Tout the Best of Your City

It’s often challenging to find venues for sharing stories about the good things cities, and the individuals who lead them, are accomplishing every day. Once again, League member cities have an opportunity to showcase the best of your city through submitting nominations for 2024 LMC Awards.

Nominations are now open for the League’s 2024 City of Excellence Awards, recognizing city achievement, along with individual awards (C.C. Ludwig, James F. Miller Leadership, and Emerging Leader) honoring elected and appointed officials.

Winners in all categories will be announced and will receive a plaque at the League’s Annual Conference to be held in Rochester this summer. Each winner will be recognized throughout the year by way of a League-produced video to be first shown at the conference and shared on social media, a feature article in a future issue of Minnesota Cities magazine, and potential exposure through your city’s local media. Plus, each City of Excellence Award winner will receive a check for $1,000.

More information and nomination materials can be found at www.lmc.org/awards. All entries must be submitted by no later than April 19. Please contact Don Reeder, dreeder@lmc.org or (651) 215-4031 if you have any questions.

An Old Friend Returns to the City of New Ulm

According to the New Ulm Journal newspaper and Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment magazine, a 1969 Pirsch Aerial firetruck has been graciously returned to the place it served for 23 years. Salvaged from a museum in Minneapolis and then well-maintained by a new owner for several more years, the truck recently made its way back to its original home in the City of New Ulm and is now housed there along with a collection of other antique firetrucks.

After being removed by the city from active service in 1992, the vehicle was donated to the Minneapolis Fire Museum, where it took up residence until the museum permanently closed its doors in 2006. It was then retrieved from temporary storage at the home of one of the museum’s directors by City of St. Louis Park firefighter Tim Smith who kept and took care of it until late last year.

Smith, who also serves as a City Council member in Waterville, kept the truck in tip-top shape and even drove it in the New Ulm Bavarian Blast parade for several years. When he made the decision to donate it back to the City of New Ulm, Smith received a special proclamation from the city for his kind contribution to the preservation of local history.

Smith explained his decision in a Facebook post: “This truck has been family to Sarah Smith and I, but it’s time for me to donate it back to New Ulm so it can be back home.”

Chaska’s Growth Through Opportunity Program Ensures There’s Room for All in City Government

Communities looking for ways to make their city jobs more inclusive and welcoming to all can learn a thing or two from Chaska’s Growth Through Opportunity program. The program, which will be entering its third year of programming this summer, offers 18- to 21-year-olds with intellectual or developmental disabilities the opportunity to intern with Chaska’s city departments during an eight-week period. From working with the finance department to driving Zambonis and working at Chaska’s local pool, the cadets are doing it all. The program’s supervisor, Chaska Police Department Community Partnership Specialist Julie Janke, said the program has cost her department less than $300. The city takes on two cadets per year and provides them polos, hats, and pants.

Janke says she welcomes any city employee interested in the program to reach out to her for more information.

“If people are thinking it’s going to take too much time or it’s going to cost too much money … I just think the benefits far outweigh anything like that,” Janke said. “Just the opportunity to be welcoming and inclusive in your city and invite cadets to be a part of your program … I can’t say enough about it.”

Help Report and Control Invasive Phragmites

Invasive Phragmites is an aggressive nonnative grass that can harm wildlife, recreation, and ecological functioning. While it has taken over vast areas in other states, the scale of invasion in Minnesota still offers hope for effective management.

Minnesota has a window of opportunity to prevent invasive Phragmites from transforming the state’s lakeshores, wetlands, riparian areas, and other habitats.

Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center (MAISRC) through the University of Minnesota has partnered with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and many local organizations to support strategic, coordinated control of invasive Phragmites statewide. The goal is to slow and ultimately reverse the spread of invasive Phragmites in the state.

Natural resources professionals, roadside maintenance crews, and concerned individuals can help:

• Avoid spreading invasive Phragmites; stems, rhizomes, stolons, and seeds can all contribute to spread.
• Keep an eye out for invasive Phragmites and report new populations at bit.ly/ReportPhragmites.
• Contact the MAISRC team at phragmites@umn.edu to have invasive Phragmites controlled using best practices. Technical, financial, and other resources are available.
• Be careful: There is a native subspecies of Phragmites that can be challenging to distinguish from the invasive subspecies. Native Phragmites is an important component of our wetlands and shorelines that should not be targeted for management.

Free Wi-Fi Expands Opportunities for Farmington Park Goers

City parks have the potential to serve all residents, and the City of Farmington has a plan to make its parks more inviting to all. The city is in the process of bringing free Wi-Fi to 20 of its 29 parks through a Hiawatha Broadband Communications (HBC) fiber optic network that will run across the city.

The city will use $522,281 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to purchase power, poles, and security cameras that will be placed within the parks. Initially, the project was quoted at $1.3 million, which did not include any of the pole or equipment costs. The HBC partnership cut costs dramatically, which Farmington Information Technology Director Peter Gilbertson said will be repurposed for other initiatives.

“Parks are public spaces, which tend to offer accessibility and inclusivity to a diverse range of people,” Gilbertson said. “Park goers will have more options for community engagement, remote work, emergency connectivity, and plain old fun!”