Our award winning downtown has something for everyone this holiday season. With a variety of stores and shops to choose from you can complete all your Christmas shopping without ever going to a big box store or crowded mall. With convenient on street and lot parking, you never have to walk far to find just what you are looking for. Give it a try this year – shop locally!

Leave the big box stores behind this year. Shop Main Street!

This year there were two members nominated for Mayor. The current mayor, Jeff Cuthbertson, was nominated by council member Stuart Bikson to continue as mayor for one more year. Council member David Becker also nominated Kim Russell for the position of mayor. A vote of the full council was held and Jeff Cuthbertson retained his position as mayor for the upcoming year.

Following a similar procedure, Mayor Cuthbertson nominated Stuart Bikson to continue as Mayor Pro Tem. I nominated Kim Russell to occupy this position for the upcoming year. After a second vote on the two choices, Stuart Bikson was selected to continue in the position of Mayor Pro Tem.

Congratulations to Our Newly Elected Council Officials

Jeff and Stuart are to be congratulated for serving as council officials for the past year and are to be commended for being elected to lead this council for another term. Our city council is in capable hands. Everyone in our city should be pleased by this as the city moves forward into the next decade.

Choice is a Good Thing

This council was afforded the opportunity to choose between two candidates who have a different idea and approach about how best to lead this council.  We are blessed with council members who bring different strengths (and weaknesses, too) to the council table.  Although this particular election of our council leaders was contested, this should not be interpreted as a lack of support for Mayor Cuthbertson and Mayor Pro Tem Bikson as the council moves forward.  I offer them my full support and will continue to do so throughout the term of their leadership.

Over the course of the next twenty-seven years we raised a family in this community.  Our two sons are now many years out of college.  They both have college degrees and can thank the Rochester Community Schools for setting the foundation for their college education.  My wife and I have both worked in the greater Rochester community since that time as well.

Don’t Worry, There’s a Point to This Article

At this exact moment, I am sitting in the Bean & Leaf coffee shop that sits squarely at University & Main.   The Big Bright Light Show lights just flickered on outside the window I am sitting in front of. The coffee shop is bustling with late afternoon activity; college students, middle-aged guys like me, a young mother with a five year old, two women having a chat.  Pretty much a cross section of our community and they’ve all chosen to meet right here.  Right now.  Why is that?

I suppose there are many reasons why we are all here in downtown Rochester.  But the central reason we are all calling this location home this afternoon is because Rochester is a great town.  We have everything going for us in Rochester.  We are located in a beautiful suburban area complete with beautiful oak trees, rolling hills, reclaimed railroads now turned into great walking and biking trails, great restaurants, retail shopping and service & professional businesses as well.

Rochester – The Real Deal

Rochester is indeed the real deal.  Decades and decades of hard work, community spirit and involvement and a dedicated local government have left us with what we have today.  I, for one, am thankful for the contributions that everyone has made throughout history.  We are all very fortunate to have found ourselves in such a great place.

Pretty Big Shoes to Fill

Those of us who have been trusted with the responsibility of steering our city into the future are wise to look to the past for guidance.  Did all the decisions made by past city councils turn out to be correct?  Certainly not.  Have mistakes been made by past councils and past city administrations?  Certainly.  Have mistakes been made by the current city council and administration?  Indeed they have.  But that’s to be expected.  We are all human and we all learn from our mistakes.  Hopefully.

I hope that as the seven of us on the current city council move forward into the next decade we can do so while always keeping the best interest of our city first and foremost in our minds.  We are in a unique position to come together as a group and work effectively as we take on new challenges.  I’m up for it and I hope everyone else is, too.

I went up and took a look at the project. The resident pointed out her concerns, which mainly had to do with some dead sod that had been layed on the greenbelt after the project was complete. The sod in question seemed to be dead in many places and was certainly not as attractive in appearance as the resident’s property, which was neat and tidy and looked terrific. I met with the resident and told her that I would make contact with the Director of Public Works and inquire about her concerns..

I left the resident’s house and drove up to Tienken Rd to attend to another issue. When I drove past her home about twenty minutes later I noticed that the Director of Public Works was already on the scene and talking to the resident. Whatever actions the superintendent was taking were not as a result of my inquiry as I had yet to make it! Later that evening I spoke with the Director of Public Works and he assured me that he was taking care of the problem and would work with the resident toward a satisfactory resolution.

In today’s mail I received a thank you card from the resident. She informed me that the problem had been resolved to her total satisfaction. Needless to say, I was pleased to receive the note of thanks and would like to take credit for the problem being solved, but I am afraid I cannot. The credit goes to Director of Public Works Bill Bohlen. Bill was on top of the problem and handled it in a customer service oriented fashion. Great work, Bill, and thanks for a job well done!

The city has maintained a minimum usage amount for both water and sewer for many years. For each billing cycle there are a considerable number of customers who use less than the minimum, but are charged the base rate.

