progress 2012 community & government

Community & governmentSunday, february 26, 2012

&QAwithChadAdams

Editor’s note: Chad Adams began as the city manager in Al-bert Lea on June 1. In January, the Tri-bune’s Sarah Stultz in-terviewed him about some of the changes he has implemented.

Q: When you first started as city man-ager, were there any particular de-partments in the city that you iden-tified as needing shaping?

A: I didn’t identify any particular depart-ment needing shaping but did recognize that the Fire Department

needed some answers on their short-term and long-term staff-ing and department structure.

There were expecta-tions that a vacated position would be re-placed, but with ongo-ing budget constraints, that was not able to be delivered.

The consultant that we recently hired will help us find the best short- and long-term solutions to that and other department questions.

I would also add that cross-department-wise, I did recognize a need for more com-

munication and col-laboration between departments. There is strong communica-tion and collaboration in most areas already existing to the staff’s credit, but there are a few areas that we can improve on.

Q: What kinds of training have you done with each department to help them figure out their strengths, weaknesses and how they can improve?

A: We conducted a SWOT (Strengths,

Weaknesses, Oppor-tunities and Threats) analysis over the sum-mer in preparation for the retreat/goal-setting session with the City Council. Each department provided its results to the coun-cil during that session. The SWOT analysis

Albert Lea City Manager sits at his desk in his office at Albert Lea City Hall. — Tim Engstrom

was utilized to establish goals for the next 18 months, as well.

We also conducted a LEAN (the acronym does not stand for anything in particular) training session this past fall with members of the management team (depart-ment heads and supervisors), which provided a hands-on demonstration of how we can improve our internal review, processing and approval of various day-to-days tasks. One of the core principles of the LEAN training is to provide us with a methodology to look at how we can improve our processes, with the ultimate result of providing better cus-tomer service to our residents. In most scenarios, we can also save significant time in processing various tasks. The LEAN methodology has been used recently to some varying degrees in five PIT (Process Improvement Team) crews that we created and also in our processing of special event permit applications.

Lastly, we are presently read-ing “The Trust Edge” by David Horsager as a department

head group. Every two weeks we discuss a chapter from the book, and the conversation has been constructive on how we can improve ourselves not only professionally as a team and organization, but also person-ally as well.

Q: Did you follow a cer-tain model that you have learned previously to con-duct this training?

I have had experience and training with the SWOT analysis, LEAN methodology and more recently with the PIT crew concept that have all been utilized these last several months.

Q: Have the city staff been receptive to the changes?

A: I have received positive feedback to the SWOT analysis, retreat/goal setting session, PIT crews and the LEAN train-ing session. The staff was very engaged, supportive, and active in all of those forums.

The staff has maintained an open mind about discussing and implementing measures

that will improve our internal operations as well as cus-tomer service to our residents. Through the SWOT Analysis, for example, several depart-ment heads recognized areas that we could continue to improve on, either within their department, or cross-depart-ment, and were established as their goals.

Additionally, one of our PIT crews recommended that we need to do a better job of iden-tifying ourselves in the work-place as a measure to improve customer service. As a result, we are preparing nametags for staff to display while working with the public.

I have also recognized that our staff has implemented a number of measures the past several years in lieu of budget challenges but also due to their simple desire to provide more efficient services at a high qual-ity level to residents. We have very committed and dedicated employees who take pride in the services they provide to the community.

Q: What do you see as

some of your biggest suc-cesses with the staff in the last six months?

A: I have been impressed by the open communication that we’ve been having, including constructive feedback/ad-vice from each other through department head 360 perfor-mance reviews and in weekly department head meetings. The staff has demonstrated a willingness to continue learning and growing in their positions, for the better-ment of the organization and community.

I’ve also seen our depart-ments and staff work more collaboratively together on various tasks or projects under-standing that we work best as a team and as one.

A specific example was the budget process, where all departments generated op-tions on how to meet budget forecasts for the remainder of 2011 and into 2012. Various sacrifices had to be made and implemented.

The collaborative approach has also been replicated be-yond the organization as well. I

have seen us building relation-ships with community part-ners, such as the county, school district, watershed district and further utilizing each other’s strengths and resources to achieve our objectives or com-mon goals.

Q: What further work with staff do you hope to do during the next year?

A: We will continue to read “The Trust Edge” these next several months and further discuss how we can implement some of the principles from the book into our day-to-day work with each other and the community. I will also con-tinue encouraging adherence to our organizational value statements, which have been integrated into all employee performance reviews.

