Rochester 5th Ward Information

What's This City Coming To?

2008-02-17T19:30:00.002-06:00

Next Wednesday, February 20, the council will discuss an option to have visible security in the form of police officers at all City Council Meetings. This was brought about because of the killing of council members and police in Kirkwood, Missouri a week or so ago. Whenever I find it hard to decide on something it’s either I don’t have enough information or, even with information, it’s a matter that I wonder should be brought up in the first place. So I’m asking you for your thoughts.

I’m not flippant about my life, the life of the other council members, or anyone in the audience, but I’m having a tough time asking to use police resources just because this happened elsewhere. Unfortunately, in an open, free society these things can and do happen. As Police Chief Peterson said about having restricted access or metal detectors at all entrances, (paraphrasing) - “Restricted access to Government is no access to Government”. Should we then have someone follow me to my car in the parking lot, as I go home, when I go out in public, at Grandma’s Kitchen? Don’t think so. At this time I’m thinking that we should leave things as they are unless we have reason to request otherwise (and we did that once last year.)

Then there’s the shooting in DeKalb that still doesn’t make any sense to anyone.

Should we carry? Are you kidding? I need both hands to talk.

So, what do you think?

Send me your thoughts -- bobnow@charter.net .

Thanks,

Bob

Back Again in '08

2008-01-05T18:27:00.000-06:00

'08 will be GREAT!

Well so far so good. Got the Kiwanis Wells Fargo Hockey Festival behind me, behaved myself on New Year's eve, got back on my treadmill (well, twice this week), and besides having a sewer backup before Christmas in the Northern Hills area, things are looking good.

We've also grown to over 100,000 population on New year's day. With the annexation of the Marvale addition over 1000 residents joined our ranks to push our population to over 100,000 according to our Director of Planning, Phil Wheeler -- and Phil is not known to be wrong in these matters.

The PB had a very good article on January 2 and in it there were references to "City of the First Class".
Since then I'd had several people ask me about this and just what does it mean. We've always said and known that we're a first class city so what's this about?

We're still trying to figure it out. See, its a Minnesota State designation and there are many statutes buried in State Statutes that apply to a "City of the First Class" but they're interspersed in the books. There's no one source for us to go to as the last city to become a City of the First Class was Duluth and that was in 1935!

We've got until about 2011 or 2012 before we'll see any effect or need to take any action but in a proactive move we commissioned a work effort last summer under the guidance of the Charter Commission and our City Attorney's Office to find these statutes so we could get a heads up on what faces us.

It was a tremendous piece of work and you can see the results on our home page. Go on line to http://www.rochestermn.gov/departments/administration/projects/firstclass/firstclasscity.asp

The Excel worksheet "Master Table of Statutes" can be downloaded. The statutes are identified and broken down even to the department level. We even have those statutes identified that affect the County and School District -- why not as long as our researcher was in there.

If you see something interesting then click on the link and you will go on line to the actual full statute in the State's books. Pretty neat!

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in what happens behind the scenes.

If anything interesting happens I'll be in touch otherwise Joan and I are off to a much belated visit with kids and grandkids in Florida. We plan to leave on Jan 14 and return on the 29th. I'll be checking e-mail from time to time but don't plan on being compulsive about the matter. Hope you understand.

Bob

New Ordinance Highlights Booklet

2007-09-10T07:44:00.001-06:00

Sometime ago I mentioned that I was working on a new, improved, updated Rochester City Ordinance Highlights booklet which is intended to help you better understand the "rules" especially in regards to your relationship with your neighbors and vice versa. It's a selection of the key ordinances that may cause neighbor-to-neighbor problems, in a shortened form, with reference to the "official" ordinance as well as a phone numbest of the appropriate city department to call for more information or action.

We also tried to include references to useful city resources that many do mot know about.

This was a collaborative effort between the RNeighbors Board (of which I'm a member), citizen supporters, and the City and we thanks them all.

Printed hard copies will be available at the City Clerk's office at City Hall, the Rochester Public Library, on the information table outside the Council Chambers before every City Council meeting, and at the RNeighbors office (call 529-4150). You may find these useful to distribute to new neighbors or to discuss at Neighborhood Association meetings and the like.

You may contact me for more detail or if you'd like me to attend a neighborhood gathering to talk about this.

Oh, electronic copies and access may be had either from the Rochester City home page http://Rochestermn.gov or the RNeighbors web site http://RNeighbors.org .

Bob Nowicki

Spending Tax $$$ Wisely – Community Service Officers

2007-08-15T16:01:00.000-06:00

The Post Bulletin had an article last Monday, August 13, 2007 about a proposal Police Chief Peterson was going to make (and did) to the city council regarding a civilian response team that would respond to non-emergency calls. The idea is to free certified police officers from these non-emergency calls to make better use of their time and skills for the more serious crime prevention, traffic enforcement, and the more serious calls that require a fully trained police enforcement officer.

I think this makes a lot of sense. So much sense that you have to wonder why we hadn’t done this before. It’s relatively new here in the US but is a plan that the chief studied and has taken the best parts of from a plan in place in London. (This is called research.)

Of course the article and the proposal has raised a lot of questions. Good questions from the council as well as some of you. We don’t yet have a job description but it’s coming. Ditto for more detail. But the gist of the plan is that with the every growing population there have been a rising number of calls for service which impact our ability to respond to the more serious calls so why don’t we hire and train staff to handle these calls and let the fully trained officers respond to the calls that require their training?.

The growing number of calls are fortunately not of the serious crime nature but they impact the PD’s ability to respond to the serious calls or to do important crime prevention activities like show lots of visibility in potential crime areas, businesses etc … be around more on the street for traffic enforcement … respond even faster to emergency calls.

The CSO’s would be trained to respond to time consuming report writing calls after a break in, vandalism, and so on. They would be the ones to take pictures, fill out accident reports or record a crime scene. You don’t need a badge and a gun to do these things. They’d wear distinctive uniforms and be highly visible. They could do great PR kind of things on the downtown area like give directions, keep the peace in Peace Plaza or the new 1st Street Mall. They would have radios and be in contact with the regular police officer in case of need.