The current minimum water & sewage bill is now $75.74. As you may be aware, there are many fixed costs associated with our water delivery system. These include administration costs, infrastructure maintenance costs, meter readings etc. Those costs are largely the same regardless of the usage by any particular household. The minimum charge is designed to take these factors into account as they are fixed and not directly associated with the amount of water consumed by most customers.

In my estimation there is justification for a minimum charge to our water customers. However, at this point in time I am not clear on just how much this minimum bill should be . The city council has already decided that the topic of a minimum water charge will be discussed at our Goals & Objective meetings that begin in January of 2010. At this time the council will deliberate and decide what minimum charge, if any, should be levied to keep our water delivery system properly funded.

I would recommend that anyone who desires to have input on this matter contact any member of the city council to express their feelings. Contact information for all council members can be found at the city website.

I was fortunate enough to be supported by a wonderful mix of people from various areas of our city. Getting to know many of you, and forming some new friendships, was an added benefit to the campaign process.

I was pleased with the election and was glad that the three other incumbents were re-elected. Hats off to Jeff Cuthbertson, Stuart Bikson and Dave Becker for winning re-election. I think that the current mix of council members will provides good balance and good experience as our city moves ahead into the next decade.

My thanks go out to all the residents who voted for me and to all of my friends and supporters who aided in the campaign process. Without your help my victory would not have been possible and I thank all of you for your contribution in whatever form it took.

As a result, I will no longer be keeping those hours. But I am always interested in hearing from anyone interested in talking with me. You can  contact me through this website  or you can get my telephone number from the Rochester area phone book and give me a call.

I will be glad to talk or meet with anyone who expresses and interest and I look forward to hearing from you.

For the months of July and August, I will be present at 6:30pm on the night of each council meeting. Please feel free to stop by and talk with me at your convenience. ince a number of citizens normally come to the council meeting, my thought is that scheduling my “office hours” at this time might be more convenient for more people.

The council meetings are scheduled for the following nights in July and August:

July

07-14-2008

07-28-2008

August

08-11-2008

08-25-2008

Please stop in and see me if you get the chance.

• Reading meeting agendas & minutes
• Regular City Council meetings
• Downtown Development Authority meetings
• Planning Commission meetings
• Older Persons Commission meetings
• RARA meetings
• RAYA meetings
• Misc other meetings
• Community events
• Recognition dinners
• Correspondence reading & responding

The list is practically endless. One of the things that suprised me the most after I was appointed to city council was the time required to stay on top of the issues.

Stop in and Visit with Me

One of the promises I made during the campaign last fall was to keep regular office hours. Beginning this Friday, June 6th, I will be at the city council chambers from 2:00pm – 4:00pm. I intend to keep these hours for the month of June, after which time I will evaluate how effective those hours are.

Please stop in and visit with me. I look forward to meeting with you.

(Image courtesy of Mike Cherim)

With income tight and property values falling, many councilpersons, including myself, believed that a tax cut was necessary. After carefull deliberation, four days of budget meetings and hours of discussion, I am happy to report that we completed the budget process on Monday, March 21st.

City Income Will Fall in 2008

Income expectations are expected to fall this year, largely due to falling property values within the city. As a result of these falling values, the city expects to take in approximately .3 mills less in property taxes this year compared to 2007.

Eliminate the “Assistant City Manager” Position

We reviewed and completed the various department level budgets, and I am pleased to report there were no reductions made to city services. There was one change in staffing levels, however.

The council opted to eliminate the “Assistant City Manager” position, which was left vacant after the retirement of Carl Renius in February of this year. Replacing that position will be a new “Assistant to the City Manager” position.

This change in status will likely result in the employment of a younger Assistant who has expectations of future employment in the capacity of an Assistant City Manager or a City Manger.

The expectation is that this change in position will save the city approximately $30,000.00 per year without any reduction in city services.

Core City Services

I am pleased to report that there will be absolutely no reduction in core city services in 2008-2009. In fact, several significant changes were added to various department level budgets that are likely to increase the effectiveness of city services. But at the very least, no cuts were made.

Discretionary Spending

The biggest difference that took place in this years budget review was how the council addressed dispensing the discretionary income. This is the portion of the income that remains after budgeting for all core city services. This year that amount approximately $832,000.00.

The council took a very deliberate and cautious approach to studying all items that were discretionary in nature. When the final budget was complete, I am delighted to report that we had a remaining balance of .9 mills after all spending was complete. The council decided to return this .9 mills to the taxpayers in the form of a tax cut for 2009. This equates to approximately $690,000.00 that will be returned to your pockets.

The Final Result

There were no cuts to core city services. Several enhancement were made to department level budgets. Spending was critically reviewed and the fat was cut out of the budget. Money was returned to the taxpayers. It’s a win-win situation. And best of all, not a single dime was taken from any of the city fund balances. Not one penny.

Some people said that it couldn’t be done. Guess what? They were wrong and I am delighted to say so!