LWV observer – Georgiana Campbell
All Commissioners were present.
This meeting included a report by the Minnesota Inter-county association (MICA) represented by Keith Carlson, John Tuma, Bob Vanasek and Nancy Silesky, all of whom work at the state Legislature and pay close attention to the legislation that is passed and the effect it will have on Rice County. Nancy Silesky, also a Legislative liaison along with Tuma and Vanasek, described legislative action as did Keith Carlson who is Executive Director of MICA.
Tuma and Vanasek were our representatives in the the State Legislature some years ago. Tuesday they distributed a 2009 “End of Session Report”, 25 pages long and filled with accounts of all the legislation dealt with: Areas covered were: Taxes and property tax relief, Transportation and Risk Management, Public Safety and Corrections, Health and Human Services, Public Health, Environment, and General Governance. The preparers of the report also included a great deal of explanation about the bills, including who had or had not supported them. Anyone who would like to see this information, contact your LWV observer. As a result, you may aspire to be a part of legislative activity.
Another interesting hand-out was entitled “The Conclusion of the 2009 Legislative session and its Implications for Rice County.” There were slightly fewer pages to read in this, and the print was large but the problems were still there: What this means for Rice County in the longer term, the effect of the stimulus solution, (but is it a permanent budget solution?), If 2010 will still be a problem, what about 2012-13’s problems? And what about the governor’s unallotments? What about next fall? Will there be another December surprise?
There are a lot of things to think about here. If we read the material put together by MICA and consider the problems– the dollar gap, the shortfall , what the gap would have been without the stimulus. As the MICA people reminded us: Some Good Things Happened (Or Bad Things Didn’t Happen).
One Comment
Georgiana,
Can you bring these reports to our township meeting Tuesday night July 14? Rep. Bly will be there. Also, Mary Stein (sp) who lives at the bottom of your drive may want to go to the meeting. She has some trees along the road dying and doesn’t know who to contact.