City of Lakes

I’m pretty excited that this class has given me the excuse and the incentive to reach out and learn more about things I’ve always dismissed or taken for granted – like the underlying machinery of a small town keeping the city together.

I wrote to the City Council of Lino Lakes and was contacted by Jeff O’Donnell who is one of the four termed members. When I asked him what he thought were the most pressing issues facing this growing town, I already had a pretty good idea what he might say. The economic crises has been at the forefront of almost everybody’s consciousness and conversation as evidenced by random chit-chats overheard and even some of the blogs I’ve read in our class. According to Jeff, the 2009 budget had already been created very conservatively in anticipation of the tough federal cuts that were sure to come. It seems that the budget wasn’t conservative enough as heavy cuts to the state funding have caught the Council off guard in their attempts to “maintain the level of city services that our citizens expect.” Hopefully, as the rest of the year progresses, they can continue to balance comfort and affordability on a city-wide level.

The second topic he said was most prevalent in the Council Meetings is actually something I have written about before, Vision 2030, a Comprehensive Plan about the future development of Lino Lakes. A lot of time and thought has been spent already in just the beginning stages of the Plan and it's too late to slow down now. Things such as formal planning committees, a complete citizen survey and town task forces are all converging into one entity that is steamrolling towards the hopeful future of what our fair town could be with a just a little effort from it’s populace. In his response, Jeff goes into a nicely detailed overview of the three primary aspects of what the city development will entail (read Jeff’s email). This critical project has already been set in motion and the development process must move forward regardless of the depletion in our city funds.

The Council has a long and tedious road ahead of them and I definitely don’t envy the fine line the whole City Government must walk with these difficult decisions. Even so, after gaining a quick glimpse into the inner workings of the Council Chambers and how they have prepared to tackle these issues, I must say that I am pretty confident that they can keep our town running smoothly and moving forward.

View my article (subdi)VISION 2030