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Miami Herald
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Some communities won't fly new state flag: ‘It's not a greater Minnesota flag'
MINNEAPOLIS - Old Glory is the only flag flying outside Detroit Lakes City Hall. You won't see the Minnesota state flag - the retired one or the new one that a number of communities refuse to hoist on flagpoles. Minnesota's new state flag was divisive from the start, especially in deep red, rural areas. The flag redesign process sparked intense Republican-led opposition as the DFL-controlled Legislature formed a commission in 2023 to replace the old flag. Some counties passed resolutions rejecting the new design before it was adopted last year. Now some cities are voting against flying it. "I think part of it is people think the new flag is ugly," said Detroit Lakes Mayor Matt Brenk. "Some people think the old flag was racist. I mean, there's all sorts of reasons that people are picking a side on this deal." Detroit Lakes is the latest city to oppose flying the new state flag in north-central Minnesota, where you're more likely to see the old banner on front porches, farms and lakefront properties. "We were on the lake this weekend and noticed a lot of the old flags and a few new ones," said Pequot Lakes Mayor Tyler Gardner. "They typically wouldn't have had a state flag before. It used to just be the American flag." Pequot Lakes is still flying the retired state flag and doesn't plan on raising the new one, Gardner said. "It drives us nuts that there's a divisive argument over a flag, that, let's be honest, it's a state flag. Does anybody really look at them that much?" Crosslake is also supporting the old state flag. In May, the council unanimously voted not to fly the new one. The cities are in Becker and Crow Wing counties, which also don't fly the new state flag. Only state buildings are required to fly the state flag. It's optional at city- and county-owned buildings: Some fly the old flag, many raised the new one, and some never flew the state flag. Julie Ring, executive director of the Association of Minnesota Counties, said in an email that she was unaware that any counties had taken action against the new state flag. The League of Minnesota Cities said it doesn't track flag activity, nor is it a topic on which it provides guidance or opinions. The Minnesota Secretary of State's Office shares flag etiquette, but it wouldn't weigh in on the cities and counties refusing to fly the new flag. Crow Wing County was the first to pass a resolution against the flag design, followed by Nobles, Houston and McLeod. The cost associated with replacing flags was cited as a concern. Even if a county opts out of supporting the official state flag, it is required in every courtroom. The 87 county courthouses are funded and overseen by the state as part of the judicial district court system. Kyle Christopherson, state court spokesman, said judicial districts worked with each county separately to determine payments for flag and seal replacements in courtrooms. Some counties fronted the bill while most were paid for by the state. The Ninth Judicial District, made up of 17 counties in northwest Minnesota, for example, paid for flag and seal replacements in all counties except Aitkin and Crow Wing. County Administrator Deborah Erickson said Crow Wing spent $10,000 to replace the state seals and nine flags in the courthouse. She sees the new state flag flying outside the Brainerd fire station on her drive to work. The county decided not to hoist the new flag at its veterans memorial, where the retired flag previously flew. Many jurisdictions didn't switch over to the new flag for practical, not political, reasons. In Dodge County, officials decided to use up their remaining stock of old flags. "It's just until the current supplies run out, then we would make the conversion," said County Administrator Jim Elmquist. The average outdoor flag lasts up to 90 days, depending on weather. A few old flags are still flying, but Elmquist said they will be replaced by fall. Faribault passed a resolution in February 2024 against the new state flag design, but the city hasn't opposed flying it since, said city spokesman Brad Phenow. "Now we've been following suit, and if we know when a flag needs to be replaced, we replace it with a new one," he said. The former state flag displayed the old state seal, which showed a white settler plowing a field while looking at a Native American man riding toward him on horseback. The imagery dates back to when Minnesota was still a territory and is viewed as a celebration of the idea that settlers were destined to take over the land. Tribes criticized that image as racist and it has long been the subject of controversy. High school students first brought these concerns to state lawmakers in 2017, but a redesign push didn't take hold until recently. A 13-member commission was given four months in late 2023 and a budget of $35,000 to redesign the flag and seal. They sifted through thousands of flag submissions from the public and narrowed it down to a finalist while making a few tweaks. The winner was a deep blue abstract shape of Minnesota with a white eight-pointed star - a nod to the state's motto, "Star of the North" - next to a block of light blue to represent Minnesota's abundance of water. The old flag was adopted in 1957, while the state seal represented Minnesota for most of the state's 166-year history. Both were replaced in 2024 on May 11 - Statehood Day. Crosslake Mayor Jackson Purfeerst cited the Native American imagery as a reason the city voted to continue flying it. "We are flying the original Minnesota