[music] Welcome to the Grovecast, a municipal podcast hosted by the city of Cottage Grove. We are here to demystify city government, make it more accessible while also showcasing the real human beings who work every day providing services to residents. As always, I am your co-host, Phil Jentz, the city's communications manager. >> And I'm Emily Schmidtz, the city's community development director. >> Emily, hello. Hey, Phil. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. Glad to be here. >> Glad to be here. >> As we are recording this, it's a Friday. I don't Yeah, it comes out on on a Tuesday, I believe. But >> yes, >> it's hoodie day. We're comfortable. We're casual. You're feeling good, though. >> Oh my gosh. Yes. It's a great, you know, end to the to the week, Phil. It just >> And how are we feeling about the changing season? It's autumn. Leaves are falling. Snow is around the corn. Snow actually might be on the ground by the time this comes out. >> Don't say that. [laughter] It was the other day. That's true. Did you? >> And frost on my uh back backyard this morning. >> Yeah, it's coming and we accept it. And to be quite frank, after a little bit, you it starts to feel actually kind of nice um through that >> that the that the seasons are changing. >> It does. But that's Minnesota. That's fine. >> Besides seasons, have we talked about your favorite season? We've talked about superpowers. >> Yeah, we talked about superpowers. >> Do you want to travel through time? I think that's what we talked about last time. >> No, that everybody else does travel through time. >> Everyone else is traveling through time. >> Yes. And I'm the goof that's over here like I'd like to be invisible but actually I maintain that but traveling through time I do appreciate there are instances over you know the last handful of weeks. >> I think so too. I think I think >> to just know you're going to stick with that Phil. >> I think I'm staying with that. Yeah. >> Yeah. Hey, you spent some time in Duth? >> Does your favorite season hold true now that you're kind of like closer to the equator? >> It's fall for me. I have a newfound love for summer. I I'm loving summer especially down here in the in the Twin Cities. It's warmer than duth and uh but fall nevertheless the transition seasons are my personal favorite. >> Beautiful. >> So I don't you know never say never but I love Minnesota for that reason. We get all the seasons and I'm loving it. >> You can't beat it. You can't beat it. >> Well with us today is none other than city council member Justin Olsen. Council member Olsen, welcome. >> My pleasure to be here. Thank you for the invitation. >> How are you today? >> I am absolutely fantastic. If it was any better, I'd be two people. >> Oh, isn't that the truth? >> Three people when you came in, right? >> I know >> that had to do with my workload. But >> I know. [laughter] And I was almost Phil, I was almost going to ask him, you know, does he get as excited about Fridays as we do? And then I caught myself and I'm like, Phil, we're talking about how excited we are about Friday, end of the week, and here's our boss sitting with us. You know, you got to be careful. [laughter] >> Well, I will start by saying I absolutely am not your boss. Uh but secondly, um you know, my days all run together. uh that there there's always something to do. I'll be busy tomorrow. I'll be busy Sunday. Um but you know, I am grateful that it's Friday, at least for my work week. >> Yeah, we'll get into that because Mr. Olsson, you're you got a lot of balls in the air. Uh AC I mean obvious member and regular job. I mean, this isn't your full-time job, is it? >> This is not my full-time job. No, my full-time job is I am a retail district manager for a company called Casey's General Stores. Some of you may know that Casey's Pizza is the best pizza on the planet. Uh we >> Is that your favorite food? >> It is. Pizza is my favorite food. Your favorite food. >> Casey's pizza is my favorite pizza. >> Really? That is absolutely correct. Okay. >> That is And that's not just a a ploy. >> It is not a ploy. In fact, I was in a kitchen in one of my stores yesterday testing a new pizza recipe working on. We have a contest that we do every year at Casey's where we bring all of our store teams together. Uh we ask each of the districts. So for example, my district, it's 12 stores to come up with a unique pizza recipe. We test those recipes. My uh test day is December the 3 against all of the other districts in my region. We'll come up with a winner. That person will then compete with the winner of all the other tests that take place >> and we gradually uh winnow it down to four finalists. So this is a good week of work. >> It is. This sounds like a great week. It is a very a good week of work. Yes. I had a lot of fun in the kitchen yesterday. >> I will also say you you you share a favorite food with our director of public safety Pete Kerner. >> I was a pizza. He's a huge pizza guy. >> I'm telling you that like you don't already know that. He has been for as long as I've known him, which is a very long time. >> Yeah. Yeah. However, he has a but he has a a different fancy pizza. >> He's a fancy pizza kind of guy. You