Park Draft redevelopment plan.
• The newest "Video Tour" of the City that was filmed last summer.

I hope you will take a look around the website. You can even leave a comment.