Monday, October 27, 2014

LMC Remarks

Welcome
My name is Chuck Bradford and I am the Mayor for Mantorville. I also have some of my council members here. I would like to also recognize Mayor Nelson from Kasson and his council members. Could the Council members of both communities please rise to be acknowledged…… Thank you. Our two communities work very closely together.

History
Mantorville’s charter pre-dates the State’s. With the oldest court house that has been in continuous service since it charter Mantorville is rich is original and authentic historic assets. The Mantorville Theater Companies building as well as the Hubble House date back to the very early days of our city. There are many original Victorian homes scattered throughout the community and we have a designated Historic District as well as a Preservation Association.

Branding
The Mantorville EDA has been working on a City Wide branding project. We have narrowed the logo portion of that branding project down to three candidates and we are currently soliciting community feedback on the three proposals.

Challenges
Last winter’s cold temperatures was a challenge for the city because we did not have any policy or recommendations in place on how to deal with frozen lines. We did a temporary resolution allowing citizens to run some water if they were concerned about pipe freezes; however, we still need to formally adopt a more permanent solution along with recommendations of service providers to contact in the case of frozen pipes do occur.

Mantorville is in need of upgrading our WWTP. We were able to partner with Kasson and realize a financial benefit for both cities.

One last thing I would like to acknowledge the council for is that the City of Mantorville has been able to do a -1% levy last year and a 0% the previous year. Our goal is for another 0 or -1 this year, this represents a lot of hard work by our council and I wanted to thank them for that dedication.

Summary
I would love to talk to you more on a one-on-one basis through out the evening on any of these topics and I again welcome you to our community. Thank you for joining us tonight. I will now ask Bill to come up from the League of Minnesota Cities to update us on the progress at the League.

Thank You

A Rendezvous, Meetings and Projects

This past week the League of Minnesota Cities held it’s annual meeting in Mantorville. Three other council members and I were able to attend and gain some valuable information from various seminars, lectures and by networking with our fellow council members from around the state. As host Mayor, I was asked to make a few opening statements and I have posted those on my blog for those that are interested in reading them.

Earlier this fall Mantorville was once again the host site for the Zumbro Bend Rendezvous, the picture below was taken from across the river looking back at River Side park and show just how much beauty Mantorville has in it’s parks. The Rendezvous is an annual living history event that many of the area schools have the opportunity to bring their students and learn about our past by experiencing what life was like between 1740 and 1840.


This past weekend the Kasson-Mantorvile Dog Park committee held a grand opening of the newly completed dog park. There were several canine customers present along with their human companions. Mayor Nelson, from Kasson, and myself were present and said a few words about the park as well. Please remember, responsible stewardship of this park as pet owners will ensure it’s success and longevity. Please remember to pick up after your pet during visits to the park.

Elections are coming up next week and I encourage you to take the time to cast a vote for those candidates that closest match your vision for our nation, state and city. It a has been a rewarding experience to be your mayor and I hope I have earned your trust to continue as your mayor for two more years. I would appreciate your vote on election day.

The surface of seventh street has been completed and the street is now open. We still need to do some clean up and landscaping to complete the project and will make sure that is addressed in the near future. We have also started on the drainage project between seventh and ninth and hope to complete that is the next few weeks.

The council is currently looking at next years budget and making plans for the projects we want to complete during the next three years. We are also trying to arrange a 0% or -1% levy again this year and are again going line by line through our wants and needs to determine priority.

Yours in service,

Chuck Bradford,
Mayor – City of Mantorville
http://mayorbradford.blogspot.com