City in bloom: Flowers back in the East Grand Forks budget

Veronica Maszk is a painter by winter and something of a gardener by summer. Now she can add flower-planter for East Grand Forks to her resume. Maszk was out on the job Tuesday afternoon with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, laying a fresh bed of black dirt on flower beds in front of City Hall along with two fellow workers. All of them are seasonal employees, they said, and on Tuesday, they were working on bringing the city’s flowers back into bloom.
“In the winter, I stay inside and paint,” Maszk said. “In the summer, I’m going to keep doing this. It’s my first year doing this, but who doesn’t want to get paid to do what they love … beautifying the city of East Grand Forks. Isn’t that right, ladies?” The two college women with her -- both second-year students at Northland Community and Technical College -- murmured their assent. This year’s flowers, placed along DeMers Avenue and in several locations around the city, are a little different than last season’s. This year’s flowers are boosted by the full weight of the city’s funding. Though they received about $20,000 in city dollars for the 2014 budget, that number was cut amid budget cuts for 2015. Now, with levy rates boosted, flowers are back in the city’s budget. “We put together a budget for 2016 that was about a 25 percent increase to the levy, and it passed and was not vetoed,” City Administrator David Murphy said. “That levy increase put us back to where we can fully fund our capital; we can rebuild our fund balance. And one of the things that was included in there was the flowers.” Last year was a different story, though. East Grand Forks City Council member Mike Pokrzywinski, who was seated on the council after the 2015 budget had been decided, explained the flowers were cut following Mayor Lynn Stauss’ veto of the council’s 10 percent tax levy increase for the 2015 year, preferring a levy increase of 5 percent. The council went back to the drawing board and returned the cuts required to balance the books, which left the flowers out. “The reason the flowers are in the budget is because the mayor did not veto our budget like he did the prior year,” Pokrzywinski said. “The council kind of got blamed for cutting flowers out of the budget the year before. It was a direct result of the action the mayor took.” Pokrzywinski added “it’s been suggested” that the flowers were cut in an act of political retaliation against Stauss, whom Pokrzywinski said is particularly fond of the flowers. “You could also argue that flowers are a nonessential service that the city provides,” Pokrzywinski said. Stauss could not be reached by the Herald on Wednesday for comment. City Council member Make Olstad voted against the mayor’s veto and voted to cut flowers from the budget, among other items. He pointed out the flowers were only part of multiple items removed from the budget -- about $180,000 total -- and there was no political scheming behind it. “The reason they were taken out is because the mayor wanted to (decrease) the budget. … There was no other place to take it away unless we were going to lay people off,” Olstad said. “It has nothing to do with Lynn Stauss, it has nothing to do with retribution against him. If we’d have kept it where the approved budget was at, they would have been in there.” Former City Council member Dale Helms, who was on the council during budget discussions in 2014, supported the mayor’s veto and later supported cuts that saw $20,000 of flower funding taken out of the budget, according to minutes on file with the city of East Grand Forks. Helms’ latter vote, he said, was a matter of expedience; the budget was due to the state in a matter of hours. However, he said he and the mayor -- and principally the latter -- worked to raise tens of thousands of dollars and in-kind donations to install flowers last year throughout the downtown area, a contentious request for $3,000 of which went before the city’s Water and Light Commission. Though they weren’t able to plant the full amount, Helms said they looked good. “Last year was about the most beautiful flowers they ever had,” he said. Residents are happy to hear the city is funding the flowers once again. “I think it’s great, myself,” said Wally MacDonald, an East Grand Forks resident who was enjoying lunch Wednesday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3817. “I think it beautifies the city. I always like to see them.” Sharon Bartlette, owner of Glamorous Reruns, 402 Third St. NW, said she likes the flowers, too, -- they drive plenty of foot traffic, she said, and she uses them on her business’s Facebook page to help get more customers into her shop. “We get a lot of out-of-town visitors. We’ve got that campground and a lot of people come and visit Grand Forks and East Grand Forks,” Murphy said. “It definitely helps to make the place memorable. You come to a nice downtown and see the flowers, and it makes it memorable.” Veronica Maszk is a painter by winter and something of a gardener by summer. Now she can add flower-planter for East Grand Forks to her resume.Maszk was out on the job Tuesday afternoon with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, laying a fresh bed of black dirt on flower beds in front of City Hall along with two fellow workers. All of them are seasonal employees, they said, and on Tuesday, they were working on bringing the city’s flowers back into bloom.
