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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990 Aprils pl ans City cl DATES O • ON P AGE April 17-June I Water Main Flushing 7 A pril e -22 Clean-UpWeek a April 22 Earth Day 6 May 1 Refuse Hauling Meeting 6 May 5 Household - .+ May 13-19 Preservation Week 5 Get ... f or w #^ Games, rides, strawberry treats, a parade, and a sound - light concert will all be a part of the eighth annual Strawberry Festival, to be held Saturday and Sunday, June 2 and 3, 1990. Festival buttons will go on sale at local businesses after May 1. The Jaycees Carnival is scheduled for a four -day run, May 31 to June 3. Special events during the festival will include: + Jaycees Carnival, set for Thursday, May 31, through Sunday, June 3, at the Grove Plaza shopping center parking lot. The Carnival will include rides and games of chance + Little Miss Strawberry Festival, with the winner to be chosen by a drawing on Sunday, June 3. Girls between the ages of 5 and 8 are eligible to enter. Entry forms will be available at the Park Grove Library Informa- tion Desk after Tuesday, May 1, and must be completed and returned no later than May 14. + Strawberry Festival Parade, to be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 2. The parade will move from Park High School to Grove Plaza. New this year will be a band competition involving area bands. + Alive at Night, the second annual spectacular evening of entertainment which will conclude with a giant fire- works display and music by the Park Senior High band. + Family Day, Sunday, June 3, with ice cream, straw- berry treats, games, and other entertainment for the whole family. More information will be available in the June issue of Cottage Grove Reports. POSTALPATRON Carrier Route Presort Bulk Rate U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 1 Cottage Grove, MN 55016 r . 4, 9 2 11 , ' ' ,. ffra� Want to try your hand at city government? Four city commissions are looking for new members. They are: Human Services Parks, Recreation Public Safety Public Works Applications and more information are avail- able at City Hall. Mayor's Corner .........2 Board of Review.... *­ 2 K -Mart Renovation .... 3 Employee, Volunteer City of of Semester ............4 Cottage Jail'n Bail .................4 Gr Open 8 -4:30, M -F .......458-2800 Police and Fire Emergency .911 Police Non- Emergency458 -2811 Building Inspections ...458 -2804 Parks... .......... - ...... ... 458 -2808 Public Works .... .... _ .... 458 -2808 Ice Arena ....... .... ... ......458 -2845 Fire Hall 2 ...._ ... ......... 458 -2809 4 Mayor: Dick Pederson 459 -6397 City Council: Bill Buth .455-5245 Jack Denzer .... ....... ....459 -2553 Lyle Pu e ............. a, y pP .... 459 -9996 Jill Seacrist ......... ......459-8832 City Administrator . Kevin Frazel! Arena Manager .....Tim Johnson Bldg. Official... Everett Anderson Community Dev. ..... ... Gary Berg ; Finance ................. Diane Archer Fire Chief ....._.... Denis Erickson Parks, Rec. ....John Fredrickson Police Chief ........ Dennis Cusick p Public Works ........Les Burshten Editor .... Margo Doten r . 4, 9 2 11 , ' ' ,. ffra� Want to try your hand at city government? Four city commissions are looking for new members. They are: Human Services Parks, Recreation Public Safety Public Works Applications and more information are avail- able at City Hall. Mayor's Corner .........2 Board of Review.... *­ 2 K -Mart Renovation .... 3 Employee, Volunteer of Semester ............4 Jail'n Bail .................4 Mayor's Charity Ball..5 Meet Diane Archer .... 5 Preservation Week ...5 Clean -up, Recycle Events .................6,7 Strawberry Festival ...8 It's official! After a successful, city -wide campaign to bring Target to town, Mayor Dick Pederson and Target officials an- nounced recently that construction will begin this spring on a Cottage Grove Target store. The 114,300 square foot store will be located on the south- west corner of Jamaica Avenue and Pt. Douglas Rd. Targeted completion date is spring, 1991. A 28,517 sq. ft. retail shopping complex will be built adjacent to the Target store by Ryan Construction Company. Tenants are not yet firm, but are expected to include a bank, res- taurants, and retail shops. "Target will build a store in Cottage Grove," said George Hite, Target's vice president of public and consumer relations, at a reception March 26 at the VFW Red Barn. "We have never experienced a commu- nity campaign like this one," added Jack Fon- taine, senior vice president for property development at Target. "A few times before we had cities that had petition drives for a Target, and they had maybe 150 signatures. Here we had 8,000 return cards, and a 22,000- signature petition:" He said the com- pany was impressed not only by the magni- tude of the response, but its geographic scope. "We learned that Cottage Grove draws from the whole High- way 61 corridor, and from much of western Wisconsin," he said. "This helped us revise our estimates of potential sales at a Cottage Grove store, and to move up our plans to build here." Bill McHale, vice president of develop- ment for Ryan Con- struction Company, said he believes "Target and Cottage Grove deserve each other. You're both great groups of people, and I really think this is going to be a good marriage!" • - • i= �M by Dick Pederson Mayor, Cottage Grove Yes! We did it! ! want to thank all the residents of the city for responding in a very