Greetings,
We concluded another busy week in St. Paul as we continue hearing bills and advancing them to the next steps in the process. Here’s a quick update on some of this week’s activities.
Central Minnesota Roads and Bridges
On Tuesday, April 12, Anita Rasmussen, Community Development Director and Assistant City Administrator from Sartell, Benton County Commissioner Jake Bauerly, and County Engineer Chris Byrd joined me to discuss funding requests for Sartell and Benton County. We discussed the extension of 50th Avenue in Sartell and the extension of Benton County Road 29 between US Highway 10 and MN Highway 23.
These local officials made their presentations to the House Capital Investment Committee asking for a partial match from the state to be used with local dollars to improve regional roads and transportation corridors in central Minnesota. Both of these projects are on the St. Cloud Area Planning Organization’s road priorities list. The committee will consider these requests among others across the state for possible funding.
St. Cloud Area Chamber Evening at the Capital
If you’re able to make it to St. Paul, I hope to see you for St. Cloud Area Evening at the Capital. This event is on Wednesday, April 20 from 5-7 p.m. It’s located at the DoubleTree Hilton in St. Paul, and features all six local legislators and Chamber president Teresa Bohnen. It’d be great if you could make it!
Veteran De-escalation Training
I had the opportunity to meet earlier this week with Bill Michlus, who is a member of the instructing team that provides veteran de-escalation training across the state of Minnesota. You may recall that I was the chief author and advocated for funding in the state’s recent budgets to help first responders increase their understanding of de-escalating critical instances involving veterans of the military service.
Mr. Michlus reported that the training is being well received by law enforcement agencies across the state and the training has been beneficial. The long-term goal is to provide at least 10% of Minnesota’s law enforcement officers this valuable de-escalation training.
St. Paul Meetings
This week, I spent time with folks from our area with the MS Society and the Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance, among a number of other groups. As always, I appreciate hearing the unique perspectives that make up our area, and encourage you to visit or call my office.
I would like to thank everyone who has emailed, called, or stopped by my office in St. Paul. Your feedback is helpful in learning how to better represent our area. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me at 651-296-7808 or rep.tim.odriscoll@house.mn.
Enjoy your weekend,
Tim