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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCitySlick_September_2012by Kaylin Martin, Communications Assistant If there was a practical joke played in the Edina Police Department, there was good chance Sgt. Steve Stroh was behind it. “During staff meetings, Steve used to unscrew the top of my water bottle so that when I went to take a drink, I would spill all over myself,” said Chief Jeff Long. Life-long friends, Long said Stroh liked a good laugh. “He could dish it out, but he could also take it,” he said. Long, his brother, Steve Long, and Stroh would go camping together when they were young. Steve Long was such a sound sleeper, that Long said nothing would wake him. “Steve used to get a few guys together and carry my sleeping brother out on his cot and leave him in the middle of the woods,” Long recalled. “You always knew he had woken up when you’d hear him yell ‘STROH!’” Stroh passed away shortly after midnight Aug. 25, after a four-year battle with multiple myeloma. “He was one of the most loyal and true friends anyone could ever have,” said Long. Stroh graduated from Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School in 1983. He began his career with the Edina Police Department in 1987 after graduating from the University of St. Thomas with a degree in criminal justice. He started as a Community Service Officer and worked his way up to Sergeant. He was also one of Edina’s original D.A.R.E. instructors in Edina Public Schools. “He pushed us to be excellent and bring the profession to a new level,” said Sgt. Brian Tholen. “There’ll be several days when I’ll want to call him for advice and he won’t be there.” Administrative Assistant Lynn Olson, a 32-year friend of Stroh’s, said besides playing practical jokes, he was a “by-the-book guy.” “Whether he was working as a cop or off- duty with friends and family, he was always kind, compassionate and kept everyone on the straight and narrow,” she said. “You always knew where he stood. Sometimes I think he made it his personal mission to save everyone.” A letter written by Taylor O’Neil, who Stroh came into contact with at Cornelia Park in 2004, read, “I have had more time to think about what happened, and to fully understand the seriousness of my action. I am truly sorry about the way I acted. There is neither a good reason nor an excuse for what I did. … CITYSLICK p1 A newsletter for the City Council and employees of the City of Edina Volume 15.12 9|14|2012 INSIDE THIS ISSUE 2 Around The Water Cooler 4 Parks Superintendent To Retire 5 ‘Top Shooter’ Award 6 Staff Notes Sept. 16, David, Fire Sept. 18, Jordan, Communications & Technology Sept. 19, Scott, Police Sept. 20, David, Fire Sept. 21, Darrell, Fire Sept. 21, Joan, Communications & Technology Sept. 21, Jim, Fire – Building Inspections Sept. 22, Laurie, Finance Sept. 24, Scott, Administration Sept. 25, David, Edina Liquor Sept. 26, Joseph, Police Stroh: An ‘Eternal Friend’ EMPLOYEE MILESTONES Larry Diekman, Public Works, 15 years. (Sept. 24, 1997) Vince Cockriel, Park Maintenance, 25 years. (Sept. 8, 1987) Continued on Page 4 ... CITYSLICK p2 Communications & Technology Services Edina Community Channel 16 (EDINA 16) has been nominated for four Emmys by the Upper Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The 2012 Emmy nominees were announced Thursday, Aug. 30. EDINA 16 received nominations for: tPolitics/Government – Program: “Agenda: Edina.” Other nominees in this category are Caucus Coverage 2012 (KCRG-TV), Capitol Hot Dish (Star-Tribune), Almanac (Twin Cities Public Television) and LFD On Call (Lakeville Government Channel 16). tInterview/Discussion: “In Edina.” Other nominees in this category are Twins Town Hall (Fox Sports North), Northland Voices (KDLH-TV) and Butter City – Craig Laurence Rice (SPNN). tWriter – Short Form: Nathalie Gage. Gage was nominated for her work on “Halloween 16.” Other nominees in this category are Henry Schneider of KSTP, Kevin Myers of KMSP and Pepe Barton of KSTP. tOn-Camera Talent: Performer/Narrator – Nathalie Gage. Gage was nominated for her role as a witch in “Halloween 16.” The other nominee in this category is Jim Schiffman of Lakeville Government Channel 16. Emmy Awards will be announced Sept. 29. Edina Aquatic Center We had another successful summer at the Edina Aquatic Center, with nearly 40,000 paid daily admissions. This number does not include our season passes. This was the first summer with the new FlowRider surf simulator, “The Lost Wave.” The FlowRider was a huge success and became a popular spot for teens and younger adults to hang out. We wrapped up the summer with our first-ever FlowRider competition. Amateur surf enthusiasts came together to show off and share skills learned over the summer. We are excited to build on the enthusiasm next summer. Besides the exciting change of adding the FlowRider, changes were made to the concession menu. Roughly 40 percent of our menu provides healthier options for our guests, bringing in $8,000 more than 2011. Edinborough Park A lot of changes are taking place at Edinborough Park. We recently removed all of the older/aged trees in the facility and are working on giving the facility a more updated look. The architecture in Edinborough Park is truly beautiful and we excited to show that off. We are happy to announce that beginning this month, Edinborough is now the “home pool” for the Edina Swim Club. Staff has also been working with Tria on potential new classes to offer to City employees and the public … more information to come soon! Fire At the end of August, Edina Fire Marshal Tom Jenson retired (see Page 5 