I've said this before. I really don't understand why the Strib has seemingly abandoned local reporting. It was weak before they rebranded as "Minnesota," but they now largely ignore the goings-on of the Mpls City Council, and you'd never guess there's anything at all happening in Hennepin County government.
We have little independent oversight of Minneapolis spending, and even less of Hennepin County. A few billion here, a few billion there...
But at least we know about the giant nutcracker in Luverne?
Maybe it has something to do with the education system. Maybe colleges are no longer teaching what real reporting is or even discouraging those with curiosity and tenacity.
When the Hennepin County administrator (un-elected position) has to go to the Metropolitan Council (un-elected body) for funding a budget gap, you have to know that not enough voters understand or even care what is going on. And that’s the way the politicians want it.
Thanks for this reporting. I'd add a list of other items:
-In committee, commissioners voted to give themselves a 49% raise, above what the governor makes. Amidst pushback, the proposer (D2 commissioner Irene Fernando, who has a doctorate in human resources) withdrew the resolution. Marion Greene was not present for that vote, though she voted for the item in committee.
-Recent Star Tribune reporting shows that County commissioners blocked the independent HCMC board from instituting staffing cuts in 2023, despite the hospital's dire financials. The commissioners did this to avoid angering labor unions. Commissioners then dissolved the HCMC board and got a temporary lifeline from the state in 2026.
-Hennepin County chose the disastrous routes for the SW LRT and the Blue Line Extension. And most of the commissioners continue to support both projects despite what we've seen.
-Commissioners continue to support the HERC trash burner open despite criticisms of toxic substances entering the air (dioxins and mercury specifically), and toxic ash needing to be trucked to landfills. Commissioners attempt to deflect from the issue by talking about air pollution from I-94, a hobby-horse of the anti-car DFL caucus and some DSA activists.
-The County has numerous staffers working on race, social, and climate justice. Two advisory boards include: "birth justice advisory board" and "race equity advisory council." Both include stipends and mileage reimbursement (most Minneapolis advisory boards, by comparison, are unpaid)
-Commissioners appointed Kareem Murphy deputy county administrator. Murphy's husband, DeWayne Davis, then ran for Minneapolis mayor in 2025, and was backed heavily by Irene Fernando.
As for HERC, are you in favor of it being closed? CM Rainville recently commissioned a study of the impact. It’s a complicated situation. Closing causes its own pollution with additional truck routes to landfills. Seems like reducing our waste is the best solution but we have plateaued.
“Hennepin County has seen only incremental progress in overall solid waste reduction and diversion over the last decade. The county's total recycling and organics diversion rate hovers around 42% to 45%, remaining short of past targets and showing that total solid waste generation has largely flat-lined or grown alongside population increases rather than decreasing significantly.”
People try to link HERC to climate goals via metrics like vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for trucking waste to landfills. This is mixing and matching different goals (climate vs air pollution) and different pollutants that have different impacts on human health.
Both "sides" (Rainville on one and Fernando and Conley on the other) contort themselves to find ways to keep HERC open for unclear, and superficial reasons.
Burning plastics and metals at HERC releases far more deadly emissions than car exhaust and even particulate matter from rubber tires. Most cities use landfills, and while landfills are bad, they're better than trash burners right next to downtown Minneapolis.
Pro-HERC arguments usually rest on being anti-car and anti-trucking, which is tenuous. Too much of our politics is about cars and not about actual science or consumer behavior around trash production.
On the human health risks, this piece outlined it well, in response to an Eric Roper pro-HERC piece:
"MNRISKS [the state's air toxics screening tool], according to its documentation and our inquiries, does not include harm from HERC’s particulate matter...
"To add insult to injury, HERC tracks only three pollutants continuously. Everything else — dioxins, metals, particulate matter — is tested once a year by the facility’s contractor. MNRISKS and permits depend on this monitoring. Research on incinerator emissions shows dioxin emissions can run dozens to hundreds of times higher than annual tests capture after breakdown, startup or shutdown for maintenance.
"And the HERC permits that Roper lauds were found in 2008 by federal court to be improper under the Clean Air Act. The EPA’s proposed new regulations in 2024 would likely have resulted in HERC exceeding compliance for several major pollutants."
Lastly, California banned trash burners. A trash burner in Harrisburg bankrupted the city. Another trash burner in New York state recently closed. Hennepin County does not talk about the financial aspect of the trash burner. It's unclear how much it costs to operate and how much revenue it generates from tipping fees and energy. I have heard it's a money loser, but good luck trying to get anyone from the County to admit that or provide transparent, legible financials. It'll take actual investigative journalism and a forensic accountant to uncover what's going on. Or it will take another scandal like HCMC and I'm sure the state will step in to bail out Hennepin County when it's shown it has mismanaged the trash burner.
