Burnsville in Brief
Highlights for November 2021 City of Burnsville Home Page
Burnsville City Council Strategic Priorities Guide Everyday Efforts
Welcome Note from City Manager Melanie Lee
November brought the return of one of our favorite seasonal traditions, the Winter Lighting Ceremony hosted by the Burnsville Community Foundation.
Our team partners with the Foundation to help the community celebrate the change of seasons. Burnsville shines bright throughout the year as residents, businesses and organizations work together toward a Burnsville that is a vibrant city, boldly leading and welcoming to all.
Thank you to everyone who joined us in this celebration, those who buy local to support our businesses and all who connect with each other and their neighbors in all the big and small ways that matter. And a special thank you to all the staff who collaborated to illuminate the City and to coordinate a wonderful event for both those who attended in-person and those who joined us virtually through broadcast, online or via social media.
Community Development
Eat, Drink & Buy Local
During this busy time of year, we partnered with the Burnsville Chamber of Commerce and Experience Burnsville to encourage everyone to Eat, Drink & Buy Local, a comprehensive campaign from mid-November through the end of the year.
Local business owners were encouraged to share offers, promotions, deals and events with the community using the tagline “Eat, Drink & Buy Local.” Together with our partners, we distributed special toolkits containing promotion details, window clings, gift tags, yard signs and social media tips with the goal of supporting and highlighting businesses in the Burnsville community.
Check out all the awesome deals from community businesses and discover the local flavor and flare when you Eat, Drink & Buy Local!
Businesses Belong Here
We are committed to building and maintaining strong business relationships. In November, we were excited to celebrate with T&J Restaurant for their ribbon-cutting event. And we continued our GrowMN outreach with a visit to White Chiropractic.
Interested in staying connected to local business news?
Subscribe to our Opportunities Belong Here newsletter.
What's Building in Burnsville?
Curious about construction activity around the city? Here's the latest:
- Raising Cane's anticipates a January opening in the former Pier 1 location
- Rize on Grand, a 275-unit luxury apartment building located south of CR-42 east of the I-35 split is now complete and already partially occupied
Get the latest on Burnsville development with our interactive map at burnsvillemn.gov/development.
WaterSmart
Our code enforcement team is now piloting "WaterSmart" software that allows inspectors to help identify potential water line bursts in residential properties due to freeze-up or damage. This software can be configured to identify extremely high usage properties using data from the recently installed state-of-the-art water meters. Catching “burst” or high-use situations can save thousands of dollars in water damage, unexpected charges and help conserve our valuable water resources.
You can monitor your home water use, get leak alerts and view water conservation information by logging into the WaterSmart portal through online bill pay.
FIRE
Journey Toward a Heart Safe City
Thanks to a generous donation from the Burnsville Lions Club, we were able to purchase 12 new AEDs and storage cabinets as first steps toward becoming a Heart Safe City. The American Red Cross describes an AED, or automated external defibrillator, as a device "used to help those experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. It's a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, medical device that can analyze the heart's rhythm and, if necessary, deliver an electrical shock, or defibrillation, to help the heart re-establish an effective rhythm."
Minutes matter during a cardiac arrest and an AED can save a life. If your business or organization is interested in learning more about this effort or becoming a community location for an AED, reach out to Neal Dwyer in our Fire Department at 952-895-4573.
On November 17, we celebrated with The Father's House Church, the program's first AED recipient.
Field Fire Training
Firefighters had a great opportunity to train at a local building that is being torn down, the former Roasted Pear location.
Our crews got to improve on their victim search and hose movement skills. Opportunities to practice skills outside our normal training environment enhances our ability to be ready for any situation.
Free Batteries
When an emergency occurs, seconds count and detectors save lives. Thanks to a partnership with Energizer, we were pleased to distribute free batteries to residents throughout the city. Remember to change the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors at least twice a year.
Free batteries are currently available at City Hall, while supplies last. Stop in and get one today.
Fire On the Move
We are excited to start the transition to our new Fire Station No. 1. Our administration team has already moved from City Hall to the new fire building on Newton Avenue. Suppression shifts and trucks will transition over in early 2022.
Watch for updates this spring as we welcome all of you to the new fire station with a Grand Opening celebration.
ORGANIZATIONAL SERVICES
Burnsville Officially Recognizes Juneteenth
The City Council recently recognized Juneteenth as a City holiday, celebrating freedom from slavery in the United States.
Earlier this summer, Juneteenth became recognized as a new federal holiday. The State of Minnesota outlines holidays in State Statute; however, at this time, Minnesota has not officially declared Juneteenth as a holiday. As part of our commitment to be welcoming to all and an employer of choice on the leading edge, we are proud to add this holiday to our schedule ahead of the State and our market cities.
The City is proud to recognize this important holiday and will be planning community events again in the 2022 year to celebrate with our residents.
Working Together Guided by Our Strengths
We all bring unique strengths to our service to the community. As we continue to prioritize employee development and engagement efforts across the organization, strengths and belonging remain important pillars to this work. This fall, we provided every employee the opportunity to discover what makes them great using CliftonStrengths. Developing strengths with our teams creates a common language to best understand ourselves, each other and adapt how we work together to create better results for our community.
A Roadmap for Information Technology
Our IT gurus are busy at work evaluating the future of information technology by preparing for a new Information Technology strategic plan in 2022. To begin this important work, we plan a comprehensive assessment of our IT operation, service and infrastructure to enhance our service to the community and anticipate future needs, trends and developments. In the coming months, the IT group will partner with experts in the field to evaluate and build our function against a best practices maturity model. We look forward to building our IT service to support the best interests of the organization and community.