for more information). Applications were accepted from internal applicants and an interview process has begun. A new Fire Marshal will be named before the end of September. This year’s Fire Prevention Week is Oct. 7-13. The theme, “Have 2 Ways Out,” focuses on the importance of having a fire escape plan, including multiple escape routes, and practicing it regularly. Meet with your family to make your escape plan and put the plan to test. While it has been more than two months since an apartment fire displaced dozens of residents on Parklawn Avenue in Edina, donations are still needed to help those who lost everything. The Edina Resource Center is collecting Target and gas station gift cards and in-kind donations for residents. Items can be dropped off at the Edina Resource Center, 5701 Normandale Road. Human Resources Human Resources Survey In August, Human Resources conducted an employee survey to gather feedback on our formal employee recognition process and some initial feedback on the City’s health insurance offerings. We received 185 responses. HR is currently reviewing the feedback and plans to AROUND THE WATER COOLER Following is a summary of some of the projects of some departments, divisions and facilities. Other areas of the City will be featured in upcoming issues. CITYSLICK p3 to use it to help guide our decision making going forward. Most employees favored keeping the Employee Recognition Luncheon, with the biggest reason for not attending being conflicts with schedule. More than 90 percent of the respondents felt employees should be recognized for years of service. Employees also favored having a choice of gifts of a specific value from an online gift catalog for both years of service and retirement gifts. HR is working to develop options for service awards and will implement the change starting Oct. 1, 2012 – in time for this year’s recognition luncheon. The survey showed more mixed results in the healthcare section, with employees favoring keeping premium costs low (60.7 percent) over large access to physicians or low out of pocket costs. 58.3 percent of employees felt it was more important for the City to contribute the same dollar amount to all employees, regardless of benefit cost. 41.7 percent of employees felt that the City should contribute based on the cost of benefits selected to keep coverage affordable for everyone. Next year, the Human Resources Department will pull together employees from different departments to form a committee to further explore the City’s benefit structure and to make recommendations regarding city-wide benefits. Results of the survey can be found on the Citywide network at I:\HR\ Employee Survey Fall 2012 Results.pdf or by contacting HR staff. Changes to Vacation Accrual Caps The City of Edina is extremely unique in how it calculates vacation accrual caps (i.e. the maximum number of hours of vacation an employee can accumulate at any given point). Our current policy allows employees to carry over an unlimited amount of vacation for the first five years of employment, and then add an additional 40 hours of vacation to that number each year. This policy results in each individual employee having a different vacation cap that changes each year. This makes it very difficult to track how much each employee is allowed to accrue, which in turn makes budgeting for severance payments extremely difficult. Beginning January 2013, the City will implement a vacation cap of 480 hours for all employees. We will carefully review the specific details of the transition plan for employees during open enrollment sessions in November. Here are the important things to know: tNo current employee will lose any of the vacation they have already accrued. tWe will only count up to 200 hours of your current vacation accrual towards the cap of 480. Any vacation you currently have above 200 hours will be placed into a grandfathered account. You can continue to use vacation in that account just as you do now, or cash it out when you leave employment, but it won’t count toward your 480 hours. We will go through the specific details of the plan during open enrollment, and we strongly encourage everyone to attend one of the sessions in November. Parks & Recreation The numbers are in! This year, 498 children registered for the Edina Playground program, up from 243 participants in 2007. In addition, 458 youth registered for specialty programs like Fab 4 & 5 and Playground Pros. More than 40 playground leaders provided 7,200 minutes of supervision with planned fun activities. Eight sets of siblings were hired. 2,200 water balloons were purchased, providing relief for the 22 days of programming over 90 degrees. 14 stops were made by Edina Fire as they sprayed down kids and leaders on the kids’ favorite day of the season. Police Officer of the Year Award The Edina Crime Prevention Fund has called for nominations for its second-annual Mike Siitari Officer of the Year award. The Officer of the Year award recognizes an Edina Police Officer who has gone above and beyond the call of duty. The award seeks to honor those who have shown exemplary service and leadership through innovation and public relations. To nominate a candidate, email the name of the officer and a few sentences describing the nominee’s achievements to kmartin@EdinaMN.gov. Nominations must be received no later than Monday, Oct. 15 and will be reviewed by the Crime Fund and Chief Jeff Long. The recipient will be announced at the Crime Fund’s meeting in January 2013 and presented to the recipient during a City Council meeting the beginning of next year. Officer Joel Moore, a 10-year veteran with the Edina