We haven’t adopted it yet but are considering it for next year’s budget. Having 4 full time and 12 part time officer for less that $900,000 is a lot smarter, I think, than hiring 16 additional officers for $1.5 million --- and then using them for these same mundane tasks..

You’ll see more as we develop the plan in the paper, on the city’s home page, from me, and from the PD so stay tuned.

Bob Nowicki

Ward Update - July 1

2007-07-02T08:38:00.000-06:00

I'm back from attending the League of Minnesota Cities Conference for elected officials in Duluth. Went to a bunch of sessions and hope some of the things I learned will stick. It was a very good conference. Ardell was elected and sworn it as 2nd Vice President so in two years he'll be the big kahuna (opps. Sorry Mr. Hazama.) Sandra Means, Marcia Marcoux, the Mayor and I attended as well as Donna Bussell, the mayor's assistant, Park Director, Ron Bastian and others from the Rochester Convention and Visitor's Bureau. They were there to not only see what they could learn but to represent Rochester as we will be the host for the conference next year. Rah-Rah-Rochester!

PRESCRIBED BURN AT SILVER LAKE: As you visit Silver Lake no doubt you will notice the work going on in preparation for the vegetation seeding and transplanting. A prescribed burn of some of the shoreline areas will be conducted sometime in July so if you see smoke from the area stay away if you are sensitive to smoke or remain indoors until it passes. (and you might want to hold off on calling the Fire Department) It's anticipated that the area to be burned will be small due to the type of vegetation present and preparation required. Burns will take part in small sections at a time and timing will be dependent on weather and wind conditions. Burns will take place on weekdays between 7am and 7pm. Of course, the contractor is experienced in conducting these burns and will coordinate and obtain the necessary burn permits from the Fire Department.

WARD VISIT WITH THE MAYOR?: The Mayor and I have discussed holding some kind of town hall meetings in wards on a regular basis. I know the Mayor always follows the open door policy and takes calls, visits, and is out and about in his normal course of the day. I try to do the same as do other council members.

We were wondering, however, if having the Mayor and council member host an open meeting session somewhere would be of benefit to you. If so, when and where? Right now you know that I'm at Grandma's Kitchen every Friday from 7 to 8:30 (or as long as there's someone there to talk to). The Mayor thinks that perhaps we should start off there to see what kind of response we get. What do you think?

When we come up with some kind of plan we'll publish a schedule in the paper, our city home page, probably talk about it on the radio and of course I'll let you all know in my Ward Updates.
Let me know what you think or let the Mayor know at abrede@ci.rochester.mn.us

Ward Update

2007-05-31T20:35:00.000-06:00

TRANSITIONAL HOUSE (brought to your attention in my 4/10 update): The council approved city ordinance and land development manual changes which would lay out the conditions for a conditional use approval of a residence to house newly released prisoners who would be otherwise homeless into our community. The net is that a house or dwelling unit (apartment) cannot house more than 5, must be at least 1000 feet apart from one another, and if housing any type of sex offender must not be closer than 500 feet from a day care center or 1000 feet from a school, playground, or other child-oriented facility. A neighborhood informational meeting is mandatory (within a 500 foot radius) and city council approval is required. The Department of Corrections will oversee these requests and establishments. They are currently planning to only have 4 of these homes in Rochester. This is the big picture. Contact me if you have any further questions.

FIRST STREET PLAZA: We awarded the low bid for the First Street Plaza to Pember Construction for $2,872,156.69. Work will begin in June and mostly completed this fall. This was a re-bid as the first bid came in at $4.1 M which was almost $1 M over the preliminary engineering estimate. Staff, working with the design engineers, pared down the design requirements coming up with a figure closer to what we were prepared to fund.

SILVERLAKE BUFFER PROJECT: The project to provide a native plant buffer around Silver Lake had been formally approved at last night's council meeting. The purpose is to reduce fecal coliform bacteria from entering Silver Lake and the Zumbro River as a result of goose and other animal droppings on the shoreline. The buffer zone will begin from about 10 feet off the shoreline in the water to about 30 feet of shoreline. More information about the project and goose management can be found at http://www.rochestermn.gov/departments/administration/projects/geesemanagement.asp . Some interesting stuff in there. One of the most interesting is about Angel Wing, the condition we see sometimes at Silver Lake with some geese that are mistake as wounded. This came up when we first proposed no feeding of the geese and received flak for not helping the poor "wounded" critters. If you read the article you'll see that these geese are healthy, can fly (I'd been amazed the first time I saw this happen) and the condition is attributed to a nutritional condition due to TOO MUCH FOOD! How's that for a twist?

PEDDLER PERMITS: It's the time of year when door-to-door sales reps knock on your door again. Be advised that they must have a "Peddler's Permit", issued by the city clerk. Don't be afraid to ask to see it. A company ID will not do. If you have any doubt don't hesitate to report these people to the police. They may be going door to door to see who's home so they could come back again a bit later to break in and rob you.
The exceptions are political campaigners, religious evangelists (unless they are selling something), non-profit fundraising activities such as Youth Hockey, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, school fundraisers. If in doubt, call the police or the city clerk's office 328-2900.
I had a request to look into the hours that they could solicit. Staff is looking into what other cities are doing. We will have a discussion on this either at our June 4th Committee of the Whole meeting or the one after on June 11th.
What do you think are reasonable hours for solicitation? I'd like to know. Tell me what you think.

Thanks,

Bob

General Ward Update

2007-04-27T18:10:00.000-06:00

LITTERBIT BETTER: Well, the Litterbit Better Cleanup campaign has certainly cleaned up a good chunk of the 5th Ward thanks to many dedicated volunteers. I hope that we will all do our bit to keep it clean.

RNeighborWoods Tree Planting: I'm getting ready to plant some trees on Elton Hills Drive tomorrow, Saturday. Doing it as a board member of RNeighbors, one of the initiators of RNeighborwoods, one of the first certified Citizen Foresters, council member interested in making the city more tree friendly and beautiful, and all around sucker for a good cause.

