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Jan Callison
Commissioner
6th District
612-348-7886
Allyson Lueneburg
Principal Aide
612-348-6885
Becky Westergren
Administrative Assistant
612-348-3168
The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners consists of one commissioner from each of seven districts. I am proud to represent Deephaven, north Eden Prairie, Edina, Excelsior, Greenwood, Hopkins, Long Lake, Minnetonka, Minnetonka Beach, northern Mound, Orono, Shorewood, Spring Park, Tonka Bay, Wayzata and Woodland.
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Service Center information
Southwest light rail
Understanding your property tax
Last march the County Board first met to discuss the Southdale Regional Center's future.
Below, please see the latest developments on these options:
Southdale Service Center
In April, the County Board approved the relocation of the
Hennepin County Service Center in Edina to Southdale Center shopping mall.
The relocation to Southdale Center
provides free parking and convenient access via major bus routes for customers
and is a strategic step to improving services in south Hennepin County. The
county will lease approximately 6,735 square feet of floor space on the first
level of Southdale Center near the JC Penney and Herberger’s entrance and is
scheduled to open during the first quarter of 2016.
Southdale Regional Center District Court
The Bloomington City Council voted to enter into
an agreement with Hennepin County to relocate the District Court to the
Bloomington Civic Plaza, located at 1800 W. Old Shakopee Road. The District Court envisions a facility with a separate entrance
and clear signage that communicates to the public that it is not part of any
particular city or municipality. For public safety, weapons screening and an
optimally-sized lobby will be a major part of the design. Adequate space for
stakeholders and offices for proper workflow are needed, as well as the
opportunity to expand e-hearings and electronic service delivery for court
filings. The proposed location includes free parking and direct access to bus
lines. The target date for completion will be in 2017.
Southdale Library
The relocation of District Court and the Service Center will
allow the county time to conduct a thorough planning process with the cities of
Edina, Richfield and Bloomington and library patrons for a new library and
other potential development opportunities on the current site. This outreach
will include community meetings, surveys and discussions, anticipated to begin
during 2016.
The Hennepin County Library in Wayzata opened Saturday,
Nov. 14th after a six-week, $300,000
renovation.
Improvements include an enhanced children’s area, a redesigned teen
area, and two additional small public meeting rooms, as well as new service
points and better access to power outlets. The library also has new carpeting
and furniture including comfortable seating in areas featuring natural
daylight.
Patrons who chose an alternate pickup location for their item requests
during the library closure will see their pickup location change back to
Wayzata Library automatically.
Library hours are: 12-8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; closed Sunday.
Hennepin County is the first Minnesota county to receive Bicycle
Friendly Community silver status from the League of American Bicyclists.
Nationwide, no standalone county has received recognition above
the silver level.
Previously,
Hennepin County’s highest designation was honorable mention. The League of
American Bicyclists status levels – bronze, silver, gold, platinum and diamond
– are valid for four years.
Regional trails in Hennepin County had more than 8.1 million
trail visits in 2014 and more than 8 million visits in 2013. Also, 1.8 percent
of commuters primarily biked to work in 2013. This compares to 0.8 percent
across Minnesota and 0.6 percent nationwide. The bicycle network includes
buffered bike lanes, cycle tracks and trails connecting the entire county.
Residents and visitors enjoy 651 miles of on-and off-street
bikeways in Hennepin County.
Visit www.hennepin.us/ridehennepin for the Hennepin
County bike map and riding tips.
As the year comes to a close, transportation staff are set to
put longer-term projects on hiatus until spring 2016. Roads through
construction areas will be maintained throughout the winter by county snow and
ice removal teams. These projects in District 6 include:
- Opening Shady Oak Road (County Road 61)
realignment with Highway 7 in Hopkins.
- Completing major work on County Road 101 from Hutchins Drive to
Mahoney Avenue in Minnetonka, including the completion of the intersection
at Old Excelsior Boulevard.
- Providing a seasonal opening of
Bushaway Road (County Road 101) between
Minnetonka Boulevard and downtown Wayzata. Crews may continue work in the
rail corridor north of Eastman/McGinty roads as weather allows.
In addition to major construction projects, the county has
completed dozens of other maintenance and system-upgrade projects.
