Metro briefs: Brooklyn Park interim city manager takes Hennepin County job

Sable worked in the northern suburb for six years, most of it as assistant city manager to Jamie Verbrugge, who recently retired.

Sable worked for one year as an assistant to the city coordinator in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

From 2002 to 2007, Sable worked for Hennepin County, primarily as an aide to Commissioner Mark Stenglein, where he was a friendly, well-regarded and engaged presence.

He succeeds Judy Hollander, who is retiring.

Hennepin County Administrator David Hough announced the hiring in a memo to staff last week. Sable's post will be under the county's Operations Department.

In addition to the 24-story Government Center downtown, the facilities director oversees personnel matters and operations at numerous facilities countywide.

In Sable's farewell note to his Brooklyn Park colleagues, he said, "The trajectory for this community has never been higher and we continue to set the standard for engagement of the residents of this community."

Rochelle Olson

The failure to pry $3 million out of the Legislature for a rapid busway despite a last-minute plea from the chairman of the Metropolitan Council has east-metro leaders launching a campaign to warn that the whole area is falling behind national competitors.

Will Schroeer, executive director of the advocacy group East Metro Strong, will speak to Washington County commissioners this week about the need to support expanded transit spending in the east, which he feels is falling behind the west.

A map he'll project on-screen on Tuesday vividly shows how major transitways in Denver, Dallas and other cities are spreading outward in all directions, while the Twin Cities is just getting started.

Denver is No. 1, and the Twin Cities just 39th, in attracting a millennial generation fond of walkable neighborhoods linked by transit, by his reckoning.

Schroeer notes that transit lends itself to the 77 percent of new households in coming years that have no kids and will want apartments, condos and the like.

Met Council Chairman Adam Duininck sought to assist with a June 2 letter to legislative leaders seeking funds for the key Gold Line busway on Hwy. I-94 from St. Paul to Woodbury, the lack of which, he warned, could add $17 million in inflationary costs to the project.

David Peterson

The vote will come a few days late for Dakota County residents looking to grab a six-pack to celebrate July 4th.

The County Board is holding a public hearing Tuesday to decide if it should get rid of rules prohibiting stores from selling liquor on July 4th and New Year's Day. Those holiday regulations — which apply to stores where people are purchasing the alcohol to drink elsewhere, not bars — do not exist in state law.

Currently, restaurants and other licensed establishments in the county cannot sell liquor on Sunday until 10 a.m.

The Legislature voted to bump that to 8 a.m. Dakota County commissioners are expected to follow suit, based on staff recommendations.