WINNER OF ‘MAYOR FOR A DAY’ CONTEST CALLS FOR MORE EMPHASIS ON TACKLING POLLUTION

Heading into Wednesday’s Council meeting, the Cottage Grove City Council was set to formally appoint and administer the oath of office to new member Tony Khambata, Plan Commission head and now Council replacement for former City Council member LaRae Mills, who resigned due to a move from the city.

In addition to administering the Council oath to Khambata, packet materials show 11-year-old Lucas Staiert as the lucky “Mayor for a Day” essay contest winner. Writing in an essay included with the City packet, Staiert listed just why he would like to be the Mayor for a Day, as follows (corrected for some spelling, otherwise verbatim): Dear Citizens of Cottage Grove,” he writes. “I would like to become Cottage Grove’s Mayor of the Day. Here are some reasons why I would like to be Mayor of the Day. Reason one: for the future of the city of Cottage Grove I hope that there will no longer be the problem of pollution. Reason two: with the problem of pollution it also comes with bad water quality,” Staiert wrote, then going on. “That means bad drinking water. So in the future of Cottage Grove I hope there will be better water quality. Reason three: Recycling. Because if people start recycling it will help with solving the problem of pollution. Reason four: I hope that there will be more access for the disabled. And I feel that people should not be excluded because of their disabilities. And those are my reasons why I think I should be Cottage Grove’s Mayor of the Day. I hope you consider me for Mayor of the Day.

Sincerely, Lucas Staiert” Touching on many other items at its November 17 meeting, the Council is due to meet next in early December.

Acting at its November 8 meeting, meanwhile, the Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources Commission moved to table the Mississippi Dunes Master Plan until its own next meeting, with a short workshop beforehand to better review just what may happen at the site.

“You give us 200 acres we’ll plan a really nice park for you,” said Parks Commission member and citizen volunteer Adam Larson November 8, then adding, “but that’s not our decision.”

Pending further review, the saga and controversy surrounding the Mississippi Dunes continues, in southwest Cottage Grove.