By Joanna Miller, Correspondent

With an operating tax levy renewal on the line, the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District has two citizen groups competing for the public’s attention this election season.

The Say Yes Committee stands in favor of the referendum, and Citizens for Accountable Government (CAG) says it attempts to inform area voters on fiscal issues for schools, city and county government.

Citizens for Accountable Government has not formed a group stance on the upcoming referendum.

But the Say Yes Committee is rallying around the district’s request for a levy renewal, funds to open Redtail Ridge Elementary School, and to decreasing class sizes.

“More than 130 people came and listened to the story of how all of this came about,” said Julie Lundquist, one of the Say Yes Committee’s three chairwomen, about a Sept. 7 rally.

Lundquist said the pro-referendum group is a grassroots effort to reach out to citizens with information. “It’s time for the silent majority to start speaking out in a good way to build community,” she said. “We’ll go anywhere we’re invited to talk.”

Members of the Say Yes Committee have provided public speakers with information to bring to their own book clubs, Bible study groups and other organizations to spread the word.

Dave Thompson, chairman of Citizens for Accountable Government, said his group will post information online as a way to inform voters this season.

Thompson said the group is entertaining the idea of a fall meeting and candidate forum before elections, as well.

For a candidate forum, he’d expect about 40 to 60 people, based on last year’s attendance.

Thompson said he wasn’t certain the candidate forum would take place, as speakers would need to be confirmed for the event. “It just offers good debate,” he said, of the group’s focus.

Thompson said members of the School Board may be invited to answer referendum-based questions if a forum is organized. A fall meeting is also designed to find people to participate in the organization as a whole.

Say Yes Committee volunteers staffed a booth at Fall Community Fest on Monday to offer people informational flyers.To raise funds, Say Yes will play host to a series of neighborhood bonfire parties this fall. For a $25 donation, people can attend the events to hear local musicians, sample food, and learn about the group’s mission.

On Sept. 19, Judging Ronald Band will play in the Jeffers Pond area; Saturday, Sept. 20, Greg Anderson Combo will offer music in the Credit River, WestWood, Dufferin Park area; Saturday, Sept. 27, acoustic guitarist Dan Schwartz will play in the Credit River and Grainwood areas; and music is still being arranged for a WestWood area party on Friday, Oct. 10.

Tickets are available through the Say Yes Web site, www.sayyes719.org.

The steering committee meets every other Thursday. “Others are welcome to attend,” Lundquist said. “We have a ton of volunteer opportunities.”

Mostly, Lundquist said, their outreach is about people being informed and sharing that information with neighbors and friends – even if it’s a quick chat at the mailbox.

“We know that the doors of the schools have to stay open,” she said. “It’s our responsibility to take action and take responsibility in our community.”

Lundquist said residents need to know how much rides on how they cast their vote. “This is a really informed community,” she said.

So far, residents against the referendum seem unhappy with the past more than with the present situation. Lundquist said the Say Yes Committee is about looking ahead to today and tomorrow. “Great schools equal great communities,” Lundquist said.

 “We think this had tremendous value,” she said of the referendum increase.

Lundquist said she believes strong schools will ensure a strong community as well as property values in the area.

“This isn’t just about my kids – this about all kids,” Lundquist said.

Lundquist said that the community organization doesn’t work for the school district, and it isn’t a teacher-based group, either.

“We are very much a community group,” she said. “We want people to choose to live here and choose to stay here and raise their kids here.”

Last year, Citizens for Accountable Government spoke out against the school district’s referendum requests. Lundquist said that Say Yes is open to hearing what the members of CAG have to say, since it takes everyone coming together to move ahead.

“The beauty of the thing is we are all open in trying to make the community as strong as we can,” she said.

Thompson said, for him personally, the referendum question for the levy renewal should have been on its own, rather than grouped with an increase.

“We really haven’t established a core stance,” Thompson said. “It’s my belief, and would be my vote, that it’s essential that the existing levy is renewed. It’s not responsible to oppose the levy.”

Thompson said that the renewal is a huge portion of the district’s finances and needs to be renewed.

“Unfortunately, they combined the question, which makes it a little more difficult to support because now it has strings attached,” he said. “It would have been nice for them to leave it as a standalone.

CAG considers itself a government watchdog organization for not only the School Board, but for local and county-level government.

Wes Mader, a CAG member, said that “it’s been kind of an off and on kind of a group” that comes together to provide information to taxpayers when issues arise.

Mader said his personal opinion is that the School Board has two prime objectives: to make sure that the existing levy referendum is extended and to rebuild community confidence.

“The referendum from a year ago was a clear message,” Mader said.

Mader said he disagreed with the board’s decision to group the renewal of the existing levy with funding the opening of Redtail Ridge Elementary.

“To me, that decisions runs contrary to both of those objectives,” Mader said. “I, personally, think that’s kind of reckless.”

The School Board has said rather than ask for operating funds when the school was built, it waited until the funds were needed.

“You should never build with the idea that later you can come up with the money to operate it,” Mader said, is his philosophy, be it a school, city government, or private business. “There’s no guarantee on how voters are going to vote.”

Mader said outside of personal opinions, CAG as an organization is more about arming voters with facts than saying whether people should vote for or against the referendum.

“We want to make sure that the data is factual,” Mader said. “We’re trying to make sure people have honest facts. CAG is trying to take the spin out of the data.”

More information

Citizens for Accountable Government: Web site: www.citizensforaccountablegovernment.org, Chairman: Dave Thompson

Say Yes Committee: Web site: www.sayyes719.org, Chairwomen: Lisa Provost, Stacey Ruelle, Julie Lundquist

 Joanna Miller can be reached at jmiller@swpub.com.