South news briefs: Three Rivers to cover Scott parks deficit

Three Rivers to cover Scott parks deficitThree Rivers Park District board members voted 5-1 on Dec. 15 to use surplus funds to retire the operating deficit for two parks it owns and operates in Scott County. The deficit added up to $850,000 over 10 years.

The park district is principally supported by taxpayers of suburban Hennepin County, and all board members come from suburban Hennepin.

Park board member Joan Peters of Golden Valley cast the one vote against the move, saying it's wrong for the park district to take "money from Hennepin County that our taxpayers paid for our parks and our use" and use it to subsidize parks in Scott County.

Three Rivers bought Cleary Lake Regional Park and Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve, both located in central Scott County, in the 1970s.

"Scott County is some distance away. It's a haul to go down there from anyplace in Hennepin County," Peters said.

A new arrangement with Scott County for jointly operating the parks, with Scott paying $602,000 a year and Three Rivers paying about $129,000 a year, should be re-examined, Peters said. Perhaps the parks that Three Rivers owns in Scott County should be sold to Scott just as the park district recently sold a park it owned in Anoka County to Anoka, Peters said.

There are unmet park needs in Hennepin County, with some suburbs still waiting for trails and some communities questioning why Three Rivers does not keep regional trails open in the winter, Peters said.

Because Scott County pays for most of the cost of operating the parks and the park district receives regional park funds that come from taxpayers outside of Hennepin County, Gibbs said he finds the arrangement with Scott to be workable.

"We have to keep a close eye on this, but I think that is true of all of them," Gibbs said.

City Council agrees to 1 percent raisesThe Farmington City Council voted last week to give a 1 percent pay raise in 2012 to two of its unions and also to non-union workers.

The vote was 4-1, with Council Member Julie May dissenting, to approve raises for the clerical, technical and professional workers unit and for the maintenance workers unit, both part of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The same increase for non-organized workers was approved by the same vote, except Mayor Todd Larson abstained because his wife is a supervisor in the sanitary department, said Human Resources Director Brenda Wendlandt. She noted that city department heads received a half-percent raise.

The city police union reopened its contract a year ago and agreed to reduce its increase by half to 1.75 percent for three years, Wendlandt said.

Arboretum swings into winter eventsWinter may have been slow in arriving this year, but the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum has been getting ready for it, planning a wide range of events for the coming months.

A sampling of upcoming attractions:

• "Explore, Experience, Remember," the Arboretum Photographers Society's juried show beginning Jan. 6. Photo clinics with a photographer from the society will be offered to the public from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturdays in January and February at the Visitor Center.

• A Winter Gourmet Dinner from 6:30-8 p.m. Jan. 13. $65 for members, $70 for non-members. Call 612-626-3951 or visit www.arboretum.umn.edu for reservations.

• The newly renovated Meyer-Deats Conservatory, filled with orchids, bromeliads and more.

• Story time for kids at 10:30 a.m. Thursdays at the Andersen Horticultural Library.

For a full listing of events and more information, go to www.arboretum.umn.edu.

Wine academy class focuses on aromasThe Lakeville Liquors wine academy will hold a class called "Can You Pass the Smell Test?" on Jan. 11, focusing on identifying the aromas of different wines. The wine featured during the event will be from Trinchero Estates of Napa Valley, Calif.

The class, which costs $20, will start at 7 p.m. at the Lakeville Area Arts Center, 20965 Holyoke Av. Purchase tickets online at www.startribune.com/a908 or by calling 952-985-4640.