Struggles Continue for BPHS Boys’ Hoops Team
City Council Tackles Long Agenda
Power Outage Disrupts Belle Plaine Page 5
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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THIRD YEAR
BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, DECEMBER 17, 2014
75¢ SINGLE COPY
NUMBER 51
For B.P. Police, Body Cameras Recording Officers’, Public’s Action Cameras are Recording During All Interaction With Public
Belle Plaine Police Chief Tom Stolee never wants to see the kind of unrest over police behavior in New York City or Ferguson, Mo. come to Belle Plaine. Among the reasons he believes the public should have confidence in the actions of Belle Plaine police officers are body cameras. All Belle Plaine police officers – from the part-timers to the chief himself – wear body cameras when they are on duty. The cameras are required to be turned on any time an officer is interacting in any way with the public. The cameras record the interaction with high-definition clarity, Stolee said. They also record sound and can clearly pick up discussions between an officer and the person he is talking to, whether it’s someone pulled over on a traffic stop or a citizen asking If you haven’t had a chance to take the kids to see Santa Claus in his house on the vacant lot at questions about an ordinance Main and Meridian streets yet, you still have time to do so. Santa will be there from 5-7 p.m. today (Wednesday), from 5-7 p.m. this Friday and from 3-5 p.m. this Saturday. Santa will also be available for visits from 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday at the Belle Plaine Public Library.
Santa House to be Open Three More Times
Program Helping Homeless Address Issues, Focus on Future
Belle Plaine Church Hosting Homeless Families This Week
She sits in a church common area explaining the events that have left her and her two children as a statistic – people in Scott and Carver counties without a permanent place to call home. It will take plenty of time and assistance from others, but Sara Danielson has a plan to shed that label and one day have a permanent home for her family. Danielson is one of a handful of women and their children who’ve spent part of the last week at St. John Lutheran Church in Belle Plaine. Earlier this year, Our Lady of the Prairie host several homeless families. Today, she’ll be moving to St. Michael’s Retreat Center in Prior Lake. The families Moving Forward program has no time limit in which women like Sara and her children can stay at host churches. She hopes to find an apartment sometime early next year. The Families Moving Forward program works with churches in Scott and Carver counties to provide homeless families shelter overnight. During the daytime, counseling assistance is provided to help the participants work their way out of homelessness.
Scott, Carver Counties
A U.S. Department of Urban Services point-in-time study from 2012 showed 52 families – 80 adults and 92 children – were homeless in Scott and Carver counties, said Kris Berggren, a content specialist with Families Moving Forward, a member of the Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative. A Wilder Research study from 2013 shows on any given night in Minnesota, the total number of homeless people is estimated
Without a permanent home of their own, Sara Danielson, her son, Duncan, and daughter Isabella, have been staying at St. John Lutheran Church in Belle Plaine. The church is one of several in Scott and Carver counties that have hosted homeless men, women and children in the Families Moving Forward program. at over 14,000 people, and over the course of a year, nearly 40,000 people are homeless. The study says the recession and dearth of affordable housing are among the biggest hurdle to permanent housing. Sleeping in church Sunday school classrooms and meeting space, the day starts with a 5:30 a.m. wake-up for breakfast. During the daytime, the women and children spend time at the day center at Shepherd of the Lake in Prior Lake. The families include both moms with children and mothers and fathers with children. Volunteers help them learn to handle financial issues preventing them from seeking a permanent place to live. Their children are bused to area schools during the day. They returned to St. John Lutheran just before dinner. Sara home-schools her children through Minnesota Connections Academy. She takes advantage of computers and Internet access at county libraries
and the day center at Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church in Prior Lake. Danielson and staff from Moving Families Forward agreed with the notion the majority of homeless people in the two counties don’t fit the stereotype – drug users who are usually one step ahead of police while planning to take advantage of others. Like her, many homeless people find themselves without a permanent place to call home because of a blend of unfortunate circumstances and questionable decisions. “Many, many, many families and individuals are one or two (missed) paychecks away from very precarious housing situations or housing instability,”
Program Helping (continued on page 4)
Belle Plaine Police Officer Brian Vycital said the body cameras he and police officers began wearing earlier this year are a benefit to the community and department alike.
