FIRST: In January 2010, the Council designated the City Clerk, Jo Thieling, as the responsible authority for receiving and responding to public data disclosure inquiries. Therefore, you may submit your requests to her and my experience has been that her responses are complete, professional, and prompt. Exactly as you might hope. It is a fact well worth remembering, since questions arise from time to time.
SECOND: A City of Ramsey delegation including Administrator Kurt Ulrich, Council member Colin McGlone, consultant Darren Lazan of the Landform consultancy, and Patrick Brama, the City's Management Analyst will attend the annual ICSC Conference in Las Vegas scheduled for May 21 through May 23. I have no details as to cost nor copies of promotional materials that might have been prepared for the Vegas adventure, but I have a request in to the City Clerk and to Ramsey's CFO, Diana Lund, regarding detail. Lund is a second city staff official who has been both courteous and responsive whenever I have had questions, as with the City Clerk.
There might be follow-up posting of detail, either by an UPDATE here, or a new post.
___________UPDATE___________
McGlone is the only council member up for reelection this year who has decided to go junketing this time. Indeed, he is the only council member in the group.
Previously, junket-goers included the mayor, Wise, and Elvig (whose seat is not up this election).
Presently, McGlone chairs the Ramsey HRA, i.e., is lead idea-man and decision-maker of that body, and may be traveling in that capacity as well as being a conference delegate who also is on council.
Is this a cost saving decision, or a realization of cost-benefit balancing that keeping the delegation smaller would be as good as past larger entourages?
Can anyone tell me of any direct or indirect benefit that has come from past Vegas trips, and what expectations are for this current venturing? If so, send an email or post a comment, please.
______A YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME UPDATE______
RYAN CRONK? Flaherty's henchman? Who decided on this Ryan Cronk stuff:
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| This link. |
Was it gaming the exhibition-booth fee structure, using Cronk as front man? A bit of dissembling to get a price break? What?
Sniffing around the ICSC web stuff is useful and informative. Cronk, indeed. And there is this, the per head up front fee just to be there and be square - price of the entry ticket to play Let's Make a Deal:
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| This link. |
Could any reader direct me to minutes of where this latest junketing was council approved? I would really like to see the vote tally on this hummer? Send an email. Post a comment. Ryan Cronk. Fox in the henhouse Cronk.
____________FURTHER UPDATE___________
12:46 PM Friday, May 18, 2012: At around noon, the City Clerk emailed me notice that convention materials for the City are in preparation, presently, so there is not any real option but to wait until after the conference to see the tangible things City reps brought with them to Vegas.
In terms of any follow-up on how the conference went, expectations of return on investment, etc.; ABC Newspapers is far, far better positioned to debrief attendees and report on it that way, than I am.
I look forward to any coverage ABC - Anoka County Union may provide.
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Finally, it is my understanding that the city also is paying to send Ryan Cronk to Vegas this trip.
____________FURTHER UPDATE____________
On the question of props and brochures; I have to presume that the promotional stretch-sign parked in the city hall second floor admin office foyer will be Vegas bound (the stretching hardware behind it looks designed for trade show breakdown-pack-setup use); and that brochure copies from the past have not been exhausted; so that folks will not be traveling without props.