Mayor Egan to resign? Sand mining bill introduced!
February 23rd, 2013
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS!!!
YES!!! Making progress today on two fronts in the frac sand world here in Red Wing and in Goodhue County!! First, Mayor Egan has announced he WILL resign, but he hasn’t yet. Second, there’s a draft bill circulating that regulates sand mining and which mandates an EIS, and I’ll post a more detailed review of that soon.
But the problem here is that Dennis Egan shouldn’t wait for a month to resign — Egan should resign NOW! Way down at the bottom of this is a good editorial from Richard Johnson, a former County Attorney, who was ejected from the Council meeting. He was outraged at the Council’s lack of a backbone, understandably! (I missed the meeting, couldn’t be there, was on the train almost to L.A. then, and trains have to be booked 6 months in advance to get a decent price.) The week of hasty communications before the Council meeting seems to have been worthwhile, seems to have been heard. It took a while, though, for them to get wound up. There are a lot of us here in town utterly disgusted by Egan’s lack of judgment and is inability to see that it’s a problem. Seems that the Council and us voters pushed hard enough to make it impossible for him to continue. His statements are still statements of denial, more evidence of the depth of his cluelessness (I’m struggling for words here!).
Let’s hope this resignation plan isn’t an April Fools gag. Red Wing City Council, GET IT IN WRITING!
The story in the paper is more extensive than the online version, CLICK HERE FOR PDF OF STORY IN REPUBLICAN EAGLE, and here’s what’s on-line:
Egan will leave mayoral post
Meanwhile, there’s a frac sand mining bill in the works, here’s the draft as I received it:
There are some issues with this, particularly regarding local control. This bill doesn’t do nearly enough to preserve the rights of local governments to do set their own more stringent regulations, it allows it but needs to clearly state that the local more stringent regulations are controlling — if not we’re in the same mess we wound up in on the Goodhue Wind project. Also, it sets a one year limit on the EIS preparation time, and from the transmission projects I’ve worked on, it may well take more than that. It does not include Chisago and Washington Counties… But this is a draft, there’s plenty of time to work on it. More on that in a bit.
And more good news — soon to be ousted Mayor Egan is in the Rochester Post Bulletin and the STrib too:
Last Mayor Egan post before Council meeting
February 11th, 2013
Here’s my latest missive to the Red Wing City Council, the final comment before tonight’s City Council meeting. CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT. We’ll be watching on the train – hope signal is good tonight!
My missive:
All –
Greetings from Chicago. FYI, I’m beginning a long planned vacation, and it’s not possible to rebook Amtrak without significant penalty, so with regrets, I will not be able to attend tonight’s meeting.
You will have some difficult but necessary decisions to make tonight.
There’s an important point I want to make about “our” Mayor Dennis Egan, and the options before the City Council. It’s not binary — it’s not either/or. Several people have said that he needs to choose one position or the other, framing it that there needs to be a choice of whether he will be “our” mayor or to represent frac sand interests. But it’s too late for that. He has already betrayed the people of Red Wing and his oath of office. He’s shown us his moral and ethical views, he’s demonstrated an inability or unwillingness to take the issue seriously, and he has shown the extent of his denial. That can’t be undone.
The issue before the council is Egan’s fitness as mayor, and not whether he should be given a choice to resign one position or the other. Whether he resigns as the “voice of frac sand” or whether he is removed from that position as the PR liability that he is, it doesn’t matter at this point if he’s no longer representing frac sand. With the facts of this issue, and with the Mayor’s behavior and public statements, the bottom line is that he can’t continue as Mayor because has shown us that he cannot be trusted to put the City’s interests first.
Mayor Egan has demonstrated that he’s not fit for office. He shouldn’t be mayor.
Not only that, Steve Murphy and I agree that this is an impermissible conflict. If Steve Murphy and I agree on something, it MUST be right!!!
Thank you for our attention to this issue. I urge you all to act mindful of the Code of Conduct for Red Wing elected officials and your oath of office.
Carol A. Overland
Vacationing in Chicago and on the way to L.A.p.s. I believe there are records of citizen complaints and comments that are missing from the packet and hope that the packets will be updated with all comments to date just prior to the meeting.
