Your Dayton City Council Candidate
Phil Forseth
A little background
ü Dayton resident since 1978, married, raised six children in Dayton
ü Owner of Protronics TV Service in Anoka for the last 28 years.
ü Served as Dayton Mayor for 8 years, member of St. Stephens catholic
Church, member of the Dayton Lions and the American Legion .
ü Served in the Air Force as a missile guidance technician during Viet
Nam.
ü Served as State Chair for Clean Water Action, a national environmental
group that was instrumental in stopping the landfill.
ü Currently serving as a Public Safety commissioner for Dayton.
I believe,
ü Residents should be treated with respect , whether they agree or disagree
with the council.
ü Government only works well when the people are informed and
encouraged to participate.
ü Long term planning is essential to a healthy city.
ü We must encourage growth in our industrial area to buy down taxes
ü We need to face the problems we have with failing septic systems as a
community and devise a solution .
Email phil@daytonmn.com
Visit my website at www.daytonmn.com
Prepared and paid for by
Forseth Committee L.Forseth Treas. 12611 Overlook Rd Dayton MN
55327
Phil Forseth
12611 Overlook Rd
Dayton MN 55327
763-427-2960
Dear Friend,
I’m asking for your Vote, again !
I’ve asked for the support of our community many times, I was your Mayor for 4 terms ( 8 years) . When I was first elected as Mayor we were facing failing septic systems at Diamond lake and the old Village, the ASH Road test project on 81 and the siting of a landfill in one of our most environmentally sensitive areas 200 feet from the Mississippi River. When I called for help from the community you stood up and gave your support, as a result by the time I left office we had put an end to the Ash test strip and the landfill. We had come together and found a solution for the septic system failures at Diamond Lake and the old Village that was affordable and resolved the problems without wholesale development as the critics and fear mongers had predicted.
We are at a cross roads again in our city. We have homes in several developments that are on small lots with 30 year old septic systems. And some of these systems are failing. We as a community need to do what we have always done, look the problem square in the face, come together, discuss the problem and find a solution. Not bury our heads in the sand. We have long term planning that is being set aside for the short term gain of just a couple of individuals; we need to get back on track. Our fiscal well being is being threatened by the same short term thinking. Capital accounts used to buy new equipment have been rolled into the general fund to show a short term tax reduction. It’s like spending your savings ! All of our police cars now have over 100,000 miles on them and we will need to replace at least two of them, public works needs equipment and so does the fire department and their capital accounts are empty.
We need planning and we need leadership. I have the experience to bring us back on track. When I was your mayor I helped appoint the Comprehensive plan task force, they developed a long term vision for our community, not alone but with citizen input and comments, this is YOUR plan. We need to follow that plan; it will strengthen our industrial area, buy down our taxes, protect our environment and make Dayton an even better place to live. With your help we can get Dayton back on track !! Please vote in the primary Sept 14th !
Phil Forseth
763-427-2960 Please call me or email me if you have any questions !
Email phil@daytonmn.com
Visit my website at www.daytonmn.com
Prepared and paid for by Forseth Committee L.Forseth Treas. 12611 Overlook Rd Dayton MN 55327
The following is a letter from a Dayton resident and Phil's reply:
While the oposition is distributing lies about the cost of
sewer and who pays for it, I would like to share my response to a letter from a
resident in the WildWood Springs addition, Wildwood springs has mostly larger
lots 2.5 acres or more. The name has been changed to Dayton Resident.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dayton Resident
Sent:
Saturday, August 21, 2004
11:54 AM
To:
phil@daytonmn.com
Subject: Dayton Homeowner question
Received your flyer & am wondering if you can expand a
bit on your plans for septic development in
Dayton. I understand that there are homes on small lots with 30 year old septic
systems. I would happily support a plan that would allow these to be brought up
to working order.
However, there are many homes on large lots that are
under 15 years old and have systems in working order and longevity of many more
decades.
As an owner of one such home, can you speak to how your
plans for development will impact these homes?
