Category: Minnetrista Mayoral Election 2020

What happened?

I’ve been fielding a lot of questions about my Minnetrista mayoral race from those surprised by the outcome so decided to post an explanation:

Going into September it seemed, based on feedback from social media and door knocking, that winning the mayoral race was not only possible but highly probable. Then, two days before voting began, the Superintendent of Westonka Schools, Kevin Borg, dropped a demand letter to me citing alleged false statements related to Lisa Whalen’s campaign having invoiced the Westonka School District for her campaign expenses in her last contested election. He had been aware of the invoice and the subsequent widely shared social media posts regarding it for over a year and a half and had never said anything about it.

Several Westonka school board members are and have been involved in Whalen’s campaign committees including the “Our Minnetrista” political committee that was sanctioned last year for violating campaign finance laws. Mr. Borg, while professing he had sent the demand letter to me “privately” admitted later he had shared it with school board members that supported Whalen’s campaign.

With only two days before voting would begin, this underhanded, politically motivated attack on my credibility went viral on Facebook and Nextdoor social media groups almost immediately. The school’s logo was used to lend credibility to the allegations online and Whalen published Borg’s demand letter on her campaign page. There was not a single false statement made in any of my campaign’s information on the topic and the Whalen campaign and her school board supporters knew that. The Westonka School District and Mr. Borg knew it as well and had no intention of following thru with the implied threat of legal action, should I refuse to retract everything, because they knew everything I had said was factual.

To make absolutely sure the allegations spread throughout Minnetrista Mr. Borg sent an email to all of Westonka School’s “Key Communicators” a few days later asking them to spread the allegations against my mayoral campaign. Confident I would never see his email message, it openly accused my campaign of spreading lies and claimed the evidence showing the illegal invoice from Whalen’s campaign was just a mistake. We all know it wasn’t a mistake and subpoenaed emails from Whalen’s trial last year prove it. And they know it.

Whalen spent over $15,000 to defeat my campaign but she knew she couldn’t do it honestly, so she did exactly as she had in her last contested election where her illegal “Our Minnetrista” political committee dropped a hit-piece against her opponent, just days before the election, spreading false information about him. You can read about that here. Interestingly, it was that hit-piece mailing that was invoiced to the school district. With just a few days till the election there wasn’t enough time for her opponent to address the lies and he lost by a mere 190 votes. History has indeed repeated itself.

Minnetrista 2020 election results

Congratulations to all the Minnetrista candidates that won by working hard, door knocking and engaging with residents in person and on social media. It was a pleasure working with you and I wish you well! Minnetrista election results:

A sincere thank you to the voters that supported my mayoral campaign, the donors that invested in a vision for integrity in our local government and all the volunteers that door knocked, put up signs, made videos, and weren’t afraid to engage in conversations about things that matter. You are the best!

Colorful Minnetrista electoral history

History is destined to repeat itself if we ignore it and it’s my hope Minnetrista is more aware now of our city’s political history. But I also know from door knocking that a good many residents have never paid much attention to our local government, so for those voters here is some history.

Minnetrista’s last contested mayoral election was in 2014 when council member Mark Vanderlinde ran against previous council member Lisa Whalen. Despite Whalen’s illegal political committee Our Minnetrista outspending Vanderlinde by 300% it appeared Vanderlinde, a well respected and well liked candidate, was going to win the election.

Knowing a fair fight wasn’t going to produce the desired outcome for Whalen, the Our Minnetrista political committee, which concealed their involvement in the election and didn’t report a single contribution, decided to drop a postcard full of false allegations against Vanderlinde just days before the election so he wouldn’t have time to respond to it. The postcard hit-piece is below and the bill for it was invoiced to the Westonka School District and paid by Whalen’s campaign.

Mark Vanderlinde lost the 2014 mayoral election by only 190 votes

Lisa Whalen, according to her latest 2020 disclosure report has raised over $15,000 and spent most of it on direct mail. Her campaign has already begun to post false allegations about illegal contributions by my campaign that never happened, has attempted to tie me to controversial actions I was never a part of and implying that the proven campaign violation charges for which she was sanctioned by the court were just my conspiracy theories. They know all they have to do is repeat things a few times and people will start believing even the most egregious lies.

The Our Minnetrista group is alive and well and their tactics haven’t changed. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior and I ask that Minnetrista voters not let history repeat itself on election day.

http://www.ShannonBruceForMayor.com

Connect the donor dots…Whalen spends $15,000 on 2020 mayoral campaign!

Here’s a fun game for Minnetrista voters to play. Below is the donor list from Lisa Whalen’s pre-general mayoral campaign report totaling over $15,000. See if you can match up the highlighted individuals from Whalen’s trial exhibit, which shows those involved in setting up the illegal “Our Minnetrista” financial scheme, to her donor list. You’ll get bonus points for identifying other school board members, council members (or their spouses), and planning commission members (or spouses). Comment your results below and the winner with the most dots will be announced November 3.

http://www.ShannonBruceForMayor.com

New housing development concept plan at Monday’s planning commission meeting

A new housing development proposed in Minnetrista to be located north of CR110W and just west of Saunders Lake will be before the city’s planning commission tomorrow night, Monday, 10/25/2020, at 7pm (call in numbers below). The planning commission agenda shows the concept/sketch plan from Summergate Companies is the only item on the agenda.

