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Our invocation was offered by Anthony Nordan but without a piano player, we did not attempt any songs. Pepe was at our meeting, as was Cameron Appert, our Student Athletes of the Week from the High School. She is the daughter of Jared and Cindy and in this, her senior year, she went to the state tournaments in both diving an gymnastics. Cameron is also involved in choir and band and is a National Honor Student. Next year she is thinking of attending the University of Minnesota in Duluth, possibly to study international business with a Spanish minor. There were many paying to do a little bragging. Anthony Nordan rose to report he will miss the next meeting to attend the United Way allocation interviews; he also noted that they have been sprucing up the Salvation Army stores. Randy Kempfer reported he too was going to miss our next meeting, heading first to the State Capital for some lobbying on behalf of his profession and then off for a family vacation. He also reported that his son lost his first tooth on the tenth attempt with a Nerf gun (I don't quite understand how that was done). Wally Cole reported he was heading off to Washington D.C. to lobby for the khiropractic corps (See Wally, I can spell it!). Pepe thanked Steve Leitte for taking him out snowmobiling and then to a basketball game the prior Friday, and also congratulated the girls' basketball team for their playoff win the day before. John MacFarlane reported on attending the Minnesota Hockey Coaches banquet where his son was inducted into their Hall of Fame for his years of coaching in Moorhead. Tim Hunt paid up for missing five meetings. Buzz Lundeen then introduced our mayor, the Honorable Ben Schierer (his kids refer to him as "His Honor"). Ben spoke of his appreciation of Rotary and particularly our Four Way Test, believing we would all be better off if its words were practiced by all. Because of recent events, including Target and the City Bakery closing and the Council's decision to move forward on the Regional Treatment Center (RTC), he senses the dialogue in the community has changed but believes these challenges create opportunities. He talked about the four phases of deconstruction that have been identified for the RTC noting that money on hand is sufficient to remove the underground tunnels and non-contributing outlying structures. The second, third and fourth phases are subject to a $8.9 million dollar funding request being made of the legislature, and are also subject to change if one or more parties make a serious commitment to develop all or part of the remaining structures. Ben still believes that the City can save more than the tower. The Mayor then went onto talk about the Downtown Riverfront Master Plan which has identified five opportunity zones. Recognizing that the retail environment is changing in outstate Minnesota, the plan attempts to focus on the historical downtown area and the river flowing through our town. Believing that the best way to get something done is to get started, Ben thinks there is a good chance the City can partner with others and. in the next couple years, address an amphitheater, relocating the farmer's market and creating a river balcony from Union Ave. to Court St. Significant parts of the plan center around development of the mill property, the east and west parking lots (behind the Senior Center and the Viking Café) and the dairy site. The Aquatic Center has been identified as a future project as well. Ben adeptly handled some serious and not-so-serious questions and we thank him for taking the time to talk to us and also for his efforts on behalf of our community. |