know, he doesn't, you know, I'll take a Jack's pizza, right? No, he is a whole another level. >> Well, you know, there's quite a difference between uh what you can buy frozen in the grocery store and what you can get fresh. And that's why >> that's why Casey's doesn't sell our pizza anywhere other than in our Casey's and we sell it nice and warm. Delicious. So, so switching gears a little bit, uh, uh, Justin, what what tell us a little bit for those who don't know, I'm sure many people have some idea of what a council member actually does, right? >> But for those who maybe don't or for those uh, looking for a reminder or a refresher, >> tell us a little bit about what it's like to be on the council or what does a council member do? >> Well, I'll start with this. Uh, as a city council member, you can be as busy or uh as as little as you choose to do. We have some minimum expectations. One of those expectations is we have council meetings twice a month. So, you are expected to attend the council meeting, to do the homework prior to the council meeting, and then of course to engage and participate in the council meeting. When it comes to the other work, council members are assigned to various volunteer commissions on an annual basis. The mayor at the beginning of each fiscal year, which is in January, will uh put forth a recommendation that council member Olsen, you will work with the planning commission this year. Council member Theiti, you will work with commission A, Council Member Clawson, and Commission B, and so on. um we rotate those which is nice because then we as council members have an opportunity to work with all of the various citizen volunteers who serve on those advisory commissions and um you know years ago I was an advisory commissioner that's how I got started in city government so I have a great deal of respect for those folks and it is always a pleasure to be able to work directly with them and get to know a little bit more about you know how they feel certain policy decisions should be made in the city. We also have a whole host of other events that we try to participate in and um there's really no way that one individual can hit all the events. So, we do tend to divide and conquer. I'll give you a perfect example. >> Um tomorrow night I will be attending the Park High Hall of Fame dinner with Mayor Bailey who's a Park High alumni as well as our county commissioner Carla Bigum, former council member from '05 to07. she will be at the event. And then uh generally speaking, public safety director Kerner comes because he's also a Park High graduate, but it just so happens he had a another engagement that uh he needed to participate in tomorrow night. But on an annual basis, we participate in those things. We try very hard as well to participate in all of the various charitable functions that take place in the community, whether that's a uh golf tournament or perhaps it's a fundraising event at the VFW. uh perhaps there's a um event for an individual who may be dealing with some hardship in their life. Uh we always want to be present there and representing the city of Cottage Grove. And what I like to tell people is uh part of being a council member is being engaged while also being engaging. And you have to understand that there's uh really no better way to be engaging than when you're working directly with people in their comfort zone. So, um that could be any number of places. In many cases, it is not city hall. They don't like to come to a council meeting to to talk to us. So, uh we try to make sure that um you know, we're present out in the community and we go to them when we can. >> I love being a council member. And one of the reasons I love it is because I love engaging with the residents of our community and frankly, you know, our surrounding communities, South Washington County, etc., right? So, um, we we we can be pretty busy people. I am part of, uh, a group called the Metro Cities Board. It's a consortium that lobbies at the capital for various policy decisions and things. So, um, you know, I have those board meetings that I also have to attend. I I attended one yesterday, in fact. Um, and there's a whole host of other things that would bore you to death, but um, it it's all about making sure that we represent our community well. >> Isn't that the truth? So you're everywhere. >> I mean, well, I'm a lot of places. I I earlier Justin's superpower clearly is to be two or three, like you [laughter] said, people to be everywhere. >> Earlier I said I should be two people and that's a fact. I really should. >> Well, in my in my experience, you all really are out there. I mean, you are at every event as much as you possibly can be. >> We really we really try. And it's not just me. I mean, all of our council members are are very engaged. And one of the reasons I uh really enjoy working with the group of folks that I work with, and this includes city staff, let's not forget how much time, energy, and effort you folks put in because if I'm at that meeting, one of you is at that meeting as well. Sometimes more than one of you. So, take credit where credit is due. But, um, you know, we we all tend to spread ourselves pretty thin, but