good local elected officials we certainly couldn't get everybody there i'm certain the other people we could have had invited here today but in the time we have anybody any panel beyond five or six is it's just not true that so i want to make sure i just cities and towns ships that are in the city is the county of washington the washington county sheriff's office has primary law enforcement dial responsibilities probably in one thousand of those communities the other ones are people on the economic development of the city and spend that extremely good and even their nest recession or one of the few cities in the metro area that continues to grow  human services finance committee the ways and means committee and the state government finance committee you know year ago when we were sitting at this breakfast we had a republican governor governor plenty and democratic legislature and here we are a year later completely flipped we have a democratic governor mark dayton and republican legislature there's been a lot of changes of the legislature and a lot happening some of the things i've worked on in oakdale the go del mar we worked on the test financing so thrilled to see that the mall is going to be coming down and the developments going to be going forward i introduced a bill this year on integration funding tell our preschools to access that funding i visited oakdale elementary they have a new preschool program the resident i have always enjoyed these types of forums getting a chance to field questions concerns recommendations and obviously the number one issue before us not only in the community the state the nation would be jobless and the economic recovery and the steps that are being taken we are at an impasse as you know at the legislature right now with the governor and that's in negotiation ultimately it gets resolved and we'll be talking more about specifics projections etc but the big picture on that ultimately it gets resolved ultimately we get a funding project built through that will address the fire station the training facility that would include oakdale and maplewood neighborhood partnerships communities of the veterans memorial either this year or next year i would hopefully see something in a binding bill for tale that we tried to get resolved at the last day or two of the session have to do with the h r a you do wonderful things with the housing redevelopment authority but there was a recent court decision that would  have potentially limited the ability of the h r a for issuing bonds we want to get a clarification in statute and we're working in a bipartisan way for that and you're read a lot you know do they get alarming and for the most we do obviously there's a disagreement on budget that gets resolved but i want to mention one great example of bipartisanship and that would be tyler's law and all of us that as legislators were involved in that but that not realizing even with the garage door opening open that the fumes didn't go out and he died within several minutes we were in a bipartisan way and just had the signing by the governor put in legislation that will now require some inclusion in driver's training it'll have information in the manual as well as the testing but that's an example like of legislation and at that grassroots had it's passed we heard from so many people including one oakdale business person i won't mention his name who lost his brother the same way again and he made a point of being at that ceremony as well there's a lot of examples of people that come forward and share concerns and we do resolv bipartisan or nonpartisan way and i want to make sure that you understand that for the most part we can resolve those types of issues so i look forward to the specific questions on the budget and other proposals before us then thank you for being here thank you good morning i am ted lilly a state senator from eleven neighboring communities from woodbury to stillwater and in central washington county and i thank you very much for the opportunity to be here this morning actually i feel rather at home this morning having been that i've been a member of the old bill business professional association for many years and i have served on its board and and i really want to thank all of you for being here this morning because you're the ones that are making the difference you're the ones that are creating jobs putting people to work and making this economy go at the levels that it is in you're the ones that will create the new jobs that we need to get out of this economic situation that we have been in as chuck mentioned  at the legislature we have had our differences and i'm sure that we'll have a few questions regarding those differences but at the same time there are things that we can do to work together and there are political issues in then there are those issues it just makes good common sense to work together on nora and i have all worked together on different issues for this community and for watching tony that are important to get done and we don't want to lose that that fact that that actually there is a lot that happens where we work together in the legislature and we will continue to do that so thank you again for the opportunity to be here i'm sure we'll have some great questions this morning thank you all and we'll get started with the questions so the space to model little bit so we have some of the tougher ones in the middle so we don't be offended if we don't start with what might everybody thinks we might start with but we did try to put some logical order to the questions and and go from there just a couple points a housekeeping office if you have cell phones on make sure they turn to  and that is said and more it touched on this in our intro since our breakfast here last june there has been some substantial change at the state capitol both of you went from being in the party's majority to these now seats in the minority talk if you allah what was both hard to adjust to personally and weigh what may have been some unintended or possible positives from the transition and all who wants to start there so i won't thank you thanks for the question increasing taxes that was his main platform he was very upfront about it that he was going to do it on propose raising taxes on the wealthiest minnesotans and we've had a republican legislature that wants to hold down taxes elective the same time so it's been dead a big  change you know where the state of jesse ventura and you know so anything can happen and i think that the biggest thing for me is you know i want to respect the voters and respect you know what they're thinking about right now are trying to figure out what what are