Roseville Mayor Dan Roe Highlights 2011 City Accomplishments

Roseville Mayor Dan Roe on Monday said the city is primed to move forward with plans for a new fire station and implement the first phase of a long-range plan to restore and upgrade community parks.

Those were two of several accomplishments the city made in 2011, Roe said in his second annual State of the City address. 

Roe also noted the city made progress to revitalize and strengthen civic engagement, laid the foundation for getting caught up on replacing aging water and sewer pipelines and took additional steps to cut electric and gasoline consumption from City Hall operations, thereby reducing its impact on the environment. 

The following is Roe's  2012 State of the City address:  

"This is my second “State of the City Address,” and I begin as I did my first by saying that my job here is not to take credit for the state of our city, but rather to give credit to those who are truly responsible for its state.

The credit goes to residents and business people of great talent, imagination, and drive, who are the lifeblood of our community. 

The credit goes to faith organizations and volunteer groups whose calling and mission is to serve.

The credit goes to elected and appointed officials, from our school boards to our county commissioner and state legislators, my fellow city council members and volunteer commissioners, who all believe in the betterment of our community, even if we don’t always share the same opinions as to how to go about it.

And the credit goes to a strong team of professional City staff, who work every day to help us achieve our community’s vision.

Our Community Vision

So, what is our community’s vision?

As we on the city council, along with our City Manager and department heads, began our annual strategic planning efforts in the last couple of weeks, many of us reviewed the vision documents that have been developed through community input over the last several years. 

There was Imagine Roseville 2025 – a compilation of our aspirations as a community. There was the 2030 Comprehensive Plan – a more detailed planning document that built on Imagine Roseville. And there was, most recently, the updated Parks & Recreation Master Plan – the embodiment of what I believe to be the most extensive process of civic engagement Roseville has undertaken to date.

Those documents contain many statements about our vision, and many more detailed suggestions as to how we can achieve that vision. In considering all of that, I thought it would be beneficial to attempt to boil that all down into a concise expression of what that vision is. 

I am not going to pretend that my first draft is the last word, but here is what I have come up with:

Roseville will continue to be a strong, vibrant, vital community that is a desirable place to live, work, and play, because together we continue to aspire to be all of these things:

…safe and law-abiding,

…welcoming, inclusive, and respectful,

…environmentally responsible, with healthy and well-maintained natural assets,

…diverse, by any measurement of diversity,

…engaged in our community’s success through our roles as citizens, neighbors, volunteers, leaders, and businesspeople,

…physically and mentally active and healthy,

… well-connected internally and externally through transportation and technology infrastructure,

… secure in our housing, and

… while conscious of impacts to our residential neighborhoods.

I believe that we can measure the state of our city on the basis of how well we are achieving those aspirations.

Safe and Law Abiding

In 2011, both our Police and Fire departments began reorganization efforts designed to better deliver services in a more cost effective way.

One of the key changes related to public safety over the past year has been the citizen-involved process to study and recommend changes to our fire station facilities. As a result of that plan, as folks may have noticed, our original Fire Station 1, located on the corner of Lexington and Woodhill, was demolished late in 2011. 

The facility study had found that all three of our fire stations had significant deficiencies, ranging from lack of co-ed facilities to safety compliance issues, to serious water infiltration and mold issues. In addition, our current and future needs for fire protection and emergency medical services can be met using a single fire station, given the current 24-hour staffed station approach.

Because station 1 was centrally located, and was in the worst shape of the three stations, and was not currently used as the staffed station, and because Station 1 is on already city-owned property, the choice was made to locate a new station on that site. 

Barring unexpected delays, construction will begin this spring on the new station. Once the new station is in service, the city will be able to dispose of current Station 3 on Dale Street while Station 2 on Fairview Avenue, under the water tower, will be re-purposed for other city needs.

While the Fire Department may have been in the headlines last year because of their building plans, the Police Department was continuing its efforts to focus on crime prevention and proactive policing.