positive way to the Target campaign last fall and winter. Your effort was what caused Target to reconsider its earlier decision to delay building a store in Cottage Grove. Also, special thanks to our local businesses and community organi- • . i. Work is underway on additions to two elementary schools in Cottage Grove, with completion targeted for fall, 1990. According to district Public Information Officer Mary Elrod, four classrooms each are being added to Hillside and Crestview schools. Projected enrollment for the two schools will be 756 students each. School District 833 is also negotiating for purchase of property at 80th and Keats Ave. S. to build a new elemen- tary school. The targeted completion date is fall, 1991. zations for all their help and support, especially to the Cottage Grove Area Chamber of Commerce. And finally, I want to thank the people of Target for deciding to build now in Cottage Grove. This is a fine company, and great people to work with. We welcome them! You know, I've had an overwhelming response from the people of Cottage Grove about Target. People come to me and they're so happy be- cause of the jobs that will be created. We expect there will be about 500 full -time and part-time jobs created just in the first phase of this project. People are not going to have to go out of the community to look for work. They're very appreciative about the jobs! r =.• A special thank you to all the people who attended the Mayor's Charity Hoedown in early March. We raised $3,530 for our local food shelves, and since the State of Minnesota FoodShare Program matched our donations, we ended up with a total of $7,060. VFW Post 8752 and Commander Marty Ventrone and their entire executive board deserve a lot of credit for their support with this effort. I also want to thank the group that organized the Hoedown —the Miss Cottage Grove Scholarship Pageant Committee, with Ron and Sue Bargsten as co- chairs. This is an outstanding group of people, and it seems the charity ball grows every year. t. i Finally, let me encourage all of you to participate in the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day May 5. Bring any of your hazardous waste there for safe disposal. Also, we need some volunteers for the day. Please consider helping with this important event! T 111 1111 111111111111 1''11111111111 111 Will I! III 0; 1 091 SIMMET-31731-MM The 1990 Board of Review will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, at Cottage Grove City Hall Council Chambers. Applications for reviews of property assessments will be considered on a first come, first served basis. No specific rec- ommendations can be made that evening. Appeals not re- solved at the local level will be considered by the County Board of Equalization during the last two weeks of June. However, persons cannot appeal to the County Board if they have not attended their local Board of Review. State law requires that all property be valued at market value and be reassessed each year. The county uses a computer - assisted mass ap- praisal system. The assessors consider 12- month market trends and the assessment to sales ratio. From 1988 to 1989, the average sale price of a home in Cottage Grove /Newport/St. Pau! Park increased 4.8 percent, from $85,574 to $89,650. Real estate taxes are based on the value of the property, not the owner's ability to pay. However, the State of Minnesota has two refund programs for real estate taxes that are high in relation to income. Please call 296 -3781 for more information. The second annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 5. All Cottage Grove residents are encour- aged to take listed materials to the Cottage Grove Public Works Garage (8635 W. Pt. Douglas Rd.) for disposal free of charge. The only exception to free disposal will be tires, which will be accepted at a cost of $1 per tire for car tires; $2 for car tires with rims; $7.50 for truck tires; and $35 for tractor tires. Items which will be accepted at the site include: acids banned pesticides paint paint thinners and solvents paint removers motor oil auto batteries wood preservatives caustics pesticides and spray paint cans The dropoff site will not accept: unidentified waste radioactive materials compressed gas propane tanks explosives industrial/commer- cial waste Purpose of the hazardous waste collection is to give the residents of Cottage Grove an opportunity to take advantage of environmentally sound waste disposal meth- ods. Volunteers are needed to work at this event; if you are interested, please call the Public Works Department, 458 -2808. • . • • a • -, Because hazardous waste collections are expensive, homeown- ers are encouraged to dispose of as many waste products as possible using other environmentally sound disposal methods. According to the county coordinator of hazardous household waste collections, consumers should read the labels, buy in limited quantities, give away what they can't use, and dispose of chemicals in environ- mentally safe ways. Tom Delienbach of Washington County encouraged Cottage Grove homeowners to review the hazardous materials in their households. His recommendations included: chemicals in environ- mentally acceptable ways. Dry out paint and throw it in the trash. Flush old drugs, anti- freeze, liquid house cleaners, and photo- graphic chemicals down the toilet. (Do NOT throw in toilet if you have a septic system!) Throws solid house cleaners in the trash. Recycle used motor oil and car batteries at drop -off locations. + Bring the household chemicals you cannot safely dispose by other means to the house- hold hazardous collection day May 5. 