you all thinking and what  and we have a less active role in those issues in particular but we're still fully out in the community of participating i'm a member of all p p a and working on legislation so that's probably been one of the biggest changes and then not being able  to move bills forward as quickly as we would like to you know that the integration funding to allow preschool soldier elementary could do that all the time and get that money they have to get special letter from the department of education to get them to use this funding this way  it's hard to move things forward quite as quickly as it you know legislature is a place where we do have a lot of conflicts so it is that that's about the tackling as a someone always does we've had a lot of special sessions as you all know the last couple of years we tried to get our business we did get of the stuff on time so this is a little bit of an unusual situation we are in over time but it's going to work out it will get resolved understand that and thankfully we're in a system where it can be done peacefully civilly but after that adjustment up packing up and going across the street it was realizing you're no longer the chair of a committee and that a big impact then was a lot of proposals bills that i had introduced i thought would still get a hearing and maybe it was because there just wasn't enough time but a number of i thought this would be a good time with redistricting to do that but i didn't get a hearing or can understand you know the political reason that we have gone into that but one compulsory attendance i believe strongly should attend school until you're eighteen or you were in session to give a chance to hear from people in your district it didn't matter the political party another one that i had as an example where i couldn't get a hearing well it was about time you're driving privilege to stay in school and if you're not in school whether it's through have the true truancy where you have dropped out you don't have the eligibility the privilege to drop in to your eighteen some people thought that was too harsh but i couldn't get a hearing so it was frustrating to not you know hearings on bills when i was a chair obviously you could arrange that during other committees but thankfully there were tad on the same line say you are now part of the republican majority in the state senate by many accounts the leadership of your party made very sweeping changes to the senate to the way it does business in everything from staffing t committees to just overall structure now that structure change and all those we've changed to come with some criticism talk if you will about what those changes were did they work and if not what are some that may have  not been so fared so well and may have to revert back to something of old or something of difference all right thank you mark as the republicans took over the leadership roles in the senate it was the first time in thirty eight years that the republicans had been in the majority in the senate so there were a lot of changes that were that have been needed for a long period of time and then i understand chuck's frustration at certain things but there were i just want to comment on that first there were some committee chairs that were not as fair or not as equitable as as chuck had been in the past and there were other committee chairs who were doing some of those same types of types of things but what we did is we looked at at the legislature and thought how do we how do we start to solve this problem of having a six billion dollar budget deficit and one of the first things we did is we aligned our house and senate committees in a way that saved about a million dollars right up front by having less committees by having committees that in the false in the senate basically aligned so that you as a constituent you as a business owner if you wanted to talk to a committee or get a bill passed through the legislature that you were able to follow that through one of the things that happen sometimes with bills is that is that when you bring a bill to the to a senator or representative you it's not intuitive how it gets through the legislature so by aligning those we are able to save money and streamline that process of getting bills through the system one of the first things that we did is that we elected female leadership and we have two women that are the first leaders the first president in the fridge and the person first majority leader that are female leaders in the history of the state of minnesota and that was stat was significant for us to do they are they have been great leaders they've done a very good job and they'll continue to do that one and one of the things that i worked on is is that with those kind of interesting the first day that we were there  you start start off your session by saying a prayer every day and then you say the pledge of allegiance and the second day of session we said our prayer and then all of the senior members sat down and all the freshmen were still standing up wondering what are we going to say the pledge of allegiance and as it turns out the history in the senate was that you don't say the pledge of allegiance every day so i talked with our leadership about how how can we do this and basically leadership talked on in both parties work together on this and found a way to to make sure that we are saying the pledge of allegiance every day and we want to step further we have a military leader a veteran come in and lead us in the in the pledge of allegiance every week as a way to recognize the service that they have given to the given to the state so those are some of the things that we did initially with the legislature in the in the set up of our of our programs thank you senator x does mark yes i'd just like to  believe that was a good change on me that senator louie mentioned for the efficiency for the committees and making them more friendly to the consumer like in education when i chaired education policy we saw the logic in putting policy and finance together and combined you know you could argue having several different committees might give more attention to an issue but ultimately it gets done by one large committee while that topic does not get the same press once did i would you say washing county is fairing and what where our largest issues reduced backed to drugs today well i would disagree at least for our communities that we're losing the drug war i think we have a an excellent approach is just not a force with but we also are very walled in education we work very well with all our other public safety providers within washington county in providing both not only  