Anoka City Forum

Wards Regressive

Anoka Union Columnist Chuck Drury wrote on the ward-based-voting-system versus Anoka's current at-large city council representation: ( Permission to post on the Anoka City Forum was not requested nor obtained as info was taken from the public record)  -  Selected Quotes:

"A good reason for keeping the mayor at two years so that the voters can clean house if necessary." ( A four year mayor's term had also been requested with the ward petition - all instigated and signed by the Paul Pierce/ Bjorn Skogquist / Dori Schumacher alliance.)

Former mayor and councilmember Charlie Sell was referenced: "He knew that the two-year mayor term was a good protection for the citizens of Anoka and should not be changed.  Charlie also felt that going to a ward based system would be a mistake.  We discussed at length the experience of Shorewood."

"Shorewood had adopted the ward system in 2004.  However, it found that it caused a drop in voter turnout and community participation in government.  They found that under the at-large system council members were much more responsive to residents."

"Some citizens wanted to again have all council members represent them, rather than only one."

"Therefore, the Shorewood City Council unanimously agreed to respond to their citizens.  They voted to return to the at-large system."

"This was done even though some council members would have to give up part of their present terms and stand for re-election."

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Anoka City Forum also recommends  http://www.startribune.com/templates/Print_This_Story?sid=19747624  and http://www.ci.shorewood.mn.us/pages/election/election.html 

Historically, wards were a preferred, effective method for a small group of people to get and maintain political micromanagement of a city and all of its functions.  The small group recruits new residents and controls candidates.

Wards make it very easy to get people off and keep them off of city councils, advisory boards and commissions.

Be afraid, Anoka, be very afraid. 

 

Dysfunction test #3 : Skogquist's Anoka

Backstory on Skogquist as mayor of Anoka on his way to commissoner candidate.  The experts urge citizens of dysfunctional cities like Anoka to "educate yourself". Scenario three- the plot thickens:

Uh, Oh.  The little guy with the big head turns out to be a career politician who wants to dominate advisory boards, put in place some new overriding vision to replace all other plans carefully laid in place and expects to be able to direct staff himself to push his singular agenda- self promotion.  Your manager says:

1.  I can work with you on that.  I'll just craft an "economic coordinator" position, Chris Heineman, and place him under me.  Call 302 Fremont done.  The Planning Dept I'll move from Community Development, and again place directly under me.  That covers rezoning, HPC, etc.  The new HRA position ditto. You, mr. mayor, already recommend HRA appts., so you can just expand that from 5 to 7 and put your people in there.  Your HRA board chairman can be assigned to control any development process in the city (like the Library park) and hold conservation easements.

After all, as you've been saying: "the HRA can do things the council can't".  These maneuvers will effectively allow you to bypass the council when fully implemented.

Then you won't have to endure all the "scrutiny and minutiae" you have complained about.

That should help you direct and control your extreme agenda with the least amount of hassle from citizens and those few professional staff we have left.  I'll go on record again and say, "the mayor can do whatever he wants" and assist where I can with agendas, staff recommends, etc.  When I can't bully and intimidate, I'll do my greasy charm thing.  (Just don't call me "your manager" in public meetings.  People might catch on. . .and it's a little humiliating when I'm called your assistant in letters to the editor.)

Where I can't, you can load council chambers with. . .what does Erik Skogquist call them? Citizens?  No - rabble.  You can do the rabble thing and bully everyone.

Dysfunction test #2: Skogquist as Mayor

A major reason noted for the alarming increase in dysfunctional cities is ignorance by citizens about their local government.  Consider this scenario:

A young, inexperienced person becomes mayor.  He seems gifted in community activism (his brother- Erik Skogquist- calls it rabble rousing) and public speaking. The young man refers to himself as having "talent and expertise".  He considers himself an up and coming politician.  He demands an office in Anoka city hall. Your city manager responds:

1.  Of course, let me help you with that.  Here are the keys to the building so that you can come and go as you please with no staff around. Plus keys to a nice river view office (the whole council used to use it but since you have usurped and made them irrelevant . . .) We'll furnish that with the best new furniture in the building and of course a phone line so you have "City of Anoka" on the caller ID of the folks you want to call and influence. That will make mayor seem more impressive than what it is: ceremonial head of a five person policy making body. My announced policy will be, "the mayor can do whatever he wants." (Tribune North article on visioning mtgs.)

2. Whoa, young fellow.  I need to explain about council/manager govt.  You see, you are merely ceremonial. You have no authority beyond your one vote on the council and no power to veto.  You have no direct access to staff except for information purposes. You cannot direct staff.

Chinese Garden = Graft + Lease Breach

Update 8-12:  The definition of Graft was brought to the Anoka City Forum's attention and applied to Bjorn Skogquist's Chinese Garden:  "Use of one's position in public office to derive advantage or gain."

There also seem to be multiple defaults of the Windego lease agreement as a result of this public pilfering.

Anoka Mayor Bjorn Skogquist hijacked a request to plant a Chinese flower garden in an Anoka city park.

He poached and planted it at his first non-profit: the Windego Park Society Amphitheater.