Perhaps in your travels along Elton Hills Dr.in the last couple of days you noticed the holes dug in the parkways with trees sitting waiting to be planted. These 100 trees are to replace the trees removed due to interference with the power lines and trimming causing structural decay over the years. We're going to start planting at 8:30 on Elton Hills Dr. with a rally at the Rochester Lutheran School and wrap up at the same place with a picnic for all the volunteers. Kids and adults are welcome. Bring gloves, a spade if you have one or just come over to supervise.

EMERALD ASH BORER: I just received a note from Jacob Ryg, our city Forester, regarding the possibility of importing the dreaded emerald ash borer into Minnesota with improperly processed Taylors Wood Products. Apparently the bark hadn't been removed from the logs and could harbor the ash borer which has been devastating trees in Michgan and moving towards us at an alarming rate.

I don't have any information about this product other than what is described in the memo but thought you should know about this just in cas you use the product. I have three very nice ash trees that I'd like to keep for as long as possible and sure that some of you do as well so if we can do something to prevent an even earlier arrival of this pest then let's do it.

Thanks,

Bob

On Transitional Housing

2007-04-11T21:23:00.000-06:00

So what if you were just released from jail or prison and wanted to get back into society but didn’t have money to buy a house or any friends or family in the area?

This is the problem that 40% of the 274 ex-prisoners released in 2006 and 40% of the 139 expected to be released in the Rochester Area face or will be facing. They are essentially homeless and may stay that way unless the already over-burdened probation officers and system find accommodations for them. By the way, there are currently 2,178 people on supervised release living among us today.

I think we’ll all agree that having a job, earning our keep, and being able to support ourselves are key to leading a healthy, productive life. Ditto for those who return to society after serving their sentences for their previous transgressions on our society.

The Department of Corrections including our Olmsted County probation office are proposing to open a “transitional” housing facility to address this need for housing. Others may follow.

An early attempt met with resistance from nearby residents. Fear of the unknown mostly. danger to themselves and their loved ones, loss of property values – you know, that sort of thing.
We, the city council, placed a one year moratorium to study the matter and formed a task force to help do this. Representatives from the Corrections community, neighborhoods, and various city and county organizations met since January.

They’ve made some pretty sound recommendations and we, the council, gave them the approval to continue through the ordinance formation and change process on the line they suggested.

Basically, the proposed home will have to come before the Planning and Zoning Commission and Council as a Conditional Use Development – meaning that it would only be approved if it met the conditions laid out in the ordinance and that it could only keep functioning if it continued to meet those conditions.

Conditions may vary depending on whether any level of sex offender would be housed on the property but basically no two houses could be within 1000 feet of each other (to keep the residential flavor of the area) and there must be at least 400 homes within a 1500 foot radius (again to insure residential atmosphere versus putting the home in a fringe area or industrial area).

In houses where sex offenders of any type might live there would be additional restrictions imposed. Houses could not be within 1000 feet of a licensed day care center, or 500 feet from a school or neighborhood play ground. We think this makes sense and is a balance between addressing the need to help assimilate these folks back into our community as helpful, supportive members of the community and addressing the concerns of our current residents.

I don’t expect to make a firm decision on this before June so let me know what you think.

I also have a lot of data on success rates, recidivism experience and can enlist the help of the Department of Corrections to address your questions, attend neighborhood meetings etc.

How Many People Have to Be Killed ...

2007-03-20T19:55:00.000-06:00

before you put in the traffic signal ... stop sign ... change the speed limit ... etc?

I don't know how many times I'd been asked this question since I've been on the city council and I know our traffic engineer probably gets this question daily.

There is, of course, no good answer to this. We certainly don't want to wait for anything as serious as a death before we take action but, on the other hand, we don't want to cause an accident of death by our actions either.

This is why we, the city and county, hire qualified professionals to carry the title of "Traffic Engineer". They are professionals with experience and specialized training just as are the other public works civil engineers who make daily decisions about the construction of our streets, sewers, water system, bridges and all the other important infrastructure needs of a city. Ditto for all of our city departments.

Stop signs and traffic signals are the most difficult areas to address to those who feel the need for them because the whole science is counter-intuitive. As solutions go, they are regarded as the lesser of two evils when it comes to traffic management. This is why the state, county, and city must meet a rigid set of engineering criteria called "warrants" before they are installed.

These "warrants" are measurements of traffic volumes for prescribed periods of time, the number and severity of accidents, pedestrian volume, and the effect on the "traffic system". This criteria is based on studies and analysis by the Federal Highway Administration and are contained in the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Go to http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/resources/state_info/minnesota/mn.htm for more information.

The dichotomy is that often times installing a traffic signal to provide easier access to a busy thoroughfare and prevent accidents may cause an increase in accidents of another kind. There are many studies that show an increase in rear-end collisions and t-boning after a signal is installed that did not occur prior to its installation.

So, it's not about good or bad planning, the budget, the whim of anyone, stubbornness or not recognizing your concerns, but really is following the best known practices to insure your and my long range safety.

Just thought you'd like to know.

New City Information Service

2007-03-02T14:04:00.000-06:00

Staying home waiting for the big snowstorm and playing on the internet reminded me to tell you about a fantastic new service on the city's home page -- an automatic e-mail update service!

First of all there's a ton of information on the city's home page rochestermn.gov . The latest updates on several projects like the Silver Lake Goose project, The Quarry Hill ravine revision, and the Cascade Lake project. There's info about the current events at Mayo Civic Center, info from the Mayor's office on board and commission openings for appointments, the city council meeting agendas and minutes, changes in ordinance, a lot of general announcements and much more.

The neat thing now is that you can sign up to have selected pieces of information sent to your e-mail address as they become updated or posted on an immediate, daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

I think this is a really neat way to stay informed about what's happening in the city and thought you should know about it.

Your tax dollars at work for YOU! Check it out!

Bob

Duck, Duck, Goose ....

2007-02-09T09:39:00.000-06:00

I’ve been holding off on saying too much about the city’s plan for handling the increasing resident goose population to let things settle down a bit and to see what more should be said.