or reporting possible crimes in forgot to activate the recording, their neighborhood. the chief said. The cameras are uploaded The recordings cannot be edto a secure Web site and their Body Cameras batteries charged at the end of (continued on page 8) a shift. Each officer is assigned a specific camera. Their use is mandatory, Stolee said. The department has strict guidelines for when the cameras must be recording and an audible beep eliminates the excuse the officer
Ice-Surfacing Issue Turns Sticky for City Council by Dan Ruud What was expected to be approved routinely on the consent agenda Monday night turned into a lengthy discussion after Belle Plaine City Council Member Cary Coop requested that the Belle Plaine Hockey Association’s (BPHA) request for a large assembly permit for its annual pond-style hockey tournament be moved to the business section for discussion. The tournament is scheduled for Friday and Saturday (Jan. 2-3) at the ice rinks across the street from the high school. The event draws a crowd and thus the need for a large assembly permit. City staff had recommended approval of the permit, but its report also stated that city staff or equipment, most notably the Zamboni (an icesurfacing vehicle), will resurface the ice shortly before the start of the tournament on Friday but will not be made available on Saturday, the longest day of the event. “The Belle Plaine Hockey Association would like to propose to the city of Belle Plaine to allow us to host our annual fundraiser pond hockey tournament located across the street from the high school at the skat-
A Record December Warm Spell
ing and hockey rinks,” wrote Johnny Egan in the application. He was joined in the audience Monday night by several other members of the BPHA. “As a group who puts in a lot of work, not just for the tournament, but to grow as an association, we would also like to propose that the city would be willing to help us out in a huge manner and help groom the ice to make hundreds of skaters pleased as
The warm and muggy conditions of Dec. 13-15 broke temperature records in the Twin Cities. The record high temperature of Dec. 15 was broken with a high of 51 degrees that was reached at 4:45 a.m. This broke the old record of 49 degrees set in 1923. In addition, a new warm minimum record was set on Dec. 14 with a low of 43 degrees. This broke the old record of 38 degrees in 1891. The dew point temperature of 49 degrees on Dec. 15 not only
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Ice-Surfacing
Record December
Holiday Lighting Contest Judging This Week You can sign up now to enter the Belle Plaine Rotary Club’s Holiday Home Lighting Contest. Judging will take place the weekend of Dec. 19-21 and winners will be announced in the Herald on Dec. 24, including photographs of the top decorated homes. Prizes will also be awarded, for which the Rotary is seeking contributions from local business and organizations.
To have your home placed on the list for judging, contact Diane Skelley at 952-873-2467.
Chamber Sponsoring Business Decorating Contest
The Belle Plaine Chamber of Commerce is asking all businesses to participate in decorating for the holidays. Voting for the best decorated business will take place Dec. 19.
B.P. School Board to Interview Candidates for Open Seat
Tonight (Dec. 17), two candidates for the Belle Plaine School Board seat Matt Bigaouette is vacating will undergo a sort of job interview. But the interview won’t be with a potential supervisor, it will be with the other board members. Gary Steinhagen and Tracy O’Brien are the two applicants for the position. The appointment runs through 2015. The seat will be on the ballot in the November election. The half-hour interviews will begin at 8 p.m. and be followed by board discussion on which candidate to appoint. The board will appoint and swear-in the candidate of its choice at its organizational meeting Jan. 12. O’Brien has been president of
the parent-teacher organization supporting primarily the district’s elementary schools for several years. She has children in the district. Steinhagen previously served two two-year terms on the school board from 2010 through 2013. He replaced Jennifer Johnson. Steinhagen also has children attending Belle Plaine schools.
Levy Approved
The board also approved the final 2015 property tax levy at its meeting Monday night (Dec. 15). The approval enacts a 4.82 percent increase to $4,803,456.52. The increase in the school district’s operating levy
-- $221,090.04 – is primarily aimed at post-employment benefits (OPEB) for long-term employees after retirement and health and safety projects. The OPEB accounts for $150,000 of the increase. The school board also set aside $64,616.22 toward health and safety projects. The overall levy is based on a series of local decisions and state formulas. The district is increasing its general fund (which funds overall operations) by 22.49 percent, or $285,150.01. The property tax levy is a small portion of the district’s overall operating budget. Most of the district’s
School Board
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