in washington county it's not so much where but what i think is what maybe the intent of the question is the issues that we are confronting you're dealing with this types of drugs that we're dealing with from an narcotics perspective as we all know  are number one contributor to contribute to or to maybe dysfunction if you will but also the types of drugs that we're dealing with continued to be marijuana cocaine methamphetamine and unfortunately heroin this making me come back when i first started law enforcement heroin was more of the drug for maybe some older folks if you could kind of put it in that category there was not so many young people unfortunately what we are seeing is heroin is making a significant comeback monks individuals who are sixteen to twenty three twenty four years old we've had some couple of high profile learning not even high profile deaths occur within the county from young folks overdosing on heroin so it's a very unfortunate on event but i hear when this making some come back we've also heard a lot of the some synthetic bath salts happening out there right now i believe there was a high profile event that occurred in blaine where the young man lost his life out there at a party were an individual bought what did scuse me the referencing as bass salts over the internet and then they were small to be used at a party were what one person died and i believe those are being looked at as well so the legislature saw we are and we are making some mom having some contact with young people who are using the holes however anybody would ever think of those types of synthetic drugs is beyond me but it happens so those are the types of drugs that we're dealing with and then also pursue illegal use of prescription drugs as we have participated in over the last a couple years of been drug take backs and they've been very successful at our level we partner with the da with that and basically we just set up a spot working with public health da and we allow people just to drive by and drop off any of their prescription drugs if you can just think in your own mind and don't raise hands and don't shout all but just take your own medicine cabinets expired drugs that are in there  the expired medications that are in there whether they be tylenol or some type of prescribe narcotics through a an m d won't we try to get the word out there to have focus when buying just drop them off and then there are appropriately disposed of through public health and the e a a because those are the types of drugs that others family members more often than not have access to and also use so we're very happy with our success that we have with those drug take backs so that's what's happening in the drug culture world for us thank you share next question is for mayor ceroc obviously city governments a little different than  what we've been talking about here but with the need to tighten budgets there have been some criticism of cities that focus dollars on so called quality of life areas or issues and i believe carmen that if you have been a supporter of governing that they look at everything when they come into a city not only when you move in the city for your home but also your business business owners like to live in cities that are active that are kept up   development we have a lot of good things gone when we've had a proposal for our own hotel attached to the golf course here an extended stay hotel which we're through thursday and then on the weekends you'd have your weekend people that come and stay and you know weddings etc so we're seriously thinking layout of that it would be a good income producer for the city of o b l it would help the golf course which of the you know all golf courses right now are struggling it would really help them and so we're really looking at that one right now but that's the reason we look at quality of life things we feel it's so important for everybody in this city thank you mary my next question we had multiple versions of this question coming to us so we tried to consolidate and rewrite it just going to be for like people but when each of you had a very different right to your recent election wins many have expressed curiosity as to what you feel the keys are to successful action and also what the biggest nuances and possible frustrations in the election and campaign process are overall thinking about one nuance might be getting beat by somebody that's withdrawn from the race campaign year to actually have for myself that was my first campaign that never run for any office before so that was a brand new experience for me but the way i looked at it is is basically i was starting a new business a small business and i needed to build an effective team was the first thing that i did and that team would do deal with things like raising money putting up signs communications all of those things similar things to what we do every day in business but the really important piece of it was communications talking with people at the doors so i did that i spent a lot of time talking with people talking with residents at their doors about what was important to them and what i heard was that we needed to  jobs we need to find a way to grow our economy to put people back to work citizens are worried about the unemployment level being at the level it was out in two thousand and ten and continues to be out today people are concerned about the foreclosures of the home down the street and the impact that that has on their home values they were concerned about their opportunities for their children to succeed to learn and grow and in society and be valuable members of society they were concerned about all of those issues and they were asking for a new way of looking at things they were they were basically asking us please look at government as we do at home at home when we don't have money we don't spend it we do not do things at home when we cannot afford to do those so if one of us loses in a family loses a little bit of our income then maybe we don't send kids to camp the next year or we'd we find ways to live within our means and they were asking us to do the same thing in government and that's the reason that we put forward a budget that that was a balanced budget that live within our means that basically spent the money that was in the checkbook and no more and there is a difference of opinion about how to how to finish out this session this  not come back other times they will share a life story the ask for help in a particular area to cut red tape and that is the part of the honor of serving that i find the most fulfilling is when you can actually help someone or refer them to the city hall or to the