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From YouTube: Council Minute March 3
Description
Mayor Tim Busse provides an update on the partnership between Hyland Greens Golf and Learning Center and Three Rivers Park District, ranked choice voting and the review process for the 2022 budget.
A
Hello
bloomington,
I'm
mayor
tim
bussey,
and
this
is
the
council
minute
for
the
first
week
of
march
highland
green's
golf
and
learning
center
has
been
owned
and
operated
by
the
city
of
bloomington
since
1974..
If
you
are
a
golfer
or
you
haven't
played
at
highland
greens,
it's
a
nine-hole,
par-30
golf
course
and
has
an
all-grass
driving
range.
Highland
greens
also
has
bunker
putting
and
short
game
practice
areas,
so
players
of
all
ages
and
abilities
can
have
a
great
golf
experience.
A
The
problem
at
highland
greens,
however,
has
been
that
it
has
operated
at
a
pretty
significant
financial
loss
for
more
than
a
decade.
Last
year
we
made
the
decision
to
not
open
highland
greens
due
to
budgetary
pressures,
driven
primarily
by
the
coronavirus
pandemic.
The
city-wide
budget
crisis
that
arose
as
a
result
of
covet
19,
in
addition
to
capital
investment
needed
at
both
highland
greens
and
at
dawn.
Golf
courses
has
led
staff
to
think
creatively
about
how
to
continue
delivering
services
and
providing
amenities
to
residents
in
the
most
cost
efficient
manner
possible.
A
Last
october
parks
and
rec
staff
met
with
three
rivers
park:
district
leadership
to
explore
potential
programming
and
operating
partnerships.
At
highland
greens
golf
course,
those
conversations
were
very
productive,
resulting
this
week
in
a
term
sheet
between
the
city
and
three
rivers
park
district.
To
have
the
district
be
the
operator
of
highland
greens
for
the
next
four
years.
Representatives
from
both
agencies
acknowledge
three
rivers,
expertise
with
golf
operations
and
their
instructional
programming
is
outstanding.
A
Three
rivers
currently
owns
and
operates
baker,
national
golf
course
cleary
lake
golf
course
and
eagle
lake
golf
center.
They
also
operate
glenn
lake
golf
and
practice
center
and
parkers
lake
golf
through
a
cooperative
agreement
with
hennepin
county
city
staff
will
immediately
work
with
three
rivers
park:
district
to
transfer
all
operations
of
highland
greens
to
ensure
a
successful
opening
of
the
golf
course
as
soon
as
the
weather
allows.
This
spring.
A
Back
in
november,
bloomington
voters
approved
a
ballot
question
to
amend
the
city
charter
and
adopt
ranked
choice,
voting
as
the
method
for
electing
the
mayor
and
the
members
of
the
city
council
to
carry
out
this
decision
from
the
voters.
The
council
will
need
to
adopt
an
ordinance
providing
for
how
rank
choice
voting
will
be
conducted
in
the
city
of
bloomington.
A
This
week
the
council
had
an
initial
discussion
of
the
ordinance
to
give
staff
direction
for
drafting
the
final
ordinance
for
public
consideration.
The
final
ordinance
is
scheduled
for
a
public
hearing
on
monday
march
22nd.
The
draft
ordinance
we
discussed
was
developed
following
review
of
similar
ordinances
in
other
minnesota
cities
that
have
adopted
rank
choice.
Voting
the
most
notable
policy
issue
for
the
council
to
decide
is
the
number
of
candidates
that
a
voter
may
rank
for
each
office.
A
The
discussion
this
past
monday
suggested
a
consensus
by
the
council
that
up
to
six
people
is
the
right
number.
Rarely
have
we
had
that
many
candidates
for
a
single
seat
in
the
past,
so
it
seems
like
that
that
will
ensure
consideration
for
candidates
in
most
elections
once
the
ordinance
defining
the
process
for
rank
choice.
Voting
is
adopted,
staff
will
be
very
active,
doing
outreach
and
voter
education
to
make
sure
that
you
understand
how
to
use
ranked
choice.
A
Voting
rank
choice
voting
will
be
used
for
the
first
time
this
november
for
the
election
of
city
offices
now
school
board.
Members
are
also
on
the
ballot
this
fall,
but
that
election
will
be
done
by
the
traditional
voting
method.
The
council
received
a
presentation
from
our
budget
manager
this
week
laying
out
the
schedule
for
our
2022
budget
review
process.
I
know
what
you're
thinking
2022,
we
just
started
2021..
A
Well,
our
staff
starts
working
on
the
budget
in
march
of
each
year,
with
an
80
million
dollar
general
fund
and
total
budgets
for
city
operations
in
capital
that
approach
200
million
dollars.
There's
a
lot
of
work
to
do
every
year.
Analyzing
our
operations,
evaluating
current
economic
conditions
and
forecasting
into
the
future
you'll
recall
that
our
budget
process
last
year
was
dramatically
different
than
any
other
year
before
it.
A
One
of
the
important
issues
the
council
decides
each
year
is
whether
an
increase
in
property
taxes
is
necessary
and
how
much
that
increase
is
going
to
be
when
we
adopted
the
2021
budget
back
in
december,
we
also
looked
at
a
preliminary
budget
for
2022
that
preliminary
budget
currently
assumes
a
zero
percent
tax
levy
increase.
In
other
words,
we
are
currently
assuming
that
we
will
not
need
to
increase
the
city's
tax
levy
for
our
operations
in
2022.
A
Now
things
may
change,
which
is
why
we
spend
months
discussing
priorities
in
this
community
and
looking
at
our
options
and
forecasting
into
the
future.
But
here's
what
what
you
can
expect
this
year
when
it
comes
to
our
budget
process,
there
will
be
numerous
opportunities
to
provide
input
into
the
budget.