December 2016 E-Newsletter

Jan Callison banner 2016

Serving Deephaven, northern Eden Prairie, Edina, Excelsior, Greenwood, Hopkins, Long Lake, Minnetonka, Minnetonka Beach, northern Mound, Orono, Shorewood, Spring Park, Tonka Bay, Wayzata and Woodland.


December 2016


CONTACT INFO

Jan Callison
Commissioner
6th District
612-348-7886 

Allyson Sellwood
Policy Aide
612-348-6885

Christine Hoyles
Administrative Assistant
612-348-3168


ABOUT THE 6th DISTRICT

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.

View map enlargement

Callison 2013 district map

NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Find past issues of my monthly newsletter.


MORE COUNTY INFO

County departments, agencies & other entities

Elected & appointed officials

Hennepin County libraries

Hennepin County Medical Center

Hennepin volunteers

Online services

Phone directory

Service Center information

Southwest light rail

Understanding your property tax


National Adoption day

Hennepin County held a celebration on November 19th for National Adoption Day.  21 children now have new homes.  The need for adoptive families is still great.  Consider adoption and give a child a permanent home and a forever family.

Meet the Reed family:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOmoS1S8hl0


Winter weather

snow plow

With winter weather setting in, stay in the know on snow and ice removal.


Veterans hiring initiative

Through our partnership with Jewish Family and Children's Service of Minneapolis, we offer employment opportunities and support for veterans. Check out this video to learn more about our veterans hiring initiative: http://ow.ly/1Hxb305nDH7


Hennepin County Internships

Apply for one of our many internships. Our interns receive work experience, professional development and networking opportunities. We are currently seeking interns for the following areas: corrections, law enforcement, public health and the library. 

More information here.


Hennepin County to give cities incentive to start organics recycling

recycling

Photo credit: David Joles

Via the Star Tribune, Kelly Smith:

Hennepin County wants cities to start curbside organics recycling, and it’s planning to pay more to those that do next year.

It’s part of a shift in recycling across the country to focus more on organics, or food waste. Hennepin County’s own move toward organics is part of a gradual increase in funding that the county envisions, aiming for half of recycling dollars to go toward it by 2020.

“It sets the tone,” said Ben Knudson, a Hennepin County recycling specialist. “It will get the attention of cities.”

Read the full article here.

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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


Board meetings

November 1, 2016

Special levies will fund watershed projects

The board set a special levy to support projects in four watershed management organizations: Bassett Creek, Shingle Creek, West Mississippi and Elm Creek. The special levy is separate from the general property tax levy, which is set to be approved next month.

Projects include:

  • Bassett Creek: $1.3 million for three water quality improvement projects, improving water quality and stream habitat of Bassett and Plymouth Creeks within the cities of Minneapolis and Plymouth, and reducing phosphorus loading into Northwood Lake in New Hope.
  • Shingle Creek: $363,600 for three storm water retrofit projects and a diverted streamflow treatment project in the cities of Crystal, Minneapolis, and Robbinsdale, and to support a best management practices (BMP) program.
  • West Mississippi: $131,300 to complete a storm water retrofit project in Champlin and support a BMP cost-share program, which will implement small water quality projects throughout the watershed to protect and improve the quality of water resources.
  • Elm Creek: $492,812 for five water quality improvement projects including stream bank/shoreline restoration along Rush Creek in Maple Grove, Fox Creek in Rogers and the Mississippi River at the Elm Creek Dam in Champlin, repair of storm water outfalls along the Mississippi River in Champlin, and in-lake water treatment to reduce phosphorus at Fish Lake in Maple Grove.

Learn more about special levies.

Measure applies tobacco rules to e-cigs, moves authority to Public Health

The board approved an amendment to County Ordinance 21 that will apply all county tobacco regulations to electronic tobacco and tobacco-related products, such as e-cigarette. The measure will allow the ordinance to adapt in the future to new tobacco products. This change puts Hennepin County in line with new state regulations and wording meant to better control use of tobacco products. It will also allow the board to delegate licensing of tobacco retailers to the Hennepin County Public Health Department. 

Learn more about the ordinance change.

November 15, 2016

Federal program helps offenders with mental illness

The board agreed to sign on to the White House Data-Driven Justice Initiative, which aims to keep low-risk offenders out of jail to help them become productive members of our community. 

This initiative will further efforts to  consider offenders’ mental health. Nationwide, 64 percent of all people in jail have a mental illness, and the county jail may not be best suited to treat and support those individuals. 

Hennepin County committed to reduce unnecessary detention for low-risk offenders and identify appropriate alternatives for those with mental illnesses in our county jail by:

  • Identifying appropriate alternatives for the mentally ill, including diversion programs and initiatives to support high utilizers
  • Developing new strategies for probation noncompliance
  • Reducing bench warrants for people who do not appear for court
  • Eliminating delays in the legal process 
  • Ensuring that decisions to detain or release are based on validated risk assessment tools
  • Identifying opportunities to responsibly share information to improve coordination of services across systems 

Read more about the White House Data-Driven Justice Initiative.

Funding covers Southwest LRT infrastructure, environmental cleanup costs

SWLRT

The board approved an agreement with the Metropolitan Council to fund infrastructure and environmental investments that will improve communities on the Southwest Light Rail line: St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Minneapolis. 