sheriff's office or maybe to the employment service and and those types of you know remembering that that it's a very humbling and it's an honor that there's absent falls in the political pide that's you know sometimes it's going to go in or out for the others we have a check and balance system and to surviv made a priority with what o'dell they have through the mayor through commissions etc through the cable show that i have i try to highlight that as many o p l issues where people can come and address items as well so the constituent service getting out there addressing issues that go beyond you know just the partisanship of an issue and what's really really important and that's right get the most satisfaction that's probably great partner to have in the senate and has worked very hard for the people of oakdale and of the syria i would say it's somewhat similar i mean every every elections just a little bit different but it's really important to get out there and to listen to people people are going through we're all going through similar things with our jobs with the you with the economy and you we need to hear what you're thinking at any particular point some of things you are hearing is jobs are a huge issue you know three am is still doing has done some downsizing with people who are worried about losing their jobs and some of the businesses around here and then we hear i would hear door to door the people that lost their jobs and then they lose their homes and then their kids have to you know move and that's it it's a lot of people that are very worried out there i'd say this campaign another thing is that the schools and the quality of the schools is people are really concerned about that as we know we've had some schools in our district that have made no child left behind lot on health care you know we have when we work with constituents there are some constituents out there that have really serious issues with something that involves a state that we have constituent staff that work on and health care is one of those issues we have people that act cut off care fell off of minnesota care got caught and changes and state health care they can't get health care it's a big deal so that's that was one of the big issues we saw last time and then transportation the quality of the roads you know three on these to get their products to and from three am and so there are there plants into to where they need to go and so that we're still seeing some issues with the roads so i think in terms of campaigning what i try to do is listen be that way and then to be responsive and open and addressing things that happen i think the second party question was what changes did we see sort of in the last election and one of the big ones was there was a supreme court decision on the kind of money that could be used in campaigns a corporate money this time so we saw a big change in some of the ads and advertisements and how people grouped together and did ads for and frankly against people so we saw a lot of money coming in that had not come into campaigns before property taxes were just a huge issue this time you know we have seniors and oakdale and maplewood and washing counties that are getting taxed out of their homes so this this whole idea of no new taxes and no new taxes  from the governor has forced up property taxes and people are being forced out of their homes and so that was something i thought we heard i hear a lot about and that probably the biggest change is we have the rise of the tea party which affected us and a big way the legislature made campaigns a lot lot meaner made them a lot different there was sort of this new streak of rebellion in this very much anti government sounds and for those of us that  believe in government and think that government services are really important for people whether it's your schools or your health care or the roads that you drive on that was a very much an anti government sentiment and so i think that's one of the teenagers that we'll see that's obviously representative everybody has different issues everybody has different needs and the challenges are always there but it's a privilege to be elected and honor and i found this election to be very interesting and  i think it's going to be kind of tough out there for the next several years in politics and government campaign because i'm in the city every day of the year every day of the year talking about all i get a feel for what's going on in our city and what's important to people and if people are satisfied with possible and then they can give them as much services cost will and try to be as proactive and reactive to people's concerns as we can i think that comes through they don't want to console that's continually fighting they want a console that gets along and can get things done and that's what we're elected to do we're not here to fight with each other we're here to move on get things done john you lose  move on you don't dwell on it and you go to the next item because you don't have time to sit there and argue about petty little stuff so i don't consider that a  i don't think you need a primary in a city election what happens in a primary is that you can get your group but two hundred people that have a gripe and you can get this person through the primary primaries because they are usually done very few people vote only the people that that are interested in that want to get in that their person is running so i'm glad we don't do it not deal i think it's a fair because you're you're representing the whole city not just your neighborhood but thank god for primaries and the sheriff election because it was nine hundred that stood up against sheriff that he was not opposed this last with was i democrat or republican i was very probably a let them know it's a nonpartisan position and i can rest as many democrats and republicans as i want without getting grief from anybody if it's all that one job very well but when it comes to campaigning is probably the greatest experience of my life and also the worst experience of my life it is very arduous but it's never ending as an elected official i would suspect that most people are the  over the last four years as the sheriff awash in the county i think that was one of the reasons but i took my campaigning as an opportunity as well educate folks as i said at the opening statement most most polls see the police the sheriff's office carmen believes that's what their primary function is as the sheriff is to have squad cars in and provide that service in the community but the sheriff's office is very very come about five of them thank you but i was wondering for a share of cotton how many people