The inside story on Minnetrista local issues: This blog is to inform citizens and give them a perspective on matters of importance in Minnetrista, MN. Opinions posted here are my own and do not reflect official positions of any public body or official.
When I served on the Minnetrista city council in 2020 we funded the Gillespie Center to the tune of about $36,000 per year. It seemed a small price to pay for our residents to have access to an event venue, senior center and all the other community offerings available there. When that contract expired a few years ago the funding from Minnetrista, as well as funding from other nearby municipalities stopped. Rumors of mismanagement and financial problems swirled and the future of the center appeared uncertain.
But recently new life has been given to the center after establishing a new board of directors and appointing competent staff. The center is thriving under new management, on solid footing financially and offering programs and services all the surrounding communities can enjoy.
Other surrounding cities are kicking in money again as they value the Gillespie Center and what it offers their residents. The city of Minnetrista, however, has not yet for some reason, despite appointing a council member to the Gillespie board who, it appears, was instrumental in its turnaround.
The Gillespie Center is asking Minnetrista to fund them again at just $10,000 per year. With a city population of close to 10,000 that equates to just $1 per person each year.
The following letter to the editor of The Laker Pioneer newspaper was sent today and I encourage readers to contact their city council members (emails below) to ask them to support this vital community resource at such a nominal cost.
To the Editor,
I am writing to urge the City of Minnetrista to allocate an annual contribution of $10,000 to the Gillespie Center in Mound—a vital community resource that serves our residents, especially seniors, in invaluable ways.
With Minnetrista’s population nearing 10,000, this proposed contribution amounts to just $1 per resident per year. It’s a modest investment with an extraordinary return: continued access to critical programs and services for more than 2,200 seniors in our city who might otherwise have nowhere to go.
The Gillespie Center offers far more than a place to gather. It provides enriching programs like Yoga, Tai Chi, Tax Counseling, and walking clubs—activities that promote health, community, and independence. These services aren’t just for seniors either; the center is a vibrant hub for all ages, supporting mental, physical, and social well-being.
Moreover, the Center doubles as a venue for public and private events, offering meeting rooms and gathering spaces that bring our broader community together.
Maintaining the Gillespie Center through shared funding with neighboring cities ensures that Minnetrista residents continue to benefit from local access to essential services—without the burden of traveling long distances. Supporting the Gillespie Center with a $10,000 annual contribution is not just the right thing to do—it’s the smart thing to do. Let’s make a clear statement that Minnetrista values its residents, young and old, and the community spaces that serve them.
Sincerely, Shannon Bruce Minnetrista Resident
Minnetrista City Council Members
Lisa Whalen (Mayor): lwhalen@ci.minnetrista.mn.us Brian Govern: bgovern@ci.minnetrista.mn.us Cathleen Reffkin: creffkin@ci.minnetrista.mn.us Peter Vickery: pvickery@ci.minnetrista.mn.us Claudia Lacy: clacy@ci.minnetrista.mn.us
The Gillespie Center is asking Minnetrista to fund them again at just $10,000 per year. With a city population of close to 10,000 that equates to just $1 per person each year.
I can imagine the discussion last fall among YesWestonka leadership about how to hide from voters who the largest contributors were to their organization, which supported the recently passed bond referendum last November: “We can’t let the public know the majority of our donations will be coming from unidentified cash donors, the teacher’s union and one other donor. That wouldn’t look good. How can we conceal that from voters without getting in trouble?”
“Easy…don’t report the largest contributions until AFTER the election. That way voters won’t know that the teacher’s union and one other donor were the two largest contributors to YesWestonka. Just wait and report them in December.”
The primary purpose of filing campaign finance reports is to inform voters where contributions come from and identify sources that may be influencing campaign committees. In this case the identities of YesWestonka’s largest donors were hidden from voters.
The campaign committee also took in close to $3,000 from unidentified cash donors. That’s an alarming number given it amounts to approximately a third of their total campaign revenue.
For a referendum that barely squeaked by, it does make one wonder if the election outcome might have been different had voters known who was bankrolling the effort. Unfortunately, it’s not even illegal what they did. But it is deceitful and it’s concerning these deceptive practices aren’t being called out in the news media.
If you’re a Republican living in any of the cities below, please plan to attend your precinct caucus at Minnetonka High School the evening of Tuesday, February 27. RSVP here: https://www.sd45.org/2024caucuses
You’ll also find links at sd45.org (Get Involved Page) about becoming an election judge in November. WE NEED YOU!
Regardless of which side you were on regarding the recently passed controversial $93.4M bond referendum, for remodeling Westonka’s high school, the fact remains it passed.
So, what now? At the January 8 school board meeting a resident, former school board member and structural engineer, made a presentation to the board proposing an alternative plan to using the $93.4M for a high school remodel. The solution proposed would, he asserts, satisfy the goals articulated in the referendum of providing more room at the high school, while simultaneously addressing future facility needs at the middle school and forestalling the need for a future referendum:
Tom Notch addresses Westonka School Board
The alternative plan suggests using a portion of the funds to build a new, larger middle school (already being discussed for yet another, future referendum) and moving 8th graders, currently attending the high school, to the new, larger middle school on property the school already owns. Removing 8th graders from the high school would provide the space needed for expansion needs there.