Later on this spring, we are working on scheduling sessions

on one or more of the follow-ing possible topics: further

developing the organization, teamwork, communication,

collaboration and/or customer service. — Sarah Stultz

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Ghost townsof Freeborn County

By Ed [email protected]

One of the displays inside the entry to the Freeborn County Historical Museum is

a large framed map with two sets of colored bulbs. The white bulbs show the present com-munities in the county. The red bulbs show the locations of places classified as “ghost towns.”

The usual concept of a ghost town is based on the image of a community that grew quickly a century or more ago, then gradually faded away and left a residue of a few abandoned buildings and maybe sev-eral older residents with faded memories of another era.

Each of the 13 former com-munities indicated on the mu-seum‘s county map, plus four obscure towns that were over-looked, was based on a varying combination of a store or two, schoolhouse, creamery, a few residences and hopes of future growth. Several of these locali-ties were also viable enough at one time to have post offices.

BancroftThis name is still a viable

part of Freeborn County as both a locality and official name for a township. And when the town of Bancroft was organized in 1856, it quickly became one of the serious contenders for the county seat. Now a portion of the village site, the Good Samaritan Cen-ter, is at the very northern end of the city limits of Albert Lea.

At one time Bancroft had a newspaper, a sawmill, town hall, post office, a famous creamery, a saloon and a general store near the cross-roads of County Roads 22 and 14. Despite the designation of ghost town, this locality now is the site of several residences and may have the about the same population it had a cen-tury ago.

BathThis was one of three locali-

ties in Freeborn County settled by immigrants from Ireland.

The name of Bath, which is actually based on an English city and a town in Maine, is now used as the name for a Freeborn County township and to designate the former community at the junction of County Roads 20 and 35.

At one time Bath had a post office, which opened for a few years after 1891, a creamery, store, a school and St. Aiden’s Catholic Church. The church was relocated to Ellendale in 1958.

Now the only remind-ers of the community and its Irish heritage are several older buildings located near the crossroads, plus the nearby cemetery behind the former location of the church.

A marker placed near the crossroads by the Freeborn County Historical Society listed the years of 1857 to 1963 for Bath’s existence as a town.

BuckeyeThe name for this commu-

nity in the southeast comer of Manchester Township came about because one of the pio-neers who moved to this part of the county in 1858 was from Ohio. About all that made this particular place a community at all was its status as an of-ficial post office address from 1858 to 1870.

This is one of the four places not shown on the museum’s map.

Crayon ParkThis particular ghost town is

also not marked on the muse-um’s map. However, the name is listed under the category of other villages from the past on page 372 in the 1911 history book of Freeborn County. This is really a ghost town because the history book says, “Crayon Park is located in the central part of Section 6, of Oakland Township,” and that’s all.

The actual location of this alleged locality is likely in a field about two miles straight east of Petran’s Corner and the Oakland exit on Interstate 90.

Deer CreekThis particular place is the

closest to the concept of a ghost town anywhere in this part of the nation because several of the abandoned buildings are still a part of the landscape.

Deer Creek was located in London Township right on the state line. Thus, a part of the community was in Minnesota, and the other half was in Iowa.

This town started about 1875, and by 1900 had a church, a

store (with post office for a few years), a creamery, a harness shop, a blacksmith shop and several residences and nearby farm places.

To add a slight degree of con-fusion, there’s another locality with the name of Deer Creek in the state. This other Deer Creek is located in Otter Tail County west of Wadena and has a population of just over 300 people.

DorwartThis nearly forgotten commu-

nity isn’t shown on the mu-seum’s map and probably had the shortest life of any locality in Freeborn County. Dorwart started as a depot and rail sid-ing a mile south of Clarks Grove in 1900. and was a creation of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad. The pro-moters of this community filed documents with the county recorder, which platted 56 resi-dential and business lots to the east of the railroad tracks.

In June 1902, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad

took over the rail line running north out of Albert Lea. This firm quickly closed the Dorwart depot and made Clarks Grove the main train stop in this part of the county.

Other than an article in the Jan. 6, 1985, issue of the Tri-bune written by John Groten of Albert Lea, very little has ever been reported about this attempt to start a town. It’s not shown on the museum’s map of ghost towns.

The golf course south of Clarks Grove now occupies part

of the area intended to become Dorwart.

FairfieldThis is still another ghost

town not shown on the mu-seum’s map. However, the site of Fairfield in Riceland Town-ship has been designated with a marker placed by the Free-born County Historical Society. The marker indicates this town existed from 1857 to I860.