In the summer of 2011, the department fully implemented its IMPACT teams that allow officers to work in a focused way to enforce traffic and narcotics laws and prevent thefts from autos and auto thefts.

The department has continued to work with Rosedale and other merchants to improve safety and reduce shoplifting.

Certainly, the work of our Police and Fire Departments is never done, but both departments are continuing to improve and to position themselves to be more effective.

In addition to the Police and Fire Departments, it should be noted that the Parks and Recreation area has a key role in safety, providing spaces and activities that tend to contribute to lower crime rates. That was a key outcome included in the recent Parks and Recreation Master Plan, and one that is taken very seriously.

Welcoming, Inclusive, and Respectful

Starting almost as soon as Karen refugees from Burma began to settle in and around our community, the City has worked to reach out and welcome them.

Those efforts began with a forum a couple of years ago, and they continued in 2011 with a Fall Soccer Celebration at Tamarack Park, featuring equipment donated by the Roseville Rotary Club.

In addition, Roseville Police Department employees donated money from their own pockets to purchase volleyball equipment for Karen young people living in Roseville.

Besides outreach to the Karen community, another example of reaching out to a part of our community was the “Coffee With a Cop” program that was begun by Detective Engh and Lt. Scheider in the Police Department. “Coffee with a Cop” helps to connect with seniors regarding threats such as identity theft and fraud, and also provides an opportunity for seniors to ask questions and get answers to safety concerns.

Environmentally Responsible, With Healthy and Well-Maintained Natural Assets

For the last several years, Roseville’s City government has worked proactively to reduce the environmental footprint of our activities. An internal Roseville Energy Action and Conservation Team (REACT) developed and implemented policies related to such areas as thermostat settings, engine idling, efficient lighting, and many others. Those efforts led to significant drop in the use of electricity and gasoline. We will continue our efforts with regular reporting to the community on the City’s results.

Other accomplishments in 2011 have included adding recycling receptacles at most park trash collection sites, and the use of an in-ground trash collection and compaction system for parks.

While the City is not seeking LEED certification, we are building our new fire station to the equivalent of LEED Silver requirements, and are striving to exceed those requirements.

The City is studying ways to expand our geothermal system to the new fire station, and eventually we hope to expand to all of the buildings on the City campus, as they require new heating and air conditioning systems.

City events, such as the upcoming annual Living Smarter Home and Garden Fair at Fairview Community Center on Saturday, February 18, strive to be “zero waste” events, and continue to get closer to achieving that standard.

Besides City initiated efforts, the City is also required to meet ever stricter standards of agencies like the State and the three watershed districts when it comes to storm water management and treatment. Both private developments and also City projects must meet those requirements. Our Public Works department devotes significant resources to monitoring storm water management in the City.

Diverse, By Any Measurement of Diversity

Statistics from the 2010 census indicate that Roseville continues to become more diverse with regard to such measures as our ethnic backgrounds, age, income, and education. 

As a community, that growing diversity can present near-term challenges, but it also can lead to tremendous long-term benefits. 

We as the City government, as well as our local school districts, have been conscious of these changes since even before the 2010 census. We continue to work to understand the needs of our changing community, and reflect those needs in the services we provide. These efforts are in their early stages, as exemplified by the work to reach out to the Karen immigrant community, and I think we all acknowledge that this will be a key part of our work in City government going forward.

Engaged in Our Community’s Success

Roseville has benefited over its entire existence from an engaged citizenry. Examples include the folks who first banded together to incorporate the Village of Roseville in 1948, as well as the efforts to create the park system in the 1960’s and 70’s.

In the last year, we benefitted from – and continue to benefit from – the efforts of over 150 volunteers who have served on the Citizen Organizing Team and five Work Groups dedicated to areas of special interest in the implementation of the first phases of our Parks & Recreation Master Plan.

These individuals have driven the process to get the Phase I park infrastructure plan in place, and funded. The City conducted several community meetings, and volunteers took the plans to the community for feedback, including at many of the Night to Unite block parties in August of last year. 

