Minnetonka City Manager Tapped to End Shutdown

Gunyou, widely regarded as one of Minnesota's top budget experts, has been chosen to serve on a bipartisan committee whose mission is to end the state shutdown.

Katelynn Metz, Patch Staff

Posted Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 4:39 pm CT|Updated Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 11:50 am CT

Some of Minnesota’s brightest political minds have put together a bipartisan committee tasked with devising a solution to the state’s $1.7 billion budget gap and ending the state shutdown.

High Hopes for the Expert Committee

The committee, which will begin its work this week, was created by former Minnesota politicians Vice President Walter Mondale, Gov. Arne Carlson and U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger.

Find out what's happening in Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We were trying to find people with superb professional backgrounds and exemplary roles in impartial public leadership,” Mondale told reporters Tuesday morning at Minneapolis City Hall.

(See full video of that press conference in the sidebar of this article).

Find out what's happening in Minnetonkawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Among those on the committee is , who is widely regarded as one of Minnesota’s top budget experts. Gunyou remains Minnesota’s longest-serving finance commissioner under Governor Arne Carlson and was also the first finance director for the City of Minneapolis under Mayor Don Fraser.

“This is as good a group as could have been assembled," Carlson said "With and Jay Kiedrowski, in particular, we certainly have two of the best finance people in Minnesota history, as far as I’m concerned."

When asked about his role on the committee today, Gunyou would only say, “no comment.”

Carlson and Mondale each stressed the importance of finding a quick solution to the budget impasse—both for the state and people of Minnesota.

“Our fear is that large sums of money, large interests will come into Minnesota and cause a freezing of attitude and make it very difficult for compromise to become a reality,” Carlson said.

Mondale added: “We understand that thousands of people depend on Minnesota’s ability to resolve this crisis quickly.”

Local Lawmakers React

Carlson said he expects the committee to come up with a workable solution no later than Friday. But Friday may not be soon enough for some Minnesotans who argue that the mere formation of this committee shows that the Legislature failed to do its job.

Today, that idea got mixed reaction from the legislators who represent Minnetonka at the Statehouse.

“The Legislature did fail. Yeah,” said Tuesday.

“I don’t look at it like that,” told Patch. “I was disappointed with all of us, that we weren’t able to reach consensus. But it’s important to get beyond blame…these issues are important issues.”

Just how Minnesota got to this point aside, Minnetonka legislators, while generally supportive of the committee, agree that its success is uncertain.

“It’s outstanding!” Bonoff said. “Doing it this way allows us to get beyond the win and lose conversation [but] there are no guarantees.”

“I’m in favor of it,” Benson said. “ The trouble is that the leadership of the two parties don’t want to admit, probably, that they are at a deadlock and they can’t resolve this on their own.”

Calls for comment to Rep. Kirk Stensrud (R-Minnetonka/Eden Prairie) were not returned.

Minnetonka's Gunyou: Budgets, Development and Education

As Minnetonka City Manager, Gunyou prepares the —a budget that has stayed flat for two years running. Maintaining the city's $27.9 million operating budget for 2011 required hard changes for the city, as well as out-of the box thinking for Minnetonka’s finance team. While Minnetonka laid off seven employees from its workforce of over 200 people to balance the budget in 2010, the city also implemented innovative, money-saving partnerships with neighboring municipalities.

The result—Minnetonka is fiscally sound, according to . And it’s Gunyou, he said, who got the city there.

“In 2008, he saw the economy kind of spiraling down,” Schneider said. “John recognized that what we had been doing in the past needed modified, that it probably wasn’t sustainable.”

Gunyou also spearheaded the $15 million capital expansion project to redo the , using a one-of-a-kind financing mechanism to pay for the development. However, the construction phase of that project, underway since April, came to a screeching halt, with the state shutdown.

Gunyou predicted that a delay to the project would cost Minnetonka taxpayers an additional $2.75 to $3.10 million dollars—a 20 percent increase on the project, and almost one-third of the city’s annual budget for roads. Considering the possibility of that tab, Gunyou's work as part of this committee will directly impact Minnetonka residents—and their wallets.

Of the nine budget bills upon which legislators were unable to agree, education remains one of the most contentious. Right now, the two proposals from Gov. Dayton and Republican leaders present very different visions for K-12 education. And resolving these policy differences would be a critical piece to ending the stalemate and getting a K-12 education funding bill passed.

Because of his experience as a former middle school math and history teacher, Gunyou could also be tapped to bridge the gap between parties on education funding. Gunyou, who ran alongside Margaret Anderson Kelliher, a DFL-endorsed candidate for Governor in 2010, has campaigned for strong public schools in the past.

Cautious Optimism Prevails

Today, local lawmakers also gave Gunyou high marks for his previous work, not only as city manager for Minnetonka, but also in his former jobs at the state level.

“He’s highly respected among people who are fiscal analysts,” Benson said, calling Gunyou “nonpartisan.”

“I highly respect him and not just for what he’s done for Minnetonka,” Bonoff said. “I often call him myself, he’s an advisor to me!”

Neither Mondale nor Carlson will serve on the committee. Their role was one of creation and sponsorship.

“We’re not in this to negotiate,” Carlson said. “We’re in this to provide a third solution. I would anticipate the ultimate support of the both parties.”

Members of the committee include: