By Dan Solovitz

At the Oct. 5 Cottage Grove City Council meeting, members of the public spoke up to raise a few concerns.

Speaking in regards to students safely getting to school, resident Jennifer Mauer said, “I’m pretty concerned about their safety at the intersection of Hinton and 80th Street, crossing the street to school.”

She then detailed an incident on the morning of May 26, 2022, when her daughter was involved in a vehicle accident while on her bicycle crossing the busy intersection on her way to kindergarten.

“On nice days, they loved to ride their bikes or walk to school. Being the mom that I am, I watched them ride their bikes, and watched them turn the corner onto Hinton. As I was stopped at the intersection of Hinton and 80th Street to turn right, I kept looking in my rearview mirror thinking that I’d see them behind me coming up, so I could wave and make sure they got to school that day.

“I saw the crossing guard, who stands at 80th and Hinton, when her eyes got really big, and I knew something was wrong and they weren’t coming. My heart sank when I saw my 6-year-old crying on the grass on the side of the road with a crowd of people around her. The next few minutes were a blur of other parents coming to see what was wrong, other students, teachers, police, fire fighters and first responders, who were all amazing by the way, coming to assess the situation.”

Fighting back tears, Mauer added, “By some miracle, my kindergartener only had one scratch on her chin from her helmet, and that was the only injury she had. After talking to the police, it was deemed that the driver failed to yield at the crossing of Hinton and 79th Street. I just keep going over in my mind that it could have been so much worse than it was. Her bike was totaled. I’m asking that we can be more proactive, instead of reactive, with the safety of our kids when they cross that street to go to school. I don’t want to see any other accident that happens to anybody else. Kids in elementary school are pretty impulsive. They are going to trust that we as adults are going to stop and yield.”

Council Member Steve Dennis agreed something needs to be done.

“We’re very grateful and thankful that your daughter did not have severe injuries,” he said. “What I’m going to do is ask our staff to look into this and provide a response for you. When responses come, they also get put into our council agendas in the future so that people can see what those answers were. We really have to turn this type of thing over to our public safety team, who are experts, and our city engineering, and the folks who really know and understand those details. Thank you for sharing with us, and just know that we are very committed to wanting to make sure that everybody here is safe and secure in the community.”

Another resident, Bonnie Matter, commented on a separate pending issue.

“I’m here this evening because I would like to request that consent agenda item 7M, it has to do with the golf course, be pulled from tonight’s consent agenda,” she said. “I’ve submitted a public data information request. I’m sure staff is working on it, but these are things that should already be known before you review it and approve it.”

Dennis said he appreciates the request, but couldn’t honor it.

“I do appreciate that request,” he said. “I will, however, tell you that that is an item which is on our agenda that has been fully vetted by our staff team. I don’t believe that it would be in our best interest at this moment to pull that. One of the big reasons is being able to access building materials. As we know, we’re still in the Covid economy, and what is happening is we have to get out in front of things. We’re not going to discuss it. We’re not going to be pulling that off of tonight’s agenda.”

Matter stepped to the podium again and said, “You won’t be doing this in 2023, so there’s no rush on this. You’ll probably have to push it out to 2024, and that’s why I’m asking you please pull it. Look at the questions I submitted in the data request form and then come back and approve it.”

Bonnie Matter speaking to the council regarding the River Oaks Golf Course consent agenda item 7M. Photo courtesy of the City of Cottage Grove