For all of their efforts, and for their dedication to their community, those citizen volunteers who continue to guide and champion the implementation process deserve our gratitude and public praise. They exemplify how this continues to be a “bottom-up”, rather than a “top-down” process.

Another group that deserves our gratitude, and is also not done with their work, is the Civic Engagement Task Force that was organized by the Roseville Human Rights Commission. Their efforts really had their genesis in the Imagine Roseville 2025 emphasis on the importance of civic engagement.

It should be pointed out that the starting premise of the Task Force is not that Roseville citizens are not engaged, but rather that civic engagement is constantly needed for effective government, and it needs constant renewal, in the face of such challenges as changing methods of communication; changing demands on peoples’ time, changing demographics, and changing statutory requirements. 

The City Council looks forward to receiving the report of the Task Force this year, and considering their recommendations.

Physically and Mentally Active and Healthy

Here in Roseville, we continue to have a great variety of programs and facilities for people of all ages to be active and enjoy healthy lifestyles. These, of course, range from organized and informal team field sports to individual activities and opportunities for quiet reflection.

The first phase of implementation of our Parks and Recreation Master Plan is intended to make sure that our existing infrastructure that supports healthy lifestyles continues to be well-maintained and serve the community going forward.

Among other things, fields and courts will be refurbished, and turf management systems, such as irrigation, will be added or improved. Pathways will be added to our system. Dilapidated warming houses and shelters will be replaced.  Additional parkland will be added in order to round out the facilities in existing parks, as well as, hopefully, adding park space in under-served portions of the community.

Some new initiatives of note in 2011 relating to physical and mental health included Healthy Living Seminars in partnership with the Bandana Wellness Center, and a Metropolitan Regional Arts Council grant to support expanded summer entertainment programming and arts opportunities.

Well-Connected Through Transportation and Technology

In 2011, the Rice Street interchange with Highway 36 was completed. While this was primarily a County and State project, Roseville participated in the planning, as well as in various infrastructure cost sharing. The project streamlined traffic flow along Rice Street between County Road B2 and County Road B, including the addition of better pedestrian connections and dedicated bike lanes.

The next phase of Rice Street improvements, between County Road B2 and County Road C2 are in the planning stages, and some work may begin this year.  This is all in recognition of the importance of Rice Street as a transportation corridor in our area.

Another street project that will take place in 2012 is the connection of County Road C2 between Lexington Avenue and Hamline Avenue. The expectation is that this will provide additional east-west connectivity across our community.

Much of the Fairview Avenue pathway project through Roseville that was funded primarily by federal grant money, was completed in 2011, with only the portion north of County Road B, up to Rosedale, to be completed in 2012. This project closed a significant gap in our pathway system, as envisioned by our Pathway Master Plan.

As I mentioned before, additional pathway projects will be part of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan Phase 1 implementation efforts in the next four years.

In addition to street and pathway projects, the City has continued a joint effort, in partnership with area school districts and the Ramsey County Library System to install fiber optic connections between area city and school and library facilities.

This effort provides these entities with high-speed voice, data, and internet connections at a fraction of the cost of service from private providers. Not only has this been a wise use of public resources, in terms of cost savings, but also it has provided tangible results in terms of internet accessibility at the expanded Ramsey County Library in Roseville.

Secure In Our Housing

In 2011, through funding provided by the Roseville Housing & Redevelopment Authority, the City began the second round of our Neighborhood Enhancement Program. The program is designed to provide educational materials to homeowners about our nuisance and property maintenance code requirements that are designed to preserve healthy, attractive, well-kept neighborhoods, with high property values, and then follow up with on-the-street enforcement walk-throughs in our neighborhoods.

Compliance has been extremely high as a result of this program, and the City is considering whether to expand it to cover commercial properties in Roseville as well.

For 2012, the City is considering the possibility of a rental licensing and inspection program for our larger apartment complexes, to help assure that those are kept up and are managed well, so that they don’t become blights on their neighborhoods.

