SCALE NEWS
On Friday, December 9, members and guests of the Scott County Association for Leadership and Efficiency (SCALE) gathered for the last meeting of 2011 to review the proposed legislative initiatives and strate­gic planning items for next year. 

However, before staff from Scott County, the City of Shakopee, and the City of Prior Lake provided the legislative overview, Prior Lake Mayor and current SCALE Chair Mike Myser recognized outgoing Shakopee Mayor John Schmitt for his many years of dedicated service to the community as well as the SCALE organization. Mayor Myser’s accolades were echoed by Savage Mayor Janet Williams and Scott County Commissioners Jon Ulrich and Barbara Marschall.

Following the presentation of a plaque recognizing Mayor Schmitt, all attention turned to the proposed 2012 SCALE legislative platform, much of which had been carried over  or slightly updated from 2011. From supporting the elimination of the legislative restrictions on the Dan Patch Commuter Corridor to advocating for the restructuring of the metropolitan governance model, the 2012 proposed platform –- which will be subject to official approval and adoption at the January meeting — contained few new items, with several notable exceptions. First, the SCALE legislative committee recommended the removal of the re­quest for $1.2 million in state bonding revenue for the completion of the SCALE Regional Training Facility, recommending instead that the organization put more effort behind a Dakota County request for $7 million for a new morgue facility — something that Scott County Administrator Gary Shelton noted would save property taxpayers a significant amount of money over the upcoming years.   The legislative committee also recommended the removal of the general statement on the Minnesota Millennium: Launching A New Generation of Competitive Leadership and Economic Growth.  “It’s not that these policy statement was deemed inappropriate, but the legislative committee wanted to focus more attention on specific, actionable items,” said Scott County Public Affairs Coordinator Lisa Kohner. Following a few modifications to the 2011 SCALE position on water quality issues, Scott County Highway Project Manager and SCALE Transportation and Economic Development Committee member Lisa Freese itemized a number of suggested additions vis-à-vis the Statute and Ordinance Subcommittee, most of which support amending or modifying land use and transit-related statutes. 

In the remaining minutes of the morning’s meeting, Prior Lake City Manager Frank Boyles briefly re­capped the “lessons learned” from the November meeting, which had been exclusively used for Strategic Planning purposes.  A summary of the members’ comments were distributed, along with the overview of the survey responses — all of which can be viewed on the SCALE website at www.scaleinfo.org. 

Look for the next general SCALE meeting, scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on Friday, January 13, 2012 at Prior Lake City Hall.

“The mission of SCALE is to forge new and innovative ways in which government entities can collaborate
to provide superior services while making the most of limited resources.”

“The mission of SCALE is to forge new and innovative ways in which government entities can collaborate

to provide superior services while making the most of limited resources.”