by Sleepy Eye Mayor Wayne Pelzel
It’s hard to believe that Summerfest 2024 is in our rear view mirror. Summer went by far too rapidly. And now, we can look back and see that the Summerfest celebration was extremely successful. All the events from the parade, the water ski show, the food served in Allison Park and elsewhere, the street dance, and the Dawg Haus activities and park activities were well attended and enjoyed by all. This celebration has quickly taken the place of Corn Day. Word has it that the Little Crow Ski Team folks really enjoy doing the show on our lake. Thanks to our Chamber Director and for her leadership for this event.
This past week we were made aware that the Water Retention Dam underneath the 1930s WPA bridge on the north side of the lake had broken away and water was flowing out of the lake at a very rapid rate. (That dam controls the water level of the lake. High water flows out there to the County Ditch to the north.) Mike Hardin, our City Public Works Director and I inspected the dam at about 10 a.m. and Mike devised a plan to rebuild it. I had some other business to attend to and returned to the dam site about 2 p.m. that day. By that time Mike, assisted by park employees, Matt Schmidt and Matt Mielke, had removed the old dam and were in the process of constructing a replacement. By 3 p.m. that day the new dam was in place and water was no longer flowing out of the lake.
I know all of you did not get to witness this reconstruction take place and I tell this for a specific reason. This work performance is an example of the quality employees that the City of Sleepy Eye has in its employ. In last month’s column I stated that I was going to talk about some of the progress made over the last eight years. Along with City Manager Bob Elston, one of our major goals during that time was to hire and retain quality employees. We wanted employees who were qualified, willing and able to work and who had a real heart for the City. The three employees above exemplify that kind of employee. We have many such employees including our department managers, fire department, office staff, ambulance staff, pool, library, and Event Center staffs, Public Utilities staff, police department and our hospital staff and doctors.
We wanted our employees to be proud to work for the City and we wanted to be proud to have them work for the City. And in order to retain those employees, we had to pay them some of the top wages in the area. The City has paid them well and we’re pleased to say that retention of this quality staff has been going well.
Finally, I’m happy to report that the City has been able to hire a new police officer. In a time when officers are extremely hard to find, we are very happy to add Joseph Corley to our staff. He will be replacing Crystal Osterhoff who has wedding plans to a fellow from northern Minnesota. Interestingly Cupid’s arrows played a role in each of these officers’ plans. Our new hire has a person he is interested in who lives in this area. Thus, it made perfect sense for him to work here. Welcome, Joseph!