First of all we’re talking about the resident goose population which has grown from the low hundreds just a few short years ago to over 3000 today. These are the geese that have been born here and stay here the year ‘round. These are the critters who eat grass (their favorite food) in your yards, golf courses, school yards, soccer fields, etc and what goes in must come out so they poop accordingly. 27 times a day and about the same amount as an average human. Don’t ask me how I know or who measures these things but it’s been documented and I’m just passing this on.

Both the resident and migratory birds are protected by a treaty with Canada and up to now we haven’t been able to do much but watch them grow. However, recognizing the problem cities like ours are facing with uncontrolled growth, the Department of the Interior just released a ruling in August 2006 that would permit these cities to file for an application to take steps to control this growth – with local DNR approval.

The migrant birds are still untouchable and are not the “problem”. They are the “good birds”. They come for a stopover, stay for a short while, and then leave before they wear out their welcome - like any good guests you might have over the holidays.

The resident geese are the guys who nest, grow in population and, in ever expanding numbers, look for food in your yards, gardens, etc. These are the guys who are responsible for your slipping and sliding on the jogging paths or sidewalks, for your kids or grandkids coming home with green tinged clothing, hands … well you get the idea.

Information from our Public Health Department, Environmental Commission, the World Health Organization and others indicates that we should be on the alert for the potential of diseases and even eventually the spread of Avian Flu from these critters. We, the city council charged with protecting you, our citizens, see the need to become more proactive.

So, we’re working with the Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Management department to see what, if anything, we might do to control the population increase and possibly contain their interaction with our property and residents. Hunting and addling of eggs are two methods and it’s up to the DNR to make any recommendations and/or allow permits for their use.

Asking to limit feeding in our parks, not mowing grasses around storm water ponds, and developing a vegetative buffer around Silver Lake are other steps we are taking.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

A Couple of Opportunities

2007-01-19T14:40:00.000-06:00

CHARTER COMMISSION OPENING: Are you interested in playing a more active role in how our Rochester city government functions? (No, I just got re-elected and aren't volunteering to step down!)

However, there is one opening to be filled on the Charter Commission. This is an important commission for the city. The opening and more information will be posted today on the City's home page www.rochestermn.gov . Details on the Charter Commission could be found at http://www.rochestermn.gov/departments/mayor/boards/index.asp and you can download or complete an application on-line from this site as well. You may also pick an application up at the Mayor's office or call Donna at 295-8080. For more detail contact about the position and function of the commission contact Ass't City Attorney, Dave Goslee at 285-8066.

TRAFFIC ISSUES? Gary Shannon, Rochester's Traffic Engineer, will be at my weekly Grandma's Kitchen coffee next Friday, January 26 so bring your traffic concerns and stop in. I am usually there from 7 am to 8:30 to catch some of you before you get to the salt mines. We will stay as long as you want us there. Gary will address some of our latest thinking in signalization, traffic calming measures, and other creative ideas to improve traffic safety in Rochester so be there. If possible, let me know beforehand if you'll be there (so I might set aside more tables) and also what your major concern is so we could be better prepared to address the issue.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, etc don't hesitate to contact me. If you know of a friend or neighbor who isn't on my distribution list feel free to forward this to them and suggest that they contact me to be added. Also, don't forget to include me in your change of address. Every so often I get email rejects and some are difficult to resolve (you folks with unlisted phones)!!!

Bob Nowicki 285-0295
bobnow@charter.net

Update on Goose Poop

2007-01-05T05:33:00.000-06:00

You may have seen a KTTC news report on efforts being made to reduce the amount of goose poop runoff entering Silver Lake and the mighty Zumbro River. About this time of year I get several calls about the geese as their population grows to the 30,000 range.

The calls are of two kinds, a) What are you doing to control and get rid of these nuisances? and b) Why are the corn vending machines empty so often when I bring visitors to feed the geese?

To the latter, we have in the past allowed the vending machines to be in the area but do not have direct responsibility for their upkeep. The park board has elected to have these machines removed as part of the Silver Lake/Zumbro River clean up effort.

Over the years several groups, including the environmental commission, have met to discuss controlling the goose population. Since we are in the Minnesota flyway and most of the geese are migrating they (and crows as well, by the way) are protected species and we are limited in what we can do. Efforts to control the resident population have been on-going with the assistance of the DNR.

The council authorized a grant application to the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority for a matching grant to help pay for a native vegetative shoreline buffer around Silver Lake to provide filtration capacity to reduce the coliform bacteria entering the lake from goose and other pet waste. We were granted $275,000 from the PFA. The other half of the project funds will come from the storm water management fees we pay for with our water utility bill.

I’d attended a planning meeting with staff , representatives of two consulting firms specializing I these kind of projects, and other interested parties on December 18. An overview of the project with an on-site walk-though of the Silver Lake facility were the highlights. The objectives include keeping the lake periphery accessible to fishermen, walkers, picnickers, etc while making the lake and periphery less accessible to the geese. The hope is to make the lake area less attractive to the migrating birds reducing their population which would also affect their impact on the surrounding area – school grounds, golf courses, farms etc.

I believe that the view of the lake will be enhanced with the plantings. It’s going to take a few years to develop as planned so we need to ask for some patience. The original plan was to have the initial plantings completed by June but because of commitments to the water ski show folks for July 4th , the rowing club, and others, the latest target for initial planting completion will be around August.

I’ll try to keep you updated as we proceed and, of course, if you have any questions, need for more detail, comments or whatever – feel free to contact me directly. Expect to see regular reports from the media as well.

Thanks,

Bob

Season's Greetings .. The Budget is Done!

2006-12-16T20:31:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas/Hannucah/Duvali/Ramadan to all!

The budget is done for another year. Came out to be around $153 M and change with a property tax levy of $37,500,000. Almost $5 M is due to CIP (Capital Improvement Plans – traffic signals, streets, sidewalks, bike paths, parks, etc).

This year we started to work with department heads earlier in the year to discuss their projected needs for 2007. We’d been having department reviews since early summer so most all decisions regarding additional personnel, new projects, equipment etc had been discussed and agreed on in advance. Of course, all year long we’d identified needs across the board in the city, our individual wards, or projecting for the future so there wasn’t much new to work on this last week.

