Councilor Theresa Stehly’s first Inside Town Hall. She talks snowgates, neighborhood watch, public input & boulevard plantings.
Kermit Staggers defends Stehly, it’s really freaking cold in Carnegie;
I remember many of my colleagues and citizens attending the meetings and expressing their concerns over the cold temperature in the chamber. I have always been amazed that the council has been denied the right to choose the temperature of its own facility.
And we still don’t have an answer from the mayor if he runs the thermostat.
Neitzert talks about his disappointment in the EC settlement secrecy case;
Effectively, whenever the city engages in some sort of transaction with another party and something occurs that might be embarrassing or damaging to the city, they can withhold details from the public by doing nothing more than entering into a contract with the other party and adding a confidentiality clause.
And the administration (Huether) has been very successful at it during his term.
Stu Whitney wrote a great column about Stehly and her upcoming agenda on the council. I thought I would clarify a bit, since these are some of the things Theresa and I have discussed long before the election, in fact some of this stuff we have talked about for years;
At tonight’s meeting, she plans to discuss the possibility of a “town hall forum†to promote public feedback on borrowing $25 million for a new city administration building, tentatively approved by the council last month. Huether cast the tiebreaking vote for that compromise measure, which approved the bond ordinance but delayed the actual borrowing of the money until this fall.
The idea was to allow more time in case county cooperation with the project materialized. But Stehly sees the delay as an opportunity to encourage more citizen input, and maybe even a public vote, on the proposed 79,000-square-foot building at Eighth Street and Dakota Avenue.
This is something Stehly has pitched in the past, a threshold ($$$) on when the council should approve a project and when the citizens should. Stehly thinks after a certain dollar amount, it should be on the ballot. Not such a bad idea since citizens are already voting on ordinances and policy on the ballot through the Charter Revision Commission. While I like the idea, I think the number should be rather high, like over $50 million. Theresa thinks it should be lower. Either way, worth the discussion with the public.
Stehly also wants the city to revamp its Project T.R.I.M. tree inspection program to make it more citizen-friendly, passing on the labor to city crews rather than homeowners in some cases. “I’d like to see one season where they use their staff to do the trimming,†she said.
A little clarity on this one. The idea that has been thrown around is to NOT eliminate the notification process OR allowing people to trim boulevard trees. Some people prefer to trim their own trees because they want them to look a certain way, or they want to hire an arborist to do it. I think that this ‘priviledge’ could still be allowed. This would be for people who either can’t physically trim them or afford to hire someone. Instead of wasting resources on public works employees driving around measuring and writing letters, if they see something minor, just chop it off right there or ask the homeowner if they can do it. This is really no different then what Excel does when trimming trees around powerlines. Many communities across our state are finding it is just much easier to have city employees trim the boulevard trees. In the long run it pays off.
Also on her agenda is addressing crime-ridden areas of the city with vigilant neighborhood watch programs, a pet cause of hers since she started her own program back in 1997. “It’s a very low-cost way to bring people together to be the eyes and ears of this community,†says Stehly, who plans to meet with police chief Matt Burns on the issue.
This one is really just common sense. With all the recent vandalism and robberies alone in this city, it is smart for neighbors watching out for each other.
Will Stehly be 100% successful on these issues? Probably not, but starting a good discussion doesn’t hurt.
Greg and Theresa will be on Rick Knobe’s show Monday from  4:15-5:00 PM. KSOO, 1140 AM.
They met on May 10th to discuss municipal issues. Stehly is interested in learning about how other communities handle 2nd penny expenditures, public input, citywide cleanup day, park board decisions, perspectives on city debt and openness to input from council members on projects included in the budget. She will be visiting with other mayors throughout our state in the months to come to continue to dialogue.