I intend to call in and I encourage other residents that value our parks and open spaces to attend as well.

Minnetrista, in my opinion, should encourage developers to include parks and open spaces in their plans rather than to pay cash in lieu of providing them.

Shannon Bruce

When a developer is forced to pay cash in lieu of providing land for parks the inevitable result is housing that is denser and of lesser quality in order to afford paying those fees.

I’m guessing Minnetrista residents would rather see the very generous allocation of lands in this development going to parks and open spaces than to see those spaces crammed with dense housing. It appears, however, the Parks Commission, at the direction of staff, is recommending cash in lieu:

“After review, the Parks Commission unanimously directed the
Applicant to consider a hybrid, land dedication and cash-in-lieu, approach to the
required park dedication as well as possible trail connections. If cash-in-lieu is
considered, an appraisal should be required to determine fair market value.”

10/13/2020 Parks Commission meeting

If we are to preserve and protect the rural landscape and ambience of Minnetrista we must have policies that do just that and a mayor that values our parks and open spaces more than the cash balance in our parks fund which, btw, has over $1M balance at the moment.

To listen live to the Minnetrista Planning Commission meeting: call +1 (571) 317-3122 and enter meeting Access Code 651-586-797 #, or join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone by accessing the following: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/651586797
New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting
starts: https://global.gotomeeting.com/install/651586797

http://www.ShannonBruceForMayor.com

Minnetrista CARES Act dollars for Coronavirus relief to go for Public Safety payroll (why I voted no)

Back in August when Minnetrista received its Coronavirus Relief Funds of $579K I wrote about the city’s plans to spend the bulk of the funds on previously budgeted (pre-pandemic) Public Safety payroll despite authorizing the document below stating the city would not use the funds on previously budgeted, non-COVID19 related expenses.

Since that time guidance from the feds and state have given local governments permission to presume that their public safety personnel were substantially dedicated to COVID19 related activities without documenting or justifying the expenditures, and, if they were, they can legally use the funds for those purposes regardless of when they were budgeted.

The fact is, however, that Minnetrista didn’t have Public Safety personnel substantially dedicated to COVID19 related activities, that is if you use the dictionary definition of “substantially.” When asked at a council meeting if he could show we did, our Director of Public Safety said “If I had to prove it, no.”

Many hours of discussions followed, some centered around the definition of “substantial” and exploring other ways to spend the funds on IT infrastructure to support remote access, school district needs, food shelf needs or support for employees or businesses in the community impacted by the lock downs. The council did ultimately decide to give $20K each to the Westonka Food Shelf and WeCAN which are legitimate uses of the funds.

The easiest thing to do, with the majority of the funds (roughly $500K), was to simply take the money and apply it to the city’s Public Safety payroll knowing the city wouldn’t need to document anything to prove the expenses were COVID related. I’m sure the Mayor and most of the Council figured the end (money in our reserve fund) justified the means (pretending Minnetrista had personnel substantially dedicated to COVID when it did not).

No doubt there will be criticism and claims made that I would have returned the funds to the county but that is not what I would have done and I stated that at our council meeting Monday night. If we had acted back in July when we first learned of this funding we could have, over the five months given (August thru December), spent these funds on a number of other legitimate things that could’ve helped our community work remotely, helped our schools, given funds to businesses or individuals impacted by the coronavirus lock down, purposes for which these relief funds were intended. It seemed to be a foregone conclusion on the part of staff and most of the council, however, that the easiest solution was best.

I know the city has needs and will find a good purpose for using the half million dollars now in our reserves. That is not the point. The point is I could not in good conscience, knowing the city did not have any personnel that had been substantially dedicated to COVID19 activities, say that we did. The resolution passed 4-1 and can be found on page 202 of the council agenda packet for 10/19/2020.

Others will claim it was a perfectly legal thing to do, and it probably was, but legal doesn’t always equate with principled or moral and I’ll leave readers to ponder that point.

http://www.ShannonBruceForMayor.com

Thank you Minnetrista for showing up!

The proposal for the ground mounted solar farm on the Ag Preserve parcel was soundly defeated last night at Minnetrista’s council meeting. At one point during the online meeting I counted 30 people on the call and the council received a steady stream of letters of opposition since the proposal appeared here on October 7.

The issue wasn’t around the pros or cons of solar energy production, it was about a 2015 ordinance, passed under the leadership of Lisa Whalen, that made ground mounted solar farms a “permitted use” on Minnetrista’s Ag Preserve parcels without requiring the notification of neighbors, establishing limits or defining other parameters around commercial/industrial uses and visual aesthetics.

The proposal came to the council with a recommendation from the Planning Commission to approve it. Minnetrista council candidate and planning commission member Damian Young voted, along with the entire planning commission to unanimously recommend it’s passage. It was clear from the contents of the council packet for Monday’s meeting that our city attorney had spent considerable time defending the proposal and justifying how it met all the requirements in order to be passed.