Mr. Kvenvold and all the department heads had taken our recommendation to keep headcount growth to a minimum, to not skimp on needed projects but to hold the line on new and additional ones, and in general to help us absorb the uncontrollable (to us) increases in utilities, fuel, materials, and to some extent the increases mandated for personnel by past contracts or by the state.

Our tax increases this year worked out something like this: Personnel Costs 62.6%; Utilities 10.5%; Contractual Services 8.4%; and Vehicle Fuels & Oils 5.6% --- Total 87% .

On the plus side we started to see some early savings due to a contract we executed earlier in the year with Johnson Controls Inc. JCI is looking at 20 of our properties and replacing motors, pumps, lights, etc with more efficient products. They guarantee a savings of $5.7 M over 12 years, enough to pay for the replacements or they pay the difference. The benefits continue and are projected for 25 to 30 years so this is a good thing for the city. We’ve seen some early reductions in utility costs already. The traffic lamp replacement program with LED lamps has reduced that bill significantly already.

Anyway, if your property value stays the same as last year (the COUNTY does this assessment) then we’ve projected that you may see an increase in your city portion of the property tax of from .3 to .5%.

If you have any questions, comments, whatever, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Bob

Budget Setting Time Again

2006-11-29T17:38:00.000-06:00

I’m anxiously waiting for my preliminary budget package to take with me to the Reno National League of Cities Conference next week (Dec 4 through 10). I’m hoping that I’ll be so busy looking at all those numbers that I’ll be able to stay away from the casino (rather get a poke in the eye with a sharp stick than gamble).

We plan to do our final deliberations starting Tuesday afternoon, Dec 12, at 3:30 and will continue for the next three days if needed.. You are invited. I’d love to hear from any of you who have concerns about our taxes that I should know about – beforehand would be nice.

I haven’t heard or seen anything of concern to date. We’re expecting $600,000 less of a cut in LGA (Local Government Aid) so that will be of some help this year. The projects we’ve been discussing for the last year that will need funding for aren’t too dramatic so I think we’ll not have a big major tax hit this year.

Questions I always ask when making decisions is, “How does this benefit the citizens of Rochester? What does this do for the folks who have to pay the bill?” This not only includes each and every individual resident but all the businesses as well.

What I need from you is some kind of direction … some feeling … some help. Are you and I on the same track when it comes to our expectations as residents of this community? When we talk about “the greater good” do we both mean the same thing? When we look at requests for funding that includes quality of life issues versus the absolute necessities – where do you stand? Bike paths, library funds, art center, civic music, civic theater, diversity education, rebuilding and revitalization of neighborhoods, swimming pools … what do you want us to do?

Cut back? OK. Glad to. Tell me where and why. It’s easy to say “our taxes are too high – cut back!” -- as a retiree and taxpayer I’ll be glad to help here but tell me what you're willing to give up if I do this.

Anyway, as always, would love to hear from any of you who’d like to share input into the process.

Sewer Rates to Go Up Again?

2006-11-15T09:40:00.000-06:00

At our COW (Committee of the Whole) meeting last Monday, Nov. 13, we listened to several reports on long-term planning needs and efforts to maintain effective sewer service for the next 20 years. Much of the discussion centered on finances and the effect on your sewer rates.

The Rochester Public Utility operation is financed by user charges (sewer rates) and not by tax dollars. Much effort has gone in to address growth (our current $74 million expansion) and maintenance of aging infrastructure by balancing new attachment fees with current user rates to hold our rates to a minimum increase year to year and yet fund these needs.

We recognized that we need to do a better job of planning for the future beyond the 5 years we had in plan earlier this year. We spent almost all the time talking about projections out 20 years – with allowances for adjustments on a timely basis. We would prefer to increase rates if necessary in smaller increments rather than hold fees static and then impose a larger rate increase to pay for the new project.

This effort to plan for the future and set ourselves up to meet our needs with a reserve so as to keep us from having big jumps in rates gets complicated and I was impressed by the level of detail and work that went into Monday’s presentation by our Public Works staff and their consultants.

The Post Bulletin had a good summary of the meeting in their November 14 article by Mike Dougherty. Check it out.

As always, if you have any further questions or whatever give me a call.

Thanks for Your Support

2006-11-11T18:12:00.000-06:00

I'd like to thank you for your patience and support during this last election. I am very proud to have been elected to represent you once again on the city council.

Your support and confidence in me is important as I continue in this area of community service. I promise to continue to do my best for the Rochester community and to listen to all sides of an issue before taking any action. I will continue to poll my constituency on controversial issues and to the best of my ability represent the views of the 5th Ward.

Occasionally I will send notices to sections of the ward that may be affected by some action or occurrence in that area. I maintain an e-mail address list of ward contacts and if you received this then you are on it. If you have any friends or neighbors who don't get this please give them my e-mail address and ask them to send me a note to be included.

Remember to join me every Friday morning from 7 to 8:30 am at Grandma's Kitchen. You bring the problems and questions -- I buy the coffee.

For 5th Ward Information I maintain the blog site: http://fifthwardinfo.blogspot.com/

If at any time I can be of service to you please don’t hesitate to contact me by phone at home: (507) 285-0295 or cell: (507) 951-7677 or by email: bobnow@charter.net

New Traffic Calming Help

2006-11-03T19:43:00.000-06:00

The most frequent concern I hear from you has to do with drivers speeding in your neighborhood. This is extremely important to you and me because it affects our personal safety and the safety of our loved ones. It's also one of the most frustrating problems I (and the rest of the council) face.

SOoooo what can we do? A couple of years ago I announced a program which would be a collaboration between you and the police -- Traffic Tamers. The idea is that you and a couple of friends get to use a police radar gun to measure speed, log the time, speed, location, and vehicle tag number and turn all this in to Crime Prevention. They would then send a nicely worded letter (depends on your point of view) to the offender "warning " them that they have been observed driving at such and such speed in your neighborhood etc.

We think this is especially helpful when caring parents get the letter as the registered owner about the driving habits of their beloved teen. I'd think twice or three times before speeding through a certain neighborhood if I got one of these letters -- but that's me (and too many of you know what I look like!).