In addition to getting the needed space at the high school, and a new, larger middle school, the plan proposes keeping the referendum funds allocated to sports facility upgrades and safety measures intact.
Anticipating the school board’s possible concern about abandoning the previous, pre-referendum, proposal the plan points to language that would allow the switch to an alternative plan as long as it addresses “the acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities.”
The question is: Is the Westonka School Board interested in a more efficient and cost-effective way of accomplishing the district’s long-term facility needs? Or will they forge ahead with a flawed plan, knowing they can always come back to the well and ask for more?
Please scroll down to read the complete proposal presented to the school board:
New Middle School Option for the Westonka School District
December 18, 2023
Dear Westonka School Facility Committee Members and Attendees,
I believe it is clear the School District should be looking at building a new middle school to replace Grandview as opposed to putting five small very expensive additions on the High School.
As a structural engineer with 50 years of experience, I can attest that adding 5 small additions to MWHS may compromise the building’s integrity for several reasons. While it is true the interior of the building has few interior bearing walls and would allow for modifications, the exterior of the building consists of a brick and block masonry wall that is full height from the foundation all the way up to the top of the parapet above the roof. Any openings through those walls must be supported by large lintels with vertical supports to maintain integrity for gravity and wind loads. The existing wall footings under the exterior masonry walls are only sized for the loads present at the time the facility was constructed and will certainly require underpinning footings or adjacent new foundation pads to accept any new gravity loads from proposed building additions. This gets very expensive, very quickly. Another concern is when you introduce higher and lower elevations at the roof line as will be the case here, snow buildup and its associated snow load support design along with roof water management must be analyzed.
After studying the attached Review and Comment (R&C) document, it is my opinion that Westonka Schools has been incredibly poorly served by Wold Architects. One significant error on page 42 of the R&C is that Wold Architects’ School Capacity Analysis indicates grades 9 through 12 (4 years) are housed at MWHS. MWHS houses grades 8 through 12 (5 years) and has done so for decades. If the school district needs space at MWHS for vocational, nursing and other offerings; I submit that it would be wise for Westonka to consider moving 8th grade out of MWHS to free up plenty of space. It would be equivalent to an addition of 25% of the total area being made to the High School without any major construction required and the associated concerns of disrupting the educational environment over a two year period of time.
If we think outside the box for a moment and take away the proposed costs associated with the Grandview MS along with the additions and associated remodeling at the High School, we will find it is less costly to replace the middle school at this time and forgo the major work at the High School.
Here is the math: Funds earmarked for the High School’s additions / remodeling is $47.117 million, plus amounts scheduled for the Grandview School of $3.8 million for maintenance and $2.5 million for security upgrades equals $53.4 million. The cost to build a new middle school is about $400 per square foot (per Finance & Commerce Oct.4, 2023 article plus 28% inflation over 4 years). If we wanted to put the 8th grade back into a new middle school and have it accommodate grades 5 to 8 as is common practice, we would need a total area of about 92,470 square feet (Grandview’s current area) x 1.33 = 123,000 square feet. Total approximate cost of new middle school will be $49.2 million which is $4.2 million less than the current $53.4 million amount; therefore, a new middle school should be the project taken as opposed to making numerous expensive additions to the high school. In addition to the $4.2 million saving would be the value of the 11.57 acre site on Dutch Lake that the Grandview School is located at. I would suspect this property will be worth somewhere between $2 million and $3 million bringing the total savings to around $7 million. This potential saving may be reduced if a portion of the $47.117 million dollar amount scheduled for High School additions / remodeling needs to remain for remodeling. It is clear the majority of this amount was for the building additions; however, I don’t have estimate sheets from Wold or Kraus Anderson to establish these numbers. I submitted a public data request for this information months ago and never received the estimates from the school district.
Grandview Middle School was constructed in 1958 and will be 90 years old in 2048 when the last payments on the 2023 bond are made. If the school district builds a new middle school at this time, we will have a fairly current 25 year old facility at the end of the bond as opposed to having a 90 year old building ready to be demolished. I truly believe that the district was incredibly poorly served by Wold Architects on their work guiding us in this direction. The fact that Wold did not even know the High School was housing grades 8 thru 12 as opposed to grades 9 thru 12 should raise significant red flags regarding the reliability of their advice (see attached p.42 of Review & Comment).
According to the MN Department of Education’s “Guide for Planning School Construction Projects in Minnesota”, we have adequate property to construct a new middle school on our existing property on Sunnyfield Road. If the district feels more property would be required, there is a 19.84 acre site that is immediately north of the baseball field and bus garage on the north side of Sunnyfield Road that could be acquired. This parcel was sold in June of 2023 for only $96,150 (see attached map).
The language defining the project on page 4, page 16, and page 20, in addition to the actual bond question on page 135 of the Review & Comment document gives the district latitude to change the direction of the project as long as it is for “the acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities”.
Thanks for your willingness to review this option for the community.
Please contact me if you have any questions at all.