I have no doubt, absent resident involvement and their willingness to express their opposition, this proposal would likely have passed last night.

For now the council decided to place a moratorium on ground mounted solar farms on Ag Preserve parcels in order to have time to review the 2015 ordinance and either modify or rescind it.

Knowing what is coming before the council is necessary to protect residents’ interests. Citizen involvement in Minnetrista is important and makes a difference in how our city is governed. It’s not enough to merely post a 200 page council packet on the city’s website or put legal notices in small print in the local newspaper. Minnetrista needs to do a better job engaging and welcoming resident involvement instead of issuing veiled threats to council members that do.

http://www.ShannonBruceForMayor.com

Veiled threats from Mayor Whalen

I posted my concerns here about what appears to be a commercial/industrial ground mounted solar farm proposed to be located on an Ag Preserve parcel in Minnetrista. Some neighboring property owners were concerned they hadn’t been notified by the city and feared they might not be heard on the matter. I met with them and then notified residents via Nextdoor and Facebook about the proposal coming before the council tonight, Monday, October 19 at 7pm (Directions to Join the online meeting here).

Below is a post on Lisa Whalen for Mayor’s Facebook page this morning making a veiled threat that an open meeting law violation may have occurred by my engaging with residents.

Implying I may have violated the open meeting law by notifying people of this agenda item and the concerns I have about it is just an intimidation tactic which shows how closed and controlling this administration is. The term “open” as used in the “open meeting law” is meant to make sure decisions are not made behind closed doors by a quorum of council members. The only thing I’m guilty of here is making sure residents are aware of this agenda item. That is not a violation of being “open.” It is the very essence of being open.

Trying to silence those that see things differently has been a hallmark of Minnetrista’s current administration. Thank you Mayor Whalen for giving us such a great example of it.

http://www.ShannonBruceForMayor.com

Proposal for solar farm on council agenda Monday, Oct. 19, 7pm

I wrote previously about the ground-mounted solar farm proposal here located in Minnetrista on an Ag Preserve parcel on the NE corner of Highland Road West & CR 92. The council has received a number of emails from neighboring residents regarding the proposal. For those wishing to speak at the council’s “Persons to be heard” session Monday night during the virtual meeting (not at city hall) below is the call in information:

To listen live to the Minnetrista City Council meeting, call +1 (872) 240-3212 and enter meeting Access Code 646-482-261 #, or join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone by accessing the following: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/646482261
New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting
starts: https://global.gotomeeting.com/install/646482261

It’s not required but will speed up the meeting if those wishing to speak would send their names and telephone numbers (so you can be identified on the call) to our City Administrator Mike Barone, email: mbarone@ci.minnetrista.mn.us

For those wishing to see the information provided to the council on this proposal, the council’s packet can be found here. The proposal agenda item begins on page 49.

http://www.ShannonBruceForMayor.com

Should Minnetrista encourage or discourage developers to provide parks and open space?

Summergate Companies submitted a concept sketch plan to the Parks Commission at their meeting last night (Agenda Packet) for a Minnetrista housing development of approximately 200 homes located north of CR 110W, southwest of Saunders Lake, west of the existing Saunders Lake South development, and east of Halstead Drive.

The plan was presented along with a proposal, by one of the land owners, to sell a 28 acre parcel, just north of the proposed development, to Three Rivers Parks District. The 28 acre parcel is adjacent to Gale Woods Farm.

I was surprised staff was recommending, in lieu of the generous parks and open spaces designated in this development, that cash be required instead to go into the city’s Park Development Fund. Below is the staff recommendation from the agenda:

Recommended Action: Motion to direct the Applicant to submit a preliminary plat application, which includes a fair market land value appraisal, with the understanding that cash in lieu of land in the sum of 11% of the fair market value of the land will be required for the park dedication requirement.

This sketch plan is a model of providing plentiful natural open spaces and parks to future Minnetrista residents that will enjoy them and supports Minnetrista’s stated goal to protect the rural character of our community. The consequence of requiring cash in lieu of land is developers will fill in the open spaces and parks with houses to afford to pay the sum to the city. I don’t believe that is what residents want.

If Minnetrista wants to preserve parks and open space we need to encourage developers to do that, not discourage them by requiring cash-in-lieu of land when land is available, as in this case, and appropriately used in a development.

The Parks Commission ultimately made a motion to recommend a reduced amount of cash-in-lieu of land, given the generosity of an additional donation of 40 acres to Three Rivers Park District which hadn’t been considered in the formula for the development’s park dedication requirement. They also decided not to require a fair market value appraisal of the land and for the developer to submit a revised plan.

The next step is the city’s Planning Commission that will study a revised plan in November. Hopefully they will value Minnetrista’s parks and open spaces more than adding cash to Minnetrista’s Parks fund that currently has a pretty healthy balance of close to $1M (according to staff last night).

http://www.ShannonBruceForMayor.com