Traffic tamers has always depended on resident volunteers (YOU) to do the work --- until now. Don't get me wrong. We'd still like you to put some skin into the game but the problems continue, interest in doing something is expressed , but there it stops! Those of you who've tried to get your neighbors to volunteer know what I mean.

The Police have two very fine volunteer groups who are willing to help you with the Traffic Tamer program. VIPS (Volunteers In Public Safety) http://www.ci.rochester.mn.us/departments/police/crimeprevention/vips.asp and TRIAD http://www.ci.rochester.mn.us/departments/police/crimeprevention/triad.asp

What you need to do is to contact Officer Ken Plummer 281-6045 Police Department Crime Prevention/Traffic Tamer coordinator or, better yet, let the PD know about your traffic concern via the form on the city's home page. Go to http://www.rochestermn.gov/departments/police/forms/trafficconcerns.asp .

For the last 2 years I'd had a standing offer to volunteer with you if and when you're willing to try this traffic calming idea. Ball's in your court.

Bob Nowicki
bobnow@charter.net

Response to the PB 10/21 Editorial

2006-10-26T21:46:00.000-06:00

I have avoided being “political” in my blog to you but I feel I have to respond to the PB’s editorial on October 21 so you are warned and can leave now.

I’d held off because anything I would say could be looked as a “sour grapes” thing but, as I talk to people in the ward, most were a bit confused by this and suggested that I should tell my side of the story.

I believe the PB did the entire city, all the other candidates, and especially the Fifth Ward a disservice with the “Shaun Palmer is the best city council candidate in the entire field” statement without looking any deeper into his “ideas” for practicality, workability, accuracy. I think both should be able to articulate his proposed solutions instead of simply stating “I have an idea.” We all have ideas. I believe that experience and knowledge were enough for the rest of us to hold back on our ideas unless we could articulate a solution. For example:

-- Raising city’s lodging taxes to create cash for future debt payments and to fund the convention bureau isn’t a bad idea. However,it took 2-3 years of effort with state legislature to raise the lodging tax 1% from 3% to 4% much less doubling it as Mr. Palmer once suggested or even raising it 2-3%. The dollars raised are dedicated by law to the Convention and Visitors Bureau and we had to negotiate a special law so we could split the tax raised 50/50 with the Convention Bureau -- otherwise we’d only be able to keep 5% of this tax raised. we chose to let this effort sit on the back burner for a bit while we negotiated a sales tax extension for $40 M for city and county roads and the College. It’s not a dead issue but it’s not the revenue generator they’d have you believe it is.

-- Crime as his #1 issue. Last week it was the 58% rise in your property tax since 2001. I corrected him on this and he fired back that it was my inexperience that led me to question his numbers. Actually it was my experience that caused me to misjudge his statement as talking about the tax base (tax levy) instead of the actual property tax. I just couldn’t believe he did what he did – took one sample residence with a higher than normal market value increase (43%) for 2001 to 2006 and then used the city share of tax increase $221 to $350 to come up with 58% which he presented at 4 different forums as “Your taxes have gone up 58% since 2001”… Since 2003 the tax levy went up 47.7% and we can account for almost all of it from the 19% population growth, 22% Local Government Aid cuts from the state that we’ve had to make up ($18.5 M) … well if you’re really interested contact me and I can give you the details. The property tax average was more around 25-26% for the city if you want to get technical.

Public safety has always been my #1 priority. The PB give him credit for wanting to add more officers to fight the “rising crime rate” also “to cut off any notion that Rochester is soft on crime …” A headline article on June 26, 2006 states “Calls rise as crime drops”! We'd all like to see zero crime so any rate is too high but the crime rate dropped 36% since 1990 -- police department numbers provided to us at the start of our campaign -- Even with a population increase of 53%. Actually in the last 3 years serious crime dropped 16.4%; all crime dropped almost 14%; and the population rose 6.5%. Heck of a crime wave we have here! The chief asked for 5 more officers and he’ll get them. The council has never rejected a request for more officers, upgraded equipment, etc. when public safety is at risk. The real place to send the tough on crime message is through the court system. Shaun’s best idea that the editors missed was the one where he suggests placing video TV cameras in neighborhoods. 1984 idea but a gem! Again, the real numbers don’t support his contention.

-- “Raise the standard for affordable housing in Rochester.” and “the current minimum standards are far too low” completely baffle me. I have no idea what this means or what the council would have to do with this. What standards are too low? We just went through an exercise with the realtors and a developer to look at affordable housing needs in Rochester and the use of TIF funds to finance these houses. Data didn’t support using these funds for this. Not a need. Man, I’d love to know what this “raise the standard” stuff is all about! Seems to me that raising any kind of standard would raise the cost of the house. ????

-- “Wants to set aside green space area …” Who wouldn’t? I said this as we discussed tree loss due to development proposals several times while on the council. I even used the same example as Shaun does, Cook County Illinois Forest Preserves. It’s where I grew up. He has never stated how he’s to do this without raising your property tax that has gone up 58%. I at least proposed to the environmentalist groups in a recent forum that we all collaborate to locate land and do like Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited – have fund raisers to buy the land we want to preserve with private funds. Not a line anywhere about that suggestion and yet a PB reporter was in house when I made it. What about credit to the incumbent council for initiating and passing the Decorah Edge protection ordinance, supporting the Parkland dedication ordinance, or initiating a study for a possible ordinance or incentive to developers on tree conservation/preservation? How about credit for recently supporting the RNeighbors NeighborWoods tree planting effort with $5000 (planting 200 trees last Saturday, October 21) a collaboration of RPU, RNeighbors, resident volunteers, and the city forestry department – all efforts I happened to be directly involved with. These are actual happenings not just an “idea” without substance. But then again I’m not a leader. Frustrated, you bet I am.

-- “bucking trendy establishment ideas” … “rejects the notion that the city should be in the business of downtown development” …. WOW! The BIG concern in the last election was, “What is THE CITY going to do about the failing downtown area?” That was the hot button then and I suggested what turned out to be right on the money - a collaboration of business, developers, and residents that became the RDA with Sandy Keith at the helm. Trendy indeed! Mayo, the Chamber, etc. The city has the lead on building a new Biotechnology Development Building which will bring in new business and tie into the Mayo/UM Biotechnology program.