The Minnetrista preliminary tax increase, proposed last September, of 15.1% was lowered to a 12% increase Monday night at the city council meeting, on December 4, 2023, and a total gross levy of $6.5M was adopted by unanimous vote, as was the proposed fee schedule (on page 215) which included many increases as well.
While there were no residents attending to address the fee schedule there were a few residents who spoke to the council regarding the levy increase. Below is the full video from the meeting, queued to start at some interesting remarks by a homeowner concerned about tax increases forcing people to sell their homes.
For those with opinions regarding the City of Minnetrista 2024 budget, tax levy or fee schedule, tonight is the night to voice them.
The council is meeting tonight, Monday, December 4, 2023 at 7pm at City Hall, 7701 CR 110W. There will be a public hearing regarding the 2024 budget and fee schedule which are both on the agenda for finalization tonight.
It was a very close election yesterday, but with voter turnout at only 35% the result can’t be assumed toreflect the wishes of the majority of school district residents. The whopper bond on Question #2 barely squeaked by with only a 110 vote lead out of 5,132 votes.
There is no question if this referendum had been held in an even numbered year, where voter turnout is typically 60-80%, it would have gone down in flames. But the Westonka school board knows that and realizes their ability to suppress opposition voting is much better during an off-year when other statewide races don’t draw their opposition voters to the polls.
In addition, Question #2, which will increase district property taxes for the capital projects levy, passed as well and 100% of the incumbent school board members were reelected.
The only solution to repairing the public’s trust in school district elections is to require they be held in even numbered years, when voter turnout is higher and outcomes are more likely to represent the community as a whole. But that would require a school board that values the voice of the majority.
Since Westonka doesn’t have a school board that values the voice of the majority, the only vehicle to accomplish getting rid of these off-year, voter suppressive elections, is for residents to petition to have a referendum on the ballot requiring them to do so.
If you’re in the Westonka school district there’s a whopper of a reason to get to the polls on Tuesday, November 7: Nearly $200 MILLION DOLLARS of debt, which includes MORE THAN $77 MILLION DOLLARS in interest alone on the new facilities $93.4M bond question #2.
Property taxes will be rising, regardless of the Westonka referendum, given both Minnetrista and Mound have indicated double digit percentage increases for their 2024 tax levies.
Also on the ballot are four school board seats. There is only one “parent endorsed” candidate on the Westonka ballot, endorsed by the Minnesota Parents Alliance in their voter guide. Voters do not need to cast four votes if they don’t support four candidates. Voters may cast just one vote for school board if they wish and their ballot will still be valid and counted.
GET OUT AND VOTE! Tuesday, November 7 Polls are open 7am to 8pm:
Westonka Educational Service Center, 5901 Sunnyfield Road E, Minnetrista, for voters in Independence P-01, Minnetrista P-1, Mound P-1, Mound P-2 and Orono P-03.
St. John’s Lutheran Church, 2451 Fairview Lane, Mound, for voters in Minnetrista P-4, Mound P-3, Mound P-4, Shorewood P-1 and Spring Park P-01.
Use the pollfinder if you’re unsure of your precinct.
The Westonka Bond Con continues. Most of the focus of the Westonka school district election coming up has been on the whopper $170 Million dollars ($93.4M bond plus 5% interest for 25 years) for a high school remodel (what the majority of the bond is allocated for). But, there’s another question, question #1, on the ballot asking voters to renew a soon to expire annual $2.575 million dollar capital projects levy.
First, it’s not just $2.575 million dollars. The levy is for ten years so the amount voters are considering is over TWENTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS, NOT 2.5M. Promotional info drumming up support for the measure takes great care to only focus on annual numbers, as the true cost of these bonds are rather alarming.
The strategy is to minimize the amounts and tax impact in hopes of lowering voter turnout. School district voters might actually show up if they knew they were going to be voting on close to TWO HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS that could begin hitting their taxes in 2024.
Second, and more importantly, they’re leading voters to think that renewing the expiring levy has no impact on their taxes. Seriously. They actually have a chart on the school district website (see below)! I know they assume everyone is a low information voter, but extending a $25,000,000 levy absolutely DOES impact taxes. How could it not?!
The fact the district is duping voters into thinking that another $25 million dollar commitment won’t impact their taxes is outrageously deceptive.
If the levy is NOT renewed it will absolutely result in a levy DECREASE. The expired levy would go away having been paid off. So how could there be no impact on taxes if it doesn’t go away? I’m confused.
A “yes” vote means you’re agreeing to keep making payments on an expired levy totaling over $25,000,000 passed in 2014, without the benefit of disclosures required for new bond referendums.
A “no” vote means you realize that the 2014 levy, authorized for ten years, has expired, been paid off and you’re not agreeing to keep making payments on it for another 10 years.
Don’t fall for the con. There will be a decrease in the levy if the renewal fails, and there will be a corresponding impact to property taxes if it passes.
Early voting begins Friday, September 22 in Suite A of the Educational Service Center, 5901 Sunnyfield Rd. E., Minnetrista, MN. Go to the pollfinder to find out where to vote on Election Day, Tuesday, November 7.
Minnetrista Governance Blog 