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10. Newsletter articlesMessage from the Mayor Being part of a farm family, my life often focuses on weather. Making hay while the sun shines is more than a slogan for us. Well, making hay this year in Scandia has been more than a little challenging as we’ve experienced considerably more than our usual rainfall as well as the extreme power of mother nature in the tornado that swept through the northwest part of the city in late July. That storm and its aftermath reminded us both of how damaging nature can be, and also of how a community can draw together to support one another at such a time. As we now move into the late fall and winter season, we look forward on a brighter note to the continuation of our gathering together as a community with our second annual Vinterlights! celebration on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend and to Vinterfest in January. I look forward to seeing you there. Be sure to regularly check our city website www.ci.scandia.mn.us for news of more events taking place. I continue to look forward to meeting with those of you who stop by the Heritage Room during Conversations with the Mayor, the first Wednesday of each month, 8:30 – 10:00 and 4:30 – 6:00. Enjoy the seasons ahead. Christine Maefsky Mayor Vinterlights! Year Two Scandia will again be celebrating the start of the holiday season with Vinterlights!, a gathering to highlight our ever-growing sense of community. Planned for late afternoon on December 1st, the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, all Scandia families, friends and neighbors are invited to once again gather at the Community Center for a lighting up of the Center, of Gammelgarden Museum, Elim Church, the cemetery, area businesses, and our snowflake lamp post lights. There will be Dala Horse and Snowflake cookies brought to you by good folks of the Bone Lake Association, and hot chocolate provided by the Lions. Following the lighting there will be a bonfire and singing of seasonal music. This year, from noon until 5:00 preceding the Vinterlights! celebration, an arts and crafts fair will be held at the Community Center. Be sure to enjoy your holiday shopping with the unique fare of local artisans and crafters. The Scandia Community Center Scandia is considering refurbishing and updating its Community Center with an eye toward its present and future use. The building has seen few improvements since it was built in the 1980s. Updating and redesigning the Community Center is seen as a way to help invigorate the Village Center, support the use of current businesses there, and draw in new businesses that support Scandia’s vision for its future. Based on the recommendation of a city appointed Community Center Committee, the city council has authorized a Request for Proposals for a Community Center feasibility study and needs analysis to best determine the scope of the project. Results from the study are expected to be available in the spring. Here's my entry on Code Violations for the newsletter. Chris Ness With the arrival of Autumn, it's time to store our warm weather items. Many citizen complaints involve outside storage. Be aware of the ordinances covering this. Typical violations include: Unlicensed, inoperable cars and trucks. Too many recreational items, such as campers/RV's, boats, snowmobiles and 4 wheelers. Excess numbers of small storage sheds Construction equipment such backhoes or bobcats and attachments for them. Trash. Extra trailers. Some other violations involve animals. Too many for the lot size, too loud and roving. Please stay aware. Your neighbors may thank you. Scandia Internet Expansion Update For the first time, Scandia’s City Council voted to apply for Minnesota’s DEED Grant Program to fund the expansion of high-speed, reliable Internet. DEED grants have been available every year except one since 2014. After analyzing three Internet Service Providers, Scandia chose Midco as its strategic partner. Last month we jointly applied for a DEED grant from the State of Minnesota to help fund the project. The Council’s decision was based on Midco providing high-speed, reliable Internet to 44% of the City and Midco’s willingness to fund a substantial portion of our future expansion. Frontier can still challenge Scandia’s grant application, but we won’t know until the middle of October. If awarded, the grant will wire 219 homes and provide speeds of 1000 Mbps down / 100 Mbps up. Phase two consists of wiring three towers in Scandia to provide another 175 homes with fixed wireless service of 100 Mbps down / 20 Mbps up. The Council formed a new, official Internet Action Committee to provide high-speed, reliable Internet to every home and business in Scandia. The Committee will also focus on finding other grants and funding programs to help the City pay for the expansion to lessen the cost to taxpayers. New Children’s Story Walking Path An exciting new project highlights Scandia Elementary and its creative students. Scandia’s Parks and Recreation Committee developed a new program in collaboration with the students at Lilleskogen Park. The students are writing stories and working on science projects for display on six outdoor stands along the walking path through the park. The Scandia Elementary first grade classes wrote and beautifully illustrated the first and current project. This project teaches about the life cycle of the monarch butterfly. The Parks and Recreation Committee and Scandia Elementary plan to change the story every month, year-round for your reading and walking pleasure. Please come, bring your children or grandchildren and stroll the path, learn, and admire the creative work of our students. The name Lilleskogen means “the little forest” in Swedish. The park is also home to the Veteran’s Memorial. It’s located at the corner of Oakhill Road and Hwy 97. A ribbon cutting ceremony took place on Tuesday, Oct. 8th. It celebrated the children of the first grade classes of Scandia Elementary. Also attending were the teachers and Principal, members of the Park and Recreation Committee, the Mayor and members of City Council.