Police Department, received the award last year. Battle of the Badges The Edina Police Department took home first place in the Battle of the Badges blood drive competition this summer. The Edina Police Department received 75 votes from the community and collected 65 units of blood, beating Rogers Police Continued on Page 6... CITYSLICK p4 PARKS SUPERINTENDENTVINCE COCKRIELTO RETIRE AT MONTH’S END by David Katz, Communications Intern Few people can speak more to the varied nature of parks maintenance work or to the increasing professionalization of that trade as can Parks Maintenance veteran Vince Cockriel. Cockriel has been a fixture of the Parks & Recreation team for the past 25 years, where he started as Parks Maintenance Supervisor in 1987 before being promoted to Parks Superintendent in 1999. When he retires at the end of this month, he will have a lot to reflect on. “When I started, some on the crew were farmers with as little as a sixth- or seventh-grade education,” Cockriel recalled in an interview with the Minnesota Park and Sports Turf Managers Association, of which he is both a member and past president. Today, in contrast, half his staff has college degrees, and everyone must obtain pesticide applicator licenses and other certifications. Cockriel himself holds an associate’s degree from Inver Hills Community College and is the graduate of a supervisory program at Northeast Metro Technical College. He is, however, a firm believer that “being someone you can count on is worth more than any schooling.” When hiring a new person, Cockriel has always valued experience, work ethic and positive attitude. In this same vein, Cockriel has been able to draw from a wealth of experiences from positions he held prior to joining the Parks & Recreation team. Cockriel is a veteran of the Vietnam War, in which he conducted helicopter search-and-rescue missions for the Third Marine Air Wing. After his years overseas, he worked as a Heavy Equipment Operator for Iron Workers Local 535 in St. Paul before taking a position in parks maintenance with the City of Oakdale, Minn., in 1978. Within six months of starting the latter, he was promoted to Parks Superintendent. Among other things, Cockriel will miss seeing Edinans enjoying the facilities his team works hard to maintain. “It’s fun to have people appreciate the service you have supplied,” he said. In retirement, Cockriel plans to revisit Vietnam and tour Italy with his wife, Cindy. Closer to home, he looks forward to devoting more time to his 100 acres of farmland in Cannon Falls, Minn. An avid military pin and patch collector, Cockriel also hopes to help establish a small military museum in southern Minnesota in the coming years. ‘It’s fun to have people appreciate the service you have supplied.’ Stroh: An ‘Eternal Friend’ Continued from Page 1 ... preparing to go off to college, and your words ‘life is hard, but much harder when you are stupid’ are good ones for me to keep in mind.’” Training Officer Kevin Rofidal said residents in the community would often ask how Stroh was doing. “He was truly in the community,” he said. Olson said she is still waiting for Stroh to jump out from behind a corner and scare her again, but she wouldn’t want it any other way. She said, “he was someone whom I cried with, laughed with, argued with, have been furious with and will miss forever!” CITYSLICK p5 by Kaylin Martin, Communications Assistant Edina Police Officer Brandon Kuske, a seven-year veteran with the force, walked away with a “Top Shooter” award from a regional pistol shooting competition in Rosemount, Minn. on Aug. 24. “It was a challenge, but fun,” said Kuske, who took part in the competition for his second year, adding “I used that to my advantage this year to come up with a better strategy.” More than 50 officers and FBI agents competed in the competition, which was broken down into two categories of shooters: Northwest FBI National Academy graduates and agency representatives sent by law enforcement agencies from around the Midwest, including south central Canada. While the competition was designed to test the shooting skills of officers of all calibers, Kuske said it was an opportunity to network with those in the field and that was something he enjoyed most. “It’s not very often you get to network with people from so many different agencies, so that was probably the highlight,” he said. Kuske made it through the course in 65.48 seconds, a time that brought him a first-place award as an agency representative. The course, designed with dynamic shooting in mind – long-distance, barricade and shooting in-motion – changes every year. Kuske attributes his win to his four years on the Edina SWAT team and the accompanying training, but said luck may have also played a role. “Everyone has their good days and bad days,” said Kuske, “but I just got lucky.” Kuske Wins ‘Top Shooter’ Award by Jordan Gilgenbach, Communications Coordinator After working for 30 years in his “dream job,” Edina Fire Marshal Tom Jenson retired at the end of August. “Edina’s the city I grew up in, went to school in and the only fire department I ever wanted to work for,” Jenson said. Jenson began his career as a volunteer certified EMT for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Emergency Squad when he was 20 years old. In the early 1980s, the Edina Fire Department began looking for volunteers. Jenson recalled coming home when his mom showed him the ad in the newspaper. “If it weren’t for her [showing me the ad], I wouldn’t have gotten where I am today,” Jenson said. Jenson applied and was hired out of more than 70 applicants. He remained in this position for the