ANOKA COUNTY: First, I just renewed some books online with the Anoka County Library.
The new Rum River branch no longer is brand new, and the design is such that the slant of the winter sun made it hard for the check-out staff to see computer screens, but flat panel displays probably have made that less a problem.
Beyond that, the facility is great. It was encouraging last visit to see a number of young people there, so proximity to the school with the pedestrian overpass is a good feature. I see students there, and in the lobby waiting for a pickup ride home from family, all good, because reading at that age suggests it will continue into adulthood. The internet stations are upgraded to flat panels, sign-in is automated in software now (freeing reference desk staff time for other services), and student internet use and interest appears strong, which also is an encouraging sign.
The Rum River staff is always friendly and knowledgeable - and there is a steady effort at excellent service throughout the staff there. The county library board must be the start of the attitude that runs throughout the chain of public service at the libraries.
Their computer services - their online capabilities have been upgraded steadily and with well-thought-out software systems. Unlike Ramsey's LaserFiche record system the library's software is expedient and a joy to use. Interlibrary loans are now automated and MnLink is intuitive software that extends the "collection" into areas that are interesting to me but insufficiently popular in general for Anoka County to allocate any of its limited stack space and purchasing budget.
Let us hope the nature-reserve grassland character of the surrounding grounds is preserved, as protected urban greenspace, and not commercialized as some might advocate nor turned into ballfields; so that habitat is preserved - grassland and river bank habitat together - with walking trails with minimal impact compatible.
RAMSEY: Civil service at the working level, not necessarily at the top, is praiseworthy.
Those at reception desks will interrupt whatever they are doing to courteously help someone, and I have made public data requests which generally were handled expeditiously and always with good manners and friendliness.
When calling the cops, someone answers and takes information quickly and courteously. When looking at public works staff, they patch the roads, plow the snow, and with Engineering make proper decisions on new stop sign placement to make major road intersections safer.
Public Works, like Engineering, cannot be blamed for all those presently unnecessary lights on south Ramsey Blvd.
That's another matter.
The lights work fine and are maintained. It is a county highway and primarily a county responsibility. The policy decision to put those lights there now, etc., to move City Hall, etc., those things are bothersome.
But non-senior staff implements things (more than deciding) and Jim Norman is gone by January 1. That in my view is the single greatest improvement here in years. And Sylvia Frolik is staying, which is good too, for continuity to back when people were moving here because of the rural feel Ramsey then had, but is losing.
Ramsey's City Clerk, Jo Theiling, and Amy Dietl of the IT staff have been helpful in getting public data to me per requirements of the law, when I have requested access, and public works and police staff seem able and friendly, and helpful.
LaserFiche is worthless and as the interface provided to citizens for finding needles in the information haystack - that software is deserving only of hate and disdain; but there are decent, friendly and dedicated people in Ramsey and in County government. The ones who should prosper and advance are not always those that do. Planners are planners, and judged by that low standard ours are no worse than the half-wits doing the same thing at Met Council; while Engineering in Ramsey has been able and friendly in doing what policy makers have set as Engineering goals.
Perhaps the most important people for now in Ramsey are the building inspectors.
They are the ones that make sure, or try to make sure that Pulte and DR Horton do not screw up or cut too many important corners on that cheap housing getting thrown up at Town Center.
The inspectors are there to assure it is at least built soundly, regardless of it's ugly, tacky, tarted-up and unappealing aspects, which are outside of the inspectors' field of duty.
(I have found some interesting websites where people having difficulty with Pulte and Horton housing and community practices can post about their experiences, but that will be a seperately posted item, mentioned for now but w/o detail.)
Finally, my last two encounters with Ramsey police - first, I don't like or use cell phones, so losing my car keys and having a driver with a cell phone call 911; then having an officer arrive who allowed me to use his cell phone to call home where spare keys existed, and who stayed and helped me look at the area where I thought I had dropped the keys and offered to give a lift home because it was in Ramsey and not too far - that's worth mention. Second, Christmas Eve heading west on Alpine at about 3:30 pm, and having someone in a big red SUV blow the north bound stopsign on Hwy 5 at 55 mph (where had I taken my "turn" I'd have been broadsided driver side); then getting home and calling 911 suggesting some people still had not adjusted properly to traffic management change at that intersection, I got the impression that my concern was heard and that in the following few days there'd be attention to assure that traffic at the intersection was watched in the course of regular policing of the neighborhood.
Good folks, doing their job.