that's done intentionally. >> I was going to say, Council Member Olsson, you've done this a long time. You alluded to you started in a volunteer capacity. >> I did. >> Right. Um, what sparked your your interest on it? You know, the people want to know how did you what what sparked you? I think you really have hit on it, but I'm curious. >> Well, I'll I'll tell you I'll tell you a long story, a little less long than I could. Um, [laughter] I grew I grew up >> This is not a two-part episode where understood. Yes. Yep. Next week, very special episode of the Grove Cast. Yeah. Uh I I grew up in a family where service was sort of at the heart of who we were. So it's it's part of my upbringing. My dad was a volunteer firefighter when I was growing up. Uh my mom worked in uh early childhood education and she did a lot of work at uh community centers and things for for people who needed a little extra help. Um and it just became part of our culture. My sisters and I were the ones who were out knocking on people's doors every year for Jerry's kids when it was the Labor Day Tellathon, right? We were collecting donations. Our grandmother, uh, suffered from a very severe case of multiple sclerosis. Um, so, so we were very passionate about trying to fund research for that, etc. So, fast forward a little bit, um, as I became an adult and I became a homeowner here in the city of Cottage Grove. I bought my first house when I was 23. Um, and what's interesting is, uh, I became that, uh, grumpy old man who owns a house when I was 23. Uh, those darn kids were driving their their vehicles too fast up and down the road. And so I wrote a letter uh, sent it to the public safety director at that time as well as city council members and said, "Look, wondering if we can get some extra patrol, etc. on the street." Um, one of your favorite people in mine is our county commissioner, Carla Bigum. Just so happened she was one of the people who was in receipt of that letter, but really it was a city council member and she reached out to me directly and said, "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you get involved?" >> So, she encouraged me to apply to become part of the what was then called the public safety health and welfare commission >> and I did that. I was able to become part of the commission, eventually became the vice chair of that commission and I served on that commission for four years. It was a a really great time. I got to meet a lot of city staff members, understand much more effectively how our public safety department and various other department city went to work every day and did their job. Uh, and as I gained more appreciation for that, uh, I started to become more interested in in becoming uh, perhaps more deeply involved, just so happens that Mayor Bailey was our commission liaison. He was a city council member. And so what I did is uh you know I got to know Byron a little bit better. I knew him when I was a kid but I didn't know him as well as I know him now. He was a few years older than me and I never let him forget it. But um you know >> including one of the microphones in front of you. >> Yeah, that's a fact. Yep. So um he approached me at one point and said, "Hey, look um there's an election coming up. This was the 2008 election and uh I am going to be running for mayor and I'm curious if you're interested in running for city council. Hadn't really thought about it, but as I talked to my family and and thought some more, I said, "Yeah, this is something I think I want to do." And the rest is history. >> History. Here you are today. Yeah. >> Clearly, public service, as you have just mentioned, is very important to you. So, that is uh >> that's impressive. That's really great. And you actually whether you know it or not you've inadvertently answered a question that we actually received uh via social media from Cindy I believe if memory serves. So Cindy thank you very much for listening for the question. Uh she asked about you know volunteering in the city and what are the opportunities that are that are here and inadvertently without knowing it you actually mentioned a lot of them various commissions and people who serve on commissions are volunteers and so getting involved obviously matters a great deal and so uh if there's anything else you want to add about volunteering in Cottage Grove I know that that's something near and dear to your heart so I wanted to give you the opportunity to >> to talk to that. Let me take you back to April this year when you and I sat down for the council update. >> Um, our topic was volunteerism and and that was a topic I chose on purpose because April is volunteer appreciation month. >> Um, I serve as the president of our Cottage Grove Lions Club currently. Uh, been involved with Lions International for about 15 years. Prior to that, I was a baseball coach and a girls softball coach. So, I did that for quite some time. Uh very different coaching 14 and 15 year old boys than seven 8-year-old girls. >> Right. Talk about a shift that right there. Impressed he did both. That's a whole other podcast. >> Yep. Yep. Uh and and you know when my daughter asked me I said absolutely I'm willing to do it but it did certainly