Gene Prim for Barnesville Mayor

IT’S A NUMBERS GAME . . .
My opponent in this year’s election is concerned that I claim a 40% reduction in what you would owe if the city were to come by your home and replace old sewer, water, curb, gutter and blacktop streets in front of your home. Under the terms of the assessment policy that was used by the council in 2011 when south Front Street was torn up, the property owner was responsible for 50% of those costs. One of my priorities when I became mayor again in 2014 was to get that “personal” part of the package lowered because we are all part of the system. The system does not work without all parts of the system working.

My argument on lowering the assessment cost to property owners was to take it back to a 20% share for the homeowner to bear. There was much debate and I did not get the 20% I wanted but I did get 30%. Instead of a 50% cost of the project, the homeowner now pays 30%. If the whole package for the homeowner was say, $100, under the old policy the homeowner was responsible for $50. Under the new policy the homeowner’s share on old pipe is $30 per hundred. Now let’s see . . . going from $50 to $30 . . . Is that not a 40% discount?

My opponent knows that. He was a part of the council that set that rate and saw it reduced. And he is right, the city’s share did increase from 50% to 70%. But remember, the city has been paid by every homeowner every month for those sewer and water services. Along the way they have made some money on those monthly transactions and it’s only fair that they bear the lion’s share of the cost. They’re the only ones making any money on the monthly charges. I still wish I could have gotten it down to a 20% share for the homeowner but you don’t win them all.

IT’S A NUMBERS GAME . . .
My opponent in this year’s election is concerned that I claim a 40% reduction in what you would owe if the city were to come by your home and replace old sewer, water, curb, gutter and blacktop streets in front of your home. Under the terms of the assessment policy that was used by the council in 2011 when south Front Street was torn up, the property owner was responsible for 50% of those costs.

One of my priorities when I became mayor again in 2014 was to get that “personal” part of the package lowered because we are all part of the system. The system does not work without all parts of the system working.
My argument on lowering the assessment cost to property owners was to take it back to a 20% share for the homeowner to bear. There was much debate and I did not get the 20% I wanted but I did get 30%. Instead of a 50% cost of the project, the homeowner now pays 30%. If the whole package for the homeowner was say, $100, under the old policy the homeowner was responsible for $50. Under the new policy the homeowner’s share on old pipe is $30 per hundred. Now let’s see . . . going from $50 to $30 . . . Is that not a 40% discount?

My opponent knows that. He was a part of the council that set that rate and saw it reduced. And he is right, the city’s share did increase from 50% to 70%. But remember, the city has been paid by every homeowner every month for those sewer and water services. Along the way they have made some money on those monthly transactions and it’s only fair that they bear the lion’s share of the cost. They’re the only ones making any money on the monthly charges. I still wish I could have gotten it down to a 20% share for the homeowner but you don’t win them all.

I have a question! . . .

* My opponent in this year’s race for Barnesville mayor continues to complain about my efforts to hold the city’s annual tax levy rate and your increase in taxes to under 5% per year. He seems to believe, even with healthy city reserves in nearly all departments and funds, that your taxes should be higher and we should spend more.

* He advocates for lower utility rates but served for several years on the telephone, electric and cable board (TEC) that actually set those very rates that he now claims are too high. Nor does he explain how a mayor, with a voice but no vote on the council, is going to go about changing those rates, many of which he participated in setting.

* He apparently endorses lower utility rates but higher real estate taxes.

* He complains about borrowing from one city fund, which has reserves, to make investments in other areas of city business. That is routinely done, it’s just good basic business. We pay ourselves back when we borrow that money from ourselves. To me it amounts to good common sense to use our own money and pay ourselves back than it does to borrow money from an outside source and pay them the interest. We did the same thing at various times when he served on the council and on the Personnel and Finance Committee that oversees that borrowing. He didn’t complain then.

* He advocates that we use up sewer, water and storm sewer repair and replacement reserves that we have accumulated. He now, apparently, promotes tearing up the northwest one-third of the city to the tune of somewhere between $4.5 and $6 million dollars. Then, under present policy, which he helped create, we would special assess 30% of the cost, multiple thousands of dollars to each of the property owners along those streets, to replace old sewer and water lines, whether they work or not. He apparently proposes spending all of the funds we have accumulated in the sewer, water and storm sewer repair and replacement funds, that I created and advocated for 30 years ago, to pay a fraction of those costs. Those funds are likely to be needed soon enough with the 2023 rebuild of Front Street from City Hall north and for repairs on a 50-year-old cell at the sewage lagoons, to name just two. He endorses spending all of that money in the northwest corner of town so we would no longer have to fix two or three water main breaks per year. I don’t recall him expressing those same viewpoints when he was a member of the city council, a member of the personnel and finance committee and actually had a vote.