“In the winter, I stay inside and paint,” Maszk said. “In the summer, I’m going to keep doing this. It’s my first year doing this, but who doesn’t want to get paid to do what they love … beautifying the city of East Grand Forks. Isn’t that right, ladies?” The two college women with her -- both second-year students at Northland Community and Technical College -- murmured their assent.This year’s flowers, placed along DeMers Avenue and in several locations around the city, are a little different than last season’s. This year’s flowers are boosted by the full weight of the city’s funding. Though they received about $20,000 in city dollars for the 2014 budget, that number was cut amid budget cuts for 2015. Now, with levy rates boosted, flowers are back in the city’s budget.“We put together a budget for 2016 that was about a 25 percent increase to the levy, and it passed and was not vetoed,” City Administrator David Murphy said. “That levy increase put us back to where we can fully fund our capital; we can rebuild our fund balance. And one of the things that was included in there was the flowers.” Last year was a different story, though. East Grand Forks City Council member Mike Pokrzywinski, who was seated on the council after the 2015 budget had been decided, explained the flowers were cut following Mayor Lynn Stauss’ veto of the council’s 10 percent tax levy increase for the 2015 year, preferring a levy increase of 5 percent. The council went back to the drawing board and returned the cuts required to balance the books, which left the flowers out. “The reason the flowers are in the budget is because the mayor did not veto our budget like he did the prior year,” Pokrzywinski said. “The council kind of got blamed for cutting flowers out of the budget the year before. It was a direct result of the action the mayor took.” Pokrzywinski added “it’s been suggested” that the flowers were cut in an act of political retaliation against Stauss, whom Pokrzywinski said is particularly fond of the flowers. “You could also argue that flowers are a nonessential service that the city provides,” Pokrzywinski said. Stauss could not be reached by the Herald on Wednesday for comment.City Council member Make Olstad voted against the mayor’s veto and voted to cut flowers from the budget, among other items. He pointed out the flowers were only part of multiple items removed from the budget -- about $180,000 total -- and there was no political scheming behind it. “The reason they were taken out is because the mayor wanted to (decrease) the budget. … There was no other place to take it away unless we were going to lay people off,” Olstad said. “It has nothing to do with Lynn Stauss, it has nothing to do with retribution against him. If we’d have kept it where the approved budget was at, they would have been in there.”Former City Council member Dale Helms, who was on the council during budget discussions in 2014, supported the mayor’s veto and later supported cuts that saw $20,000 of flower funding taken out of the budget, according to minutes on file with the city of East Grand Forks. Helms’ latter vote, he said, was a matter of expedience; the budget was due to the state in a matter of hours. However, he said he and the mayor -- and principally the latter -- worked to raise tens of thousands of dollars and in-kind donations to install flowers last year throughout the downtown area, a contentious request for $3,000 of which went before the city’s Water and Light Commission. Though they weren’t able to plant the full amount, Helms said they looked good. “Last year was about the most beautiful flowers they ever had,” he said.Residents are happy to hear the city is funding the flowers once again. “I think it’s great, myself,” said Wally MacDonald, an East Grand Forks resident who was enjoying lunch Wednesday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3817. “I think it beautifies the city. I always like to see them.” Sharon Bartlette, owner of Glamorous Reruns, 402 Third St. NW, said she likes the flowers, too, -- they drive plenty of foot traffic, she said, and she uses them on her business’s Facebook page to help get more customers into her shop. “We get a lot of out-of-town visitors. We’ve got that campground and a lot of people come and visit Grand Forks and East Grand Forks,” Murphy said. “It definitely helps to make the place memorable. You come to a nice downtown and see the flowers, and it makes it memorable.”