when you're on think you're governor clinton affect us sol just goes on and on and on my wife works for the state so that's my personal part that will affect my household that it it will be very serious we have conference calls going on right now trying to figure out we have a lot of people wondering what will happen and i met with the commissioner of health and human services walked out with one of her deputies and she said yeah you know july first i i will lose my health care and i said because of the shutdown and she said yes and she said so i told my family they can't get sick i mean and then she said last time this happened to her husband is like i mean you know so so it's going to be very serious there is talk of people losing their health care and what happens if and that situation it would affect most state employees because we have not passed any of the budget bills in the two thousand and five we had passed some of the budget bills because it could happen yes let it go on for a while absolutely and it will be widespread but we're learning every day kind of what the ramifications thank you know our government shutdown  government serve and that committee would sooner lily but there the parties are at a disagreement right now as to how much revenue should be raised by the state i want without getting into a full debate remind everyone that there are many cuts that are being proposed by governor dayton you know it's not just all spending and there are lots of cuts but we would submit these are jobs that we're losing as well  if you work in public service this is a job these people contribute to are going to me you know and it has a dramatic impact on the private sector the impact whether it's in the state parks renewing your driver's license there challenging situation there's nothing funny about this this is very serious this impacts people's families their businesses their life legal this impacts all of us to some degree or another and it is beats being taken very seriously by everybody on all sides or obviously or different perspectives on how to solve the situation there have been offers made i assume that we will come back to this issue with further questions where we can develop it further but this impacts everybody in the state of minnesota and we need to pay attention to this and keep working at it and i know that we'll have a chance to talk further about what's to come to you senator next question and that was just a teaser we have several questions surrounding this topic  and various things that you think should be kept in mind by the legislatures and maybe why can't you just lock yourselves in a role and not leave it until it gets figured out so maybe in this case once it started no  legislature brand new democratic governor elected i completely opposite fiscal platforms you know we have a mass of the state budget and our economic recovery is a crossroads and so how we is really really important are we going to tax the top the son of people so the people that have done while that maybe people in this room the people that are are making it and bring in that extra revenue and have minnesota continue to have the quality of life that we want and i hope they all and i'm washing counting have schools that we need to have discover and services that we need or are we going to face massive massive cuts you know that that is the fundamental decision  of what we're doing we feel that the republicans have not moved on the house the governor has has had an offer that he's backed off of twice and come to the middle and offered to compromise  elected unless how do you come to this both sides need to come to the middle and make a decision the governor stacked up how many taxes so raise republicans need to talk about revenue and how they're going to put revenue on the table whether it's taxing the richest minnesotans having a hospital surcharge alcohol tax you name sin taxes you know all the different cigarette taxes and there are numerous things we can do to bring in revenue  john main theme so be fair balanced we have to have a balanced budget unlike congress so it will be balanced i predict it will be a little bit higher than thirty four billion i don't have any problem with people being locked in a thousand people i'm told will lose coverage these are people in oakdale as well where do they go do they go to an e r room yes they do and then that's going to ultimately go on property taxes so we will be looking at that safety n public safety we have to provide public safety and there's a certain exemptions we have in the military for veterans affairs and and for what are we going to do for education higher read those are all just minnesota values that we have learned something ultimately that's going to raise the you know a bit more revenue there's different formulas and whether it's going to be at that higher tier which the governor is you we've we've spoken here of all of the areas that we can work together and the things that we have done in the legislature together bipartisan working together this is obviously an area where we disagree we  have here we have differences in how to get across the finish line here i've had the benefit and the challenge and the opportunity to sit at the table with the governor i'm on the negotiating team with the governor so it's the senate majority leader minority leader myself assistant leader and then the same from the house of representatives so i've been in every one of those negotiating meetings that we've had with the governor and i can tell you that it's been a generally positive conversation it's been a conversation that's been assertive and direct but it's not been confrontational to the point of tearing apart we are working hard to try find a solution that that answers the needs of the residents and the businesses of minnesota but there are quite all differences in how we get there the governor started off at a point that that is it's it's a number that does not exist last by any in the state of minnesota spent thirty billion dollars we invested thirty billion dollars thirty point one thirty point seven billion dollars in our  year the governor started with the number of thirty nine billion and then it's come down to thirty seven billion but but those are high numbers those are big numbers and in business in our families when we put together our budgets we evaluate what revenues do we have available what do we have available to spend and then we adjust our costs to to match those numbers and that's what we need to try to do in government the republican offer took us from thirty point seven billion up to thirty four billion dollars there's a conversation happening about