Southdale Service Center Could See Traffic Spike Next Week

Beginning Monday, Jan. 23, waits at Edina's could get a little bit longer.

The potential traffic increase is the result of the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners' recent vote to close the Eden Prairie Service Center, 479 Eden Prairie Center Drive, at 4 p.m. today, Jan. 20.

Commissioners recently voted 4-3 in favor of closing the Eden Prairie branch, all as part of cuts made to the county's 2012 budget. Service Centers Division Manager Kathy Schons said the Eden Prairie Service Center was targeted as it handles fewer transactions than other centers and is relatively close to branches in Edina and Minnetonka.

All staff members at the Eden Prairie Service Center are being reassigned to the county's remaining centers, including Southdale, Ridgedale and Maple Grove.

"No staff were laid off as a result of the closure," Schons said. "They filled positions previously held by temporary workers."

Hennepin County also maintains service centers in downtown Minneapolis, Maple Grove, Brooklyn Center and at the Midtown Exchange in South Minneapolis.

5th District Commissioner Randy Johnson moved to delay closing the Eden Prairie location until the county was able to complete a thorough study of the county's future role in operating the service centers. Johnson referred to his fellow commissioners' decision to close the branch as "another example of government just kicking the can down the road."

"A comprehensive study would force the County Board to face the issue of whether or not the service centers should be subsidized by property taxes," Johnson said. "That will be a difficult discussion, but it makes more sense than just closing a service center every few years, transferring the employees to another location, and pretending to have dealt with the public policy and financial issues."

Johnson's resolution was also supported by 6th District Commissioner Jan Callison and 2nd District Commissioner Mark Stenglein.