There is a lot more in the papers leading up to tonight’s meeting. I’m going to cut and paste so that when they disappear into archives, they’ll be accessible. First is the RW Beagle’s coverage:
Some citizens push for Egan to leave; he’s staying
By: Anne Jacobson, The Republican Eagle
The mayor said he doesn’t intend to resign.
The Red Wing Charter requires that five people sign before a recall committee can form.
“This has just got my blood boiling, how dare he,” Overland said.
Now from the Rochester Post Bulletin:
Our View: Red Wing mayor shouldn’t serve two masters
Posted: Friday, February 8, 2013 3:04 pm
Red Wing Mayor Dennis Egan says he doesn’t see a conflict interest between his new job as a lobbyist for the frac-sand industry and his role as an elected official. The trouble is, a lot of people do.“In my mind, there’s not a conflict,” Egan said.
“Would I ever be a lobbyist and hold public office at the same time?” Rehder said. “No.”
And on to the letters. The next two are a hoot, because Steve Murphy and I are actually agreeing on something. As I told the Council, if Steve Murphy and I agree on something it must be right.
Letter: Council should act if Egan won’t
Shame on lobbyist-Mayor Dennis Egan. It’s time for him to resign. If not, it’s time to eject “our” mayor from office. By: Carol A. Overland, The Republican Eagle
To the Editor: Shame on lobbyist-Mayor Dennis Egan. It’s time for him to resign. If not, it’s time to eject “our” mayor from office.
Mayor Egan, resign. If not, it’s time for the city of Red Wing to act.
And now Steve Murphy’s editorial:
Letter: City painted with political disdain
The recent developments surrounding the mayor of Red Wing and his employment with the sand mining industry as a paid lobbyist are extremely troubling. It matters not how you feel about the issue of frac sand mining or the use of hydraulic fracturing to harvest gas and oil; the distressing concern at hand is both a matter of law and one of integrity. By: Steve Murphy, The Republican Eagle
Neither of these instances holds true in Dennis Egan’s case.
I have heard Egan’s reasoning for not stepping down as mayor. His reasoning is simply ridiculous.
Steve Murphy formerly represented the Red Wing area in the Minnesota Senate.
Red Wing Mayor Egan exposed
February 6th, 2013
Red Wing’s Mayor Dennis Egan is in pretty deep, and it’s getting deeper. The Red Wing City Council will address the discovery that he’s a frac sand toady at the Monday City Council meeting. That’s good to hear. And they need to hear from those of us who are appalled at his duplicity.
URGENT – TODAY – contact the Red Wing City Council members and forward this Red Wing City Council contact info to friends, neighbors and family in Red Wing.
sebion3@gmail.com, lisa.bayley@ci.red-wing.mn.us, deanhove@charter.net, michael.v.schultz@charter.net, peggy.rehder@ci.red-wing.mn.us, ralph.rauterkus@ci.red-wing.mn.us, marilyn.meinke@ci.red-wing.mn.us
And don’t forget to copy: dennis.egan@ci.red-wing.mn.us, kay.kuhlmann@ci.red-wing.mn.us
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Red Wing Mayor to represent silica sand industry
Sand storm heads toward Capitol
Mayor Egan – the voice of frac sand mining!
Red Wing Mayor Egan leads Minnesota Industrial Sand Council; citizens wonder who he’ll serve
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In the STrib today:
Red Wing’s mayor gets second job with frac sand lobbying group
(I liked the first headline better: “Red Wing’s mayor signs on with frac sand lobby”)
His work to promote fracking is a conflict of interest, residents say.
Bayley said the council will discuss the matter Monday at a regularly scheduled meeting.
Kuhlmann did not return a phone call Tuesday afternoon.
“In my mind, there’s not a conflict,” Egan said.
“The issue of local control is very important to us,” Rehder said.
“Would I ever be a lobbyist and hold public office at the same time?” Rehder said. “No.”
And in the Rochester Post Bulletin:
Red Wing mayor to represent silica sand industry
The peculiar situation has riled some.
Egan, who took office in 2011 and was re-elected in 2012, signed a contract Friday that installs him as executive director of the newly formed Minnesota Industrial Sand Council. The council is an organization of six Minnesota companies with an interest in mining silica sand, including the owner of a proposed St. Charles development, with Egan at its head. The council also represents the interests of companies involved in silica mining in an ancillary way, such as railroads, trucking and petroleum producers.