In addition to code enforcement, the City has partnered with United Properties on the funding of their second Applewood Pointe senior cooperative housing project in Roseville, along with their Cherrywood assisted living facility, both located off County Road D and Cleveland.

The City also partnered similarly with the non-profit group Aeon on their refurbishment of the old Har Mar Apartments on Snelling and Highway 36 to provide quality affordable apartment housing in our community.  Their second phase is being built on that site as we speak, and will offer multiple bedroom apartments to compliment the one-bedroom units in the refurbished buildings.

Economically Healthy, While Conscious Of Impacts to Our Neighborhoods

Among the commercial developments in Roseville in 2011 were projects in the Terminal Road area that was the potential site of the rejected asphalt plant in 2010. 

Those projects have included a major FedEx Freight Facility and a distribution center for Airgas.  Both projects brought a number of well paying jobs to our community, and certainly have low impacts on the nearby residential areas.

Hopefully, in 2012, as our economic outlook continues to improve, the updates to our zoning code, and our proactive infrastructure work in Twin Lakes will have laid the groundwork for continued development.

The City’s Mission

At its most basic, the role of our City government is to support and facilitate, within the constraints of our powers and authorities, the community’s attainment of the aspirations that I have been talking about. 

There are many ways in which the City is doing that, several of which I mentioned just this afternoon, but most of which go largely unnoticed and unheralded.

One very key area in which the City supports and facilitates the attainment of our community aspirations is through the provision of facilities and infrastructure.

• Water mains deliver safe and healthy drinking water to our homes and businesses.
• Sanitary sewer mains provide for public health by providing a means to process waste.
• Parks and recreation facilities provide places to be active and physically healthy, as well as places to learn, like the Nature Center or Arboretum.
• Police squad cars bring crime prevention and enforcement to us where the needs are, and Fire vehicles do the same with emergency medical responders and fire suppression professionals.
• Snow plows provide for safe transportation connections within our community and from our community to the outside world.
• Park maintenance equipment keeps our fields and rinks usable for healthy pursuits.
• Various buildings provide a safe and productive place for our city employees to serve us in their jobs.

All of these capital and infrastructure resources have finite lives. 

It has been clear for a number of years that our City was not adequately setting aside funds to replace much of this infrastructure when its useful life was over. 

In fact, of around $218 million of identified needs across the City in the next 20 years, only about $70 million of funding was allocated for those purposes.

I am extremely proud that in 2011 we as a City, and as a City Council, took significant steps to resolve those funding shortfalls. 

We cut spending and took advantage of excess levy capacity to fund an additional $850,000 annually for buildings, equipment, and vehicle replacements. That nearly tripled the funding, and accounts for virtually all projected needs going forward.

We are phasing in a two-year adjustment of our water and sewer fees to provide an additional $2.2 million per year to fund sewer and water main relining and replacement, again nearly tripling the funding, and accounting for the projected needs.

We approved replacement of three significantly deficient fire stations with one state-of-the art and green facility.

And we approved a four-year plan to catch us up on delayed park infrastructure needs.

These decisions were not always unanimous, but I believe the disagreements largely have to do with HOW we have proceeded with these infrastructure and capital management projects, rather than WHETHER the projects were needed or should be funded.

Special thanks goes to our City Manager Bill Malinen and our Finance Director Chris Miller for their hard work in this area, and to all of my fellow council members for taking an active interest in these issues, and for contributing thoughtfully and constructively to our dialogue throughout the last year.

Going Forward

As you can see, we just gave ourselves as a city a lot to do. And it’s not that we weren’t already doing so much every day toward attainment of those community aspirations.

So in 2012 one might expect us to rest on our laurels.

However, as you will see from our agenda later this evening, the City Council and department heads will be sitting around the table to finish our discussion on a strategic work plan for this year and the next two or three years after that. 

That discussion, and frankly all of our work as a City, should be evidence to all who will observe it of our commitment as your City government to constant improvement and constant effort to do our part to help our community live up to its aspirations.

Thank you very much."