give me some night sweats. Um I also am involved with our Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Network team here in the city of Cottage Grove. Those are just a couple of things people can do. Look, uh, I grew up as a believer that everybody can do something. That's the thing that my parent instilled in us is, you know, you could read books to young people at the library once a month. >> There there are small things that make a world of difference. Um, our Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Network team, we do everything from folding laundry to raking leaves to plowing snow to, you know, helping people find mental health care and working with the VA, giving them rides to appointments. There are tons of opportunities. If you truly want to give back, >> all you need to do is have a heart for service and we'll find a spot for you. >> It's there. And it doesn't and it doesn't have to require two of you. >> It doesn't, right? It could help. It can be a small part. There's so many ways. >> It could be anyone. >> As much or as little time as you're willing to give, there's there's an opportunity for sure. >> Yeah. >> So, we talked about his favorite food. Uh the one thing I'm curious hopefully he's thought about this is council member Olson. What would your superpower be if you could have one? We've had an array from our guest. So, I'm curious. If I had a superpower, uh, it would have to be similar to the Flash so that I could get to all the places that I need to be as quickly as possible so I could spend as much time there as I'd like to spend. >> I always feel guilty if I have to leave something early or arrive late because I had another commitment. I I do not like that about >> uh the pace of my life at the moment. It's a it's a reality and >> I live with it. But uh that would be the superpower I would choose. >> It's a pet peeve of mine too when I have to you arrive somewhere late. I I hate it. I just don't like it. But >> it happens sometimes. >> And it and it's part and parcel of the program. So it we are often forced to prioritize our day sometimes hour by hour. Yeah. >> Just to make sure that we can get it all in. Uh it's not always easy, but um it's worth it. >> It is. It is. At the end of the day, we accomplish so much. Truly, it all comes together, >> including recording a podcast. >> Including recording a podcast. This is I mean, this is one of the better parts of I don't know about you, Phil, but >> it is John, I will say. >> Best part of my day so far. >> Yes. [laughter] >> Fantastic. >> And folks, there's no script in front of him. Just said that. >> There isn't. No, no. >> Well, with that, Council Member Olsen, I I will say before we before we wrap up, we usually do kind of the superpower question at the end, but before we wrap up, I just >> skipped ahead, by the way. So, >> no, it's it's all good because it was I mean it was timely and we're talking about how much you've got going on which is a lot and it's great. Um, but I do want to say, you know, given your time on the council and given your volunteer work, um, you just you've had you've held a a fairly prolific public life and public service clearly means a great deal to you. So, I'm just curious, is there any issue in particular that you have worked on that you are particularly fond of? >> Great question. First of all, I'm particularly fond of you for asking that question because I was prepared for it and I actually thought that might come my way. >> And again, no piece of paper in front of you that not scripted. He just said that. >> I will tell you that looking back on my time as a city council member. >> The toughest issue we've had to deal with was when we learned about PFC's and how that affected our our public water system. Yeah, >> that was a very um difficult time. Uh and I was new. I was a new council member. So, we were lucky that uh both the mayor and I um we had some friends at the legislature at that time, Senator Seban and our uh state representative at that time was our current county commissioner, Carla Bigum. >> So, we had allies at the state and that made a world of difference because 3M was challenging to deal with. This was a new situation for all involved and that includes uh people at the Minnesota Department of Health, people at the pollution control agency. >> The science around PFC's was very new at the time. So that made it a little more challenging to understand what are the long-term effects of this particular issue >> and uh we entered into significant dialogue with 3M about a whole host of issues related to that topic and of course you know they're representing their business interests and they were somewhat resistant to what the uh public perception might be because of the newness of the science etc. So, it took a while for us to really get our friends at the capital and all of the various regulatory agencies through the state of Minnesota on board to help us in this challenge. And as I'm sure you're well aware, there were a number of other communities that were also involved that chose to engage in a lawsuit against 3M based on uh the PFC issue. The city of Cottage Grove was not involved in that lawsuit. We made a