PARKS, RECREATION AND FACILITIES
Run Now, Gobble Later 5K
We had a blast hosting the second annual Run Now, Gobble Later 5K and Fun Run, held on Nov. 20 at North River Hills Park.
More than 130 participants, ages 5 years to 70, enjoyed a fun, active Saturday morning before the Thanksgiving holiday. The recreation team collaborated with the Mobile Volunteer Network, the Burnsville-Savage Lions Club and seven other local business sponsors to provide race support, prizes, supplies, food and beverage. Rollin' Nolen's BBQ food truck attended the event and free hot coffee and cocoa was available for everyone in attendance.
Birnamwood Closes a Successful Season
Nov. 10 marked the close to golf season with 189 effective days for Birnamwood Golf Course. Fun Fact: Two-thirds of this year's tee times were above 50 degrees with no rain or snow!
2021 Highlights:
- Participants played 28,039 rounds which was an average of 148 rounds per day
- Our Youth on Course program makes golf more affordable to those 18 and younger
- Birnamwood continues to serve as a home practice facility for three local high school girls golf teams and in June we celebrated Women in Golf month
- In addition to our Audubon certification, we are planning to implement First Green, a STEM education and environmental outreach program that allows students to learn more about golf and the environment
- Our season passholders, league players and daily reservations continue to be instrumental in our success
If the white stuff on the ground has you down, don’t fret! Mark your calendars for Jan. 22 as we host our second annual Winter Golf event, bigger and better! Watch for details!
POLICE
Welcome to Burnsville PD
We are thrilled to introduce six new staff members to the Police Department during the month of November.
- Alex Wurst - Badge #193, Police Officer
- Cody Johnson - Bandge #192, Police Officer
- Lucas Cruciani - Badge #194, Police Officer
- Andrew Forsman, Community Service Officer
- Ryan Moran, Community Service Officer
- Tom Olson, Records Technician
Investigator + Inventor = Innovation
Shawn Mahaney, one of our investigators, invented a robot to help officers on certain types of calls.
Introducing 4Sight, a robotic vehicle that utilizes the live-stream function already equipped in most law enforcement body cameras, cell phones and action cameras. The body camera, cell phone or action camera is placed in the front mount of the 4Sight and then live-streamed to a cellphone that is attached to the 4Sight’s remote, similar to the setup of a drone.
Officers are able to drive the 4Sight into a room, house, apartment or other location while steering and viewing the live-streamed video on their phone. It may also allow additional officers to remotely view the livestream as well as the ability to safely develop a line of audio or video communication with a person when a face-to-face encounter may be too dangerous.
K-9 Donation
We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the anonymous donor who recently presented a very generous donation to the K-9 Unit.
We are honored to serve such a wonderful community and appreciate all the many ways, big and small, our community members share their support.
PUBLIC WORKS
City Forester Honored at Winter Lighting Ceremony
Every year since the 1999 inauguration, City Forester Dave Grommesch has overseen the set up and take down of the winter lights throughout the city.
This year, we were delighted to take the opportunity to recognize Dave for his nearly 42 years of service to the community. Dave is retiring in January and we celebrate his numerous contributions.
Mayor Elizabeth Kautz thanked Dave on behalf of the Burnsville community before Dave did the honor of ceremoniously turning on the Heart of the City winter lights during the Nov. 24 event.
Lake Marion Trail Update
We continue to make strides on developing the route for the proposed new trail connecting the Rose Bluff Trail north of Williams Drive and the Lake Marion Trail–Kelleher segment south of Sunset Pond Park.
We listened to feedback from community members and, combined with City and County planning documents, we presented a vision for this trail at the Nov. 15 Parks and Natural Resources Commission meeting. The design includes a connection through Sunset Pond Park with modifications to the existing trail and also a Sunset Pond Park bypass on Burnsville Parkway and Judicial Road for those users who would like a quicker route.
Annual Sustainability Update
The City’s summary of sustainability activities and accomplishments was presented to the City’s Parks and Natural Resources Commission on Nov. 15. Some of our recent accomplishments include:
- An agreement with Dakota Electric Association for all City-purchased electricity from DEA to be from renewable sources
- The purchase of an anti-idling fire truck
- Working with Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy on a Home Energy Squad program for homeowners to reduce energy usage
- Implementation of a centralized organic waste drop-off site
- The Grow Burnsville initiative
We have made significant strides this year and are proud of all our sustainability advancements.
A Sweep for Clean Waters
Did you know the most effective method the City has to keep our water bodies clean is by street sweeping? It is much cheaper to remove pollutants before they enter our water bodies than it is to remove them once they are there.
Streets have drain inlets that lead directly to water bodies so sweeping up the materials is the best way to prevent leaves, grit, garbage and other pollutants from getting into water bodies. Our crews sweep all streets at least once each spring and fall, and we concentrate on heavily treed areas a couple of times. With the late leaf drop this year and favorable weather, we were able to continue sweeping all of November.
Want to know what's coming up next in the City? Check out our Events and Meetings calendars for the latest activities.
By the Numbers...
Fire Statistics: Click through the charts below for a closer look at Burnsville Fire Department activity including types of calls, call by property type and more.
Police Statistics: Total Calls for Service in September 2021 is 4,446 (+20% year over year). This includes 410 traffic stops.
View additional police statistics including criminal offenses