Councilmember Elizabeth Barnett, the only one to question City Manager Greg Lee's ridiculous claim about cemetery roads
City of Anoka
Ridiculous Comparisons to Cemetery Roads
The city has two cemeteries. Oakwood Cemetery at 479 West Main Street has gravel roads and few interments since the 1950's according to the city website. Forest Hill Cemetery near 2400 Forest Avenue has relatively new looking pavement when viewed from Google maps. (Type 2400 Forest Avenue, Anoka, MN into Google maps) (see city website)
At the city council meeting of October 28, 2019, City manager Greg Lee tells this story of how just four years ago, he used to think that weather caused 50% of the damage to roads. But then he says he rethought this after looking at the city's cemetery roads.
City manager Greg Lee then declared that the Anoka cemetery road pavement has lasted 60-70 years because nothing heavy is driving on them. (See 10/28/19 council meeting transcript, page 2)
Then Councilmember Brian Wesp jumps on the bandwagon stating, "The analogy of the cemetery roads kind of hit home with me." (See 10/28/19 council meeting transcript, page 4)
At the December 9, 2019 council meeting, City manager Greg Lee again reiterates this claim that the city's cemetery roads completely changed his entire vision on trucks damaging streets. (See 12/9/19 council meeting transcript, page 4)
Councilmember Brian Wesp comments about the intelligence of the people stating, "...you gave me the example of looking at the cemetery roads or streets and they just don't get (it)." (See 12/9/19 council meeting transcript, page 4)
City manager Greg Lee then goes into cemetery road construction detail stating, "But then I started looking at our cemetery roads, which were built — no gravel, maybe 2 inches of bituminous on there, and I’m asking myself why are those lasting 60 to 70 years..." (see 12/9/19 council meeting transcript, page 5)
In response, Garbage Haulers for Citizen Choice (GHCC) filed a public information request to review any documents to back up City manager Greg Lee's claims that the Forest Hill Cemetery roads were built with no gravel, maybe two inches of pavement, and have lasted 60 to 70 years.
One would expect that if City manager Greg Lee was making these claims, there had to be some public records to support this, even just one single document. GHCC wanted to know if City manager Greg Lee's claims were accurate, or if they were simply ridiculous.
GHCC was provided the following response from the city on December 30, 2019:
Ridiculous Comparisons to Cemetery Roads
The city has two cemeteries. Oakwood Cemetery at 479 West Main Street has gravel roads and few interments since the 1950's according to the city website. Forest Hill Cemetery near 2400 Forest Avenue has relatively new looking pavement when viewed from Google maps. (Type 2400 Forest Avenue, Anoka, MN into Google maps) (see city website)
At the city council meeting of October 28, 2019, City manager Greg Lee tells this story of how just four years ago, he used to think that weather caused 50% of the damage to roads. But then he says he rethought this after looking at the city's cemetery roads.
City manager Greg Lee then declared that the Anoka cemetery road pavement has lasted 60-70 years because nothing heavy is driving on them. (See 10/28/19 council meeting transcript, page 2)
Then Councilmember Brian Wesp jumps on the bandwagon stating, "The analogy of the cemetery roads kind of hit home with me." (See 10/28/19 council meeting transcript, page 4)
At the December 9, 2019 council meeting, City manager Greg Lee again reiterates this claim that the city's cemetery roads completely changed his entire vision on trucks damaging streets. (See 12/9/19 council meeting transcript, page 4)
Councilmember Brian Wesp comments about the intelligence of the people stating, "...you gave me the example of looking at the cemetery roads or streets and they just don't get (it)." (See 12/9/19 council meeting transcript, page 4)
City manager Greg Lee then goes into cemetery road construction detail stating, "But then I started looking at our cemetery roads, which were built — no gravel, maybe 2 inches of bituminous on there, and I’m asking myself why are those lasting 60 to 70 years..." (see 12/9/19 council meeting transcript, page 5)
In response, Garbage Haulers for Citizen Choice (GHCC) filed a public information request to review any documents to back up City manager Greg Lee's claims that the Forest Hill Cemetery roads were built with no gravel, maybe two inches of pavement, and have lasted 60 to 70 years.
One would expect that if City manager Greg Lee was making these claims, there had to be some public records to support this, even just one single document. GHCC wanted to know if City manager Greg Lee's claims were accurate, or if they were simply ridiculous.
GHCC was provided the following response from the city on December 30, 2019:
The short answer is that City manager Greg Lee's claims about the construction of the cemetery roads and that they have lasted 60 to 70 years is completely ridiculous. His claims are complete fiction! He made it all up!
As the email clearly states, the City of Anoka has no formal records of road maintenance. No records at all! City manager Greg Lee has zero documentation to support any of his claims about the city's cemetery roads.
The city only knows about a 2009 project based upon comments from a retired employee!
The truth is that the cemetery roads look really nice because they are barely 10 years old!
The only councilmember to question City manager Greg Lee's ridiculous cemetery road comparison theory was Councilmember Elizabeth Barnett.
Councilmember Elizabeth Barnett stated, "Sure. Well, I would assume that someone out there — maybe not the City of Anoka, but maybe some city out there has similar — and cemeteries, for me, don’t speak to an equivalent to a resident road, because they don’t get the traffic that an average road does, certainly not at the size, and I don’t think in the volume either. So, for me, as a consumer, that would be difficult to [inaudible/16:20]" (See 10/28/19 council meeting transcript, page 10)
Updated 2/1/20
As the email clearly states, the City of Anoka has no formal records of road maintenance. No records at all! City manager Greg Lee has zero documentation to support any of his claims about the city's cemetery roads.
The city only knows about a 2009 project based upon comments from a retired employee!
The truth is that the cemetery roads look really nice because they are barely 10 years old!
The only councilmember to question City manager Greg Lee's ridiculous cemetery road comparison theory was Councilmember Elizabeth Barnett.
Councilmember Elizabeth Barnett stated, "Sure. Well, I would assume that someone out there — maybe not the City of Anoka, but maybe some city out there has similar — and cemeteries, for me, don’t speak to an equivalent to a resident road, because they don’t get the traffic that an average road does, certainly not at the size, and I don’t think in the volume either. So, for me, as a consumer, that would be difficult to [inaudible/16:20]" (See 10/28/19 council meeting transcript, page 10)
Updated 2/1/20