My question . . . Can someone please explain to me those seemingly contradictory stances that come out on both sides of the issues?

I may well have been wrong on some issues in my years as Barnesville mayor but you never found me talking out of both sides of my mouth, waffling on issues, saying one thing while advocating another.

I ask for your vote on Tuesday, November 5 to continue Barnesville’s considered and planned growth. For an idea of some of that planned growth, visit our pages at “Gene Prim For Barnesville Mayor”. That site will give you an idea of what we have accomplished and what’s in the works for the coming years. There you will be exposed to some facts instead of half truths, falsehoods, fallacies and outright fabrications.

We Are Totally Confused . . .
Former Barnesville Mayor Fred Dahnke was in my office recently for a chat. He stops by fairly frequently and we solve a lot of the world’s problems together. On this visit, however, we were both totally confused. We were looking at a Facebook posting from my opponent regarding the coming election. It said that I had asked Fred to ask my opponent not to get into the race for Barnesville mayor. Then, it is claimed that Fred relayed that message to my opponent.

The problem with that claim is that it never happened, ever. . . . It is a total fabrication. . . . I never, ever asked Fred to relay that message. According to Fred, in his conversations with my opponent, he has never, ever said that I asked him to deliver that message.

So, both Fred and I are baffled. We never even discussed it, but it somehow must be true because my opponent says so and he has it up on Facebook without checking facts with either of us.

In another Facebook post my opponent contends that the City of Barnesville is somehow endorsing him for mayor. That too is also a pure fabrication. The City of Barnesville takes no position on political candidates in any election. To suggest otherwise is simply untrue, something directly out of “fantasyland”. A “like” on a page does not magically become a wholesale endorsement.

If you would care to look at some real, actual true facts about Barnesville, take a look at our postings on Facebook at “Gene Prim For Barnesville Mayor”. That site will give you some idea of how the City of Barnesville actually now operates and my visions for the future. I hope I have earned your confidence and your vote on Tuesday, November 5.

Looking back over the years I have served as Mayor of the City of Barnesville there are a number of items that I am proud of. I guided various councils through some very beneficial and major improvements to the City of Barnesville. To name a few:

* I have been successful in keeping your tax rate of increase from the city to under 5% per year. With new businesses and homes coming into the tax stream, under 5% means a zero dollar increase in your taxes for city purposes. However, you may have seen a tax increase due to Clay County placing a higher valuation on your property. That is something well beyond city control.

* Natural gas has been brought to the City of Barnesville.

* High speed fiber optic and increased internet and broadband speed have been brought to every home and business in Barnesville at no cost to you.

* The settling pond at Blue Eagle Lake has been cleaned, dredged and updated with a new spillway, fish ladder and rapids. A fountain now decorates the surface of the pond, provides aeration to the water as well as welcomes visitors.

* A hike and bike Path has been constructed from Blue Eagle Park to the intersection of Highways 34, 52, 9 and 2.

* We have lowered by 40% your cost of special assessments for infrastructure once it needs replacing in your neighborhood. You were slated for a 50% share of those costs and now it’s 30%.

* Several of the entrances into the City of Barnesville have been cleaned up but there is more still that can be done.

To continue our forward progress I would appreciate your vote for Mayor of the City of Barnesville on Tuesday, November 5. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to serve you. I also invite you over to our page at “Gene Prim for Barnesville Mayor”. There you will be informed about various functions of the city. You will be exposed to facts instead of half truths, fallacies and downright fabrications.

2017 inductee into the Hall of Honor

That great American philosopher Waylon Jennings once pondered in song, “Where do we go from here?”
That’s a good question. I am at an age when I could be thinking about slowing down, cutting back on a few things in life. Perhaps even retiring. Nah! That’s scary! Seems like I have heard those comments from wife, kids and grandkids many times before. But I truly love this town, enjoy the mayor’s job, think I do a good job at it and I am proud of what I have accomplished while in office. And I feel I still have things to contribute.

Life and our own mortality have a way of letting us know when they should be major considerations. Last year I had a brush with mortality when I took a serious fall on an elk hunting trip in Colorado. A broken back, a botched surgery, a successful back surgery, incarceration in a nursing home, an extensive rehab program and learning how to walk again have all followed over the past months. Physically I was unable to attend council sessions for a few meetings but I have been back physically at the helm since June.

While I was unable to be at a few regular meetings, I was in contact with City Hall staff several times a week, committee members as needed and the vice mayor to take care of routine business. The extensive portfolio and committee assignments I have developed over the years worked exactly as they were supposed to. We got it done and everyone worked around any inconvenience caused by my working long distance over the telephone. I am again in good health except I don’t move quite as fast as I once did which was never very fast anyway. Foot races are not a mayorial priority and I don’t plan to fall on my next hunting trip.