“The folks had gotten my name because that’s what I do,” said Egan, who has worked the last 10 years as a Capitol lobbyist. “It wasn’t tied to anything other than ‘Dennis, you’ve done this for 10 years and you have a good reputation.’ My approach is you need to work in collaboration to move projects forward.”
The new group has hired Minneapolis-based Larkin Hoffman law firm to serve as its lobbyist during the current legislative session, where Sen. Matt Schmitt, DFL-Red Wing, is expected to propose silica sand legislation later this week. Egan hopes to develop a list of best practices related to dust mitigation and other mining issues.
Southeastern Minnesota is at the forefront of the state’s silica sand controversy. The issue first surfaced just a few miles from Red Wing when Windsor Permian, an Oklahoma-based energy company, purchased 155 acres of land in 2010 and expressed an interest in mining silica sand. Concerns spread rapidly through the region since then, with Winona, St. Charles and Wabasha being the current hot spots.
There are just five active silica sand mines in the state, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, but many new ones have been proposed. Demand for the hard, round sand has exploded due to advances in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract oil and natural gas, particularly in North Dakota.
Egan, who has previously served as the Chamber of Commerce President in Red Wing and Rochester, said that he’s been brought in to resolve controversial situations in St. Louis and Ramsey counties, among others, in prior business deals. He’s since created his own company called Egan Public Affairs, which specializes in such endeavors.
“It’s another project in which you find passions on both sides of the aisle,” Egan said of his new role. “I don’t want to come across as downplaying that for southeast Minnesota. It’s a big issue; I recognize that.”
However, some aren’t convinced Egan’s new role is proper given his status as an elected official. Carol Overland, a Red Wing attorney, e-mailed the city council raising concerns about a conflict of interest and her concerns don’t appear to have fallen on deaf ears. Though council president Lisa Bayley declined comment and others didn’t return calls, council member Peggy Rehder expressed frustration that she wasn’t directly informed of Egan’s plans; the news was first posted online Friday evening by “Politics in Minnesota.”
Egan said he informed Red Wing City Administrator Kay Kuhlmann of the job offer prior to accepting; Kuhlmann was not available for comment.
“I’m puzzled,” Rehder said. “I think we need more information and we need a legal opinion from the city attorney.
“You’re absolutely right that people are concerned.”
While the situation is expected to be discussed further at Monday’s city council meeting, members of the citizen’s opposition group Save The Bluffs see it as a clear conflict of interest.
“How can you represent citizens and the industry at the same time?” asked John Tittle, a Red Wing resident and Bluffs member. “It seems like it would be a conflict. It seems kind of obvious.”
Egan responded to those challenges by saying the city ordinance had been approved for months by the time the sand companies approached him in late December. Should any new proposals be made, the mayor says he’d recuse himself from those discussions.
Mayor Egan – the voice of frac sand mining!
February 5th, 2013
Red Wing’s Mayor, Dennis Egan, is the voice of frac sand mining. Yes, it’s true, and here is his email so you can tell him what you think: dennis.egan@ci.red-wing.mn.us
What’s the big deal? Well, it’s a simple matter of whose interests the mayor represents. It’s about ethics. The Mayor’s job is to public represent the City of Red Wing, the “titular head” of the city. Can he spell C-O-N-F-L-I-C-T?
The City of Red Wing recently spent a year addressing frac sand in the City, first enacting a Silica Sand Moratorium and then an Ordinance. This remains a major issue at Goodhue County, and in the entire state of Minnesota.
It appears that organizing his “Red Wing 2020,” an “Advisory Committee to the Mayor” and having this “Advisory Committee to the Mayor” host a frac sand mining promotional love fest wasn’t enough, nooooooooo, now he’s officially, publicly, and professionally promoting frac sand interests, and he’s being paid for it. While he’s Mayor of Red Wing? Can you believe it?
A recent Politics in Minnesota article laid it out, that he’s “Executive Director” of the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council, which is a lobbying group to promote frac sand mining and associated interests. Here’s the scoop that relates to Mayor Egan:
FYI, Mayor Dennis Egan’s facebook pages says he “lives in St. Paul.” Curiouser and curiouser!