6 tall 11Z] . Water mains will be flushed throughout Cot- tage Grove between April 17 and June 1. Mains west of Highway 61 will be flushed from April 17 to May 4. Those east of Highway 61 will be flushed from April 30 to June 1. After mains are flushed, the water is safe to drink, but it should not be used for washing clothes until it is clear. To clear water, open outside bibs and run all cold water taps in the house at full capacity. If emergency situations occur (loss of service, etc.), please contact the Public Works Department, 458 -2808. Cottage Grove water customers are re- minded that there is a year -round restriction on lawn and garden sprinkling. The ordinance limits sprinkling to even - numbered days for properties with even - numbered addresses, and odd -nu mbered days for properties with odd- numbered ad- dresses. � r r r r- � T April 18 through 22 will be the dates for the annual Spring Cleanup for Cottage Grove residents. The city's Public Works Garage (8635 W. Pt. Douglas Rd.) will be the dropoff site for the following items: furniture appliances water heaters. The dropoff site will not take these items: manure building /con- struction mate- rials non - domestic Monitors will be on duty at the dropoff site, which will be open: Wednesday, Thurs- day, and Friday (April 18, 19, 20): 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sunday (April 21, 22): 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tires and batteries will be accepted May 5 at the Household Haz- ardous Waste Days (car tires $1 each; car tires with rims $2 each; truck tires $7.50 each; tractor tires $35 each). " Yard waste may be brought to the compost site at 95th St. S. and Jamaica Avenue. A public information meeting to discuss organized refuse collection in the City of Cottage Grove will be held at 7 p.m. Tues- day, May 1, in City Hall (also broadcast on cable tv). Purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the pros and cons of using specified haulers and of curbside pickup of glass, cans, and papers for recy- cling. "This is a very important issue that will impact the community," said Public Works Director Les Burshten. "Please attend! We would like to have your ideas and recommen- dations." Muce,Reuse,Reltyde. # • Sunday, April 22, will mark the 20th anniver- sary of Earth Day, and the start of a "Decade of the Environment" in the City of Cottage Grove. Earth Day 1970 was the largest organized demonstration in United State history, with more than 20 million partici- pants in all 50 states. On April 22, volun- teers from the Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission and other community groups plan to clean up the Grey Cloud Slough, a backwater of the Mississippi River between Cottage Grove and Lower Grey Cloud Island. Volunteers will be furnished with large degradable trash bags and will pick up litter along the shoreline. Crews in canoes will paddle down the Grey Cloud Slough to retrieve debris from the waterway itself. The Earth Day 1990 cleanup will begin at the Grey Cloud Boat Launch, located off Grey Cloud Island Trail. Volunteers should arrive between noon and 1 p.m. to register. For more informa- tion on the Earth Day river cleanup, or on cleaning up area parks and roadsides at other times, call John Fre- drickson, director of parks and recreation, at 458 -2808. As of Jan. 1, 1990, yard waste (grass, leaves, and small prunings) can no longer be mixed with regular garbage for disposal. it must be bagged separately if put out for trash pick -up. However, disposing of them this way increases garbage volume and may increase fees. Yard waste may be taken to the city's composting site, 95th and Jamaica Avenue South. Remember: the most cost - effective and environmentally sound way to get rid of grass clippings is to leave them on the lawn where they can return nutri- ents to the soil. 91 More overall space, wider aisles, a new entrance, new deli, more registers, updated merchandising ... they're all there in the Cottage Grove K -Mart after a recent store - wide renovation. According to store manager Richard Roulet, the renovation was part of a system- wide plan to expand, renovate, and upgrade every K -Mart in the country by 1995. The changes, which started last May and were mostly concluded by November, included expansion of the store by about 15,000 square feet, bringing the total size to more than 80,000 square feet. "We've done physi- cal improvements here, improvements in our lines, and improve- ments in merchandising techniques," Roulet said. "I think it will all be a help to the people in Cottage Grove:' Roulet said the local store, which employs about 150 people full and part time, runs consistently ahead of national average sales in terms of "soft lines," including toys. "Cottage Grove is a very family- oriented community," he said. "We've tried to tailor the store to the commu- nity's needs. We added more live stock (plants and animals) because that's what our custom- ers want." Improvements customers won't see — but will benefit from — include computerized processing, installation of a satellite dish to link the store to its Michigan headquarters; better turn - around on mer- chandise, and daily merchandise delivery. "The retailing change here is tremen- dous," Roulet said. "We're trying