Accomplishments include:
- More than 140 lane miles of
roads repaved in 27 locations across the county to provide a
smoother ride for drivers.
- Forty-five traffic signals
converted from incandescent bulbs to light emitting diodes (LEDs) as part
of a county-wide effort to upgrade traffic signals. LED signals offer
significant cost savings for operations and maintenance/replacement.
- Seventy-three traffic signals
synchronized to improve efficiency of travel through targeted corridors.
- Video detection installed for
traffic signals at 28 intersections. Video detection is more sensitive to
triggering signal changes for motorcycles and bikes; it is also more
reliable overall than other detection methods and provides flexibility
during construction.
- More than 1,500 completed
service requests from residents regarding potholes, burnt-out traffic
signal lights and other issues.
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Greetings,
I hope you are enjoying my electronic newsletters, and find them interesting and informative about county activities. In addition to my monthly newsletter, the county sends various
newsletters and notifications available by email or text message. To explore the many opportunities to
subscribe or to change your preferences, visit the subscription webpage.
Please feel free to send me your comments through my feedback form on issues that concern you or you would like covered. I value your opinions.
Warm regards,
Jan Callison
November 03, 2015
Board approved funding for HCMC outpatient center
The
County Board approved a plan to proceed with construction of an HCMC ambulatory
outpatient specialty center.
Located between 8th and 9th streets and Park and Chicago
avenues, the center’s six floors and 377,000 square feet will house a
combination of clinics and services, including 27 outpatient clinics for
primary care and specialty services, same day surgery center, radiology
services, breast center, an outpatient pharmacy and a comprehensive cancer
center.
Read more about the ambulatory outpatient specialty
center proposal.
State grants will expand opportunities to improve health
The
County Board accepted a five-year, $5.7 million grant from the Minnesota
Department of Health to implement the Statewide Health Improvement Program
(SHIP). The program funds local projects that increase opportunities for
healthy activities. In Hennepin County, it is administered by the Public Health
Department. The funds must only be used to develop new activities, expand
current efforts to reduce obesity and tobacco use, or replace discontinued
funds from the state or federal government, or a third party.
Future projects will continue some of the same projects, and
expand efforts to increase health.
Read more about SHIP projects in Hennepin County.
November 17, 2015
Grant will fund soil and water conservation projects
The board approved agreements with the Minnesota Board of Water
and Soil Resources (BWSR) to provide non-competitive, formula-based grants to
the county totaling $234,431 to deliver soil and water conservation
services. One $83,827 block grant will be used to support local
government water planning, enforce the Wetland Conservation Act, inspect septic
systems and administer volunteer water monitoring programs. A program and
operation grant of $40,604 will be used to provide technical assistance and
cost-sharing funds to landowners to implement conservation practices. The state
board made new funding available this year that includes a $100,000
organizational capacity grant to increase conservative services provided
throughout the county, and a $10,000 buffer implementation grant to carry out
duties to implement the state’s new law that requires vegetation buffers along
rivers, streams, and ditches.
Plan builds foundation for emergency nuclear response
The County Board approved receipt of a $240,000 allocation from
the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. The funding enables Hennepin County
to maintain a pre-designated county emergency facility in Rogers, which is
outside the plume exposure pathway in the case of a radiological release at the
Monticello nuclear plant. This reception center, located at Rogers High School,
is a place for residents of Sherburne and Wright counties to come for
evaluation in the event of an emergency at the nuclear plant. Two $60,000
allocations to be received in state fiscal year 2015 and 2016 are used
primarily for costs associated with training and exercising volunteer staff.
County staff time and associated costs are also related planning activities,
some equipment and for attendance at meetings and conferences.
Learn more about the Radiological Emergency Preparedness
program
Agendas and minutes of action taken by the Hennepin County Board are posted under Hennepin County meetings and agendas. For greater detail on the above agenda items and additional board actions, visit county news releases.
In addition to our regularly scheduled board meetings, the board
often meets on Thursday mornings to receive board briefings. These are
informal opportunities to discuss emerging issues. No decisions are
made. Board briefings occur in the board room on the 24th floor of the
Hennepin County Government Center and are open to the public.
November 05, 2015
Communications update
Staff reviewed changes in the three communications areas of
public relations, digital communications and strategic communications. Information presented included usage data
relating to digital media and strategies for reducing digital maintenance costs. Examples of national, traditional media and
social media were provided.