The library's budget is actually a little over $70M. Yes, it's unfortunate citizens don't pay more attention to the County's activities. Despite the County's severe budget difficulties and having to ask the Legislature to bail them out on the hospital, they voted to spend a quarter billion to try for funding for the blue line. Yet voters were apparently happy to re-elect incumbent commissioners, Green and Fernando winning their primaries handily with Conley unopposed. Undue attention is paid to Minneapolis, as usual. Two-thirds of the County population lives outside the city limits and the Minneapple accounts for mere 1/8th of the metro. It's a small city.
Not to start an argument, but I think the County is pretty open about what it's doing. I don't think it's an accountability problem, except in as much as there isn't a lot of reporting on it. It's ultimately up to the public to inform itself, challenge their commissioners, and vote for or against them.
It is really a shame that no one ran against Conley on the Board. She was all about supporting DSA aligned candidates at the Mpls city level. She was out campaigning for Omar for Mayor, and distributing, in DIRECT defiance to the DFL, materials wrongly stating that Omar was DFL endorsed, long after that endorsement was pulled. She got very involved in the DFL caucus meddling in W2, in support of DSA candidate Wonsley, although Wonsley was never even a DFL candidate.
Hopefully, we get a healthy CHANGE in District 2 and we get Josh Bassais in for the District 3 seat.
There is a lot for the County Board to account for about HCMC and why, between Hennepin County and the State of MN, that we have very little for OUT of the home, rehabilitation programs, both open and closed, for serious, and repetitive juvenile offenders.
Hopefully with this primary on Tues, and then the elections that follow in November, will make way for a more functional and healthier Hennepin County.
I have historically been unfamiliar with County politics. I would say that until my recent post (https://catchgroove.substack.com/p/hennepin-county-commissioner-district?r=5hgtj) about the District 3 commissioner's race (my district), I was pretty clueless. So here is a huge political entity, with a huge budget, and it appears pretty dysfunctional and, given the electorate's ignorance, pretty much unaccountable. We, citizens, need to get informed and hold elected officials accountable. Current District 3 commissioner Marion Greene acts like she has been appointed for life with no accountability to her constituents - for example, remodeling Lyndale how she wants it and ignoring business owners on the street. Sadly, she will likely win her fourth 4-year term.
Not so sure it will be an easy win for Greene. I think this year/this election, there are many more who are noticing what these Hennepin County Commissioners and candidates are about, and realizing just how important this board is.
I've said this before. I really don't understand why the Strib has seemingly abandoned local reporting. It was weak before they rebranded as "Minnesota," but they now largely ignore the goings-on of the Mpls City Council, and you'd never guess there's anything at all happening in Hennepin County government.
We have little independent oversight of Minneapolis spending, and even less of Hennepin County. A few billion here, a few billion there...
But at least we know about the giant nutcracker in Luverne?
Maybe it has something to do with the education system. Maybe colleges are no longer teaching what real reporting is or even discouraging those with curiosity and tenacity.
When the Hennepin County administrator (un-elected position) has to go to the Metropolitan Council (un-elected body) for funding a budget gap, you have to know that not enough voters understand or even care what is going on. And that’s the way the politicians want it.
Thanks for this reporting. I'd add a list of other items:
-In committee, commissioners voted to give themselves a 49% raise, above what the governor makes. Amidst pushback, the proposer (D2 commissioner Irene Fernando, who has a doctorate in human resources) withdrew the resolution. Marion Greene was not present for that vote, though she voted for the item in committee.
-Recent Star Tribune reporting shows that County commissioners blocked the independent HCMC board from instituting staffing cuts in 2023, despite the hospital's dire financials. The commissioners did this to avoid angering labor unions. Commissioners then dissolved the HCMC board and got a temporary lifeline from the state in 2026.
-Hennepin County chose the disastrous routes for the SW LRT and the Blue Line Extension. And most of the commissioners continue to support both projects despite what we've seen.
-Commissioners continue to support the HERC trash burner open despite criticisms of toxic substances entering the air (dioxins and mercury specifically), and toxic ash needing to be trucked to landfills. Commissioners attempt to deflect from the issue by talking about air pollution from I-94, a hobby-horse of the anti-car DFL caucus and some DSA activists.
-The County has numerous staffers working on race, social, and climate justice. Two advisory boards include: "birth justice advisory board" and "race equity advisory council." Both include stipends and mileage reimbursement (most Minneapolis advisory boards, by comparison, are unpaid)
-Commissioners appointed Kareem Murphy deputy county administrator. Murphy's husband, DeWayne Davis, then ran for Minneapolis mayor in 2025, and was backed heavily by Irene Fernando.
As for HERC, are you in favor of it being closed? CM Rainville recently commissioned a study of the impact. It’s a complicated situation. Closing causes its own pollution with additional truck routes to landfills. Seems like reducing our waste is the best solution but we have plateaued.
“Hennepin County has seen only incremental progress in overall solid waste reduction and diversion over the last decade. The county's total recycling and organics diversion rate hovers around 42% to 45%, remaining short of past targets and showing that total solid waste generation has largely flat-lined or grown alongside population increases rather than decreasing significantly.”
