On the Road for Regional Meetings

Invitations to the first Regional Meeting were sent to surrounding counties "within driving distance" of the host city.

The year was 1931. The League’s membership had grown to 350 cities since its founding, and some on the executive committee were concerned that “our annual conventions are becoming more formal in character as our membership increases.”  

So a few on the committee suggested holding more informal meetings throughout the state, where municipal officials could gather to discuss what was going on in their area. Hence the idea of Regional Meetings was born!

The first Regional Meeting was held in Morris on October 22 of that year. One hundred members gathered that fall to discuss issues such as: poor relief (could community fund drives be held?), licensing and controlling of peddlers and solicitors (what could be done about the “undesirability of house to house canvassers?”), public utilities (should municipalities control electric light companies?), and taxes (could property taxes possibly be reduced by adopting an income tax?).

More than eighty years later, League staffers still hit the road every fall to discuss timely topics with members around the state. With more than 800 members currently, Regional Meetings are now held in several locations (eight in the fall of 2017!), with several hundred city officials attending.

This year we’ll discuss technology challenges and trends (what resources are available to help your city navigate this ever-changing domain?), the legislative session (what’s in store for 2018?), building trust (what are some concrete actions you can take to strengthen relationships with others?), and next-generation leadership (how can cities support emerging leaders in our communities?).

This fall's meetings begin in just two short weeks! Will we see you out there in a city near you?

This post was updated on September 21, 2017.

Founding Day and Plenty of Cake Too

While we're celebrating the League’s centennial all year long, it is on this very day in 1913 that we took our first steps forward.

This. Very. Day. That’s right, it’s our birthday. Who brought the party hats?

Perhaps because it takes a certain "je nai sais quoi" to pull off a party hat at the age of 100, we've come to refer to Aug. 21 as Founding Day instead.

 It's a great time to reflect on our simple beginnings, when 66 officials from 51 municipalities arrived at the doorstep of Minneapolis Mayor W.G. Nye to establish the framework of the organization.

Officers were elected; a constitution written and voted upon. The delegates dutifully continued to work during a luncheon held at the Elks' Club.

The secretary of the League of Iowa Municipalities was even on hand to help with the process.

The last course of action was to set the date and place of the upcoming convention, to be held in St. Paul during the month of October.

This year, Founding Day will come and go with business as usual, just as the first meeting of the League did 100 years ago. 

But maybe, just maybe, someone will bring party hats this time.

We're not sure why these city officials and Executive Director Don Slater (circa 1987) are in possession of so much cake, but we like where their heads are at.

 Want to know more about the League's founding? Check out this post from Jan. 16 for more background on LMC's beginnings!

LMC and The Great Minnesota Get-Together

Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society

On the back cover of the August 1922 issue of Minnesota Municipalities magazine, an ad featured such various spectacles as “Dr. Carver’s Diving Horse,” a popular auto race, and Lillian Boyer and her Flying Circus (yep, that’s Lillian hanging out in the photo above). The event being touted?

Why, the Minnesota State Fair, of course.

Though we can’t promise anything as daredevil as Ms. Boyer’s high-flying act, the League of Minnesota Cities will once again be at the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

Our presence has grown mightily in the five short years LMC has been at the Fair: In 2009, the League shared a booth with Minnesota Public Radio for just one day. The next year we had our own booth in the Grandstand for all twelve days of the Fair. Then in 2011, LMC made the move to the Education Building, and that’s where we’ve found our home!

In past years, you may have stopped by the League booth to “be a city bean counter,” making tough decisions about spending priorities (just like city officials do every day). Or perhaps you watched one of our videos based on Minnesota icon Babe the Blue Ox, asking you to think “Outside the Ox” when it comes to funding city services.

So what’s on tap these days?

This year, step on up and play a game show with us! You’ll have some fun and learn about city services, too. And do you know a child who would like to be Mayor for a Day? Pick up a form and have them write an essay describing how they would run their city, if given the chance.

The League of Minnesota Cities will be at the fair every day in the Education Building—so stop by after you get your fill of cheese curds or gaze at the butter sculptures, will you? We hope to see you there!

What's in a Logo? You Decide.

League logos in chronological order, l-r, t-b.

A great logo can express what an organization is all about without speaking a word. So it goes to show that you can learn a lot about an organization from its logo! Can you "read" any League history from the images on the left? Let's take a look:

The first logo (top left) appeared in publications starting in the 1940s, and looks mighty academic.

Arrangements of the initials LMM (League of Minnesota Municipalities) then became a focal point through the '50s.

For the League's 50th anniversary in 1963, a combination of the two logos and the number "50" were incorporated together on publications.

Can you tell when the '60s and '70s arrived? Thought so.

In 1975 the logo was redesigned to reflect the name change to "League of Minnesota Cities."

The rectangular logo with a glimpse of skyline lasted from '88-'95 before the shape of the state was reincorporated.

A logo redesign in 2007 embraced the clock tower on the League's building. The hands of the clock point to 7:13 p.m., which in military time marks 19:13, or the year of our founding!

A simple banner marks our 100th year until 2014.

What will League logos say about the next 100 years ahead of us? Only time will tell!