is there a compromise what is the compromise well in business you don't have time to have multiple offers and offers upon offers you come in with your best offer the first time and you say this is what we have available this is where we can go to this is what we feel the people of minnesota can support with the with the taxes that you are vain and that is the offer that was made it was a very reasonable offer it's about a twelve percent increase from what we spent in the last by any and now even the some are calling it an all cuts budget that the republicans are talking about but even the even the senate minority leader senator tom bock said this is the largest budget in the history of the state of minnesota the largest budget ever in the history of the state of minnesota how can that be defined as an all cuts budget it is not we are investing a lot in in our people in our systems in our health care in our education and we're trying to get this done in a way that they you can afford that you can afford now the latest offer that the republicans put forward is a compromise it's an effort to match the governor on half of the budget we looked at the education budget and we were off by a little bit and we matched the governor's number one hundred percent of the governor's education budget has been offered courts and in judicial one hundred percent of the governor's budget has been offered so so we have tried to meet in the middle with half of the budget and come up to that level and the governor is not ready to do that yet so so i'm sure that that we have differences of how we want to get there but but but facts are stubborn and this budget is the largest budget in the history of minnesota we feel it's a reasonable budget it's a reasonable offer and it's one that we can accept as a state and it would be a shame if the governor would choose to take us to a shutdown over a tax increase that just penalizes the that while it has been a great responsibility a great accomplishment to have in your first year it has increased your exposure and give you a high explosive and with that exposure comes criticism there have been some that have said ted you're an extremist there have been some that party is up to slash and dash policy speak to what your responsibilities are as a member of the ethics what it's like and how would you answer your critics that the governor has come out and said that some in the republican party are extremists and when he said that i think he actually was referring to be because i am at that table talking with him that i would say i'm not extreme i would say that i mean stream i would say that i'm an average citizen just like you i'm a business don't i don't think that we are extreme i think that we're trying to have those same rules and principles applied to government that we've had applied to our families and businesses thank you senator next question is for represent islamic a were dropped and we have the area has like woodbury right next door up ten thousand people we have to enter in st paul where and slow down sort of on the big night area down thirty five hundred people so you have to redraw the districts to make sure everybody bill didn't go anywhere and the process is going to the courts it went to the courts last time when what happened last time is they look at existing boundaries what are what is district thirty five drawn and what is  st paul and they would so part of it i think in the when the courts are looking at this and when a judge is looking as they will go back and look at why would you change that so why would you change the the school district boundaries and so that's that's one thing the mayor maybe would testify that by putting maplewood in with st paul it violates all their sort of joint powers agreements so he made what does everything with oakdale or woodbury or north st paul and they don't do things with s paul so that's the that was the dividing line is i live in that that part so there's a couple things that i don't i don't see this happening but you never know i mean the maps come out and they have whoever if you have two reps that are drawn in together whoever has more their whole district traditionally goes for the other person doesn't that if that happened you know it would be difficult not to represent o'dell because it's been a great honor and a privilege and to get some know all of you and to be part of with a plant every twenty first typically they will come out with it very close to that we know there will be a lot of changes and will you know take it as it comes out and now that redistricting as is one more thing some people say how can you live democrats so submit a proposal the chief justice for them this a supreme court has appointed a five member panel i believe that's going to review it and i think there was she has a very balanced group of people there to look at it there is the possibility the legislature could reach an agreement but just as norah mentioned that the republicans had ten or so democrats going against each other i suspect the democratic plan may be the same but the reverse least some retail some office and some senior housing in the back there the senior housing in the back has a good chance to take  we haven't even considered a community center there and we probably never will so i just want to clear that up because i know that as the question has come up a number of times the plan is on if we get one there you know actually make that property more valuable for the developers because because then there's a nice easy end to the property and out of the property otherwise  next question mr senator we hear senator you mentioned in the question so why is the stage you to start your career in politics on a school board specifically to school board here at district six twenty two that experience along with your successful fifteen years in the senate gives you some unique perspective schools of minnesota in this question are believed to have a little system of inequities based on various voter approved levies that that vary from community community  do you favor it over on the education funding model to take away from property taxes as being one of them one of the drivers of in this question so persons questions a little bit of a den of inequities yes  there should be an overhaul a governor dayton has formed a bipartisan group that's looking at it is well and to date actually i believe that the several superintendents from throughout the area are go high school in a press conference asking overhaul of the system yeah and it should not be based on the wealth of a community it shouldn't be based on the ability of the community to pass a levy where you