state flag because of how rich Crosslake's history is with Native Americans and the tribes," Purfeerst said in a video on Facebook that garnered more than 500 comments of praise. "We have multiple Indian burial grounds all over town. We had one of the biggest battles of Native Americans on Rush Lake. ... We are honoring our history, we are honoring our culture, and we are honoring who came before us." In Babbitt, on the eastern edge of the Iron Range, the City Council first approved a measure opposing the new flag in 2024. It voted in February against flying the new flag, a decision that Councilor Jim Lassi says has garnered much community support. "Historically, we've probably had one of the most beautiful flags out of all 50 states," Lassi said. "You could tell right away that it represents Minnesota," with lakes and showy lady's slippers woven into the design. Lassi said the new flag is "ugly" and caters to "wokeness." Detroit Lakes went back and forth on the new flag. In March, the council voted in support of flying it, but then came backlash from residents and some council members. They voted again in May to not fly it, then in June decided not to fly either state flag after a tie-breaking vote from the mayor. Brian Ahlsten, who lives in Detroit Lakes and previously lived in the Twin Cities, said at the June council meeting that the new state flag doesn't represent rural Minnesota. "Some have tried to turn this into a left vs. right issue," he said. "This is more of a Twin Cities vs. greater Minnesota issue. … This flag serves to drive a wedge between us. It's a Twin Cities flag. It's not a greater Minnesota flag." Wendy Spry, who serves on the council and is an enrolled member of White Earth Nation, said the flag was changed for a reason. "This council turned its back on unity and welcomeness," she said. --- (Jana Hollingsworth, Trey Mewes and Jp Lawrence of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.) --- Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
St. Paul Council appointee to League of MN Cities missed 8 of 10 meetings
Not long after being elected to the St. Paul City Council, HwaJeong Kim was appointed as the capital city's representative to the League of Minnesota Cities, the state's largest municipal membership association. The organization brings together city leaders to discuss legislative bills, salary surveys and employee hiring and retention strategies, among other issues facing municipalities. Kim, who is the city council's vice president, was sworn in as a voting member of the league's board of directors in February 2024, but missed the next month's meeting. She has also missed almost every meeting since. In all, Kim has attended two of the 10 league meetings held from February of last year through February of this year, and none since April 2024, according to meeting minutes available online. That's almost a solid consecutive year of monthly absences. St. Paul City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who became council president in February, said Kim had frequent scheduling conflicts and another council member will soon step into the role. 'We were recently informed by the city of St. Paul that councilmember Kim is no longer the city's representative to the league board due to some reshuffling of committee assignments on their end,' said Donald Reeder, a spokesperson for the league, in an April 30 email. 'We have not yet confirmed a replacement.' 'We also recognize that board members (typically councilors, mayors, and administrative staff from a variety of cities) wear many hats in their own communities and often have scheduling conflicts that do not permit them to attend all meetings or league activities,' Reeder wrote. Kim did not return a reporter's phone call and email on April 21 and a follow-up phone call and email on May 2, or a text message on May 5. A receptionist at City Hall said she does not work from the office on Mondays as the role is part-time. City council attendance Kim's attendance at the regular weekly meetings of the city council has been more up and down, but her frequent lateness and absences have not gone unnoticed by voters, some of whom have noted her outside duties as the executive director of a get-out-the-vote organization. So far this year, from Jan. 1 through the end of April, she has missed more than a fourth of the council's regularly-scheduled Wednesday afternoon meetings — or four out of 15 weekly voting sessions. Kim, who represents the Ward 5 communities of Como and the North End, was one of two council members absent from St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter's 'State of the City' address on April 21, even though it was held at the new North End Community Center, a $31 million rec center and community hub that opened last month within her own political ward. 'I do know she really wanted to be at the North End Community Center for the mayor's speech but she had a long-planned trip, so they had the grand opening a few days earlier and she was at that,' said Amy Brendmoen, a former city council president who previously represented Ward 5. Kim was also absent from the city council meeting on April 23, where a sizable line of Ward 5 homeowners arrived to object to tree removal near Como Lake for a sidewalk project that will leave them shouldering assessments of $10,000 or more. 'It is a little frustrating that all of us took time off work and our council member isn't even here,' said Osage street homeowner Nathan Rue, addressing the council during the hearing. 