Best regards,
Dayton Resident
Wildwood Springs
Dayton Resident,
I think the most important issue is having the
discussion, I don't support bringing sewer to the large lots, I don't think any
of the candidates do. But we do have some problems developing on the smaller
lots, and pollution from the septic systems on the smaller lots will affect the
water quality on the larger lots. We all get our water from our wells.
My concern and the reason I am running for office again
is there is no leadership at city hall and we have been left out of the
discussion. Our mayor sent a letter to the met council telling them
Dayton is not interested in
sewer. It was sent without council approval ( the Preserve Dayton majority did
ratify his letter AFTER the fact) and without so much as a public hearing to see
what the people wanted. The letter was in response to a letter from the met
council offering to extend the sewer connection from McDonalds in Champlin to
the Dayton border for free, a $2.5 million dollar extension that would have cost
Dayton $0. Fortunately the met council is proceeding with at least part of the
extension because our comprehensive plan shows a need for sewer in certain areas
by 2010.
I was mayor when the Diamond lake and Village sewer
projects were done, I wasn't there for the final build of the Village project
but I helped lay the ground work and the scope of the project. Both projects
were very similar to what we are currently talking about, they were to correct
problems.
When a community first starts to develop they don't have
much experience in land use and septic systems, usually the first developments
are small lots, as a city gains experience with septic failures the lots sizes
increase to allow for replacement septic systems. This leaves a city with a
ticking time bomb of small lots that will eventually need sewer. The past and
current problems on the smaller lots are a result of that early development
strategy in Dayton. When we did the Village and Diamond Lake projects we had
many many public hearings on both projects, I think if you talk to the majority
of folks at Diamond lake and the Village you will find that they are happy with
the outcome. Just for the record there were a couple of developments on large
lots in the village that were asked if they wanted to participate and when they
opted out were dropped from the plan.
Taxes, the people that GET the sewer PAY for the sewer,
with two exceptions
1. Streets
In Dayton we have a street policy that shares the cost
of rebuilding and maintaining streets based on the type of street because
everyone uses the streets. On collector streets like Pineview the city picks up
75% of the cost, on neighborhood streets the city picks up half the cost. The
rebuilding of the streets in the areas that we are talking about has been put
off so that we don't rebuild a street and then tear it up to put in sewer. If
you drive around the affected neighborhoods you will see that the streets are in
pretty tough shape. These are costs that will be spent eventually whether or not
sewer goes in.
2. Sizing of the sewer pipe,
The pipe should be sized to accommodate the number of
homes that will eventually be hooked up in the long term ( 30-40 years out) ,
these additional pipe costs are also born temporarily by the city. As these
future connections hook up to the pipe they will pay for their portion so
eventually the city is paid back, plus interest, for the additional costs. This
will eventually be a plus for the large lot folks, if at some point in time they
need to hook up the infrastructure is in place. The proposed plans that I have
seen do not bring the pipe through the large lots ( Wildwood Springs) but bring
it through the areas that will be getting sewer.
As a final note on taxes, the bonding company for Dayton
( Springsted )did a presentation at the last council meeting that talked about
the impact of the sewer project on a $200,000 home, if the current scope of the
project is used, along with some units of new development it would decrease (
yes decrease) taxes on that $200,000 home by approximately $200 per year. The
reason is that we have more people sharing the same tax burden. In both the
Village and the Diamond lake projects we allowed additional development to occur
to help offset the costs , the Village has quite a few connections still unused
and Diamond lake still has two that a landowner just asked for, so development
has not run rampant as a result of the two sewer projects as the critics had
predicted . An additional benefit would be putting us over the 5000 mark for
population. That would entitle us to approx $250,000 in Municipal State Aid for
certain roads within the city. Again buying down our taxes.
I hope I didn't get too long winded, it’s a difficult
topic to address. With your permission I would like to post your letter on the
website along with my response. I suspect there are many folks out there with
the same questions. Please let me know if that’s ok and please contact me again
if you have any other questions. Thanks !
Phil Forseth
763-427-2960 hm