 

The Life and Times of Buzz Olson, Fictional Mayor of Mosquito Heights

Back in 1992, LMC communications staffer Tim Busse* was charged with the task of producing an informational video that could be used during the League’s Regional Meetings.

As he recalls, “That year the topic of the video was city finances—some things never change—and we did it as a straight-up report. We had a talking head on the steps of the Capitol, interviews with city and LMC officials, charts showing city spending trends, etc. It was informative and well done, and it was the most boring thing ever put onto videotape.”

So the next year, Tim knew something had to change. Liking the medium but wanting to jazz things up a bit, Tim switched the format of the video. This time a “Nightline” set-up (renamed “Sightline”) was used, complete with host Ned Koppel asking questions of a panel—one of whom was Buzz Olson, mayor of Mosquito Heights.

This fictional mayor from a fictional Minnesota city soon took hold and became the star of a popular video featured at Regional Meetings for many years. Buzz and his crew (including regulars like Willie the Intern, Councilmember Gultch, and Councilmember Bertelsen) used their campy and sometimes kooky theatrics to cover topics like the Open Meeting law, succession planning, and the Y2K bug in Mosquito Heights, a locale meant to represent municipalities of all shapes and sizes.

For example: when the city dealt with staff turnover (featured in the video clip above), they forgot to ask the retiring public works director what size light bulb fit at the top of the water tower—so they sent their long-suffering intern, Willie, up the giant ladder to find out. In another video, the value of a good joint powers agreement is illustrated through an attack by feral cats at a “C” league softball game in neighboring Pleasant Valley.

Of the early years, Tim remembers that “LMC staff observed that people seemed to enjoy the video more if they partook in the social hour first,” so the viewing was always scheduled following drinks and dinner. Additionally, a real-life Minnesota mayor (who shall remain unnamed) was frequently designated as the “laughing guy” in the audience during the videos to help warm up the crowd.

For 16 years, these tongue-in-cheek productions taught members something important while still having some fun. And during that time, Buzz’s influence even extended beyond our own state’s borders. The National League of Cities distributed at least one of these Mosquito Heights videos, and the Texas Municipal League copied the idea to create their own version—aptly named after the fictional city of Armadillo Flats.

*Tim Busse left the League in 1997. He has been a councilmember for the City of Bloomington since 2011, and says his days producing and starring in the Buzz Olson videos helped prepare him for his role with his city.

Policy Committees: Ready, Steady, Go!

Intro to the League's 1970 legislative agenda

A robust League tradition, member-driven policy committees, kicks off for the hundredth year this week. And we're not even tired yet!

We look to our statewide membership to direct the agenda for our legislative efforts by way of these policy committees. (View the latest City Policies document here) It's something that distinguishes us from some other organizations, and has been a standard practice since the League's inception.

In fact, a legislation committee is called for in the very first League constitution, drafted August 21, 1913 in the reception room of then-Mayor of Minneapolis, W.G. Nye. The legislation committee of 1913 would be composed of three members, and two ex officio seats would be held by the board president and League secretary.


The next year, the number of members was quickly expanded to 13 to accommodate the demanding task.

Now, more than 150 city officials will participate either in person or via GoTo Meeting online.

In addition to composition, the process has also been revised several times since 1913. Committees of the past have met in the spring and presented their priorities before the membership body at the Annual Conference for review and revision (a raucous and time-consuming process at times).

These days, policy committees meet over the late summer months, put their work before the board and the full membership for a comment period, and then bring these policies to the board for final approval. Then these carefully crafted messages are sent off with our intergovernmental relations staff into the fray known as the legislative session.

These working groups, firmly woven into the League's fiber, continue to be a shining opportunity for members to get involved and improve the landscape for city officials and the residents they serve.

Ready? Steady? Go!

Email advocacy@lmc.org or call (651) 281-1256 for more information about getting involved in a committee.

'After' Photos: LMC Centennial Garden Project

 Who knew celebrating a centennial would involve so much ... dirt? And sunscreen, and shovels ...

Let's back up a bit.

As part of the League's centennial celebration, staff decided last winter to also plan time to give back to the community we are a part of here in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul.

And so with the help of the Blooming St. Paul program, about a dozen League staffers rolled up their sleeves last week to dig out an overgrown, weedy garden at the nearby Scheffer Rec Center, which provides programming and recreation for children. (See the "Before" photos here!)

In place of the weeds, a new landscape design was planted that would incorporate the recently installed mosaic bench and Little Free Library at the site. Stone steps from the St. Croix River Valley were used to allow kids at the rec center to access the bench without trampling the garden-a-growin'.

A few of St. Paul's Youth Job Corps members completed the garden with plenty of water and mulch.

While some of the plants are starting off small (hey, didn't we all?) in just a few years the garden will mature into both a shady spot to relax and a sunny bed for plants to soak up the summer sun.  It's versatile, resilient, and ready for the future—just like Minnesota cities!

It took some muscle to get through the tough soil and old roots.

Once the digging was through, the planting began.

League staff carefully plant the hardy geraniums.

Nice touch! There's plenty of color in the shade under the tree.

Stones from the St. Croix River Valley make a walking path to the mosaic bench.

Ready for mulch! Thanks to St. Paul's Youth Job Corps members for the help.

The final product at Scheffer Rec Center! Thank you, volunteers!