The Citywide Open House is tomorrow - rain or shine. The open house kicks off at 11am tomorrow (Saturday, Oct 11) and ends around 2pm. The activities will be centered around Eden Prairie City Center and Fire Station #1, which are located at the intersection of Mitchell Road and Anderson Lakes Parkway. There will also be tours of our Water Plant and our Streets & Parks Maintenance Facility, both on Technology Drive. There will be tours, refreshments, entertainment, demonstrations and fun. Lots of fun! It’s a great opportunity to see what the Eden Prairie city government does for you.

I’ll see you there!

The City Council approved two small bond sales last night. We sold $3,120,000 of General Obligation equipment certificates to Morgan Keegan & Company of Memphis, Tennessee. The bonds are sold at auction to the offer with the lowest True Interest Cost (TIC). Morgan Keegan offered the lowest TIC for these notes yesterday at 3.77182%. There were six bidders who submitted bids for our bonds. The highest TIC offered was 4.1213%.

We also sold $1,845,000 of General Obligation improvement bonds yesterday as well. Wells Fargo purchased these bonds for a TIC of 4.22198%. There were three other bidders who submitted proposals. The highest bid was 4.460596%.

General Obligation equipment certificates are used to finance new equipment, such as fire trucks, expensive computer software, etc. General Obligation improvement bonds are used to finance construction projects for City projects, such as street, water and sewer projects. The term “General Obligation” means the bonds are ultimately a general obligation of the City of Eden Prairie, which means the City will impose a property tax on its tax payers in order to pay the debt service for the bonds. That’s good security these days. These bonds are very safe. That’s one of the reasons we can still sell them, even in this market.

In this time of economic turmoil across the globe, we weren’t so sure that yesterday was the best time for the City to sell municipal bonds. The sale went just fine. The rates and terms are good. Our projects will proceed as planned.

There is a very nice article in the Minnesota Women’s Press today about City Council Member Sherry Butcher. It’s called On the Path of Leadership. Take a moment, click the link, read the story. Eden Prairie is indeed fortunate to have people like Council Member Butcher on its City Council.

Enjoy the article.

I watched the Vice-Presidential candidate debate last night on TV. It was an interesting contest between two very different elected officials. One of the common phrases that both Governor Palin and Senator Biden referenced throughout the debate was their insistence that they would each return government to “The People.”

They both said it over and over: The People. The response raises a few questions. Which people? What people? Who people? Am I part of The People that’s going to get my government back? If I’m not, do I know The People who will get the government? Does it matter which candidate I vote for if both candidates are pledging to give the government back to The People?

I don’t know the answer to any of those questions, but if you are interested in who the people of Eden Prairie, Minnesota are, you can check out the Special Reports section of the City’s website at: http://www.edenprairie.org/vCurrent/live/article.asp?r=2895. In this section of our website you can access information such as the City’s triennial Business Satisfaction Survey, 2006 Residential Quality of Life Survey and the Senior Issues Task Force Report. If you’re interested in just the pure demographics of the community, there are many different websites that can help you. One of them is ZIPskinny. It codes demographic data by zip code. Here’s some info on 55347: ZIPskinny 55347.

I know The People, when used in political language, is more metaphorical than logical. But if you are truly interested in knowing more about the people who live in Eden Prairie, the information is out there if you want it.