to move on with the times, but some people have a mental fix on where we were." He pointed to Jaclyn Smith clothing and Martha Stewart housewares as ex- amples of the store's trendy lines. "It's a good commu- nity out here," said Roulet, who has lived in Cottage Grove for the past two years. "It's a strong, growing area and we're going to try to serve it well:' A new arrangement for the management and operation of the cable television govern- ment channel was approved recently by the Cottage Grove City Council. Under the agree- ment, South Washing- ton County Community Cable Access Corpora- tion (SWCCCAC) will provide a variety of programming and operational services for cable channel 12. The SWCCCAC offer, which was officially accepted on March 7, includes: + live cablecasting of all regular City Council, Parks Com- mission, Planning Commission, and Public Safety Commis- sion meetings by SWCCCAC; + tape replays of regular meetings, as well as special city events and meetings; 4 promotion of the channel and main- tenance of television production equipment. To perform these services, which had previously been handled by city staff, SWCCCAC will hire its own cable staff. Fund- ing has been received from the South Wash- ington County Cable Communications Commission. More than $33,000 was raised at the local "Jail'n Bail' for the American Cancer Society Feb. 14.15. Those pictured (and many others) raised the funds through pledges. Joanne Bixby was named Employee of the Semesterforthe first half of 1989. She was nominated by co- workers RoseMarie Young and Evelyn Beck of the Finance Department. Joanne's "positive attitude towards her work, herco- workers, and the general public as well as herwiliingness to go the extra mile" were mentioned in the award. She has been employed by the City of Cottage Grove for 15 -1/2 years. Volunteer of the Semester was James Manteuffel, who was a volunteer on the Cottage Grove Police Reserve for a number of years. His nomination also mentioned his active involvement in Crime Find and the Strawberry Festival committee (photo not available). Joanne Bixby s Expecting a baby? Maybe you'll get a tree too! Again this year, the Cottage Grove Parks Maintenance Depart- ment plans to plant a tree in a city park in honor of the city baby born on or closest to Arbor Day, April 28. If your baby is due on or shortly after that day, please contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 458- 2808. And Happy First Birthday to Christine Freiling, born April 28, 1989, who was last year's Arbor Day Baby! The Cottage Grove Girls' Softball Booster Club will hold an all - you- can -eat pancake breakfast on Sunday, May 6, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Location will be the St. Paul Park American Legion Club, 328 Broadway Avenue. Tickets will be available at the door, or at TJ's or Plaza Video. Tickets will be $3.50 for adults and $2 for children under 12. The Cottage Grove Department of Finance has a new director — one who "missed the action of city govern- ment" when she worked for the Metropolitan Council last year. Diane Archer began work here Feb. 12, and said the weeks since have been filled with finishing up on the 1989 fiscal year, initiating 1990 fiscal year pro- grams, and preparing for the annual audit which starts April 23. "Cottage Grove has good systems in place," Archer said in a recent interview. "The staff works hard and every- one has been very helpful." She said short-term goals for her depart- meet include initiating new formats and procedures for the Equipment/Vehicle 5- Year Plan and the Capital improvement Plan; preparing the 1991 budget document; computerizing the fixed asset system, and implementing Direct Deposit for payroll checks for all city staff. A 1980 graduate of Arizona State Univer- sity, Archer is now attending Hamline University part-time in the Master of Public Administration program. She began work in 1980 as an accountant for a wine wholesaler, then in 1983 was hired as an accountant for the city of Inver Grove Heights. She was promoted to Director of Finance there in 1986. In January, 1989, she left there to join the Metropolitan Council as Finance and Budget Supervisor, a position she held until starting in Cottage Grove. 1 1 1 ! 111 May 13 to 19 will be the dates for "Preserva- tion Week" to highlight the importance of historic preservation in Cottage Grove. The theme for the 8th annual Preservation Week (formerly Local History Week) will be "Keeping Cottage 0 WM6 W Grove's Heritage Alive." Planned activities include public lectures, an archaeology "fair," exhibits in public buildings, the second annual History Video Festival on cable TV, and presentation of the Preservationist of the Year Award to the person or organization that has made a significant contribution to preserving Cottage Grove's heritage. The Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation, the sponsor of Preservation Week, is a five - member citizen panel which is responsible for nomi- nating local properties to the City Register of Historic Sites and Landmarks. An important aspect of the Committee's mission is to encourage public participation in the preservation of buildings, archaeologi- cal sites, and historic districts which are sig- nificant in local, state, or national history. For more informa- tion, write to Robert C. Vogel, city historic preservation officer, City Hall, 7516 -80th St. S., Cottage Grove, MN 55016, or call 458- 2800.