I believe I have done a good job for you as mayor over the years I have had the honor and privilege of serving you. I ask for your vote in the upcoming election to decide the office of Mayor of the City of Barnesville on Tuesday, November 5, 2019.

Recognition of 50 years in the newspaper profession from the Minnesota Newspaper Association, January 2017.

2019 Friend of the Clay County Fair

ENDORSED BY FORMER MAYOR’S . . .
I am extremely proud and honored to be endorsed by Barnesville’s last two mayors. Over the years we have had some intense disagreements about issues but have always remained friends.

After confrontations we put our differences behind us, went back to work for the city and we all looked forward to the future. Here is what former mayors Ken Bauer and Fred Dahnke had to say about endorsing me for Barnesville mayor.

Endorsed by Previous Mayors…
Having served three terms as Ward One Alderman as well as two terms as Mayor of Barnesville, I have a thorough understanding of what is involved in making decisions that are in the best interests of our community. With that background, I am endorsing Gene Prim for Mayor in the upcoming election.
/s/Ken Bauer

To Citizens of Barnesville -
As former mayor of Barnesville (2008-2013) I’m asking you to vote for Mayor Gene Prim in the November 5 election.
I’ve found Gene to be knowlegable of the city and how to run it effectively. We need his experience and honesty in the mayors office. So please join me in voting for Gene on November 5, 2019.
Thank you,
/s/Fred Dahnke

I have held the City of Barnesville Mayor’s office for 16 of the last 34 years. During those years I have done things that have not always set well with some. But I have done the best job I know how to do and I can look back over the years and see a few things I would change. I have perhaps been too reluctant, taking too long to make changes in personnel or companies when performance has been lacking. In other cases I have wanted to make changes but have been overruled and we kept doing business as usual.
Two changes for the better have happened within the past year. We have a new firm taking care of our sewer, water and wastewater department. Northwest Services replaces a long-standing provider for the City of Barnesville. Our former water department company did an adequate, at best. job with a couple of areas that definitely needed improvement. There was one incident, that will be quite expensive to fix, that resulted in a lot of finger-pointing back and forth. When our service contract expired at the end of 2018 we elected to go a different direction and Northwest Services was hired. That company has given us service above and beyond what we expected.

I was never a fan of the city engineering firm that had been retained and I inherited when I took office again in 2014. They were slow to respond and expensive. One of the first things I attempted to do was fire them. I was unsuccessful on two different occasions and the firm continued to represent us into 2018. By that time it had become abundantly clear that another project they were in charge of had been bungled. Again. This time there were finally enough unhappy people on the council to admit that they had made an error when retaining this company. There were several months of negotiation with the company that was finally resolved, out of court, neither to our satisfaction nor to theirs. In the end the company agreed to pay the city $110,000 and admit no liability. The city agreed not to pursue any other financial remedies. We then proceeded to hire a new engineering firm and Moore Engineers has done a fine job for us since their arrival on the scene.

Although I freely admit that I am a functional illiterate when it comes to computers, I do tolerate the beasts. I can even run one (sorta) if I have to. But there are a lot of people on the city staff that know how to operate computers and they have kept upgrading machinery down there. That has allowed the office staff to be trimmed by one full-time person as well as making jobs a little easier and more productive for all around City Hall. The efficiencies in the new programs have paid for themselves several times over. And I still don’t understand them nor is it necessary that I do. The results are obvious.

My job is to see that projects are undertaken. It is up to staff to complete the projects without interference from the council or the mayor. As a student of City of Barnesville government for over half a century, I feel I bring a historical knowledge, beneficial to the board, of what has and has not worked in the past. I don’t and won’t stand in the way of progressive ideas, but I do ask that all of the possible consequences be considered before an action is taken.
Your vote to re-elect me as Barnesville’s Mayor on Tuesday, November 5 would be very much appreciated. It has been an honor and a privelege to serve you.

