The city of Ham Lake is hosting two public meetings within the next couple of weeks to discuss the findings of a septic study in the Hiawatha Beach and Comfort Resort neighbors on the south side of Coon Lake and to begin discussing some feasible solutions.
Both meetings start at 6 p.m. and will be at Ham Lake City Hall in the council chambers. The first meeting Wednesday, April 11 will feature Ellingson Companies, which conducted a comprehensive assessment report (CAR) study. The second meeting Tuesday, April 17 will feature Mike Jungbauer, who is a state senator from East Bethel, but will be speaking as the principal and chief executive officer of Infinite Hydrologic Solutions to provide some alternative options.
There are 154 properties in these two neighborhoods, which includes 11 vacant lots, according to the CAR study. A big issue in this area is the lot sizes are so small that some septic or well systems cannot be installed according to current state regulations on setbacks.
The CAR study determined that of the 143 occupied lots, only 24 lots have compliant systems and 119 have non-compliant systems. Of the 119 non-compliant lots, 63 lots have enough space to meet current setback requirements whenever new systems are installed. The other 56 lots are so small that there is no space for a new septic treatment system or there would be less than 12 inches of vertical separation between the bottom of the rock bed and the saturated soil. In these cases, Ellingson Companies suggested a holding tank, which would require a lot of pumping.
The Ham Lake City Council has heard a number of options to solve the problem, but would like to hear what the public thinks after learning about the different options.
[...]Ham Lake City Engineer Tom Collins said the CAR study did not address well locations, which obviously has huge implications on this whole discussion.
Jungbauer looked deeper into this and found out that shared wells between some properties could enable these 56 property owners to install new septic systems whenever they need them and avoid the costly holding tanks.
It speaks for itself, and there is substantial further information for readers in the Hagen report.
Next, WaPo reporting with regard to Republican legislators and their waning lust to challenge key union arrangements, per the ALEC inspired "right-to-work" [for less] mischief Republicans elsewhere are pursuing with more gusto [as in, Recall Scott Walker]:
[...] In Minnesota and elsewhere across the Midwest, the question of what to do about the right-to-work issue is pitting Republican against Republican, straining relationships among longtime allies and weighing cherished ideals against political tactics.
“We wait and we wait and we wait, and then if we get the opportunity and we fail to take it, then the issue is done,” said Michelle Benson, a frustrated Republican state senator from suburban Minneapolis who sounded off after House and Senate leaders’ recently decided not to move on the issue.The Minnesota proposal had one committee hearing last month — provoking a labor protest and AFL-CIO sponsored TV ads. Although union membership has declined nationally in recent decades, organized labor remains a political force in Minnesota, with the AFL-CIO boasting about 300,000 members. A big Democratic turnout this November could make it more difficult for Minnesota’s GOP to defend the more than 30 state House and Senate seats they seized from Democrats in the 2010 election.
[...] But some conservatives respond with another question: If not now, when? Republicans hold more legislative sway in the Midwest than they have in years as a result of that 2010 landslide. Their ability to pass right to work might never be greater, especially if they lose seats this November.
The GOP’s tea party flank also tends to favor action. Last weekend, Benson triumphed in a party endorsement battle with fellow Republican Sen. Mike Jungbauer, a right to work skeptic.
Michelle Benson, astoundingly, is more an ALEC captive and lock-step marcher than Michael Jungbauer. Wow. And Wow again.
Last, Doug Grow reporting for MinnPost on the Republican voter disenfranchisement effort in Minnesota:
As the hours passed in the Senate amendment debate, there were little bursts of outrage.
At one point, it appeared that John Harrington, a DFLer from St. Paul, was about to leave the floor, but he stopped in his tracks when Republican Michael Jungbauer of East Bethel got up to defend photo ID.
The two ended up in this exchange.
“This is a minimalistic thing we’re asking,” Jungbauer said of the amendment. “I went to the Cub store to buy food and I needed an ID with my debit card.”
Harrington bristled.
“Buying baloney at the Cub isn’t the same as the right people fought and died for. Buying baloney is a contractual arrangement between you and your bank. … Voting is a fundamental right.”
DFLers were doing almost all of the talking because Republicans had something far more powerful than words. They had the votes.
That one sentence, "Harrington bristled," fits my experience that it's always been easy to bristle about things Michael Jungbauer says and does.