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2014 Garbage Hauler Contract

By on May 17, 2013 in Brad Tabke for Mayor

Garbage Truck at Croton Landfill Operation along the Hudson River 08/1973Shakopee has a city-wide garbage hauler contract that does a lot of great things for our community:

  • Reduces cost
  • Significantly reduces wear on roads
  • Increases safety

The current contract with Dick’s Sanitation ends May 31, 2014 and the city is going through a thorough bidding process to select the next provider.

  1. Council voted 3-2 at the May 7 meeting for the city to purchase the garbage bins. They will be an asset to the city in future contracts, cost residents app. $.80 less each month than renting and will be paid off after 5 years.
  2. Shakopee City Council will discuss the proposals at the May 21 meeting at 7 pm. Here is the city’s statement. Here is the council packet item.
  3. It was a high priority of council to have single-sort recycling as a component of service.

Thank you and have a great day!

Brad

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Prison Fence

By on May 4, 2013 in Brad Tabke for Mayor

Update 5/4/13

Shakopee Prison on the left, Sweeny Elementary on the right.

This legislative session has seen the Shakopee Prison fence issue come back up again – as it should. The MN Legislature is discussing a bonding bill and the Governor has included a fence around the Shakopee prison as part of his proposed package.

Senator Pratt is also authoring a bill moving through the legislature that would fund a fence and I thank him for his hard work on the subject.

The past 12 months have seen multiple incidents occur putting the community, Correctional staff and the prisoners in danger. Securing the facility with a fence is – and has for some time – necessary for our security.

We need a fence to keep the offenders inside. There are currently 73 incarcerated for homicide convictions, 48 for assaults, 6 arsonists and an extraordinary 11 criminals who have escaped from custody are being kept in a fenceless prison.

This winter, a man was found bleeding with a head wound in the center courtyard of the facility. He was disoriented and apprehended by the security staff and turned over to the Shakopee police. He was new to the area and said he didn’t realize the facility was a prison – which is an easy mistake.

Later that night, he was back on grounds. Think about what an issue that is. No one knew if he was there to harm someone, leave behind weapons, drugs, money, etc. or if he was simply lost again. Maybe he was just testing them the first time to see what would happen.

He says he was looking for his sunglasses and cell phone and the Shakopee Police took him away. Glasses were found but the cell phone was not. No one knows where that cell phone is or who has it.

Last summer, a group of middle school kids came onto the grounds and knocked on the doors asking if they could play baseball on their field. This prison houses 25 offenders in prison for criminal sexual misconduct or kidnapping.

Talking about these items is very tricky and we must walk a fine line. I do not want to scare people but I believe it is scary situation. Without talking about what does and could very easily happen, everyone assumes there is no reason to be concerned. We must be open about these concerns and urge our legislature to support building a fence at the Shakopee Corrections Facility.

Contact information:
Senator Pratt - supports building a fence
Representative Beard

Without a fence, the prison is an uncontrolled environment. The staff is unable to know what or who is going in or out which makes it very difficult to protect the prisoners and the public.

Below is what I wrote last year that has more information about the particulars of the facility.

Shakopee Valley News 5/4/13 editorial

Please use the comments section below for discussion.

Brad

Original Post:

Prison fence issue returns for Shakopee – Shakopee Valley News

What do you think? Please comment below – I need your input!

Should a prison have a fence

Recently, I toured the Shakopee Correctional Facility and was incredibly impressed with the Warden, Tracy Beltz, and realized I live just down the hill from there and had no idea what it was like. The campus was very nice and well kept. I wasn’t aware of a couple of things:

  • There are between 550 and 600 prisoners at the facility ranging from Level 1 to Level 5 offenders
  • There is a central dining facility so the majority of the prisoners walk outside from their building to the dining facility for each meal
  • Any time someone mentions or is heard talking about escape, the prisoner is transferred out of state at a large cost because there is no fence
This issue is coming up again because it will be in the bonding bill when the MN Legislature resumes in a month. The cost for the fence and some other improvements included in the bonding bill will be covered entirely by the state. The fence has not been built in the past due to local opposition to the project.

Fence design

The design for the fence is really nice. Most people think of chain link and razor wire with guard towers for a prison fence. That is not the case here. The fence is planned for 12′ tall with brick piers and wrought iron fencing. It is modeled after a fence at St. Kate’s in St Paul.

Community input

The facility is holding an open house January 12 from 1 to 2 pm.

Bottom line

Bottom line is the Dept of Corrections feels they need it as an added line of security between the prisoners and the community as well as to protect the prisoners from people not in prison wanting to do them harm.

I have talked with many folks who live near and across the street. They aren’t happy with having a fence built, but I think as long as it looks good and fits with the community, it should be built.

