Centerville Citizens For Ethical Taxation and Representation: Sep 25, 2008

Upcoming Meetings of City Council, Committees & Commissions

Per City Website
Link Here

The City website is not always the best at keeping the citizens informed with their "brief" list of upcoming sessions.

All Council sessions are held on the second and forth Wednesday of each month (if not rescheduled) at 6:30 and are open to the public.
Remember, you will not be allowed to speak unless you have previously arranged to be on the agenda or a request to address Council for two minutes is approved by Mayor Mary Capra in advance. Speaking out of turn is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Government of the people, by the people and for the people?

Residents may watch each previous session on North Metro Cable (15 or 16) as they are replayed.

Tues, Wed and Sat
@ Noon

Sun, Mon and Thurs
@ 6 p.m.

Not Televised:

Planning & Zoning Commission Meetings

Parks & Recreation Committee Meetings

State Auditor Suggestions For Centerville Officials

The city should consider opening up a competitive request-for-proposal process for things such as engineering services to "demonstrate impartiality."

It should provide more oversight of employee-reimbursement funds such as mileage to ensure information is recorded accurately.

It should do more monitoring of the city administrator's and finance director's time spent working and revise if necessary.

Could this last statement have something to do with our past Finance Director?

LINK HERE
For the skinny on the last Finance Director and our City Leadership.

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed by the Centerville Citizens for Ethical Taxation and Representation bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not always reflect the opinions of the CCETR. We are not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the comments made in this blog.
This blog is an outlet for the citizens of Centerville to have a voice and freely express their opinions, as guaranteed under the First Amendment.
The CCETR reserves the right to remove any threatening or profane comments made on this blog. It is our intent to provide the most accurate and current information regarding the City of Centerville. We invite The City Staff and its Administrator to "correct" or comment on any info. they see misleading or untrue.

Quotes From Citizens

Recent Statements from the Centerville/Lino Lakes Blog
Link Here

Consolidation is the right thing to do. I have done some research and spoken to the league of cites in St. Paul. In order to get a consolidation to a vote to the general public, you need a petition signed by 5% of registered voters that voted in the last govenor election. 1603 citizens voted. That would amount to aproximately 80 signatures. Once the signatures are done, it is then presented to the city council which by statute they must post the consolidation to the citizens of centerville for a vote. If the majority vote in favor of the resolution. The consolidation moves forward. Taxes will be lower, our police service will be moved to Lino lakes which patrols all around our city, and the cost will be significantly reduced. Citizens you must know, our taxes in this city will always go up. We have no business, nor will we ever get any business. Lino lakes has the corner market on incentives for business. I love this city but hate the tax burden that is placed on all of us. We can do something about it. The time is now.
August 21, 2008 6:38 AM

Remember, Consolidation with Lino Lakes would mean that Centerville would dissolve and we would become part of the city of Lino Lakes and fall under their city government and rules.
August 21, 2008 12:50 PM

Let's do it. We can do it the same time as the state audit petition. We need our voice back in the this City.
August 21

I agree and so does my husband. He has said this all along.Centerville has 45% budget for Police??? Do we have enough residences for this amount of police force? I have a great birds eye view of Centerville Road and Main Street at night and you should see the amount of police cars doing 80 mph down Centerville road. You would think I live in the inner city.Do we have a candidate for Mayor? We should have a meeting about this soon.
August 21, 2008

I agree, lets go for it. Now is a good time. It seems that alot of voices in this city have fallen on deaf ears. I love this city,but our taxes just keep going up and up,something has to be done.
August 21, 2008 3:01 PM

Taxes keep going up because the City is trying to turn us into an Edina. We don't have the land share for this type of community. I see an beautiful old neighborhood that could be really quaint and charming but instead the City wants to bull doze it down and create a sudo town. They were hoping we all would just leave. I don't think we are going anywhere though!
August 21, 2008 5:56 PM

These statements are direct quotes found on Topix.com

"The February informational meeting was one of the biggest lapses of leadership I've seen in a very long time. A resident was given the microphone to speak his thoughts in front of the community. The resident was interrupted by a heated side discussion between city council rep Jeff Parr and another resident. In my opinion the man with the microphone should have had the floor. Dallas Larson was given back the microphone and at that point should have proclaimed order in the court, but instead allowed this heated discussion to continue. It was at that point that Mary Capra left the room to contact the police. They showed up shortly afterwards. In my opinion, what we needed was someone to step up to the plate and call a meeting to order. Instead it turned into a frustrating display and lack of leadership. Being that I am new to the ways of how our city works I hope that this was just an anomaly and not an example of leadership in other instances".

"If you think your taxes are high now just wait until they pass this Proposed 7.8 million dollar Road Improvement Project. They tell us the "City" pays 70% of this project. Guess what, that's us, the tax payers. Tell the council how you feel about this project at the Public Hearing on May 1st, it may be our last chance. Power in Numbers. Also, please sign our petition that asks the council to re-asses the scope of this project in these difficult economic time".

