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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday, February 24, 2014 <br /> Page 8 <br /> as Chair of the Capital Investment Committee responsible for writing the bonding <br /> bill, Rep. Hausman expressed her hope that this year would be more successful in <br /> achieving those priorities mentioned earlier, noting that it was important to be fair <br /> to all regions and sectors of the state. <br /> Rep. Hausman suggested that it would be helpful to talk about the turnaround in <br /> the economy that created opportunities for legislation; and even though there was <br /> a cushion of cash due to retaining a balanced budget, she opined that this was not <br /> the time to open up that budget and spend more money, until it was determined if <br /> the economic recovery was sustainable. While cautioning any feeding frenzies, <br /> Rep. Hausman suggested it is time to do one-time spending on infrastructure <br /> needs and make that investment now, perhaps with General Fund funding to take <br /> the pressure off debt capacity, and not take on any more debt that can be afforded <br /> to sustain the path to recovery and make good,responsible decisions. <br /> Senator Marty <br /> As Chair of the Energy and Environment Committee, Sen. Marty expressed his <br /> anticipation of a quieter and shorter session this year, with renewable energy ad- <br /> dressed last year; and now moving toward planning for the next generation and <br /> setting aside a process. Sen. Marty anticipated following up on last year, not with <br /> as much new legislation, but addressing a number of water quality/consumption <br /> issues, and working with the DNR and neighboring suburbs and their concerns <br /> with diminishing groundwater levels. <br /> Sen. Marty also expressed his appreciation for correspondence from the City, and <br /> looked forward to continuing to work with the City of Roseville; noting the City's <br /> current consideration of organized collection and expressed his personal support <br /> as a Roseville resident in pursuing that based on his past experience and <br /> knowledge of other cities and advantages in such a system, using several exam- <br /> ples (Cities of Maplewood and Sauk Rapids). Sen. Marty noted the work done by <br /> his committee in passing legislation last year allowing cities to work through a <br /> logical and rational process with existing haulers, even though this still remained <br /> a contentious and emotional issue. <br /> Representative Isaacson <br /> Only in his freshman term, Rep. Isaacson expressed his biggest initiative in how <br /> best to approach and reinvest in vocational education, a long forgotten area, with <br /> equal time and respect with liberal arts education opportunities. Rep. Isaacson <br /> noted that he had written a bill for the last session on how best to meet the needs <br /> of manufacturers in the State, with the availability of thousands of jobs working <br /> with medical technology devices, modular homes, and metal manufacturing as <br /> just a few examples. Rep. Isaacson opined that a review of the full scope of how <br /> the State looked at education and vocational training was indicated, suggesting <br /> employees get a job and then receive an applicable education to avoid so much <br /> debt in getting that necessary vocational training and providing better communi- <br />