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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,January 23,2012 Page 10 Councilmember McGehee noted that, in her discussions with older caregivers, they were interested in volunteering away from the care giving role through other volunteer opportunities, such as through mentoring or reading programs that could mesh with the City's ever-growing immigrant population that would use their accumulated knowledge. Councilmember Pust announced that the NSSC met the third Tuesday of each month at 10:00 a.m., with the next meeting in February in the lower level of City Hall, and welcomed anyone to come and participate in the discussion. Mayor Roe thanked Ms. Barsel for her input and for alerting the City Council to include this on its strategic planning radar. a. Legislative Update The City's legislative delegation was present at this time, including: Rep. Bev Scalze, Rep. Mindy Greiling, and Senator John Marty. Rep. Scalze noted that since this was a bonding year, it was typically a short ses- sion, with most legislators hoping for the session to be completed by the Easter break if not before. Rep. Scalze advised that she served on the Bonding Commit- tee, and had co-sponsored a bill with Senator Runbeck for the Rice Street bridge over I-694 to match the new construction over Highway 36. With the considera- ble discussion and rhetoric on constitutional amendments, Rep. Scalze opined that the fall ballot would be loaded with those issues, causing her to be somewhat ap- prehensive that the major issues would be lost in that rhetoric. Rep. Greiling noted her recent announcement that she would not be running for re-election; advising that this was allowing her to have her best year of all. While not being satisfied to sit around and watch, Rep. Greiling advised that since she was unsuccessful in her educational initiatives due to minority status, she had been working on a bill in support of organized trash hauling. Rep. Greiling ad- vised that she had met with the City of Roseville's Recycling Coordinator Tim Pratt last week, and found him to be a wealth of information. Rep. Greiling noted that, through her past involvement in the League of Women Voters and their for- mal platform supporting organized collection, she had a history in exploring the many facets of this issue. Rep. Greiling noted past legislative action, due to heavy lobbying by refuse haulers that significantly hindered this cost-saving op- tion for municipalities. Rep. Greiling referenced the only City successful in im- plementing organized collection since that legislation, that of the City of Maple- wood, and the cost of the Council seat of Mr. Nephew in that debate. Rep. Greiling advised that this was basically due to a campaign of misinformation by refuse haulers that flooded the community prior to the election; and advised that she had available the misinformation literature distributed by those lobbying groups, serving as an example of what big money can do in stifling decision-