Shorewood faces a public uprising

Confronted by hundreds of Lake Minnetonka area residents opposed to the sale of the South Shore Center, three Shorewood City Council members took a step back from selling the community and senior center in Shorewood.

But at a meeting Monday, Council Members Jeff Bailey, Richard Woodruff and Laura Turgeon held firm in their resolve to make Shorewood the sole owner of the center, which since 1996 has been jointly owned by Shorewood, Excelsior, Deephaven, Tonka Bay and Greenwood.

"Five cities trying to run the center doesn't work well," Bailey said.

Said Woodruff: "We have had a history of discussions and some not very good outcomes between the cities about how to get things done."

To become sole owner by buying out the other cities, Shorewood would need the approval of at least three of the four. Tonka Bay and Deephaven have already agreed. Excelsior has opposed the sale of the building but has not taken a position on sole ownership by Shorewood.

Greenwood City Council Tuesday opposed Shorewood's purchase of the building and directed its attorney to inform Shorewood that Greenwood rejects Shorewood's assertion that it has the option to buy it. Mayor Deb Kind said today, however, that the city might be open to Shorewood becoming the sole owner in the future if Greenwood is assured that it will remain a community center.

Shorewood Mayor Chris Lizee, who sees no need for Shorewood to buy the building, said the public turnout Monday to stop its sale "shows how important the center is to the community." Each city owes it to their residents to discuss whether to turn it over to Shorewood, she said.

"I think Shorewood can afford it," Woodruff said Tuesday. "Shorewood is blessed with a financial situation that is under control. We have some latitude to deal with the funding."

The building's future was called into question in February when the nonprofit Friends of the South Shore Center -- a group that had operated the facility and paid for ongoing expenses -- disbanded.

Finding a lack of agreement among the five cities about how to share costs and responsibilities for keeping the center open without the Friends group, Bailey, Woodruff and Turgeon moved to put Shoreview in charge.

In late March, the trio -- over Lizee's objections -- directed City Administrator Brian Heck to let the other cities know that Shorewood wanted to exercise its option as majority owner and host city to become the center's sole owner.

At the same time, they asked Heck to finalize negotiations for the sale of the building to the Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission (LMCC), the area's cable provider. The LMCC has said it submitted a bid of $432,000 over 10 years at the request of one of the Shorewood council members.

As hundreds of outraged citizens, mostly seniors, crowded into the South Shore Center to present a petition signed by 850 people to save the center, Lizee announced that she would walk over to City Hall and ask the council members to meet at the center before the people assembled there. At City Hall, Bailey, Turgeon and Woodward refused to move.

Shorewood resident George Noren took the podium in the City Hall chambers and said, "I am but one resident, but I say shame on you. You are our representatives. It is your responsibility to heed your constituents' wishes. Not your own."

Slowly people from the center began crowding into the small chambers, filling the adjoining vestibule and blocking the door. The large number of spectators caused the city's assistant fire chief to express safety concerns. Again Lizee asked the council members to move the meeting to the South Shore Center. This time they agreed.

Emotions were running high when the council meeting finally got started at the South Shore Center.

Under pressure from the crowd, the council revised its approach to the LMCC bid for the purchase of the building to require the cable company to have two-thirds approval from its 17 cities before submitting a bid to buy the building. The council also voted to have a title history prepared for the building and to have it appraised.

The joint ownership agreement for the building requires two-thirds of the 25 council members of the five cities to agree to get anything done, Woodruff said.

While it seeks to take over ownership, Shorewood has asked the other cities to agree on interim operating terms through June 30.