Ever wonder where those funds go that you are charged for each month for sewer, water and storm sewer repair and replacement? Those three funds cost you about $9 per month. For lack of a better term, that is an “insurance premium”. Right now the money has been accumulating in a special account managed by the Barnesville City Hall staff. The fund balance is, or rather was on October 4, $1,372,858.38. That will move upwards with each passing month. That’s a lot of money when you look at it. But it’s also a drop in the bucket when you consider the cost of repair and replacement that we will be facing in the next several years.
There is an old sewer lagoon cell that is in the planning stages right now for repair at something north of a million bucks depending upon which plan is acceptable to MPCA. There is a rebuild of the north end of Front Street that we know is going to be done by MnDOT in 2023. With the street already torn up, it would be foolish to not replace the infrastructure below ground. That will be expensive.
On the back burner, at least for now, is an engineering report that outlines replacing all of the sewer and water lines in about a third of the city on the northwest corner of town. If that section of town sees a complete replacement you’re looking at something with a $4.5 to $6 million dollar price tag. That aging infrastructure could all be replaced with the city picking up 70% of the bill and the homeowner paying the remaining 30%. When all is said and done the improvement would likely include new sewer, water and storm sewer lines as well as replacing the streets and likely the curbs in the area. The homeowner would also be responsible for replacing the service lines that come off the main and go into the home. The cost to the homeowner would easily run into the multi thousands of dollars imposed on the older homes, senior citizen population on a fixed income who are least able to afford it.
Do we impose this financial burden on the northwest corner of town when we have only two or three water main breaks a year? Do you go in and fix what ain’t broke just because it’s old? If you have a good answer for that one, your crystal ball is a lot clearer than mine. I don’t know what the right answer is.
I do know that we have our new engineering firm looking at less costly alternatives. In the meantime the money continues to accumulate in that repair and replacement fund and will be used soon enough. Right now the routine repairs are coming out of the regular maintenance budget and the repair and replacement funds continue to accumulate. Contrary to some politicians beliefs, money unspent does not spoil.

Is your utility bill from the city too high? . . .

That’s a question that pops up occasionally and makes for good political fodder. In reality, anybody who is claiming they can cut city utility rates much is either fooling themselves or they are trying to fool you.

Barnesville’s rates for all services combined run average to high average when they are compared to our neighbors.
There are two kinds of communities in Minnesota . . . those that have made upgrades to their systems and those that will need to.

Barnesville has a near new, sewage lagoon system and also a new water tower. They will both serve for another half century more or less. Of course, if the services have been upgraded, the rates are going to be higher. As the community with low rates and old services does their updates, their cost of doing business will also increase dramatically and they will go to the top of the list and we will drop. There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

Establishing municipal rates for anything is a complex matter. In the case of electrical rates it requires a study of the entire system, how much needs to be repaired or replaced. How much equipment needs to be upgraded or replaced? How much staff needs to be hired to operate the utility. The results of the study will be run through the agency doing the study for their recommendations. Those findings will be sent to the local TEC (telephone, electric and cable) board. After TEC comes up with a recommendation that will be forwarded to the City Council. If approved by the council and is in the form of an ordinance, it has to receive two readings at separate council meeting, a copy of the ordinance must be printed and 30 days after that publication the actual increase will occur.

For sewer and water it’s a little bit more simple. When water and lagoon systems are updated, money is usually borrowed from the State of Minnesota because it can be obtained at a very low interest rate. But the money comes with strings attached. There has to be an ability, shown to the state, to pay off that borrowed money. Thus a rate is set to assure the state gets its money back.

Telephone, internet, broadband and even to some extent cable television have huge amounts of detailed federal regulations that have to be determined before a rate can be set. It’s always a moving target with changing dynamics. One of those dynamics has been under consideration for several months and there’s a good chance, before the end of the year, you will see adjustments that you’re going to like on telephone/internet rates as well as higher speeds.

But we still need to pay for all of that fiber optic equipment that went in the ground to every home and business in Barnesville a half dozen years ago. The millions spent on that upgrade have not been passed along to you due to other complex cost saving measures that have been undertaken.

The big question is, if you haphazardly cut rates, what services do you want to give up to pay for the rate decreases? Is it ambulance, or police, or parks or even snow removal?

There’s a delicate balance between rates and services that the city does not make without thoughtful consideration. The tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus don’t help much when it comes to paying the utility bills from suppliers.

If you have questions on utilities or other matters, feel free to contact me at home, 218 354-7109; at work, 218 354-2606 or directly on my cell at 701 412-3198.

Gene Prim for Barnesville Mayor updated their phone number.

Sharing a laugh with Congressman Collin Peterson.

Getting Things Done In Barnesville . . .
As your mayor, I have provided the leadership necessary to guide the City Council through major improvements vital to the City of Barnesville and its citizens.

✅Successfully striving to keep your annual property tax levy increases to 5% or less.

✅The new 46-home subdivision, after only four years in existence is nearing a build out.

✅With legal and private ownership issues now behind us, the east city limits road is ready for improvements.

✅Over a quarter of a million dollars invested in new park equipment.

✅New water park up and operating in McGrath Park.

✅Natural gas brought to the City of Barnesville.

✅High speed fiber optic cable installed to every home and business.

✅Blue Eagle Lake cleaned, dredged and updated with a new spillway, fish ladder and rapids.

✅Hike and bike path constructed from Blue Eagle Park to the intersection of Highways 34, 52, 9 and 2.

✅Lowered your cost of special assessments on infrastructure rehab by 40%.