05-19-98 CCM - Laserfiche WebLink

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.VA"j, !s I-',-FVzi May 19, 1998 1. I attended the May 6 Elected Officials Meeting of School District 622, held in the new Woodbury Golf Course Club House. Items discussed: North St. Paul is working with Mn/DOT on land zoning issues with a view to resolving the cross Hwy 36 access problems. This is a change from the 2020 transportation plan which did not allow for any changes to the road west of 694. Plans are being reconsidered. Maplewood have opened an office in Maplewood Mall. Initially it is a PR office but ultimately they hope to expand its function to cover drivers licenses and so on. It is manned by volunteer staff. They also mentioned Hallers Wood which is a new Open Space development in South Maplewood. They had just approved a seventh PCS tower site, with three already erected. Oakdale have only one PCS tower at present. The new Hilton Hotel will shortly start construction and a branch of Lake Elmo bank will open alongside the golf course. They were meeting with the School Board to determine which authority would fund what venture and where. This is a result of the City's involvement with the ice arenas. Woodbury was having its referendum on Open Space acquisition on Tuesday May 12. The Mayor was giving his State of the City address the following day, and a copy of his transparencies was given to you earlier this evening. Landfall is busy restructuring the homes to "double wide" 28 out of 30 lots have been completed sod and asphalt driveways were being installed. 622 School district has completed the rebudgeting process to be approved in June. Their savings account had been reduced to a minimum reserve, the biggest step had been to freeze employee headcount for 99 to the 98 level. Class sizes would increase slightly. In conclusion Chuck Wigger outlined his assessment of the legislative session. The main issue was the budget surplus which was a tussle between giving money back to taxpayers or investing for the future. eventually agreement was reached by a Bipartisan group with the governor that partial rebates would be given on property taxes, investment in the Universities, provision of relief for tornado and storm victims, and investment in new schools targeted with certain aims in mind. There were no new mandates. The big issue for the 99 session would be the role of the Met Council. the move to make it an elected body passed, but was vetoed by the governor. 2.3.