Brad

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Governor Dayton’s Shakopee Visit

By on April 30, 2013 in Brad Tabke for Mayor

governor visitLast night, we in Shakopee were honored to have the Governor visit for a “Meeting with Mark” town hall. It was great to have him here in Shakopee to hear and better understand the concerns and priorities of our community and I thank him for coming.

There were a number of great conversations and interactions where the governor was able to help direct people to more information, correct misinformation or simply disagree. All what I believe a Town Hall should accomplish.

Thank you, Governor Dayton, Representative Beard, Senator Pratt, Representative Albright and Commissioner Jesson for joining last night’s Town Hall. It was an honor to share the stage with you and I know Shakopee residents were able to get positive, first-hand information from the event.

Many of the conversations were intended to get a better understanding of issues like nursing home staffing, transportation, education, taxes, immigration, small business needs and economic development. People disagree – I love disagreeing – it is how we make things better. Unfortunately, as reported by the StarTribune, there was a very small minority of folks whose behavior reflected poorly on the rest. The Governor’s comments were aimed solely at the folks being “rude” or “juvenile,” not an entire audience or city.

The short, edited video going around right now is exactly the reason so many people loathe politics and have so little faith in government. It is being used as a tool simply to tear one person down and not to prop everyone up. It happens in both parties and I’m frustrated it happened in Shakopee and want no part of this childish game.

The fact is that there is a very real and very honest frustration with government. If together, we want things to improve, these tactics are not up to the task. We have bigger issues to tackle.

Brad

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Mayor’s Statement on the 4/18 Shakopee Shooting

By on April 19, 2013 in Brad Tabke for Mayor

Last night, Shakopee tragically had it’s first homicide since 2010. This event was not a random act of violence, there is no threat to the public from the incident and it does not appear to be a gang-related incident. Shakopee is a very safe community and there is one suspect is in custody.

At 10:44 p.m., the Shakopee Police Department responded to a call of shots fired at Hunter’s Ridge apartments in the 600 block of Gorman Street. A 19-year-old Shakopee High School student, Marcos Pantaleon, was found dead. Two others injured males, 22 and 17, were transported to Hennepin County Medical Center. My deepest condolences to the families of Mr. Pantaleon and the other victims.

The Shakopee Police Department is doing an incredible job and are actively following every lead. I also want to extend my sincere thanks to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Scott County Sheriff’s Office and Savage Police Department for their assistance.

Any additional information regarding this case incident will come directly from the Shakopee Police Department, as developments warrant.

Brad Tabke
Mayor, City of Shakopee

 

Shakopee Valley News article
Shakopee Patch article
StarTribune article

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Oxford Road Fire

By on April 4, 2013 in Brad Tabke for Mayor

Good morning -

southbridge fireYesterday, there was a substantial fire at a home on Oxford Road in the Southbridge neighborhood of Shakopee with no injuries. We have been talking for the past 6 months as council about the status of our Shakopee Fire Department and I wanted to get some information out to you about where we are and where we are going.

Here is the timeline for yesterday’s fire:

  1. Call came in at 9:22 (Thankfully no one was home but unfortunately the fire was well under way when noticed.)
  2. FD Chief Coleman arrived at the home at 9:27 (5 minute response)
  3. Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community arrived at 9:34 (11 minute response)
  4. Shakopee Fire Department arrived at 9:35 (13 minute response)

Our Fire Department does an incredible job protecting Shakopee. We have great response times during the evening, nights and weekends to all parts of Shakopee.

A major problem nearly all growing communities our size are facing is that we do not have enough Firefighters that can respond during the day because they are either at work outside of Shakopee, need to watch their kids or have a job they simply can’t leave. Last year, we put money in the budget to hire either 10 additional paid-on-call firefighters who can respond during the day or 4 full-time fire fighters to help fix this problem. The answers are not easy.

On March 20, the city held a conversation with Shakopee business leaders to get a better handle on what their thoughts were and how we can solve this issue together.

As you may know, Shakopee has 2 fire stations. Station I is on Vierling near Canterbury Park and Station II is on Vierling near Lion’s Park. It was always planned to have a 3rd fire station built on Southbridge Parkway in Parcel 75 (where the new dog park may go) to serve the SouthBridge/Hway 21/Eagle Creek area. However, since the original plan was formed, there have been significantly fewer homes built in area to date due the SMSC purchasing the land south of Eagle Creek.

It is a $6-8 million investment to build, hire and equip an additional fire station that in my – and Shakopee City Council’s – opinion, we do not have the properties to serve at this time. Our number one issue in serving Southbridge is not proximity to the area, it is our ability to respond during the day.

Shakopee City Council will be having another big discussion in May about the future of our Fire Department. We are currently working with other local communities to further discuss opportunities we have to collaborate on fire safety to improve local services and reduce long-term cost increases.

Please use the comment section below to give me your thoughts, opinions and concerns.

Thank you and have a great day!

Brad

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