MNSure/State System Modernization
This
briefing focused primarily on on-going work to improve customer service in the
area of eligibility and work services at HSPHD.
Its purpose was to describe improvement initiatives in customer service
and in employee training and engagement. Among the changes to date are
implementation of standard contact flow to support customer service, creation
of a unit to deal with particularly challenging eligibility issues, movement
toward individual responsibility rather than a team approach and expanded
self-service options at regional centers.
While the work is on-going, data shows that the number of repeat calls
and visits has been reduced. Information
was also provided at the briefing about work to modernize the state system.
November 19, 2015
Sheriff's Staffing Study
Hennepin County contracted with Matrix Consulting Group to
analyze staffing in the Sheriff’s Office, including the Office’s organization
structure and operational management systems.
The following findings were presented by the consultant at the
briefing:
- “Because of the number of municipalities in
Hennepin County, the Sheriff’s Office is unique—apart from detention and
judicial functions, it is more of a facilitator than provider of direct
services.
- The Sheriff’s Office has implemented many
approaches to improve service and the efficiency in which services are
provided.
- There are many areas in which staffing is
appropriate—Enforcement Services and Investigations Bureaus.
- There are other areas in which staffing is not
adequate to safely and effectively provide services—Detention and Court
Services.
- There are many opportunities to utilize
different classifications of staff to provide or manage services—jails, court
security and 911.
- Longer term, the County and municipalities need to
evaluate opportunities to increase the use of ‘shared service’ approaches.”
December 01, 2015
Truth in Taxation
Hennepin County will hold a public meeting on the proposed 2016
budget and property tax levy at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1. The meeting location is the County Board Room
on the 24th floor of the Hennepin County Government Center, at 300 S. Sixth Street in downtown Minneapolis.
The budgets and levies for the Hennepin County Regional Railroad
Authority and Hennepin County Housing and Redevelopment Authority also will be
discussed at the meeting.
Residents who wish to speak at the meeting should sign up by
calling the Hennepin County Clerk's Office at 612-348-4019.
For more details, go online to www.hennepin.us/hcbudget.
Free parking is available for residents attending the
meeting in the underground ramp at the Government Center after
5 p.m. The ramp entrance is on Third Avenue between Fifth and Sixth
streets.
December 15, 2015
Property tax homestead applications
Homestead applications are due by December 15, 2015. Submitting
a homestead application will affect your 2016 property taxes and eligibility
for property tax refund.
Contact your county assessor to file a homestead application if you or a qualifying relative occupy the
property as
a homestead on or before December 1, 2015.
Once homestead is granted, annual applications are not necessary unless they are requested by the
county assessor.
Contact the assessor by December 15, 2015 if the use of the
property you own or occupy as a qualifying relative has changed during the past
year.
If you sell, move, or for any reason no longer qualify for the
homestead classification, you are required to notify the county assessor within
30 days of the change in homestead status.
December 31, 2015
Hennepin County Citizen Advisory Board applications
Every
year, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners appoints county residents to
volunteer service positions on advisory boards, commissions, councils and
special task forces. An open appointments process is
used to select the membership of more than 15 county boards, councils,
committees and task forces. This process not only promotes citizen involvement
through volunteer service, but also allows county commissioners to tap into
citizens' broad base of talent, diversity, knowledge and skills to benefit
county government. The process offers all interested citizens an opportunity to
be considered for appointments.
The open appointments process
begins on Tuesday, November 10, 2015. Interested citizens can fill out an application for positions on any
of the boards listed below. Applications are accepted through December 31, 2015
and the board will conduct interviews in January 2016.
The following boards have
vacancies:
- Adult
Mental Health Advisory Council (5 positions)
- Capital
Budgeting Task Force (2 positions)
- City
of Minneapolis Planning Commission (1 position)
- Community
Action Partnership for Suburban Hennepin (3 positions)
- County
Extension Committee (Minnesota Extension Service) (2 positions)
- Library
Board (3 positions)
- Mental
Commitment Attorney Panel Advisory Board (2 positions)
- Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act Board (6 positions)
For more information, including
the duties and responsibilities of each board, visit www.hennepin.us/advisoryboards.
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