Fairfield was organized by several promoters who antici-pated that it would become a community that would grow with the arrival of a proposed railroad from the east. Dur-ing its three years of existence, Fairfield had a sawmill, a store with post office, a blacksmith shop and four homes.

There is a Fairfield ghost town in Swift County, too.

ItascaThis community was one

of the very first in Freeborn County and soon became a strong contender for the loca-tion of the courthouse.

The area known as Itasca was first settled in 1855 and officially platted as a village in 1857. By 1860, the community had a hotel, a general store, a dry goods store, a blacksmith shop, a shoemaker’s shop, a post office, a photography gallery, a dentist, a newspaper and 15 homes. After November 1860, when Itasca lost an elec-tion to Albert Lea to become the county seat, the town gradually declined.

Today, the former Wedge Nursery occupies part of the old village area. Not far away is the Itasca Cemetery, started in 1861 and still maintained as a pioneer legacy by a group of volunteers. Also in this area is the former Itasca School (now a private residence) and the impressive Itasca Rock Garden, created in the 1920s.

KnatvoldA marker placed at the for-

mer site of Knatvold in Free-man Township lists 1900 to 1922 as the years of existence for this community straight south of Albert Lea.

The original name of this community came into existence as Oslo, but in early 1890 it was Freeman, the same as the sur-rounding township. However, the name of the post office was changed in 1900 to honor state Sen. Thorvald V. Knatvold. The village eventually consisted of a town hall, a small creamery, and a general store. The post office was discontinued; the creamery closed in 1914; and the store lasted until 1918. Now all that remains at the site of Knatvold today is the Freeman Township Hall.

LerdalThis small community in

Riceland Township was built around a creamery which start-ed in 1890, according to several county history books: In time, a general store, telephone exchange, town hall, harness shop, shoe shop, blacksmith shop, a post office, and several homes comprised the village.

All the business firms, plus the post office, eventually ceased operations. The cream-ery continued to operate until 1958. In fact, that building and several of residences still con-stitute the community shown on county maps as Lerdal.

MoscowWhen Soviet President

Mikhail Gorbachev came to Minnesota for a short official visit in May 1990, an invitation was extended to him by the members of the Moscow Town-ship board to visit their com-munity. The closest the Soviet leader got to the place was the south end of Minneapolis.

The town and the township were reportedly named as the result of a fire in the oak woods in 1857. The huge fire suppos-edly reminded someone of the burning of the city in Russia by Napoleon in 1812.

During its glory days in the early part of this century Moscow had a flour mill, a post office, a general store, a black-smith shop, a schoolhouse, a sawmill, a hotel and a cream-ery. Now all that’s left are the former store building, the abandoned creamery and a few homes near the intersection of County Roads 25 and 34.

NewryThe northeastern portion of

Freeborn County was one of three areas settled by immi-grants from Ireland. (The other two localities were Bath and Twin Lakes.) In fact, the name

Then & Now

The former village of Deer Creek was just to the west of Freeborn County Road 32 and Deer Creek Valley Lutheran Church in London Township. This building was the former store and located on the Iowa side of the road. It’s no longer there and the only reminder of this part of the village is a Worth County historical marker. Just a portion of the creamery and a prize-winning 4-H park is on the Minnesota side. — photo courtesy Freeborn County Historical Museum

The creamery at the village of Knatvold was operated by the Freeman Cooperative Creamery Association

from 1900 to 1914. According to the late Bidney Ber-gie, this creamery had a tall pipe smokestack, which

was soon replaced with a brick chimney.— photo courtesy Freeborn County Historical Museum

Knatvold today is the site of the Freeman Town Hall. The location still has an abundance of tall trees. Some perhaps appear in both photos. —

Tim Engstrom

A lean-to garage is a reminder of the store that once stood at Deer Creek. A sign nearby notes the park was built by a 4-H Club but also notes the land is private property. — Tim Engstrom

4Towns, Page 7


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of the former town and present township are based on that of a small city in Ireland.

The center of this community is St. Mary’s Catholic Church, which was officially organized in 1892. At one time a store with post office and a creamery were also a pan of Newry.

St. NicholasA historical marker,

a park area and a boat landing mark the location of Freeborn County’s first community, which was organized in May 1855 by Jacob Ly Brand and Samuel M. Thompson on the south side of Albert Lea Lake.

Their town was the location of the county’s first blacksmith shop, first post office — which operated from 1856 to 1858 — first hotel and first general store. The new community was an early contender for be-coming the county seat. However, the focus of settlement shifted to the northwest to the town of Albert Lea Lake (which became Albert Lea) and by 1862 St. Nicholas had faded away.

