Get your art on at the Eagan Art Festival. See Thisweekend Page 14A.
A NEWS OPINION SPORTS
Thisweek Farmington-Lakeville JUNE 17, 2011
VOLUME 32, NO. 16
www.thisweeklive.com
Messages/2A
Opinion/4A
Public Notices/6A
Announcements/7A
Classifieds/8A
Sports/11A
Lakeville asks for a lot It’s just the beginning in a new superintendent Public, district staff and students get very specific in their quest for an ideal leader by Aaron Vehling THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Take a second to think about what type of person should lead Lakeville’s public school system. Would a high-quality superintendent be a financial guru? An expert communicator? An empowering leader for his or her staff ? Someone open to ethnic, economic and cultural diversity? A tech savvy executive? Add to those some humility and a bouillabaisse of personable, compassionate, ethical and approachable traits and what exists is just a portion of what a variety of local stakeholders indicated in recent focus groups that they want in a new superintendent. School Exec Connect
(SEC), the district’s superintendent search consultant, interviewed a large swath of people e a r lier this month, including teachers, staff, students, business leaders and community members. Bob Ostlund has been SEC’s sort-of “identity investigator,” scouring the district’s 83-square-mile boundary for every bit of information that could help SEC recruit the leader that the community not only wants, but what it deserves. In addition to those focus groups, the research included an online survey, which about 350 people took. Ostlund laid out the
results before the School Board at its meeting on Tuesday, June 14. All of the aforementioned qualities factored into people’s desires in a leader. The most cited traits, however, were financial intelligence and communication skills. “The number one response in the survey was someone who understands the business side of education,” said Ostlund, who himself is a former superintendent. “A majority of those (respondents) were parents.” But where respondents agreed on finance, they disagreed on the policy expectations. “Some list finance as number one because of a concern about a lack of funding,” Ostlund said. See Superintendent, 7A
Photo by Andrew Miller
Trevor Lachance performed for fellow graduates and guests at commencement ceremonies for Farmington High School’s Class of 2011 in the school’s gymnasium on June 10. More photos on Page 13A.
A Lakeville celebration
Sign says where to park it
Photo by Aaron Vehling
In an effort to help visitors to downtown find parking, the city of Lakeville installed new road signs. The “way-finding” project was funded by a grant from Dakota County, said city administrator Steve Mielke.
Six will vie for Farmington city administrator position Finalists include two Farmington residents by Laura Adelmann THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
Six finalists, including two Farmington residents, have been selected for interviews to become Farmington’s next city administrator. The candidates are: • Farmington resident Brian Anderson, who is the city administrator of Newport; • Bart Fischer, assistant city administrator and economic development director of Chaska; • Dave McKnight, a Farmington resident, former city council member and administrator of Mendota Heights; • Ron Moorse, govern-
ment affairs consultant, city of Afton; • Bruce Messelt, Lake Elmo city administrator; and • Samantha Orduno, city administrator in Dayton. Those candidates were selected by Farmington City Council members from a pool of 14 applications. Each candidate will be interviewed by the city council and a committee of staff members June 24 at City Hall starting at 9 a.m. The public is invited to meet the candidates June 27 from 4 to 6 p.m. at City Hall in the expansion space area upstairs.
Three finalists will be announced at a special Farmington City Council meeting on June 29 at City Hall, and those individuals will be invited for a final interview July 11. At that meeting, the name of the board’s top candidate will be announced, but a background check will be performed before he or she will officially be offered the position. Farmington Human Resources Director Brenda Wendlandt said the background check will take Farmington police about one week to complete. Laura Adelmann is at laura. adelmann@ecm-inc.com.
Photos by Aaron Vehling
Situated somewhere at a precipice between happiness over accomplishments and sadness over the uncertain road that lies ahead, seniors from Lakeville North and Lakeville South High School celebrated their commncement ceremonies at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in downtown St. Paul. Lakeville North students (above) showcased pride in their achievements at a ceremony that saw more than 4,000 give commencement speaker Zack Nelson a standing ovation over his heartwearming story of great loss and sweeping recovery. During the Lakeville South commencement ceremony (below), students shared a moment during what could be one of the defining achievements of their lives. More photos on Page 12A.
New program eliminates Lakeville’s 2011 levy limits City officials assure residents that state-sponsored plan won’t be a blank check for municipal expenditures by Aaron Vehling
formance assessment pro- plowing, street maintegram could yield the City nance and the quality of Voluntary participation of Lakeville some more public safety. In exchange for in a state-administered per- levying power. The Lakeville participation, the City Council voted city receives a levy General 952-894-1111 last week to apexemption for Distribution 952-846-2070 Display Advertising 952-846-2011 prove the city’s 2011 and 14 cents Classified Advertising 952-846-2000 participation in the per person (in the 2010 Minnesota population) from Legislature-created the LGA program. Steve Mielke Lakeville currently program. A city governreceives no LGA ment’s performance is funds. The reimbursement assessed using a special would be less than $1,000. performance metric and The levy exemption is & !""'! ! $ resident surveys that look the most important part at such city services as because if the legislature THISWEEK NEWSPAPERS
were to impose a “hard levy” on the city, it could affect the city’s ability to make street improvements, said City Administrator Steve Mielke. “(The program is) worthwhile and would provide some benefit down the road,” Mielke told the City Council last week. City finance director Dennis Feller said the eliminated levy limits for 2011 are an insurance policy, not a move to tax exponentially. “If (the Legislature)
were to redefine the amount that cities can levy, this would give the city council the ability to establish a levy it feels comfortable with,” Feller said. As the Legislature pushes more of the tax burden onto local governments, a more restricted levy limit could hinder simple city functions such as maintenance and roadwork. For example, the Market Value Homestead Credit is a state-mandated levy that cities collect and then receive a credit from
the state. Or, at least, they are supposed to receive a credit from the state. However, Feller said, it has been “all but eliminated for Lakeville.” For proof that the city is not looking toward anything beyond covering its bases, Feller pointed out that the city currently levies below its limit, which is $24,562,538. The current levy is more than $520,000 below that, he said. “A good example is last year,” Feller said. “Even See Performance, 7A