Friday, January 11, 2013
The most thoughtful, moving, controversial or just plain funny comments from around the west metro between Jan. 4 and Jan. 10.
Each week, Patch users contribute numerous insights, opinions and observations. The following is a collection of the most thoughtful, moving, controversial or just plain funny comments that appeared on Patch sites in Eden Prairie, Edina, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Richfield, Shakopee, Plymouth, St. Louis Park and St. Michael. Click on the headline to read the full story and join in the conversation. (The comments below are not meant to reflect the opinions of Patch or its staff.) *** VIDEO: State Rep. Yvonne Selcer Discusses Priorities The state legislative session began on Tuesday, Jan 8 at noon. What issues should Yvonne Selcer and our other local representatives focus on? From Becky Henry: Thanks for this helpful video …
Saturday, December 22, 2012
The City of Albertville is in flux after Mayor Mark Meehan asked for Larry Kruse's resignation earlier this week.
St. Michael Patch recaps highlights it has shared with the community over the past year. In our year in review, this article, published April 11, 2012, was the eighth most popular story of the year. ------- In what city staff and a council member are calling a "shocking" development this week, the mayor of Albertville has asked for that city's top staff person to step down from his position. According to members of the council and staff members from the City of Albertville, Mayor Mark Meehan visited Albertville City Hall Monday and asked City Administrator Larry Kruse to resign as Albertville's top staff person. Kruse told Meehan he would not resign from his post. Neither party involved in that meeting returned St. Michael Patch's …
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Albertville City Council member Larry Sorensen — who was re-elected through a coin toss this month — says that voter intent laws were not followed by some.
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Thursday, November 29, 2012
It doesn’t happen too often where a candidate running for office is told that they lost by one vote, then won by one vote, then tied, and finally won by a coin flip. That is what happened to me this year, in my run for re-election to Albertville City Council. First of all, I want to thank fellow candidate Mark Barthel, the election officials, and our city staff for making certain that the recount process went smooth and was fair. As much as a person can enjoy sitting in a room for six hours and watching election judges go through all of the 3,700 plus ballots, I felt it was an interesting and educational process to be involved in. After the recount was finished, each candidate had 1,116 votes. There had been one challenged ballot that …
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
After a recount, a split council vote and a coin toss, Larry Sorensen was re-elected to the Albertville City Council Monday night.
It was the election that just wouldn't end — or so it seemed — Monday night at an Albertville City Council meeting. A chance between heads or tails in a council coin toss declared incumbent Larry Sorensen as the winner of the race for city council. The question of who would fill the seat — Sorensen or candidate Mark Barthel — had been unanswered since the Nov. 6 elections. The coin toss was, by law, the last procedure a council must do in a case like this one — a close election, a subsequent recount finding an exact tie, and lastly, a tie between city council members in determining who the vote was for in a challenged ballot. After Thursday's recount results resulted in an exact tie between Sorensen and Barthel, Monday night's council …
Monday, November 19, 2012
With one vote seperating Albertville City Council candidates Mark Barthel and Larry Sorenson, a subsequent recount resulted in an actual tie. A challenged ballot will go before council tonight.
The saying "every vote counts" couldn't be more true Thursday at a recount of votes for Albertville City Council. The recount resulted in an exact tie between incumbent Larry Sorenson and Mark Barthel — each receiving 1,116 votes. Candidates were allowed to challenge any ballot during the recount, when election judges went through more than 3,400 ballots at Wright County Courthouse. One ballot was challenged, and the challenged ballot will go before the council at tonight's 7 p.m. meeting at Albertville City Hall. Sorenson will abstain from voting on the matter. A vote by the city council tonight will determine who will be declared the winner, when the council will consider who the voter intended on voting for on the challenged ballot. …
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Albertville City Hall saw record numbers come through and vote Tuesday.
Albertville City Hall was busy Tuesday with over 3000 voters making their way through the building to vote. They had over 700 new voter registrations that day. "All in all, we had 89% voter turnout," city clerk Kim Olson told the council on Wednesday night. Going into the election, the city already had 3849 registered voters, 267 of which voted absentee. An additional 743 new voters registered Election Day and the total amount of voters was 3447. Jillian Hendrickson was elected mayor and will take her oath and begin her new position at the first council meeting in January. At that point in time, the council will declare a vacancy on the council as she still has two years left on her council term. The council will then work together and …
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Albertville City Council approved the joint city engineer and city administrator position and have hired current city engineer Adam Nafstad to take it over Jan 1, 2013.
The Albertville Personnel Committee made a recommendation to the council on Monday night to pass three motions. The motions included approving the City Administrator/City Engineer/Public Works Director employment, approving the job description and approving the salary range. The contract provided for the council's review was written to hire Adam Nafstad, current City Engineer/Public Works Director for the new dual role. Albertville City Attorney Mike Couri highlighted some of the contract including: Nafstad will serve at the pleasure of the city, meaning like Larry Kruse's contract, he can be dismissed at any time for any reason. Nafstad will also be able to collect six months of severance pay if he is fired. If the city gives notice, the …
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Albertville will set its spending targets for 2012. Once the preliminary levy is approved, it cannot increase prior to approval in December.
The Albertville City Council meets tonight at 7 p.m. and is expected to vote on and approve a preliminary property tax levy of 2 percent and the preliminary 2013 budget. One the council sets its prelimiary levy, it can't increase the levy under Minnesota statute. It can attempt to make more cuts prior to December's adoption date. The preliminary property tax levy was originally proposed at 6.44 percent but after weeks of discussion and hours of studying, city staff brought down the increase to 2 percent. This includes the entire firefighter back pay, 75 percent of the benchmark $100,000 that needs to be replenished to the general fund due to city administrator changes and a 2 percent cost of living increase for city staff. At last Tuesday…
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
A letter to the editor from Albertville Council member Larry Sorenson reminds voters to pay attention to local government this election season.
With the primary election behind us and filing deadlines reached for city offices, it is now time for all of us to look toward the November general election. Many times, people form strong opinions of candidates at the national, state, and county levels, but fail to do their homework on candidates for City Council and Mayor in their own backyards. These locally elected officials can have a tremendous impact on your life -- from your property taxes, to public safety, to local ordinances, and ultimately the make-up of your city. I challenge each of you to be engaged this fall. Ask questions of your local candidates. Pay attention, and be fully educated, so when you walk into the voting booth you know exactly who you are voting for. If …
Monday, April 30, 2012
After another heated meeting last week, the Albertville City Council begins the difficult task of moving forward after the recent termination of the city administrator.
With the recent termination of Larry Kruse as city administrator and city clerk, the Albertville City Council must move quickly and make swift decisions to hire replacement personnel to keep things running smoothly in city hall. Former Albertville Mayor Don Peterson asked to speak during open forum and expressed his "embarrassment and disgust with the three that voted to terminate" Kruse. "I hired him as City Administrator during my term and you aren't going to find anyone like Larry," he said. "I apologize if you are embarrassed but I am not," Jillian Hendrickson said. "I did my due diligence and we need to move forward as a united council and take this very seriously now," she added. City Clerk Former city clerk Bridget Miller moved into…
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Dieter
1:25 pm on Wednesday, December 5, 2012
I agree with you 100% JM. When the whole administrator fiasco went down, I emailed Mr. Sorenson and another council member to ask what was going on and why it happened. Mr. Sorenson filled me in on what was going on and continued to keep me informed. In the past I have never allowed any candidates to put their signs in my yard, this year is the first year I have allowed it and it was for Mr. … more ›