The vote confirms action the board took in July 2015 to approve $8 million in local matching funds for the project. Infrastructure costs of as much as $3 million will improve plaza infrastructure items, such as benches, lighting, and bike racks, as well as community connectivity. The Environmental Response Fund will provide as much as $5 million to assess and clean up contamination exposed during construction at the Hopkins Tech Center site, Louisiana Station Area and the Hopkins Operations and Maintenance Facility site. 

Read more about the funding agreement

November 29, 2016

Funding increased for residential organics recycling programs

recycle

 

Recognizing that organics recycling is the greatest opportunity to reduce our trash, the board adopted changes to the Hennepin County Residential Recycling Funding Policy to allocate more money to cities for organics recycling programs.

To support city recycling programs, Hennepin County distributes all of the funding that it receives from the state’s Select Committee on Recycling and the Environment (SCORE) fund to cities. The county distributed $3.5 million in 2016. 

The new funding policy will continue to fund city recycling programs, but will gradually shift more funds to support organics recycling. In 2017, 20 percent of funding will be allocated to organics recycling programs. By 2020, half of the SCORE funding will be dedicated to supporting organics recycling. Organic waste, including food and compostable paper, makes up about one-quarter of residential trash. So increasing organics recycling is the best opportunity to reduce waste and increase recycling.

East 46th Street Bridge replacement plans move forward

The board approved funding to replace the East 46th Street Bridge over Godfrey Parkway in Minneapolis, at a proposed county cost of $3.6 million.  The bridge must be replaced because it is structurally deficient and has a sufficiency rating of 33. The county’s goal is to replace or improve all county owned bridges on county roads that are below a sufficiency rating of 50. Replacement of this bridge has been included in the capital budget at an estimated cost of $4.6 million, which includes $1 million in state bridge bonds and the remainder in state aid (gas tax) funds.

Three Rivers Park District budget approved

TRPD

 

The board approved the Three Rivers Park District’s 2017 budget with a total property tax levy of $41.5 million, which is a slight decrease from last year. 

Parks and trails in the district’s purview have seen a 3.4 percent increase in use in the past year, which is in contrast to the 1.3 percent decrease in parks and trail usage in the metro area on the whole. 

Click here for more information on the Three Rivers Park District.


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.


Board briefings

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 1, 2016

Legislative Platform

County staff reviewed the process of developing the county’s legislative platform and proposed options in order to facilitate county board input.

November 10, 2016

Child Protection

The purpose of this briefing was to discuss Hennepin County’s child protection system including the presentation of final recommendations from the Child Protection Oversight Committee.   Staff reviewed changes already made to Hennepin County’s child protection system such as the addition of 24/7 screening and investigation services, implementation of new DHS screening guidelines, hiring of additional workers and modifications to workspace.  They reviewed the current volume of work which has dramatically increased (child protection reports are projected to increase 96% since 2009; investigations have increased 74% since 2014; and out-of-home placements are up 65% since 2014) and the need for additional workers in order to handle the growing workload.  Among the additional changes being proposed by staff are more focus on child well-being as well as on prevention and early intervention.  Staff estimates that the cost of implementing their recommendations over the next three years will be approximately $26M.


County calendar

Upcoming 2017 budget dates

The board will decide on the 2017 budget and tax levy at 1:30 p.m. on December 13.  Meetings are held on the 24th floor of the Hennepin County Government Center, 300 South 6th Street, Minneapolis.  

Administrator amendments

Wednesday, December 7, 2016, during Budget and Capital Investment Committee meeting

Commissioner amendments

Monday, December 12, 2016, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Fix-It Clinics

fix it

Get free, guided assistance from handy volunteers on disassembling, troubleshooting and repairing small household appliances, clothing, electronics, mobile devices and more at a Fix-It Clinic. Upcoming Fix-It Clinics are scheduled for the following dates and locations:

  • Sunday, December 11 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Grace Center for Community Life in northeast Minneapolis
  • Saturday, January 14 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Ridgedale Library in Minnetonka

Fix-It Clinics are now scheduled through June 2017. See the full schedule.

Volunteer fixers who have skills in electrical, mechanical or electronics repair, wood working, sewing or general tinkering are essential to making the clinics successful.

For more information or to volunteer, contact Nancy Lo at nancy.lo@hennepin.us or 612-348-9195.


Hennepin County to give cities incentive to start organics recycling

HERC

Photo credit: David Joles

Via the Star Tribune, Kelly Smith:

Hennepin County wants cities to start curbside organics recycling, and it’s planning to pay more to those that do next year.

It’s part of a shift in recycling across the country to focus more on organics, or food waste. Hennepin County’s own move toward organics is part of a gradual increase in funding that the county envisions, aiming for half of recycling dollars to go toward it by 2020.

“It sets the tone,” said Ben Knudson, a Hennepin County recycling specialist. “It will get the attention of cities.”

The state allocates recycling money to counties for distribution to cities, which can use the money to provide discounts to residents, buy compostable bags or other items or to help pay for city contracts. This year, $3.2 million of the county’s $3.5 million in recycling funds went toward cities’ recycling programs, while $300,000 went toward organics recycling.

Read the full article here.