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SEN. HEATHER GUSTAFSON: Secures dollars for Vadnais Boulevard Trail PAGE 11
School Board censures member BY LOGAN GION CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The ISD 624 school board is publicly censuring Board Member Daniel Skaar following a complaint that Superintendent Dr. Wayne Kazmierczak made. During the board’s most recent work session, the board listened to an investigativefinding presentation from Attorney Mick Waldspurger of Squires, Waldspurger & Mace, P.A.—a hearing that Skaar requested be conducted in open session. Waldspurger disclosed that the investigation found Skaar violated the Minnesota Government Practices Act and Minnesota Open Meeting Law, as well as ISD 624’s Code of Conduct for Board Members and Code of Ethics for Board Members policies. Dr. Kazmierczak filed a complaint against Skaar on March 3. Shortly afterward, the school board contacted Waldspurger and authorized an investigation. Waldspurger summarized that Skaar made public, critical statements against the superintendent that one could perceive as accusatory. “The law states that data that a governmental entity maintains on an employee, including the superintendent, are classified as private,” Waldspurger stated. He then referenced a 2001 Minnesota Supreme Court case in which a jury awarded damages of $500,000 for defamation of a school-district employee. “The statements in that case … certainly were a lot less significant than the statements in the case we’re dealing with here,” Waldspurger said. Waldspurger also informed the board that Minnesota Open Meeting Law requires
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Lions recognize community support The Vadnais Heights Lions are honoring some of their members for all the work they do to support the local community and Lions International. Pictured (from left) are: Lion Sara Schirer, MD5M Kidsight Foundation Saver Award; Lion Tim McGladdery, Lions International Foundation Melvin Jones Fellowship Award; Lion Sue Woehrle-Minnesota Lions Vision Foundation Helen Keller Award; and Lion Bill Weigel-International Foundation Progressive Melvin Jones Fellowship Award. Not pictured is Lion Gerry Urban, Lions International Foundation Progressive Melvin Jones Fellowship Award.
SEE CENSURE, PAGE 8
Vadnais Heights goes forward with $33 million fire station BY JACKIE BUSSJAEGER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
VADNAIS HEIGHTS – Plans for a new fire station in Vadnais Heights are not slowing down, despite resistance from community members concerned about the tax impact of funding this large project. Members of the city council are uniformly in support of the new fire station, and each spoke their reasoning; most of them mentioning community safety, as well as the health and safety of the full-time firefighters. Following the public bond hearing, the council unanimously voted to approve $33.3 million in Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)
bonds that will fund the project. Fire Chief Kurt Frison explained that all fire department activity is currently run out of the city’s South Station, which was built in 1993 with a part-time firefighter model. Since then, the department has grown and now operates with a full-time staff, many of whom are housed in the station. The building was not built to accommodate living quarters or to safely decontaminate firefighters from hazardous materials they may encounter on the job. The city also has a North Station, but it has been used only for equipment storage since 2022. Frison said storing some of the department materials off
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the main site can delay firefighter response, and the city’s plan is to convert the North Station to a public works facility. “The south fire station has been renovated a few times,” Frison said. “There’s no more room for expansion. We’ve outgrown the facility. We’d really like to focus on one department under one roof.” The city has considered a renovation project, but upon exploring the idea, the cost was high and wouldn’t have solved all of the capacity problems the department is experiencing. “The increasing cost to renovation was brought SEE FIRE STATION, PAGE 11
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