-- Finally “Palmer would challenge city staff to try new approaches to old problems. … would not hold failure against them … set a tone and direction for staff members and then expect them to follow.” What the heck do they think we’re doing now? Staff has always been encouraged to try new approaches and I don’t know a case where anyone has been punished for failure. This, to me is most elementary and shouldn’t even be a question or in discussion. Look at the changes made in most all departments – the Library, Civic Music, Mayo Civic Center, the Police and Fire Departments, Public Works, city admin --- new technology, processes, people. TID, Tax Abatements, TIF, Bluetooth Technology, Johnson Controls to address cost savings in 20 buildings, and on and on. Best to let staff speak to these new approaches, tone, and direction.

“Just hate it when the facts get in the way of a good story.”

Feel free top contact me if you have any questions.

Bob Nowicki 507 285-0295 bobnow@charter.net

Parkwood Hills Forming Neighborhood Watch

2006-10-15T21:47:00.000-06:00

A few recent events in the normally quite Parkwood Hills neighborhood brought neighbors together earlier tonight to talk about forming Neighborhood Watch groups.

For security reasons I won't mention names but if you are a Parkwood Hills resident and want to know more about this contact me and Ill have someone from the neighborhood get back to you. If you want more info about Neighborhood Watch (NW) then contact me or, better yet, contact Crime Prevention Specialist, Darrel Hildebrant at 507 281-6056.

Neighborhood Watch groups are especially helpful in getting to know your neighbors -- know who belongs in the area and who might not -- who should have a moving truck moving furniture and who shouldn't (really has happened) -- who's on vacation ... etc.

NW groups should have a couple of meetings a year to review and get updated on crime prevention techniques for around the house. Some basic things like keeping your outside lights on during the night or having a motion sensor could prevent a break in. Keep your cars locked even in your driveway, take the keys out and even lock your car while in your garage. Stuff like that might help.

There are regularily scheduled classes for block captains and a couple of Parkwood residents are going to attend. A follow up organizational meeting is planned for November 23 at 7 pm and if you are interested contact me.

Bob
285-0295
bobnow@charter.net

'Tis the Season

2006-10-01T18:10:00.000-06:00

Well, our campaign season is in full bloom and I have been neglecting to update this site. Sorry. Haven't had any major issues to report on, no Committee of the Whole for a couple of weeks, no major crises at the council hearings either.

I was successful in getting two projects on the way that I'd been concerned about for some time -- a pedestrian/bike path from Century HS along CR22 to connect to the path at the Townhomes. Should be in yet this fall. Also have been asking for help from the area residents via a petition to help me keep funds in the CIP for a small section between 16th Ave NE and Alberta Dr. This will then complete the walk from Broadway to Century HS.

The second bit of happy news is that the county/city will install a pedestrian operated flashing yellow caution light indicating a pedestrian in the crosswalk at the entrance to Parkwood Hills from Viola Rd. YOu need to stop if you see this -- it's the law. We hope this will help those who need to cross busy Viola to get to the bus stop or bike path do it more safely.

The candidate forums have begun. Last Tuesday evening the Rochester Area Builders held their annual member's meeting. They posed 6 questions for us to reply to that were of special interest to their membership. I think I answered them well and if any of you are interested in the questions and my responses let me know - I have typed notes I prepared ahead of time.

There are several forums coming up in the next few weeks. They were listed in the PB but here they are again. I suggest that you try to attend one if you can.

Tuesday October 3rd at 12:15 PM - Sponsored by the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce at the International Event Center (call Chamber for reservations).
Tuesday October 10th at 7:00 PM - Sponsored by the Izaak Walton League, Zumbro Valley Land Conservancy, Audibon Society at the Izaak Walton League Cabin 937 7th Ave NE
Wednesday October 12th at 7:00 PM - Sponsored by Rochester Chapter of NAACP at Rochester Public Library
Tuesday October 24th at 7:00 PM - Sponsored by the League of Women Voters at the Heinz Center RCTC

Of course, I will entertain your questions at any time -- just call, reply to this blog, or send me an e-mail. OR, best yet! Join me at Grandmas Kitchen on Fridays from 7 to 8:30 -- I buy the coffee, you bring the problems!

Bob

Keep Campaign Fundraising Simple

2006-09-11T19:34:00.000-05:00

On September 1, the Post Bulletin published an article. “Candidates file their fundraising, spending statements.”

Friends and supporters were concerned because my opponent was shown to have raised about 13 times the amount I had, was the most “prolific” of all the candidates, and, according to his claim, has a very large support group funding his campaign. Shouldn’t I be alarmed?

Well, fundraising has not been a problem for me as my work on the Kiwanis Hockey Festival, Rochester Sesquicentennial, Diversity Council, and the Veteran’s Memorial Field of Flags project would attest to. I almost enjoy the challenge.

I just feel uncomfortable asking for anything on my behalf. It’s OK for causes that benefit the community but for myself … no way!

There’s nothing wrong with fundraising for an election campaign and if you need to do this to get your name out there then so be it. I’d just rather keep it simple and count on my experience and proven record.

I’m grateful to the contributors I’ve had who have given willingly and of their own accord. I thank them for their generosity and faith in me but what really counts on November 7th is their vote.

I even hate to ask anyone to place a sign in their yard even though I know that it’s important I’m doing well at this but, to me, it’s the worst part of the campaign process. Going door-to-door talking to people, answering questions, and helping with problems is what I dearly love to do. Asking for anything in return just seems not quite right to me. I even help those not in my ward.

Perhaps I’m being a bit too touchy but I relish being independent and if I have any “special interests” it’s you, my constituents, and the good of the city of Rochester. I think keeping campaign costs low encourages more people to seek the office and isn’t that what we want of local government?

I appreciate your support however you choose to show it but I’m most comfortable if you’d give me your vote so I could continue to do my best to represent you and be your voice in city government.