"Centerville city council just can't stop spending the taxpayers money. Bonds, new roads, buying buildings and parks, putting in trails. When will it end. We need new people for council and mayor".

"Wow - What a great turn out at the May 1 hearing. I'd say 400 people plus. I don't see how the council members or Mayor could pass this project as is and still sleep at night. The message was the same over and over. This is not the time for such an extensive project. Only do what is necessary at this time. If they pass the project as is I have to question their morals and ethics. Also if they pass it as is, we need to get them out of office because they obviously are not representing the people of Centerville".

http://www.topix.com/forum/city/centerville-mn

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Proposed Signs for City Entrance and City Hall

We really hate to harp on this but city officials leave us no choice! With a budget so tight they are struggling to put away $25,000 for road maintenance, (which still leaves us short) why is the city even considering spending our money this way?! Why replace the current City Hall sign and spend thousands of dollars for entrance signs that Anoka County provides for FREE?

Council minutes 8/27/2008
City Administrator Larson showed slides of a proposed sign design from Arrow Sign He stated that this will fit in the space where the current sign is in front of the City Hall It has also been proposed to have a message board below it He added that they could either use real brick or a plastic product that looks like brick City Administrator Larson stated that he had also received a proposal for Centerville entry sign
Mayor Capra inquired whether they could wait and look at this at the end of the year.
Council member BVickers stated that the total of the signs proposed would amount to over $70,000. Council member Lee suggested that the City only do one of these signs per year. Council member BVickers suggested having Finance Director John Meyer come back with the impact of $40,000 for the sign and an additional $15,000 for an entry sign on the City budget. Council member Paar stated that the Council is already fighting the budget for the street maintenance He suggested that this may have to wait until there is extra money He stated that they could get the free sign from Anoka County for Centerville Road He added that the City should look at this when Highway 14 is completed and the building and developing are completed
Council member Lakso stated that she felt the most crucial sign would be the sign coming west on Highway 14 to welcome people into Centerville.
Discussion ensued
Council member Lee stated that he agreed with Council member Lakso. They would want the sign on Highway 14 to welcome people into town.

Sitting council is redecorating the City with OUR MONEY! They are spending a lot of time and effort on nonessential items, all the while, the road maintenance fund is being ignored!
We have already incurred a 8 million dollar debt under their watch!
Should new signs that cost thousands of dollars really be a priority?
Speak out from the voting booth on 11/04/2008!

Contact us privately with City information, news and personal stories. All contact information will be kept private and not posted on the blog unless requested.
Email Centervilleblog@yahoo.com

Nasty Conduct, Nasty Email, Nasty Accusations!

9/25/2008
The city officials were having so much fun, exercising their first amendment right at last nights council meeting! They spent over 40 minutes bashing the citizens of Centerville and this blog. This happened after they discovered we are $35,000 over budget on the City's enhanced utility work and streepscaping. Was this due to poor planning? What other financial surprises are in store for the City?
We, the Citizens for Ethical Taxation and Representation are a very large group of concerned citizens who are watching for ethical, truthful behavior and accountability from our representatives. Whether spending our money or representing our community, their behavior last night was absolutely juvenile and wholly unacceptable!
Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that some members of council have received nasty, and profane emails from citizens in our community. We would like to go on the record, stating that NOTHING has been sent by us. (Except one message of thanks to council member Vickers regarding her stance on the road maintenance fund. She has not replied) We do not condone such behavior and resent the implication that we are somehow behind it. We challenge our city officials to show the emails they claim to have received from anyone associated with this blog.
Statements made to the press in recent times by staff and elected officials have been filled innuendo and half truths. We, the citizens will not give in to the the intimidation techniques used by council, staff or the city attorney! We also have first amendment rights!
All the whining from our council members reminds us of the New York Yankees that did not make it to the play-offs this year, for the first time since the mid nineties. There is one distinct difference between the Yankees and our council... The Yankees will definitely be back next year!
Go Twins!!!

Contact us privately with City information, news and personal stories. All contact information will be kept private and not posted on the blog unless requested.
Email: Centervilleblog@yahoo.com

Centerville Citizens For Ethical Taxation and Representation

Watch Council Meetings Online

The Last Council Decided

Failure To Do The Paperwok Leads to Lawsuit

Tribute To Our Senior Citizen/One Brick At A Time

Upcoming Meetings of City Council, Committees & Commissions

State Auditor Suggestions For Centerville Officials

Contact Us

Voter Remorse?

Comment Rules

Email City Officials

City Contacts

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

Disclaimer

Tax Day Tea Party St. Paul 4/15/2009

Minnesota Tax DayTea Party

First Annual Adopt a Family!

Food Shelf Information

Increased Taxes Will Bring More of The Same!

Links of Interest

Blog Archive

Quotes From Citizens

Counter

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Proposed Signs for City Entrance and City Hall

Nasty Conduct, Nasty Email, Nasty Accusations!

Labels