decision that we wanted to work privately to come to some resolution. >> That lawsuit did go forward, but then the state ultimately settled that lawsuit >> and so uh funding was dispersed based on various community needs. We were grateful that we were part of uh that funding source and we took very quick action. So at this point, meaning right now, today, we are years ahead of some other communities as it relates to the way in which we dealt with that issue. We have great city engineers. Our current city administrator, Jennifer Levit, was our city engineer at the time of this issue. >> Uh Ryan Berfind, who's our public works director, was also involved in engineering at the time along with um you know, some other resources that we brought in as consultants. And we were able to start work on, you know, getting our water treatment plants, first the temporary plants and now the permanent plants uh planned for. We ordered all the materials. And thank goodness we did. >> Yeah. >> Because when CO came around, >> those things were possible to get the supply chain stopped. >> We had already gotten the things that we needed to move forward with temporary treatment. So, the residents of our city have enjoyed clean drinking water for many years versus other communities that perhaps didn't act quite so quickly and ended up uh a little bit behind the eightball. But that wasn't a heavy lift. It was a lot. and most impressive I'm always impressed Phil and council member Olson when I and I've heard you know I'm going to say this story before but you know of this whole process um how quickly not only city staff but most importantly these elected officials made connections um use their resources and those relationships to move as fast as they did and I'm I truly am so proud to be you know I'm I'm on the back end of it right you I wasn't around during that time but I'm genuinely always impressed when I hear that story and hard work that went in for this community. I just >> Right. What a massive Always so impressed. >> It It really was. And you know, Emily, you were around for a little while >> at kind of at the at the very at the end. Yeah. >> You were our code enforcement officer. >> I was. I was. >> And and did a magnificent job in that role, of course. >> Um but grateful to have you in the role you're in today. >> The reality is uh it was a team effort. It took local electeds. Um, it took our state representation at that time. It took Department of Health personnel, it took pollution control agency personnel, it took the governor at that time. >> Um, a whole host of individuals to, you know, roll up their sleeves and try to come to some sort of understanding about what's the best way to address this issue moving forward because it's not something that you can fix. You have to manage it and and that's different than fixing it. It's not going to go away. >> It's not a bridge. >> Good fix and rebuild and that's a fact. So, understanding how to best manage that in the short term and then in the long term um that took a lot of work, but we got there and I'm very grateful that we had all the help that we did. >> Yeah, it's an impressive accomplishment, Phil. Super impressive. >> I'm so glad you asked the question. and and not literally as we're as we are recording this I I just before this came from uh uh recording a short little video out at uh Pineree Pond Park which is right by the soontobe intermediate zone water treatment plant which is yet another massive undertaking as a result of the work that that you just mentioned. So uh you know the work and the proof of it is literally all over all over the place. So uh well done. >> Thank you. Well done. Well, Council Member Olsen, that is sadly all the time that we have, and I know, as we've said, you're very busy. So, uh, you know, Lord knows you've got other things to do on a on a gorgeous Friday afternoon than continue to sit here and record a podcast. But we are very grateful >> because we can't get all of his stories in one podcast. So, and just I'll put a plug out there. If you run into Council Member Olsen, you know, at at H High as he's buying a steak or or you know, wherever he's at, make sure you ask him for a good story of of all of his experiences because he's got >> Yep. Yep. We we were joking earlier about how how you and maybe uh public safety director Kerner could join us and all the stories that you guys have about the community over the years would be would be fun to hear. >> We could be here a while, >> right? Well, >> that's a three-part episode. Yes, >> this has been great. >> At any rate, Council Member Olsson, again, thank you so much for your time. and we do really appreciate you joining us. And that's all we have for today. So, thank everyone. Thank you all for listening. This has been the Grovecast, a city of Cottage Grove municipal podcast. You can catch episodes monthly. And to listen or download, find us at cottaggrovemn.gov/thegrovecast or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you as always to True Lens Community Media for producing the Grocast and stay tuned for our next episodes where we'll move on to other departments, city services, or [music] other topics. Thanks for listening.