'We're just going to have to come back again.' Noecker explained to the line of homeowners that the public hearing will resume in early May, by which time Kim — whom she said was out of the country on vacation — would be there in person to hear their concerns. Noecker assured them that Kim would also watch the video recording of their remarks. 'I will be calling on you to step down' For some, that wasn't good enough. In a recent email to the Ward 5 office, Parkview Avenue resident Jane Sommerville noted that Kim is the executive director of Minnesota Voice, a progressive nonprofit dedicated to voter registration, civic engagement and training community organizers. While serving on the city council is officially a part-time job, and nothing bars outside employment, it's unusual for council members to split their time doing something as time-consuming as running an outside organization. The council position pays about $77,000 annually. 'It is unclear to me how you can maintain two jobs concurrently, especially one as demanding as City Council Vice Chair,' wrote Sommerville, in a recent email to Kim's office. 'On Nov. 12 … you attended a meeting at North Dale Recreation Center regarding the street project. However, you stood in the corner, did not introduce yourself, engage with your constituency, answer questions, nor appear to write down any questions. It was quite unclear why you were even there.' Sommerville was one of four plaintiffs in an unsuccessful legal action against the city aimed at blocking tree removal from Parkview Avenue. She noted that before the lawsuit was filed, residents of the impacted area had reached out to the Ward 5 council office by phone and email over the course of several months. 'Some neighbors received generic or templated responses from your office, and a few received emails from your staff,' Sommerville wrote. 'No one received a response from you specifically. Neighbors have invited you to come out and meet with us. You have likewise not responded nor come to our block to meet with us.' 'I will be calling on you to step down in your role as City Council representative for Ward 5,' Sommerville added. 'We deserve better.' Kim isn't alone in her council absences. Last year, she attended 37 of the council's 43 weekly meetings, or about 86%. That still put her ahead of Council Member Anika Bowie, who attended 36 meetings. Nelsie Yang attended 29 meetings after a 12-week maternity leave. The full council was together last year about 44% of the time — or 60% not counting Yang's maternity leave. Kim, a former legislative aide to Brendmoen, won the election to the Ward 5 seat in November 2023 with 2,745 votes, or 52% of the vote in a four-way race that included David Greenwood-Sanchez, Pam Tollefson and Nate Nins. St. Paul has since moved to an even-year calendar for municipal elections, shifting the next full council election to November 2028. Related Articles
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
‘An underground tsunami': Forest Lake battles destructive ice ridges at Lakeside Park
Alternating cold and mild temperatures combined with a lack of snow this winter have caused significant ice ridges along the shore of Lakeside Park in Forest Lake. The severe ice ridges, which are caused when lake ice pushes material from lakebeds up onto shorelines, have caused light poles to tip, boulders to move and the city's paved walking path to shift several feet to the west. City officials say it will cost $175,000 to repair the damage. The heaving along the shoreline 'shifted and pushed up' approximately 350 feet of the paved walking path that runs along the shoreline, and, in some areas, heaved on the west side of the path, said Dave Adams, the city's director of public works. 'This is the first time we've seen it happen on both sides of the path,' Adams said. 'The ground has probably moved 2 to 3 feet. That's what has pushed those poles over. If you can imagine how far that's pushed that pole over, that's how far the path has shifted.' On Monday, the Forest Lake City Council voted to approve a plan to repair the park and replace the paved walking path with a bituminous path. The engraved pavers will be stored in a safe location until they are re-installed elsewhere in the park, Adams said. Long-term plans for Lakeside Park include a downtown shoreline restoration project and a new Veterans' Memorial. Those plans call for the current walking path to be removed, so 'not spending too much money to replace the path, knowing that there's another project in the works to rehab that park, makes the most sense,' Adams said. The repairs must be done this spring so that the popular downtown park will be open and functioning for residents and boaters this summer, Adams said. City officials have filed an insurance claim with the League of Minnesota Cities to cover the damage done to the city-owned light poles and the infrastructure of Your Boat Club's dock, which totaled $23,100, Adams said. 'The force of nature is incredible,' said Forest Lake City Councilmember Jeff Larson, who lives on the lake north of Lakeside Park. 'My neighbor has lived here for 22 years, and he's never seen anything like this.' Larson, whose own shoreline was damaged, said the ice ridges formed almost overnight. 'I was gone for a couple of hours, and I came home in the afternoon, and it was already starting to, like, roll,' he said. 'It kind of rolls the soil and the sod up. At first, it wasn't too bad. It was only maybe about six, eight inches at the time. But then over time, it just continued with the pressure and stuff, so I actually have two rolls of that heaving. There's two separate sections of it.' Ice ridges, also called ice heaves or ice jacks, occur in years where there is little snow cover on lake ice to insulate the ice, said Dan Scollan, east metro area hydrologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Cracks form in ice with water rising to fill in the gaps, expanding the ice sheet as it freezes, he said. During subsequent warm spells, the ice was able to expand, Scollan said. The additional expansion exerts 'a tremendous thrust against the shore,' according to the DNR. 