People try to link HERC to climate goals via metrics like vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for trucking waste to landfills. This is mixing and matching different goals (climate vs air pollution) and different pollutants that have different impacts on human health.
Both "sides" (Rainville on one and Fernando and Conley on the other) contort themselves to find ways to keep HERC open for unclear, and superficial reasons.
Burning plastics and metals at HERC releases far more deadly emissions than car exhaust and even particulate matter from rubber tires. Most cities use landfills, and while landfills are bad, they're better than trash burners right next to downtown Minneapolis.
Pro-HERC arguments usually rest on being anti-car and anti-trucking, which is tenuous. Too much of our politics is about cars and not about actual science or consumer behavior around trash production.
On the human health risks, this piece outlined it well, in response to an Eric Roper pro-HERC piece:
"MNRISKS [the state's air toxics screening tool], according to its documentation and our inquiries, does not include harm from HERC’s particulate matter...
"To add insult to injury, HERC tracks only three pollutants continuously. Everything else — dioxins, metals, particulate matter — is tested once a year by the facility’s contractor. MNRISKS and permits depend on this monitoring. Research on incinerator emissions shows dioxin emissions can run dozens to hundreds of times higher than annual tests capture after breakdown, startup or shutdown for maintenance.
"And the HERC permits that Roper lauds were found in 2008 by federal court to be improper under the Clean Air Act. The EPA’s proposed new regulations in 2024 would likely have resulted in HERC exceeding compliance for several major pollutants."
https://www.startribune.com/counterpoint-heres-whats-missing-in-the-debate-over-hennepin-countys-garbage-burner/601786494
Lastly, California banned trash burners. A trash burner in Harrisburg bankrupted the city. Another trash burner in New York state recently closed. Hennepin County does not talk about the financial aspect of the trash burner. It's unclear how much it costs to operate and how much revenue it generates from tipping fees and energy. I have heard it's a money loser, but good luck trying to get anyone from the County to admit that or provide transparent, legible financials. It'll take actual investigative journalism and a forensic accountant to uncover what's going on. Or it will take another scandal like HCMC and I'm sure the state will step in to bail out Hennepin County when it's shown it has mismanaged the trash burner.
I like this line of questioning… the county about its choices of spending.
Looking forward to your updates Terry.
The library's budget is actually a little over $70M. Yes, it's unfortunate citizens don't pay more attention to the County's activities. Despite the County's severe budget difficulties and having to ask the Legislature to bail them out on the hospital, they voted to spend a quarter billion to try for funding for the blue line. Yet voters were apparently happy to re-elect incumbent commissioners, Green and Fernando winning their primaries handily with Conley unopposed. Undue attention is paid to Minneapolis, as usual. Two-thirds of the County population lives outside the city limits and the Minneapple accounts for mere 1/8th of the metro. It's a small city.
Thank you for adding this information. It’s amazing how little accountability there is at the county level.
Not to start an argument, but I think the County is pretty open about what it's doing. I don't think it's an accountability problem, except in as much as there isn't a lot of reporting on it. It's ultimately up to the public to inform itself, challenge their commissioners, and vote for or against them.
It is really a shame that no one ran against Conley on the Board. She was all about supporting DSA aligned candidates at the Mpls city level. She was out campaigning for Omar for Mayor, and distributing, in DIRECT defiance to the DFL, materials wrongly stating that Omar was DFL endorsed, long after that endorsement was pulled. She got very involved in the DFL caucus meddling in W2, in support of DSA candidate Wonsley, although Wonsley was never even a DFL candidate.
Hopefully, we get a healthy CHANGE in District 2 and we get Josh Bassais in for the District 3 seat.
https://www.joshfordistrict3.com/
There is a lot for the County Board to account for about HCMC and why, between Hennepin County and the State of MN, that we have very little for OUT of the home, rehabilitation programs, both open and closed, for serious, and repetitive juvenile offenders.
Hopefully with this primary on Tues, and then the elections that follow in November, will make way for a more functional and healthier Hennepin County.
https://www.startribune.com/hcmc-hennepin-board-frustrations-2023-budget-recording/601876052?utm_source=gift
I have historically been unfamiliar with County politics. I would say that until my recent post (https://catchgroove.substack.com/p/hennepin-county-commissioner-district?r=5hgtj) about the District 3 commissioner's race (my district), I was pretty clueless. So here is a huge political entity, with a huge budget, and it appears pretty dysfunctional and, given the electorate's ignorance, pretty much unaccountable. We, citizens, need to get informed and hold elected officials accountable. Current District 3 commissioner Marion Greene acts like she has been appointed for life with no accountability to her constituents - for example, remodeling Lyndale how she wants it and ignoring business owners on the street. Sadly, she will likely win her fourth 4-year term.
Not so sure it will be an easy win for Greene. I think this year/this election, there are many more who are noticing what these Hennepin County Commissioners and candidates are about, and realizing just how important this board is.