[Mpls] Kudos' to Rybak Opat
Kudos' to Mayor Rybak County Board Chair Opat for agreeing to discuss the possible merger of City and County services. They were to hold a press conference today at 11 a.m. A Strib article in today's paper indicates that CC members Johnson and Colvin-Roy also talked with Opat recently in efforts to move the discussion. Opat, the article reported, indicated he'd like to accelerate our talks and see some results by the end of the year. Health, public safety, human services, public works, elections and the accessors have been described as targets. Workforce/employment services and IS are also mentioned. Minneapolis, Hennepin merger talks heat up, by Rochelle Olson in today's STrib (4-2-03) ; http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3797778.html I'd like to believe that all our CC members have been in some active discussion with their counterparts on the Hennepin County Commission regarding the possibilities for merger of service delivery programs. Of course similar types of savings could be achieved by many/all municipalities within Hennepin County. This is an area all Minneapolis residents (and residents of other municipalities) should be discussing with their CC members and County Commissioners. I look forward to hearing details about today's Rybak-Opat meeting, and any follow up including potential savings available to the various customer classes (city/suburban, residential/CI taxpayers), major barriers to be overcome, planning milestones and schedules. I'd ask any lurking elected leaders and news folks to please keep us posted. Michael Hohmann Linden Hills ~~ Michael A. Hohmann and Co. www.mahohmannbizplans.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Kudos' to Rybak Opat
I wonder how many employees and programs are just going to be picked up by Henn County. If even one is picked up, I'm going to burn my Commissioner's ear off with my phone. Why should the county have to clean up the city's mess? Craig Miller Citizen of Hennepin [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - From: Michael Hohmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [mpls] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 4:20 PM Subject: [Mpls] Kudos' to Rybak Opat Kudos' to Mayor Rybak County Board Chair Opat for agreeing to discuss the possible merger of City and County services. They were to hold a press conference today at 11 a.m. A Strib article in today's paper indicates that CC members Johnson and Colvin-Roy also talked with Opat recently in efforts to move the discussion. Opat, the article reported, indicated he'd like to accelerate our talks and see some results by the end of the year. Health, public safety, human services, public works, elections and the accessors have been described as targets. Workforce/employment services and IS are also mentioned. Minneapolis, Hennepin merger talks heat up, by Rochelle Olson in today's STrib (4-2-03) ; http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3797778.html I'd like to believe that all our CC members have been in some active discussion with their counterparts on the Hennepin County Commission regarding the possibilities for merger of service delivery programs. Of course similar types of savings could be achieved by many/all municipalities within Hennepin County. This is an area all Minneapolis residents (and residents of other municipalities) should be discussing with their CC members and County Commissioners. I look forward to hearing details about today's Rybak-Opat meeting, and any follow up including potential savings available to the various customer classes (city/suburban, residential/CI taxpayers), major barriers to be overcome, planning milestones and schedules. I'd ask any lurking elected leaders and news folks to please keep us posted. Michael Hohmann Linden Hills ~~ Michael A. Hohmann and Co. www.mahohmannbizplans.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
Re: [Mpls] Kudos' to Rybak Opat
There are services that are currently being provided by both the city and the county. Don't you think it makes sense to at least have a discussion about combining duplicitous services in an attempt to save money? There are services the county provides very efficiently such as copying and other administrative and operational services that would be a tremendous cost savings to the city. In the end, it's the taxpayer footing the bill. I would think as a rental property owner who has talked about footing a larger portion of the tax bill for sometime that you would be encouraged by such discussions. I have to say I am surprised by your dismay on this issue. Can you explain why you feel this way? Barb Lickness Whittier = Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more http://tax.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
RE: [Mpls] Kudos' to Rybak Opat
Craig Miller raised the point anyone should as we look at working together with Hennepin County. This should not be one arm of government bailing out another...city to county, county to state, vice versa. The idea is to find ways for the arms of government to find ways to work together that make more sense when combined than separate. When one plus one equals three. So, for example, it would not have made sense for the county to be asked to help the city out of long term development problems. That was our job, which is why we have spent so much time on MCDA reform/Focus Minneapolis/CPED. It DOES make sense to ask if we can better serve undeserved populations and their health needs by coordinating more health services. This is especially important because the populations we jointly serve are being disproportionately hit by state budget cuts. Or, less dramatic but financially important, it does make sense to see if our technology departments, or printing departments, have some economy of scale. Or whether, when we're speaking more than 80 languages in the county, we can have joint translation services. We are, after all, just across the street from each other. It's also important to say this should not just be about the city of Minneapolis and the county. The other cities in Hennepin County should also be encouraged to explore how they can work together with the county. And the city is exploring ways to work with other cities, i.e. our fire department could provide some services to surrounding citiescutting their costs and allowing us to save more firefighter jobs. So I'm wide open, as are most of the others I talk to, to ideas about what those areas are. There aren't any magic bullets here that can solve everything at once but it's the right time to be asking these questions. R.T. Rybak TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