put students in it jason community have a disadvantage in terms of educational opportunity our constitution addresses this i believe in terms of everyone having a right to an education and implied that in that is equal opportunity for each person and while it's not going to be identical in each district the system that i know that to has the there that's number one reason still why someone will move to a community that the quality of the schools and done ok has a wonderful reputation for them but it's at risk with the current system of funding and i believe there will be a continued call for this for a bipartisan effort to reform it and as i said there is a call for that right now by governor dayton in that it will be in the news  indeed true and if that is indeed the case why two weeks prior to sessions and did a gay marriage proposal come up and take the floor time it did well first off  this is something the gay marriage or the marriage amendment is something that is passed in thirty one states across the country so this is a this is an issue that people in america are talking about people in minnesota are talking about on the floor of the senate we spent one evening it was a long evening there was a good conversation a lot of passionate discussion about the marriage amendment was was had on the senate floor but it was one evening it was not a whole session it was not a whole week it was one day and  the way i see this what we're looking at is should minnesotans have a right to vote on the marriage amendment should they have a right to define marriage i didn't see it that the senate was defining this and that that i think is one of the big differences of opinion between the two parties but basically what i saw is a situation where in some states we have one judge one person who makes a decision about the definition of marriage in the in the in that state and in some cases you have a legislature that is making that decision in the state of minnesota there are two hundred and one legislators so should they make that decision in fact they already have the democrats who have been in charge of the senate in the past have already passed legislation that makes marriage between two people of the same sex illegal in minnesota so in the so that has already happened in minnesota and this is looking at doing that in the constitution so so to me it's the opportunity for the people of minnesota to have that chance to vote to end poyser opinion to have their voices heard and i think that it will be heard in that spirit it'll be very interesting to see what happens i don't think it's definitely i don't think it's a set piece that it's going to go one way or the other i think the people of minnesota will have their voice they will have their chance and that's what this was about and he said with mark yes just like to add that usually constitutional amendment discussion goes on the even year or the your that the election is for the voters and regardless of one's position it was noted the state already was same sex marriage i didn't think there was that sense of urgency to address at this session there wasn't you know there was time to voted on the floor of the new committee but typically it's done during the year it goes before the voters and that would be my opinion that we should reserve that discussion until the next year but i respect that the republican caucus is in control and will pretty much that's what it w law enforcement specifically in washington county can you explain what you mean by the second i did right now question i can try to interpret it and i think it was you know where do you need the most help where where is there if  had to say a frustration of your office where you feel there's just a gal that's presented to you from completing your job as you most ideally would like to complete it where is that you seem like my home might surprise you a little bit i don't think we're missing one i think things are going really as well i think things are is are going very well which is completely contrary to what probably most of us would have think would have thought would occur over the last many years with  the in the community things i believe are going well there are gaps here and there but i think we are in a position and especially with them washing the colony we're all law enforcement works extremely well with one another there are colonies in route river between stillwater and wisconsin side in favor of the project in favor of the bridge get it done now get it done later your folks absolutely necessary we need to have a new river crossing this still water still water is bogged down with traffic of the bridge had there been questions about the safety of the bridge there's been a show on the history channel about the safety of the bridge if you haven't seen it please look that up on you tube it's very interesting to want to watch it and see what's happening there's bipartisan support on both sides of the river there's local support from washing county there is their state support senator wicker and i have worked together on this senator senator clov franken governor dean michele bachmann and on the wisconsin side ron kind and ron johnson and others on both sides of the river this is it this is very important we need a new river crossing for the quality of life in this with all the money that we have saved so i think we should do it right do it and make a bridge that it's going to be good twenty thirty years from now so i i'm in agreement with the exact bridge they're talking about wisconsin is going to build more homes along there and the people are going to come to minnesota and spend the money and i'm all for that so so yeah i'm all in agreement about the bridge i think we need it no safety is number one and quite frankly if they would have built the bridge when they said they were going to build a bridge it would be talking about pilkington the three bridge has been so long that whole process but and i live in stillwater so let's i stay out of downtown here in the they've been around for fifty years in our community and i think that's a quality of life thing i think it's good it's important for businesses i mean if you're a c e o or a business you don't you want to come to an area that has the  he walked away with over a quarter of a billion dollars after a few years and with that purple pride but i did and we got a pass to get the budget we got to put upon and build together at the end of the a proposal for the blades will be put together there's concerns that i have about the ramsey county so i just because of the three hundred million in transportation you don't have that situation in minneapolis there's