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Featured News
Help contribute to DM&E plans
Mankato Free Press, Minnesota
Marsh 20, 2002
By Kevin Schieffer
Mankato, Skyline, Eagle Lake and Blue Earth county and their constituencies all have a stake in the DM&E Railroad construction case. There are many decisions that need to be made, and I believe most of them can be improved by involving those affected. The Mankato area presents some unique issues not found elsewhere on our project. We need to develop a unique approach to address them.
We are committed to build this railroad. But we are also committed to do it responsibly, with consideration for our neighbors and sensitivity to the legitimate concerns of all. Our strongest hope is that we are able to develop a working relationship in the Mankato area, with open access and participation by a broad cross-section of affected parties.
We would like to work toward developing a new area community agreement that incorporates all the affected communities. And we hope to develop and offer similar agreements with individual landowners who wish to participate in the process. Whether or not that is possible I do not know. But we will try.
To begin that process, DM&E is hosting a public meeting at the Mankato Civic Center on Thursday, March 14, 2002 at 6:30 pm in the reception hall. Interested landowners, elected officials, trackside residents and anyone with an interest is invited to attend. We had similar meetings throughout western South Dakota and Wyoming early on in the process when we were trying to decide on routing options there. They were controversial, difficult and generally emotional. But in the end I think they were very helpful to all involved. The purpose of this meeting is to:
- Provide a general overview on our interpretation of the STB decision, particularly as it relates to the "in-town route" vs. the "southern route".
- Explore the level of interest in seeking a comprehensive regional agreement, and explain the parameters of what we believe can reasonably be achieved by the negotiated agreement process.
- Begin a dialogue with affected landowners to (1) explain the "Landowner Outreach Program" we developed with participating landowners out west, (2) explore potential variations of that process to tailor it to Mankato area landowners, and (3) determine the level of interest in participation by individual landowners.
It is important also to emphasize what we will not be able to accomplish at the meeting:
- This is a process meeting. It is an education meeting – for me as much as it is for the public. We will answer whatever questions we can. For those we cannot, we will explain why. There is a great deal of work to do and very little time in which to do it. If we are going to make informed decisions, and if there is an interest in participation, there will be additional meetings to formulate policy and make decisions. But anyone coming to this initial meeting expecting that we have made final decisions or have all the answers will be frustrated.
- We do not plan to dwell on the past agreement. Our focus will be on the future. Our primary interest is developing a working relationship, to be accountable, and to learn. Based on past experience I am a strong believer in facing the tough issues up front. We know this project will have impacts. We cannot make them disappear, and I don’t expect opponents to change their mind. But we can lessen negative impacts by making an honest effort to learn of each other’s issues, and listening to each other’s problems.
To a large extent, I am not certain where this meeting will go. Interested participants are welcome to bring their own agenda and questions. We will see what happens from there.
Former Mayor Stan Christ helped engineer the initial agreement with Mankato. Very early on in the process, he recognized that there were both huge opportunities and tremendous challenges that came with this project. His message to us was that he wanted to maximize the opportunities and fix as many of the challenging problems as possible. It is in that spirit we hope to proceed. Where we can fix problems we will fix them. Where we cannot, we will explain why. Where opportunities still exist, we will work to maximize them to the extent possible, consistent with our development philosophy set forth in our original application. (For those interested in more details on our project generally and our development philosophy specifically, you can find details on our website (www.dmerail.com), particularly in my Verified Statement at Appendix 1 of the original Application filed in February of 1998.)
Last, but certainly not least, we want to emphasize the positive aspects of our relationship to date. Much has been made of the impact of past disagreements going forward. While they do have impacts, they need not interfere with our working relationship. Good people can strongly disagree without taking matters personally. The Blue Earth county and Mankato city staff professionals have worked very hard on this issue, and we have grown to respect them enormously. We have not always agreed, but there is a strong core for a positive working relationship there. In Eagle Lake and Skyline, we are hopeful to develop new relationships. We will work hard to build them on all fronts, and to find meaningful solutions to as many problems as possible.
Kevin V. Schieffer is president and chief executive officer of DM&E Railroad, based in Brookings, S.D.
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