The Union stated "it was a project joined by local government".  Also see www.ci.anoka.mn.us/  to What's New to Chinese Garden.

However, there is no record of Skogquist involving the City of Anoka's Parks staff, the Parks Advisory Board, the Planning Commission (necessary site plan approval) or even the rest of the city council.

What local government are they talking about?

The time frame would not have allowed for any public discussion or a local government decision.

Was this  garden project diverted from city parks to maintain interest in his dying "non-profit"?

Windego Park Society's efforts have been inadequate and under increasing scrutiny.

It is becoming obvious that they are not the group that can restore, much less operate an amphitheater.

So this symbolic garden project is "exactly what is needed now". Skogquist just needs to layer in some uses on this city owned land to shore up interest in his no go non-profit.

The garden has been installed halfway under the foot bridge.  In just about any of the numerous city parks (Anoka maintains 12 premier parks - 34 total park locations and trails) a garden would be more visible and accessible.

At the amphitheater it is only accessible by crossing private property. There's a "Keep Out" sign on Ferry Street.

The ARCC students were cheated of a better site and wider, more balanced community involvement and support.

Now instead of a symbolic garden they have planted a secret garden.

               

   

Kidz these dayz

Submitted to the Anoka City Forum:

It's getting hard to explain the world to the kids.  Whenever I hear, "Grampa Sam. . .?" I start praying for wisdom from the good Lord.

Our youngest mayor, Bjorn Skogquist, role model, etc. is fired for lying.  "Grampa Sam, I thought you said everyone's got this permanent record with God and man. . ."  "How can he even get another job, now?"

Even with equal rights and more women than men in university, etc. I've noticed the boys still have more of a sense of providing for their families someday.

"Isn't God kind of against lying?"  "Yes, Jimmy, lying definitely hurts your chances with God."

Then there was the mayor's middle finger towards Mindy's Grandma, we almost had to stop having cable on when the kids were visiting. . .until someone spoke up.

Our own Elyse Kaner wrote about a similar occasion calling it: "Cursing you with a single gesture in a most impolite way."  Another understated (MN Nice) assessment of the mayor's impolite digit was, "it's just not very good community building."

Jimmy's at an age where he knows a lot about little boys caught doin' wrong.

So I listened carefully when he said, "Grampa Sam, I know how to tell that he was guilty."

"Howz that, Jimmy?"

"When he was caught. . .he quit doing it."

-Grampa Sam-

Who's responsible?

The Union recognizes that Anoka's City government is dysfunctional. 2-2-07.  The logical question is: who's responsible?

Let's see; probably not Jeff Weaver yet, he just joined.  Rice, of only two years, seems pretty steady.  Freeburg was here when councils 'functioned'. "Summer Santa", that's what Jimmy calls Carl Anderson, was Skogquist's choice and just backs up Skogquist.

So that pretty much leaves Skogquist and his assistant, the city manager.

Last year about this time Skogquist declared, "I cannot work with this group." and "I have no goals."  This was when he had "a council majority" with his sidekick Schumacher and his appointment Anderson. And he couldn't get along.

So now these two, the mayor and his manager, are ducking and weaving . . . "all we need are some new goals."

Unfortunate Legacy: Diminished Advisory Boards

One of the many unfortunate legacies of King Bjorn Skogquist's reign is the diminishment of Anoka's volunteer advisory boards.

2008 was the third year in the smaller room at Greenhaven.  It's called a Board Appreciation Dinner. It is meant to be a recogniton and honoring event of the many citizen volunteers of the city.

It was a bad omen, a few years ago in the largest room, Mayor Skogquist said in his opening remarks, "People have asked me, why do you bother with advisory boards?"

After that it went downhill. This year and last only two retiring board members came forward (one each year) for their service recognition. 2006 it was painfully obvious we were broken when Bjorn read 10-12 names and none of them were even there.  How sad.

2007 the King himself left immediately after opening remarks. Basically saying "Nuts-to-you" to the whole room. 

He handed the program to his manager instead of mayor pro tem Mark Freeburg. Once again indicating the rest of the council was irrelevant.  He and his manager were the ones running things.

I remember Mayor Beberg was especially proud of the high rate of agreement of the council and advisory board recommendations.

Skogquist's record is all over the place to say the least.  He will totally ignore unanimous recommendations.  Other times he backs down opposition by saying we have to do this because of a board's recommendation.  Arbitrary and capricious seems too mild a description.

One year a fund raiser at Skogquist's residence was posted as a meeting for the HRA.  He had basically taken over that advisory board with his appointments. He's been observed holding blatant meetings-after-the-meetings with a majority of that board.  Technically that's a violation of Open Meeting Law.  But Anoka's a frontier, just give it a shot politics, no rules.

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Background research indicated that city manager Tim Cruikshank had very little experience working with Advisory boards or even Department heads when he came to Anoka.

That helps explain why these two key groups goals were not even incorporated into council goals in 2007 like always had been done in the past.

That's another unfortunate thing and Anoka's loss.

Pretty Outrageous/ Windego

On December 18, 2006 there was a Request for Council Action, prepared by the city manager, Tim Cruikshank.