'The expanding ice sheet moves soil to create ice ridges as high as 5 feet or more. Alternate warming and cooling of an ice sheet causes additional pushing action that possesses enough power to nudge masonry bridge piers out of plumb and push houses off their foundations.' Local News | St. Paul police arrest 3 after group assaults student outside High School for Recording Arts Local News | St. Paul: Alliance Bank Center's commercial tenants given less than 48 hours to vacate Local News | New West Seventh Street transit plan ready for public input Local News | Forest Lake: MnDOT to host public meeting on $17M construction project Local News | St. Croix Valley Big Read is 'Nothing to See Here' 'Someone described it to me as 'an underground tsunami,' which I thought was a really good description,' Scollan said. A resident who has lived on White Bear Lake for decades said this winter's ice heaves 'were by far the worst she's ever seen,' Scollan said. City officials in White Bear Lake said there was no damage done by ice ridges to city-owned property. Residents of Forest Lake who have had damage done to their shoreline should contact officials with the Comfort Lake-Forest Lake Watershed District, the Washington Conservation District and the city before doing any work, Scollan said. Anyone who owns more than 200 feet of shoreline would also need to contact the DNR for a permit, Scollan said. What can be done to prevent ice ridges in the future? 'The more natural vegetation you have both in the lake and on your shore can help buffer your shoreline from ice action,' Scollan said. Forest Lake's long-term plan for Lakeside Park includes additional natural shoreline work, including the planting of more trees and shrubs, said Aidan Read, land management specialist for the Comfort Lake-Forest Lake Watershed. 'Those are the kinds of things that we like to see to try to prevent this type of damage,' he said. 'What we see most effective long-term are really well-constructed, healthy, natural shoreline buffers with perennial, deep rooted vegetation, especially woody vegetation and a shallow grade.' Roots aren't necessarily going to hold all the soil in place, but they can help to limit some of the damage, Read said. 'It's hard to say that any of that would have prevented something like this, but it's possible,' he said as he surveyed the damage earlier this week. 'You can look at this cross-section (of soil) here, and there's nothing.' The light posts, which had probably 2- or 3-foot footings underneath, moved, but a nearby tree, with 'probably 20 feet of roots, didn't move an inch over there,' Read said. Adam Hjelm, the watershed district's education outreach coordinator, said enough people contacted the watershed about ice-ridge damage that watershed district officials decided to hold an informational workshop later this month. It's the first time the watershed has held such a workshop, he said. Watershed district officials can offer technical assistance in the form of actual design work, and the district has some limited financial assistance that it can offer shoreline landowners, as well for installing natural shorelines, Hjelm said. Zerita LaFave, 80, and her son, Dwight Emerson, both of Ham Lake, surveyed the damage at Lakeside Park earlier this week and marveled that ice could wreak so much havoc. 'That's Mother Nature for you,' LaFave said. LaFave and Emerson come to the park a couple of times a month to eat lunch and walk, she said. Local News | Washington County township elections: Incumbents hold seats in May, West Lakeland Local News | Washington County approves $4.5 million settlement in 2018 fatal shooting Local News | Forest Lake: MnDOT to host public meeting on $17M construction project Local News | St. Croix Valley Big Read is 'Nothing to See Here' Local News | Backyard meteorologist? Minnesota is looking for volunteers to help monitor rainfall. 'We'd like to see them save the pavers because there've been a lot of Forest Lake people who donated the bricks,' she said. 'You can walk around and look at everybody's name that lived here before. I hope they get it fixed soon.' The Comfort Lake-Forest Lake Watershed District will hold a free Shoreline Ice Ridge Informational Workshop from 6-8 p.m. March 26 at the Forest Lake American Legion in downtown Forest Lake. Speakers include DNR staff, watershed staff and local lakeshore landscapers. Anyone interested in attending is asked to register by March 21. For more information, go to
CBS News
13-03-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Minnesota bill would require cities to cooperate with federal immigration officials
