On February 18, Bluestem asked in Will Red Wing Mayor Dennis Egan bring sand council spin to Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative DC meeting in March?:
On January 14, 2013, the Red Wing City Council voted to pay $1000 toward Egan's travel expenses to the group's DC kick-off meeting in Washington DC:
Motion to Approve Mayor Egan' s Travel Outside of Minnesota to Attend Mississippi River's Cities and Towns Initiative in Washington, DC Mayor Egan is a board member of the Mississippi River's Cities and Towns Initiative. They are meeting in Washington March 19 -21. Up to $ 1, 000 in funds are available to reimburse travel expenses. Approval of the Consent Agenda constitutes authorization for out -of -state travel for Mayor Egan to attend the Mississippi River' s Cities and Towns Initiative in DC.
So the City of Red Wing is paying all or part of Mayor Dennis Egan's travel to Washington DC as member of this river conservation group's board. Will he be silent about discussions of sand mining? Will he leave the room? Will he disclose the fact that he's working for an industry group that's fighting with a significant chunk of the residents of the riparian population centers in the Upper Mississippi River Basin?
How will anyone ever know?
In Tuesday's Rochester Post Bulletin, Brett Boese reported in Red Wing mayor affirms decision to resign:
Embattled Red Wing Mayor Dennis Egan told the city council on Monday he plans to resign on April 1 and will work in the meantime to ensure a smooth transition.
Egan, who runs a lobbying firm Egan Public Affairs, will continue as executive director for the Minnesota Industrial Sand Council, the job that created a firestorm of criticism about the a potential conflict of interest earlier this month. He first announced his plans to step down on Friday.
. . .Three citizens continued to press the issue at Egan, who was also removed from an upcoming trip to Washington, D.C., for a mayoral conference.
That final sentence answers Bluestem's questions: he won't be going--and least at public expense.
Photo: Pretty Red Wing.
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