For many years a place known as the Pierce Sisters Farm occupied the site of the former village, and their home included a portion of the pioneer hotel structure.

Another St. Nicholas was created in the 1950s about six miles to the north on what was then U.S. Highway 16 between Hayward and Albert Lea. This roadside locality became a tourist-type attraction and featured an ersatz pioneer village and small museum. It became the equivalent of a ghost town when most of the traffic was diverted onto Interstate 90 and a good portion of the artifacts were sold at an auction in 1984. Most of the buildings of the newer St. Nicho-las creation are still in place beside what’s now County Road 46.

The city limits of Albert Lea are extended to the southeast almost to the edge of what was once the pioneer village of St. Nicholas to include a por-tion of a residential area along South Shore Drive.

SigsbeeThis nearly forgotten

community was located in the southeast corner of Moscow Township. At one time there was a building that was a combination of store, residence and post office, plus a nearby creamery. The post office was estab-lished in the 1880s and discontinued by 1900. The store continued operations until the early 1940s. The building was then torn down and part

of the lumber was used to build a home in Hayward.

SumnerA marker placed at

the site of Sumner by the Freeborn County Historical Society gives the dates of 1857 to 1876 as the years of existence for this pioneer village, which was also located in Moscow Township not too far from Sigsbee. The dates of 1857 to 1876 also coincide with the exis-tence of the Sumner post office.

The town was a stage-coach stop between Al-bert Lea and Austin and had a school, a church and several residences. In time, the hopes for a larger town faded and the area once intended to become streets and resi-dential lots became farm fields instead.

TrentonA place called Trenton

Lake in Freeborn Town-ship and some fading memories are all that’s left of a town called Trenton which existed from 1857 to about 1900. A school building, a church, a post office that served the area for 30 years, a store, a cream-ery that closed in 1907 and some nearby resi-dences and farm places constituted what’s now just another ghost town located straight north of Freeborn.

Towns: St. Nicholas was the first oneContinued from Page 4

A park and a boat landing, shown in the photo above, are

both named for the town that once existed on the southeast

side of Albert Lea Lake. — Tim Engstrom

Lerdal, at County Road 25 and gravel 800th Avenue, still has a few of its buildings. The former creamery has the town name on it. Below, stands a former general store.

— Tim Engstrom


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Jane Won$2,400

Kristin Won$4,000

Allan Won$9,400

Mary Won$1,200

Gary Won$3,200

Roger Won$3,082.09

John Won$1,399.50

Patrick Won$7,200

celebrating

Winners Daily!

777 DiamonD Jo Lane, northwooD, ia 50459

www.DiamonDJo.com | 1-877-323-5566

must be 21 or older. if you or someone you know needs gambling treatment, call 1-800-BetS oFF.

YOUR KIND OF PLACE

YOUR KIND OF PLACE

$17MillionOv

er

in jackpots paid out in 2011

• In Business Since 1985!• Free Loaner Cars• 3 Year / 36,000 Mile Warranty• RV Sales & Service

• FREE Shuttle Service• FREE Pick Up & Delivery• Mobile Service Available• Sno-Way Snow & Ice Control

Mark SandersonKaren Sanderson Marc Rasmussen Brian Kopsing Carol Weber

SeRving the CoMMunity foR oveR 25 yeaRS!

www.sandersonauto.us

Ghosts towns of Freeborn County

Stone markers often tell the tales of local towns that have nearly or completely disappeared. On this page, the left two markers are at Bath, and the right marker is at Knatvold. — Tim Engstrom


Larry WulffLicensed Funeral

Director

KarlaTukuaLicensed

PreplanningConsultant

PaulaWilson

Licensed FuneralDirector

ConnieVanRyswyk

Office Manager

KimStiernagle

AftercareSpecialist

SteveMerfeld

Licensed FuneralDirector

308 7th AvenueEllendale, MN 56026

(507) 684-2881

2210 East Main St.Albert Lea, MN 56007

(507) 373-2461

217 West Division St.New Richland, MN 56072

(507) 465-8015

www.BonnerupFuneralService.com

e’re committed to serving you, and those who support you,in the best ways possible. Our kind and caring staff will guide you inplanning the perfect gathering. At our funeral home, you’ll be able to

visit with your guests in our warm and inviting spaces.Our reception center allows you to

comfortably host more than 100 guests.

Other Amenities include: • Our West entrance canopy as a shelter from the elements • Ample parking in our North and South lots, each with its own entrance for your comfort and convenience

W

BradyNelsonFuneralDirector Intern

progress 2012 community & government

Documents