Edina City Manager Appoints Members Of Street Funding Task Force

Press release from the City of Edina:

July 2, 2020

Edina, Minn., June 24, 2020 – City Manager Scott Neal has appointed seven residents to a new Street Funding Task Force. The group will recommend how street reconstruction and maintenance should be funded in the future.

The City of Edina relies on a variety of resident advisory groups to help complete its mission. Task forces are created when a topic arises requiring a separate team. These groups are asked to study the topic in greater depth and report findings and recommendations back to the City Manager. Once findings are complete, the task force is disbanded.

The City has a fund that covers the cost of curb and gutter and other utility improvements. However, residents are currently responsible for 100 percent of the cost of street reconstruction. Recent estimates for special assessments in neighborhoods with larger lots have climbed to nearly $30,000, a dollar amount members of the Edina City Council are not comfortable with. The City Council delayed a project in the Prospect Knolls Neighborhood until after a task force could study the funding issue and make recommendations.

Ann Swenson will chair the group. Other appointees are David Alkire, Chip Howard, Kathy Kelly, Hamid Mohtadi, Matt Scherer and Ralph Zickert. The group is comprised of a mix of genders, races, areas of residency within Edina, and experience with the City’s street reconstruction program.

Engineering Director Chad Millner and Finance Director Don Uram will assist the group with its work. “I look forward to working with a group of volunteers that stepped forward to review this very difficult topic,” said Millner.

The task force is expected to complete its work in early 2021.

This press release was produced by the City of Edina. The views expressed here are the author’s own.