Bill Kiehnbaum provided today's member minute. Bill grew up in Winona, MN and shared that his first job was also his worst job. It involved checking the town's very tall sand bag dike on the Mississippi River for leaks. At night in the dark and cold! His best job was the 30 years he spent working as an auditor for the Farm Credit System. He traveled a bit but noted that this was "back in the day" when travel, especially air travel, was not as stressful as it now is.
Our speaker was Kara Ries, mayor of North Oaks. Kara described North Oaks' system of government, which is unique. The City owns nothing -- neither buildings nor roads. Each homeowner's property line extends to the middle of the street, making all roads privately owned. The North Oaks Homeowners Association has responsibility for managing all trails and roads whereas the City is responsible for things like negotiating fire and police protection agreements. It works jointly with neighboring communities to secure these services. Another unique aspect of North Oaks is the involvement of the North Oaks Company. The NO Company represents the James J. Hill Family which originally owned the property and has continued to work with the City to oversee development of new housing on the land. One such example is the addition of Waverly Gardens about 20 years ago. There are still homes being built but that phase is coming to an end and new development will cease. Kara has lived in N.O. for 13 years with her family. She grew up in Shoreview, went to Hill Murray High School and went on to engineering, then law school. She has been an attorney for over 20 years, including the last 10 years as a Patent Law specialist.