Refinancing Bonds Will Save Schools $2 Million Page 16
Benefit for Local Boy Upcoming
BPHS Fall Sports Teams All in Action This Week Page 15
Page 16
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIRST YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, AUGUST 29, 2012
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 35
City Proposing 5.3% Levy Increase in 2013 The Belle Plaine City Council next Tuesday night is expected to approve a 2013 preliminary property tax levy of $4,528,272, an increase of $228,635 (5.3 percent) over this year’s levy of $4,299,637, which was a 2.7 percent increase over the 2011 levy. The 5.3 percent increase for 2013 represents only the city’s portion of your property tax bill. County and school taxes are not included. For a third straight year, Belle Plaine, due to state budget cuts,
will get $54,473 in state local government aid, some $300,000 less than years past. Of next year’s 5.3 percent property tax increase, Belle Plaine Finance Director Dawn Meyer said 3.3 percent will go toward increases to the budget. The other 2 percent will go toward expenses associated with the city’s recent purchase of its current public works building. The city council will adopt the final 2013 property tax levy and budget in December. At that time the preliminary levy can New teachers at the Belle Plaine School District this year are back row, from left, Nick Zwick, Jennifer Grabow, Katie Graff, be decreased but not increased. Julene Nolan and David Kreft (BPHS principal). In the front are Natalie Nelsen, Brittany Lothspeich, Heather Wilmoth, Jennifer Cariveau and Kim DeWitte (Chatfield principal)
Public Hearing on 2013 Street Improvement Project Next Week The Belle Plaine City Council will hold a preliminary public hearing on the city’s 2013 street and utility project next Tuesday (Sept. 4). The hearing will start shortly after 6 p.m. Next year’s work is proposed to consist of street reconstruction and utility improvements at: – Main Street from Willow Street to Buffalo Street. – Eagle Street from Park Street to Main Street. – Buffalo Street from Main Street to Church Street. City Engineer Joe Duncan said the total estimated cost of the project is $1,963,850, of which $1,416,416 (72 percent) would be paid for by the city. The rest would be assessed to benefitting property owners. Staff reported that a reasonable estimate of the assessment impact to benefitting property owners will be available at the public hearing. In Duncan’s report presented to the council Aug. 6, it stated that inspections have revealed
that a substantial portion of the project area raised numerous concerns in regard to the existing sewer pipes and other infrastructure. He added that the existing bituminous street surfaces on Main and Eagle streets are characterized as poor and exhibit alligator cracking and raveling. “The public works department expends significant resources annually to rework, patch and otherwise maintain the streets in the proposed project area,” reported Duncan, adding that Buffalo Street, which was constructed in 1993, is in “fair condition.” Duncan said the city is about four months ahead of schedule when it comes to planning for its annual street improvement project. He said the reason for that is not to speed up the project, but rather to attract more favorable bids by bidding the project in January rather than on the doorstep of spring.
Public Hearing
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Sunday Was A Grand Day to be Irish in Jessenland
A warm, sunny afternoon, delightful music and good food drew a big crowd to the Oratory of St. Thomas in Jessenland Township. Several hundred Irish -- by lineage or in spirit -- came to the church for the annual Irish festival. After Mass and lunch, The Tim Malloys entertained the crowd with high energy pubstyle music. Violinist Larry Greenstein of Minneapolis (below; his wife is a McShane) strolled the grounds playing traditional Irish favorites. Megan Maloney of Mankato performed a traditional Irish dance to “Juniper.”
Without Major Projects, School Opens With New Faces in Charge by John Mueller When the school year opens Tuesday and students return to Belle Plaine schools, they’ll find a pair of new building principals greeting them at the doors. In a year without major construction projects, new leaders and an ongoing commitment to enhanced instruction highlight the beginning of the 2012-13 school year.
Enrollment Up
Belle Plaine Public Schools are expecting about 1,600 students in kindergarten through high school senior through the doors Tuesday, an increase of 34 from a year ago. Class sizes are continuing their slow growth. Class 2011-12 K 133 1st 124 2nd 128 Chatfield Elem. 385 3rd 125 4th 111 5th 110 6th 115 Oak Crest Elem. 461 7th 132 8th 135 Junior high 267 9th 114 10th 123 11th 108 12th 108 Senior high 453
2012-13 135 134 123
Total 1,566
1,600
392 130 125 111 112 478 118 132 250 135 114 123 108 480
Source: BP Public Schools
Kim DeWitte is the new principal at Chatfield Elementary School, replacing Bill Adams who took the superintendent’s position at Janesville-WaldorfPemberton. David Kreft is the new principal at Belle Plaine Junior-Senior High School. He succeeds Lowell Hoffman, who retired last year after three-plus decades of service. Mindy Reeder is the new principal at Our Lady of the Prairie Elementary School. The Catholic School has an all-new teaching staff. Reeder will work part-time at OLP and part-time at Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery. At Chatfield Elementary School, DeWitte will continue working on professional learning communities (PLCs) – a system of classroom teachers working collectively to help all students improve academically -- as well as maintaining
the School of Excellence Chatfield Elementary School’s staff earned the past few years and received last year. PLCs are based on teachers collaborating to help students individually and collectively improve their academic skills in specific areas. The initiative is credited with Oak Crest Elementary School students improve their scores on state math and reading exams students took last spring. DeWitte is not planning wholesale changes to the program Adams and his staff initiated, but rather tweaks to the existing program. At Belle Plaine Junior-Senior High School, Hoffman laid the groundwork for his successor to introduce PLCs to the staff. Both Kreft and DeWitte were hired in part because of their experience with PLCs. Their work will make them more of a teachers’
coach and less of a building administrator than their predecessors. “The role of the principal has really evolved,” Kreft said. DeWitte saw PLCs help improve test scores during her seven years at Sibley East. “My job is to help the teachers get from where they are to where they want to be,” she said. “It’s about me being in the classroom helping teachers help kids.” DeWitte is looking forward and ready to meet students and parents in the first few days and weeks of the school year. She received 40 e-mails from school staff after the school board approved her hiring. She worked last year as principal at an elementary school in South Dakota. “I’m good, ready to start,” she
School Opens
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Meekers Appreciated, Wanted to Save Historic Downtown House They would have preferred to save the historic building at the northwest corner of Willow and Main streets. Ultimately, starting anew just made financial sense. So it was a little bittersweet for Todd and Connie Meeker to see the building razed Monday. Connie Meeker watched from across the street, talking with neighbors and reminiscing. From the rubble, a new history will begin. In four to six months, Dr. Todd Meeker’s new chiropractic office will open for business. And a new piece of Belle Plaine’s history will begin. “It’s very important to us,” Connie said Friday afternoon as Todd met with contractor discussing details of the demolition. “We want to preserve the history.” In the meantime, his office for the next four to six months will be at 168 Commerce Drive E. But those quarters are nothing but temporary. Dr. Meeker is looking forward to being back downtown. Built circa 1880, the building began as a house with workspace. Todd Meeker, a doctor of chiropractic, is the fourth chiropractor to practice the art and science of his craft at the corner of West Main and North Willow streets. He arrived in
Meekers’ House
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Dr. Todd and Connie Meeker prepared for the razing of their office at the northwest corner of Willow and Main streets Friday afternoon. The building dates back to the late-1800s.
By Tuesday morning, Meeker Chiropractic was a pile of rubble. It will reopen permanently on the same site in four to six months. In the meantime, his office will be at 168 Commerce Drive E.