One of the reasonable conditions of granting a lease with the Windego Park Society was a "Viable Financing Plan".  Cruikshank's document states that this plan "was reviewed by Lori Yager, Finance Director for the City of Anoka and her comments are as follows":

"The Windego Park Society has laid out a reasonable financial proforma to plan for the construction and operation of an outdoor amphitheater. The fundraising and planning efforts in 2007 will contribute to Phase I construction. Phase I construction includes 50% in kind services.  We are anticipating a letter of commitment from the cement union regarding labor for concrete work worth about $80,000.  Additional commitments should be completed in 2007."

This is outrageous!  So far this language represents nothing but wishful thinking, anticipating preliminary promises.  Not only does this professional, Ms Yager, vouch for the construction but the operation of this thing.

We recently received the fund raising letter for Lyrics Arts.  They stated that 65% of their operation is covered by ticket sales. The rest is covered by ongoing fund raising.

But somehow this Windego Park Society going in can vouch for being able to cover their operational expenses.

Can you impeach finance directors or city managers for incompetence?  Or is it possibly the job of the elected officials to oversee these people ?

The latest is that the financial officer of the City of Anoka, Lori Yager, is now installed as the financial officer over at Paul Pierce's Historical Society. Pierce is on the boards of both Windego Park Society  and ACHS.

One individual, Ms. Yager, has now vouched for the City of Anoka, the Windego Park Society and the Anoka County Historical Society. That seems cozy and efficient, doesn't it?

The City of Anoka, it should be noted, is the leasor/landlord to both the Anoka County Historical Society and the Windego Park Society.

I sure wish Bjornite, Aaron Barr, would look into this for any possible conflict of interest. He promised to stay involved and not be afraid of making people nervous by asking the hard questions.

Citizen Questions

Some questions the vigilant Anoka citizen may want to ask:

What else has been shortchanged due diligence in the pursuit of a politically crafted outcome? (Chuck Drury referred to 302 Fremont being the debacle it is because of lack of due diligence).

Were the council goals exclusive or inclusive?  Were the advisory boards and the city department heads goals incorporated and represented in the final council list?  If not, why not?  And wouldn't we be better served if they are?

What is with the seemingly secret Star planning group and what will it cost?  Who, what, when, where and why? And can anything coming out of such a process be credible?

What's up with references to quorum of planning commission members meeting but posting notices, agendas and minutes are nowhere to be found?

Does this mean in the quest for politically crafted outcomes, laws and due process may have been neglected?

How much lack of due diligence is nonfeasance or even malfeasance?  And when does it become sufficient for remedial or legal action?

Finally, are we only interested in due process and rule of law in theory and not in practice if it becomes inconvenient?

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It seems like the classic speeder's profile and rationale:

       It's ok for me to break the law. . .because what I'm doing is so important and I'm in such a hurry.

Dysfunction test #1

The Tribune story naming Anoka as a dysfunctional city noted one of the root causes was "not understanding how local government works."  See how you do on the Scenario test:

Mr. X, a known 'predatory landlord', storms into city hall demanding special treatment (and threatens to get the building official fired) because he (Mr. X) bought the council.

Which of the following would you prefer your city manager do:

     A.  Call together an emergency meeting of all available staff to attempt to appease Mr. X.

     B.  Call the police or a county investigator to get a statement from Mr. X on how exactly he 'bought the council'.

     C.  Show Mr. X the door.

The answer, of course, depends on what you expect of a city manager:

      1. Uphold the charter according to city manager job description.

      2. Government by special favors, arbitrary and capricious actions and decisions.

Bjorn's city manager

Mayor Skogquist recently defended Anoka city manager,Tim Cruikshank, calling Tim "my manager". There was a council meeting during which Skogquist seemed to be teasing Cruikshank, about "Little Lauderdale".

The Anoka Union noted that three years before Cruikshank came to Anoka he was supervising five full time employees in "Little Lauderdale".

Lauderdale is less than a half-mile square, had a population of 2,364 with 544 single-family homes.

When interviewed for Anoka, Mr. Cruikshank was with the city of Minnetrista. The Union noted it was a city of 4,200 with 20 fulltime employees.  Anoka is 18,000+ with 120+ employees.

Minnetrista is 32 square miles.   Anoka is 7.14 square miles.

A Tribune article in 2004 described Minnetrista as "a leafy city with quiet country roads that is adamant about keeping its rural feel."

Five year contract! 1:30 AM

All the dysfunctional cities did it last season.

Anoka city council gave city manager,Tim Cruikshank, a five year contract at 1:30 in the morning.  It was at the very end of a nearly 7 hour meeting/ the last meeting of the year.  Dori Schumacher made the motion in the last few minutes of her term. Cruikshank's contract wasn't up until August. This occurred with no discussion, no public input, few citizens and no press in attendance.

This five year decision will extend beyond the terms of every one who voted for it.

The Anoka Official City website has said: "The City Manager serves at the discretion of the City Council for an indefinite term."

This is really what you want to do: make sure the author, coordinator and enabler of the dysfunction is assured of his position.

Dysfunctional Maplewood recently installed their controversial manager after midnight as well.