next 18 years. Meanwhile, Jenson and his brother started a business called Soccer Express, near the intersection of Hamline and St. Clair avenues in St. Paul. He became a full-time Fire Inspector in 1998 before eventually being promoted to Fire Marshal in 2000. “One of the most fascinating elements of my job is investigating fire,” Jenson said. “It’s a mystery to find the cause and origin of a fire, like a puzzle.” As Fire Marshal, Jenson managed the Edina Fire Prevention Bureau, oversaw public fire education, fire inspections for code enforcement, fire investigations and worked closely with the Building Inspections Division. Jenson also retained his duties as a firefighter, attending training sessions during the week and responding to fire calls. Edina Fire Marshal Retires Tom Jenson retired Friday, Aug. 31, after a more than 30 year career with the Edina Fire Department. He was given a ride home after his last day in Edina Fire Engine 82. “Whoever gets to take my spot, I’m honored you guys are applying for my position. I wish you the best,” Jenson said at his retirement party Aug. 31. “When you are out driving that maroon car around and people are waving at you – those are my friends – and they will fast become your friends.” “Tom has been a tremendous asset to Edina,” Fire Chief Marty Scheerer said. “We wish him the best of luck in retirement and hope he stops by the station to visit.” “It has been an honor to work with all of you. I’ll still be around from time to time,” Jenson said in an email to City employees. While he is unsure of his retirement plans, Jenson said, “for now, the garage door needs paint, the basement needs cleaning and I have a bathroom to finish.” He looks forward to plenty of rounds of golf at Braemar Golf Course, helping out with Safety Camp and maybe even driving the Zamboni at Braemar Arena. Jenson plans to visit a long-time friend in Texas and hit the slopes this winter in the Rockies. CITYSLICK p6 STAFF NOTES Shannon Deshler began work as a part-time 9-1-1 Dispatcher with the City in July. Deshler moved to a full-time position on Aug. 25, when that position became available. Deshler holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and psychology from Hamline University and a law enforcement certificate from Minneapolis and Community Technical College. She is currently a Sergeant for the Edina Police Reserve, which she has been part of since 2008. Dona Fowler began work for the City of Edina on Aug. 20, as the new part-time Utility Billing Clerk in the Finance Department. For the past three years, Fowler has been working at CrossUSA, Inc. as Operations Specialist and most recently as an Information Analyst. Fowler also worked as an Account Receivable/Collections Manager for Walden On Lake Conroe Community Improvement Association in Montgomery, Texas for 10 years. 9-1-1 Dispatcher Joy Iskierka’s last day of employment with the City of Edina was Aug. 14. Iskierka had worked as a full-time 9-1-1 Dispatcher for the City since 1997. Iskierka has relocated out of state, but enjoyed her opportunity to serve the citizens and responders of Edina for the past 15 years. Dave Krings was recently hired as a part-time employee to do commercial plan review for the Building Inspections division. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Stout with a degree in industrial arts education, Krings spent six years teaching Industrial Arts at the middle school level. He started his career in building code enforcement with the cities of Apple Valley and Plymouth. He then served as Chief Building Inspector for the City of Lakeville for 13 years. Krings recently retired from the State of Minnesota where he had worked as a Building Code Representative for the past 14 years. Krings has lived in Lakeville with his wife Kathy for the past 35 years. Economic Development Manager Bill Neuendorf began work for the City of Edina’s Administration Department on Aug. 27. Neuendorf has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Marquette University and a master’s in urban planning and policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Most recently, Neuendorf held the position of Director of Advocacy & Policy with Transit for Livable Communities. Prior to that he was the Director of Community and Economic Development for the City of Morton Grove, Ill. Cindy Ullrich’s last day with the City of Edina was Aug. 1. Ullrich was the Horticulturist at Edinborough and worked for the City for the past 24 years. At a recent meeting of the Minnesota Association of Assessment Personnel (MAAP), Assessing Technician Mitzi Wicklund was welcomed as the new MAAP President. Wicklund will complete the remainder of the former Vice President’s term and incoming President’s term. Around the Water Cooler ... Continued from Page 4 Filmmaker and producer in the 2011 and 2012 48 Hour Film Project, Frank Petrovic began work for the City as Video Production Intern Sept.7. Petrovic graduated with a double major in marketing and international business from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and works as a Production Assistant at Hi-Fly’n Productions. He is proficient in German and fluent in Croatian and has studied abroad in both London and Vienna. and Fire Departments by three votes. Third place went to last year’s winner, Anoka County, which finished with 47 votes. Memorial Blood Centers’ Battle of the Badges event challenges Fire and Police departments from across the greater metropolitan area in a friendly-competitive race to save and sustain lives through blood donation. Mark your calendars for the next City of Edina blood drive, which will be held 9 a.m. Dec. 12.