Thanks,

Bob

Preliminary Tax Set

2006-09-07T21:47:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again! Preliminary tax setting time. State law requires us to set a preliminary tax levy by September 15. The interesting thing is that we can set the actual levy lower but can't go higher so we're forced to come up with a number that generally frightens and upsets those who don't understand "the game" until we sit down in December and come up with the real budget and tax levy number.

This year we set the levy at $37,500,000 which is 6.7% higher than the final levy value for 2005 ($35,159,000). Last year we set the preliminary value at $36,000,000 and it dropped almost $1,000,000 for the actual. You should also be aware that even though the rate was 6.7% higher than last year's, the amount that a current taxpayer's rate would increase would be less than that due to the fact that we added about 3.5% more to our tax base to help pay into the taxes.

So, the final tax may be 3.5 to 4.0% if your property value does not change.

We will be reviewing department needs and all that in the next few months with the idea of keeping this budget number down and come in even lower. Right now it's under the CPI which is 4.1% and I'd like to get it even lower if possible.

There are several items that affect the budget that are largely out of our control --state imposed pension contributions, cost of fuel, energy, materials, rising cost of contracted services, that sort of thing. One of our major concerns that could affect our budget is union labor demands for pay raises. We've negotiated on average a 2.5% increase for 2007 with 15 of the 18 unions. However, the police, fire and dispatch unions have not yet settled their agreements. The police union is demanding a 6% increase which is going to arbitration.

We won't know the results of this arbitration until after the first of the year. Whatever increase (if any) the police union gets will automatically apply to the other unions who have a "me too" clause. We've estimated that for every 1% raise increase over 2% the police get will cost us an additional $400,000 in taxes.

We have a few items in the budget that we can sacrifice but not many. There are some needed new hires that we've been putting on hold that could be put off for a bit again but not many. I personally want to hire the 5 requested police officers as I believe we need them but others may get sacrificed.

Stay tuned!

Bob Nowicki

A Little Bit of Catchin' Up

2006-09-01T23:58:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted an update and to those of you who tune in regularily I apologize. Funny how fast time flies when you're having fun.

A few short updates ...

DECORAH EDGE ORDINANCE: The council unanimously approved an ordinance that would protect that area near the Decorah Edge thought to purify potential drinking water from damage by development thereby reducing the potential of contamination of our drinking water. This was the result of many people representing environmental interests, developers, the public, city planning, and public works. All of us who care about the future of our drinking water thank everyone involved in the creation of this ordinance.

TIF MONEY FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING: A request for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to help reduce the overall cost of a newly built home in the Pebble Creek area therby helping to build more "affordable" housing was discussed at the August 21 Committee of the Whole meeting. A presentation of the availability of houses in the under $140,ooo range was given to the council by a real estate representative and after much discussion the council tentatively decided not to support this request. There did not seem to be a need for action to correct a shortage of housing in this price range, and especially for the use of tax dollars to do so I felt. I would much rather look at other ways to help builder/developers keep their costs down that would not have you and I paying for it. There are and have been special concessions made realtive to land density, street widths, etc that could help in this area and these will be looked at in the future.

VETERANS MEMORIAL RE-DEDICATION/ FIELD OF FLAGS: The Veterans Memorial was re-dedicated with the unveiling of a Nurse/Corpsman statue on Saturday, AUgust 26. It was a very moving and special occasion with song, displays, the visit of a National Guard Blackhawk helicopter, and best of all a very touching short speach by Senator Bob DOle. To make this event even more memorable, the Rochester Kiwanis Clubs working with the Veterans Memorial Committee and many other volunteers helped to produce a Field of 2,379 Flags, symbolically one for each name inscribed on the Memorial wall. $25 sponsorships were solicited to help pay for the flags adn all excess proceeds will be presented to the Rochester Reading Center/Dyslexia Institute. If you haven't seen the new statue I suggest you do so. The statue as well as the idea and support for the Field of Flags was largely the brainchild of Rochester developer, Frank Kottchade. I had the privilege and pleasure of co-chairing the Field of Flags portion of the event with Kiwanis West Club president Wanda Mitchell and worked with Mr.Kottchade and Wayne Stillman, Chair of the Veterans Memorial Committee. I mention this because these folks have given very much time, effort, monetary support to make our Rochester community even more special and have been doing this behind the scene for many years now.

DOOR KNOCKING AND ALL THAT: I've been out just about every weekday night for the last month or so knocking on doors and handing out campaign literature. Most importantly I've had an opportunity to talk to you face-to-face which is my favorite thing to do. You've been generous with your time and gracious with your support and I thank you. I see people who are busy with their families and their jobs. The main concerns or issues so far are ones affecting them in their immediate area - speeding, need for a traffic signal, bike paths, and the occasional question about the DME. Talking and answering questions now that I've been in a position to have good information takes time and I find that I don't cover as much ground as I did in my first campaign so bear with me. I will try to get to you by November 7th but if you have any questions or concerns, as always, call me immediately -- 285-0295 or send a note to bobnow@charter.net .

Thanks and have a great Labor Day weekend.

Fifth Ward NNO Picnics - Thanks

2006-08-06T21:27:00.000-05:00

The annual National Night Out (NNO) neighborhod picnics took place again last week, Tuesday, August 1 with the Fifth Ward holding at least 25 neighborhood get-togethers.

I tried my hardest to visit them all but only succeeded in visiting 12. What a great opportunity to visit with old friends, put some faces with names on new friends, and, in general have a great time. Thank yo all for your hospitality.

This year I asked the hosts to help me collect written questions and comments so I could have something to work with and as a means of getting some feedback from you in case I wasn't able to personnaly attend the event. THanks for your help and support. I'm glad to say that this seemed to work well and I will certainly do this again next year (if elected, that is.)

I also collected e-mail addresses to add to my ward distribution list. I have a pretty decent contact list by neighborhoods so if something in the Ward is happening in your neck of the woods I can try to let yo know about it.

This also works well for soliciting your input on issues that come to the council. (how else am I supposed to represent you?) So, if you haven't been getting anything in the way of e-mail occasionally from me (guarrantee no jokes, spam, campaign literature or the like) then send your address to me at bobnow@charter.net .

Thanks