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Lakeville
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April 28, 2017 | Volume 38 | Number 9
Baumann chosen District 194 superintendent
NEWS Cheers for success The Lakeville competition cheer team has a lot to celebrate about this season after state and national events. Page 2A
OPINION Billboard sent wrong message University of Minnesota officials are reconsidering advertising that lacked diversity. Page 4A
THISWEEKEND
Contract negotiations underway by Tad Johnson and Laura Adelmann SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
It didn’t take long for the Lakeville Area School Board to agree April 21 on its preferred superintendent candidate. Current District 194 Executive Director of Business Services Michael Baumann emerged as the favored candidate of all six board members during an estimated 45-minute discussion that started about 7 p.m. at the Crystal Lake Education Center. Board members repeatedly said they saw a different Michael Baumann
during his interviews with community members, city leaders and school groups in the morning and early afternoon and during the School Board’s interview with Baumann later in the day. The board unanimously voted at its April 25 to enter into contract negotiations with Baumann. Board Chair Michelle Volk said Board Members Bob Erickson and Judy Keliher will represent the district in the negotiations along with its search firm, Ray & Associates. She said negotiations are expected to start next week and the board will likely approve the contract in May, with the start date July 1. Advertisements for the
superintendent position indicated the salary was $195,000 annually, but Volk said in an interview the negotiated amount may be different than that. Baumann, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, came to District 194 in 2013 after serving nearly nine years in St. Paul Public Schools, where he served in several positions, ultimately second-in-command as that district’s deputy superintendent. Other candidates for the position were Jeffrey Holmberg, Prior LakeSavage Area Schools assistant superintendent; and Ann Schultz, Mosinee (Wisconsin) School District superintendent. While board members
Bagging for a cause
Photo by Laura Adelmann
Michael Baumann, District 194 executive director of business services, speaks to teachers following a meet and confer meeting April 25. Baumann has been selected as the district’s next superintendent. Contract negotiations are to start next week with approval expected in May. had praised the “teaching skills and attributes Bauand learning� experience mann possessed as they of Holmberg and SchulSee BAUMANN, 10A tz, they cited a variety of
Dist. 194 teachers isssue cry for help Mental health concerns cited by Laura Adelmann SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Poet featured at library event Rosemount poet Vicki Mickelson will discuss her book “Island Attitudes� at a May 2 event at the Robert Trail Library. Page 19A
Photo by Laura Adelmann
Lakeville’s Dawn Sauber, wearing bunny ears, and KARE-11 Jana Shortal post a Facebook video April 15 encouraging shoppers to the Heritage Drive Cub Foods in Lakeville so volunteers could bag their groceries for donations to help Monica Theis, a single mom battling Stage 4 cancer. Volunteer baggers included several local media members, Lakeville Mayor Doug Anderson and state Sen. Matt Little. The event raised $7,262.03 for Theis. Other donations that included gift cards, mailed checks and online donations brought the total to $10,717.03.
A parade of Lakeville Area School District 194 teachers told School Board members April 25 that increasing numbers of young students have mental health challenges and they feel unprepared to help them. Several broke into tears during a Meet and Confer meeting as they shared examples of how the loss of full-time in-school counselors have affected their classrooms, citing concern over the increasingly significant mental health challenges they say they are encountering daily. Lakeview Elementary third-grade teacher Mary
Lakeville Council rolls food truck proposal forward
SPORTS
Slow start proposed; June vote expected
Track teams sky high The Lakeville North and Lakeville South high schools’ track teams are hoping for better weather as the season heats up. Page 10A
PUBLIC NOTICE Sun Thisweek Lakeville is an official newspaper of the Lakeville Area School District and the city of Lakeville. Page 14A
INDEX Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 12A Public Notices . . . . . . 14A Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 15A Announcements . . . . 18A
General 952-894-1111 Display Advertising 952-846-2019 Classified Advertising 952-846-2003 Delivery 763-712-3544
A fee is charged at some locations to cover distribution costs.
by Laura Adelmann SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Food trucks are likely to be allowed in downtown Lakeville parking lots by this summer, according to comments by the Lakeville City Council at an April 24 work session. City Council members will consider at its May 22 work session a menu of options for a food truck ordinance in the city’s downtown, including whether to allow food trucks on side streets, hours and amount of times they are allowed to operate annually and permit costs. Several council members cited concerns about allowing food trucks to sell on side roads, citing safety concerns and proximity to residences. They uniformly opposed allowing food trucks to operate on the city’s main strip, Holyoke Avenue, outside of community events like Pan-OProg, which closes the road to traffic. If council members agree to draft ordinance provisions at the work session, they would vote on it at their June 5 meeting. Discussion of allowing food trucks to operate in Lakeville arose several months ago when Lakeville Angry Inch Brewing owner and operator Jon Erickson requested to have that option. Last February, he had a food truck to his business, which he said
proved to boost business and draw interest on social media. City Administrator Justin Miller said the city chose to turn a “blind eye� to the action, which spurred the city’s conversations around permitting. Sharing the same building as Angry Inch Brewing is Heavy Metal Grill Restaurant. Its owner, Marty Richie, also operates a food truck and has cited strong opposition to the proposal. While Erickson has said food trucks would bring more people downtown and help all businesses, Richie has argued the food trucks draw business from brick-and-mortar restaurants whose owners have invested significant money into their operations. He predicted the food trucks would shutter the downtown. “They don’t belong in the middle of seven different restaurants,� Richie said. “Quite frankly I think it’s reckless to put (food trucks) in the middle of seven different restaurants. These food trucks come in and they clean these places out and you have an empty brick-and-mortar there. It’s your city. It sits there empty.� Richie called parking a food truck outside other restaurants “a little slimy� and “unethical.� “I really hope I don’t have to put that in my business plan,� Richie said. Council members said they have received many calls from residents See TRUCKS, 13A
Photo submitted
Lakeville city officials will soon request proposals to add retail space on the north and south sides of its liquor store on Kenrick Avenue.
Lakeville liquor store may be sold, expand National retailer expressed interest by Laura Adelmann SUN THISWEEK DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Lakeville’s Kenrick Avenue municipal liquor store may be expanding. A national retailer, which has not yet been identified by the city, has proposed operating a drive-thru business in an 1,800-square-foot addition onto the store’s south side. The city is also proposing adding another 1,600-squarefoot space to the north side of the building for another
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retail outlet. Although the retailer had requested the city to build the space and lease it to them, city officials cited concerns about costs and proposed other options City Council members agreed to pursue at their April 25 work session. Under their direction, the city will seek proposals to either sell the entire property and lease back the building for the city’s liquor store operation or retain the store and sell off the two retail pads. Lakeville Liquor Operations Director Brenda VisSee LIQUOR, 14A
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Ann Laubach said prior to the 2012 budget cuts, all District 194 elementary schools had a full-time guidance counselor who also taught guidance curriculum K-5 that covered topics including anti-bullying strategies, making and keeping friends, communication skills, honesty and being self-disciplined. She said the curriculum also included topics on drug and alcohol abuse prevention, identifying sexual abuse, coping with divorce, dealing with grief and embracing diversity. With the funding cuts, those lessons became the responsibility of teachers, but they were provided no additional training or guidance to teach it, Laubach said. “We suddenly became See TEACHERS, 7A