still the regional business organization conference and our discussion was about stadiums and what are the end backs on the community lester big league from the vikings was there talking about talking about the impact on the community i think you all know a lot about stadiums and their impacts my concern at this point is we have a budget to solve we need to educate urged our youth we need to solve our health care we need to fix our roads we have a lot of issues that we need to deal with and should we be spending public money on a stadium for a private business i'm very challenged by that and i i think that we need to solve our top priorities first and that would be in the budget thank you senator we are at are almost there are time limits i want to get a chance for to go back to ted to share on a little hot in but if in your final thoughts you think about your greatest accomplishment and also your greatest failure you can choose dancer and i guess the thank you mark for that for that question again i'd really like to thank those of you who are here this morning and those in the audience watching on television and on cable  have an opportunity in the state of minnesota we have an opportunity to grow jobs to put people back to work and you're the people that will do them government plays a role in providing government service providing some services but truly to get out of this economic malaise that we've been and it's going to be up to you it's going to be do you believe in your business do you believe that you can grow jobs and grow the economy and invest your capital in a way that will help you succeed as a family is is that where the true opportunities are in the state of minnesota and the and that is where the real changes will come government plays a certain role in their biggest success i would say is will be if and when we solve the budget deficit and honestly friends i i do believe that there is an opportunity to do this by the end of the month they died i do have an optimism that we can get their failure i guess at that would be more from less of things that i've done and more things that i haven't been able to do time constraints are very difficult in the senate so if i've not been able to reach out to you i apologize for that and i'd like to be able to do more of th thank you if anyone would like to contact me in the viewing audience or are here my cell phone as six five one seven seven zero zero two eight three i have got the updates that are put on the capitol just contact me will put you on that if you aren't on that list already and if you want copies of any of the legislation that we've referred to or ideas please share that as well i know my colleagues would also have that invitation public policy career but that's what i'm happiest about if i was to look at my legislative that would be sponsoring legislation to help the school district and putting together a ten year plan for building improvement there and giving it the ability to raise those funds that was not an easy thing to get accomplished but don't actually there was a state rep by harry mirrors you know white bear lake and we worked out something in a bipartisan manner to help his area know that would be the most significant impact the most frustrating part has been to not get the financing formula for schools and i think is total totally fair and the issue that we addressed before but i things on the legislature it may take a little while and so i hope people continue to contact me as well my office numbers six five one two nine six seven eight zero seven i also have legislative updates via e mail and so forth so i hope you'll contact me with any concerns in the law and a lot of you are so continue to do that in terms of accomplishments and disappointments i was you know a number of things go through your mind there is obviously the personal one with with kids and all those types of things and i think i think probably the legislature the most rewarding part is the constituent work you know i've had i have people that contact me about things that are happening either on the city level or the school level and i had this  me about her son and she felt he was being discriminated against and i won't go into the circumstances but we were able to help out in our office and you know she sent me this thank you card and she sent pictures of her child and her child as a child of color and you know that is just that those types of things that we're making a difference in their lives and helping them with the things we do and the health care part about it so my constituents have absolutely lost health care would help them get through the maze to make sure that they can get the health care that they need for their families biggest challenges you know early childhood is what i've always worked on totally botched by the new legislature lots of writings on that right now if you want any thing on that what happened to early ed i so that's that's something we just have to work on is helping folks understand it's those investments and human capital when people and little kids that save costs and long run help it's a privilege being here and i'll keep it short the one thing that i can promise you is that as a city council and our staff and our commissions we will continue to work as hard as we can to make the city of oakdale the best place to live work employ thank you again as well thank you everybody for allowing me to participate and so always nice to listen to what what what is being done has wealth you know my greatest successes i think are when i'm at county fairs  that saul when i get those contacts and people come to me i can think of a few of them that last year at the county fair that popped in my mind some folks that i dealt with while i was in oakdale that i didn't think were going to be a success story in the come up with talk about thank you for you know the encounter in your life because of ending up being successful and i'm hopefully as i get older or get further into my career then i will continue to have the rules at different levels of my career challenges as a law enforcement officer twenty eight years i have some hope in cases that i think about every day when i wake up and i think about when i go to bed at night or that i would love to have resolved so those are things that will be there and and the hopefully someday i will get them res thank you and thank you all i did it's because of this involvement because of their candor and openness and especially in trying times like we have today that we really appreciate them taking the time they certainly are no obligation to be here and they all not before then next year at this very time thank you