Hennepin County, Minnesota
From Sunshine Review
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Hennepin County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The county is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east and north and the Minnesota River on the south. Hennepin County is at the center of seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul, the sixteenth largest metropolitan area in the United States with about 3.2 million residents. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population of Hennepin County at 1,122,093 in 2006. The county seat is Minneapolis, the largest city in the state. The center of population of Minnesota is located in the city of Rogers.
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Transparency of the county website
The good
- Provides a list of the commissioners and their contact information.[1]
- Meeting agendas and minutes; meeting schedule; and public hearings announcements.[2]
- Posts the current budget.[3]
- Post who is in charge of labor relations.[4]
- Post local tax information and rates.[5]
- Information on current bids for contracts is posted.[6] Could be provided in a more searchable format.
The bad
- No information on how to file for public records.
- No listing the county audits, credit card receipts, or posting on the checkbook register.[7]
- Does not disclose if belongs to taxpayer-funded lobbying associations.
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Law and Government
Like all counties in Minnesota, Hennepin is governed by an elected and nonpartisan board of commissioners. In Minnesota, county commissions usually have five members, but Hennepin, Ramsey, and St Louis counties have seven members. Each commissioner represents a district of equal population. In Hennepin the county commission appoints the medical examiner, county auditor-treasurer and county recorder. The sheriff and county attorney are also elected on a nonpartisan ticket. The county government's headquarters are in downtown Minneapolis in the Hennepin County Government Center. The county oversees the Hennepin County Library system, which in 2008 merged with and incorporated the Minneapolis Public Library system.
The county commission elects a chair who presides at meetings. Commissioners as of February 2008
| District | Commissioner | In office since | Current term expires in January |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Mike Opat | 1993 | 2011 |
| 2nd | Mark Stenglein | 1997 | 2011 |
| 3rd | Gail Dorfman | 1999 | 2011 |
| 4th | Peter McLaughlin | 1991 | 2011 |
| 5th | Randy Johnson (chair) | 1979 | 2009 |
| 6th | Linda Koblick | 2003 | 2009 |
| 7th | Penny Steele | 1995 | 2009 |
Commissioners Steele and Koblick have announced that they are not seeking reelection in the November 2008 elections.
Key Staff
Hennepin County's normal operations are coordinated by the County Administrator Richard Johnson, Deputy Administrator David Hough, Assistant County Administrator for Human Services and Public Health Daniel E. Engstrom and Assistant County Administrator for Public Works Marthand Nookala.
See also:
External links
References
- ↑ Board of Commissioners
- ↑ Meetings
- ↑ Budget
- ↑ Labor Relations
- ↑ Taxing Information
- ↑ Contracts
- ↑ Auditor
Portions of this article were taken from Wikipedia.