A proposal in the Minnesota Legislature would require local governments to work with federal immigration officials as President Donald Trump's administration vows the deportation of undocumented immigrants. The GOP-backed bill would mandate that county attorneys report people without legal status who are arrested on suspicion of violent crimes to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, regardless of whether they're ultimately charged. It would also override cities and counties that choose to implement policies or ordinances the limit or prohibit cooperation with federal immigration officials. Some local governments in the state — including the largest cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul — have their own rules keeping city employees from inquiring about immigration status or being used for immigration enforcement. Supporters of this proposal say its goal is to boost public safety. Chief author Rep. Max Rymer, R-North Branch, noted that Minneapolis officials and police recently doubled down on their policy forbidding officers from asking about immigration status, according to MPR News. "It's a very narrowly focused bill. Ultimately, we had an election in November that was primarily adjudicated on illegal immigration. It was a number one or number two issue for most Americans and what this bill does is help keep our communities safe," he said in a news conference Wednesday. But opposition is strong from immigrant rights and victims groups, as well as local governments. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter wrote to the House public safety panel that the proposal would divert critical city resources away from local needs and "bullies us to handing over local resources to a sector of enforcement that has never been our responsibility." The League of Minnesota Cities, which represents more than 800 cities across the state, wrote in a letter to the committee that discussed the legislation Wednesday that the proposal would "unnecessarily" interfere with local decision-making and could erode the trust built between local law enforcement and immigrant communities. "This legislation threatens to compromise good relationships between city officials and immigrant communities. Local law enforcement agencies work cooperatively on a regular basis with ICE, while recognizing that immigration enforcement is primarily the federal government's responsibility," Anne Finn, intergovernmental relations director of the League of Minnesota Cities, said in a letter. Rymer reiterated that the proposal only targets individuals accused of violent crimes, not all undocumented immigrants. "Some of the feedback I've gotten back on this bill is what kind of door does this open up? It doesn't open a door. It is very narrowly focused in its scope and making sure we're first and foremost matching what the Trump administration said when it said we're going to primarily deal with violent criminal offenders," he said. In order to advance, it needs support from Republicans and Democrats as the House stares down a return to a tie next week. Rymer noted that the Laken Riley Act, which expanded the types of crimes for which noncitizens should face mandatory detention, received bipartisan support in Congress before Mr. Trump recently signed it into law. "I think this is a very reasonable proposal that should get broad bipartisan support as well," Rymer said.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Boncher's proposal for lobbying against unfunded mandates gains no support
Jordan Mayor Pete Ewals knew the votes weren't there for Councilmember Thom Boncher's proposal to write a collective letter in opposition to the state handing down requirements for which it doesn't pay. Government officials like to call the requirements 'unfunded mandates,' and they are a regular topic of whining and complaining at city halls and county boardrooms throughout the state. This month, Boncher proposed that the city of Jordan list the unfunded mandates it opposes and forward a letter to each of state Rep. Mark Buesgens, state Sen. Claire Robling and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton. The councilmember wrote letters addressing the lack of funding for pay equity implementation and reporting, development and permit fees reports, flood plain management, forfeiture of unclaimed utility deposits, purchasing American-made equipment and uniforms, tobacco compliance checks, predatory offender registration and tracking, firearms permit acquisition, and fine distribution for enforcement of state laws. 'The state of Minnesota has a history of well-run, responsible government. That reputation is, in our opinion, being tarnished by the drive to mandate actions, while pushing costs down the government chain,' the letter stated. It asks for the state to fully fund or eliminate the mandates it has imposed. The League of Minnesota Cities (LMC), an organization of which Jordan is a member, also opposes many of the listed items, with the exception of three additional suggestions Police Chief Bob Malz made when asked. 'I appreciate the effort,' Councilmember Joe Thill said of Boncher's letters. 'I would've picked some different ones.' Thill said he supports LMC's position on the subject. Councilmember Mike Shaw said LMC is doing the lobbying for the city. 'They draft a letter,' Councilmember Tanya Velishek agreed. LMC also details its stances for the legislators, she added. 'The League is a strong voice at the legislature,' City Administrator Ed Shukle said. 'They represent all cities in the state.' Boncher offered to hand over his draft letter to the city staff and ask staff to incorporate any additions offered by councilmembers. 'We have a voice, and we have an obligation to use it,' Boncher said. Ewals suggested that the council try to agree about which unfunded mandates are the most important to repeal. 'When you send a letter, it has a big impact,' he said. Velishek said that since each councilmember has a different opinion, separate letters could be sent. A letter from the council would be 'reinforcing what's already there' – a redundancy, Shukle said. 'Are we going to put a sock in this?' Boncher asked. '(If so) this group will no longer have the right to talk about unfunded mandates.' Ewals saw the writing on the wall, and didn't ask for a motion or second on the matter. 'I don't think anyone wants to change their minds,' he said, 'so we can just move on.'
