South metro town briefs

APPLE VALLEY

Mayor Mary Hamann-Roland has been elected to serve as the president of the League of Minnesota Cities for 2008-09. Hamann-Roland, who has been mayor of Apple Valley since January 1999, has held numerous positions with the league. She was elected at the league's annual conference in Rochester last week.

BELLE PLAINE

The Lutheran Home campus in Belle Plaine will hold a grand opening celebration Saturday for its new Kingsway Retirement Living center, a $16 million expansion that includes 81 units of independent living, assisted living and memory care apartments. The campus will hold a dedication service at 10:30 a.m. on the south lawn of the campus, at 815 W. Main St., with events such as a ribbon cutting, tours and music until 4 p.m.

A longtime Belle Plaine doctor will be honored for 48 years of service to the community at an event on Thursday. Close to 1,000 people are expected to honor Roger B. Hallgren, a family practice physician, at a party hosted by the Lutheran Home Association, Queen of Peace Hospital and Belle Plaine Clinic. The event will run until 8 p.m. at the south outdoor grounds of the Lutheran Home campus, with a wine and cheese reception at 4 p.m., classical music and a formal program at 5:30 p.m.

BURNSVILLE

The city of Burnsville is looking for election judges to staff polling places during the Sept. 9 primary election and Nov. 4 general election.

Judges are paid $9 per hour and receive paid training. With prior notice, employers must give workers time off to serve as judges.

For more information about eligibility and duties, go to www.burnsville.org or call 952-895-4460.

A free international festival in Burnsville will celebrate cultures of the world with music, dance and food. The June 28 event will run from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Nicollet Commons Park.

Residents interested in wearing native costumes or running a booth that features their heritage can still sign up to participate: call 952-882-0154 or click on the International Festival of Burnsville link at www.burnsville.org by Friday.

Information for food and commercial vendors can also be found at the city's website. Or, call 952-895-4509.

Many Burnsville homeowners will have a new garbage pick-up day when a new hauling system approved by the city takes effect in January.

The system, which the City Council signed off on last month, limits collection of trash, recycling and yard waste to one day a week in each of five new zones created in the city.

Right now, a single-family neighborhood in Burnsville might see garbage bins on the curb and trucks from one of five haulers rolling through local streets every weekday. The new approach is meant to limit the bins and traffic to just one day a week.

DAKOTA COUNTY

A women's golf tournament and dinner that has raised more than $350,000 for two domestic abuse shelters in the past 15 years will be held on Monday.

The event will raise money for two Lewis House locations run by the Community Action Council in Eagan and Hastings, the only two 24-hour domestic abuse shelters for women and their children in Dakota County.

To sign up for the tournament, call 952-985-4010 or go to www.communityactioncouncil.org. Tickets are $125 for an 18-hole "best ball" scramble at Crystal Lake golf course in Lakeville, $80 for a 9-hole course at the Birnamwood course in Burnsville, or $40 just for the dinner at Crystal Lake, which will feature contests, raffles and giveaways.

EAGAN

The end may be at hand in a dispute between local officials and the United States Postal Service over an expanded mail facility long planned in Eagan.

In a letter sent last week, the postal service said it would build an extension to Denmark Avenue and forgo a new traffic signal on Lexington Avenue as part of the project, apparently resolving sticking points that have caused conflict with city and county officials over the past three years.

The Eagan facility would take the place of St. Paul property that the postal service is slated to vacate to make way for a major transit station.

NORTHFIELD

A condominium building in a downtown development is in foreclosure, according to a letter sent to the City of Northfield by creditor Highland Bank last week. The Crossing, originally envisioned as a $40 million project with two condo buildings, three office and retail buildings and a restaurant on Hwy. 3, ran into delays partly due to the housing market slowdown. One 55-unit condo building and an 8-unit office building have been built.

The city allowed the sale of $1.6 million in bonds several years ago for site improvement and other costs at The Crossing that it expects will be repaid with future property tax revenue from the site, said Brian O'Connell, Northfield's community development director.

Carleton College will host its 8th annual "Lighten-Up" garage sale, an event sponsored by the college's community service center, Acting in the Community Together.

Clothing, linens, kitchenware, furniture and myriad other items will be on sale at the event, which featured more than 75,000 items and raised more than $12,000 for local nonprofit groups last year.

The garage sale will be held in the West Gym from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday and from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. Parking is available in the college's stadium lot.

PRIOR LAKE

The Shakopee Mdewakan-ton Sioux Community will begin construction this month on a building to house a new water filtration system west of its community center. The Sioux Trail Water Treatment Plant will double in size to accommodate a reverse osmosis system that will eliminate the need for water softeners in reservation homes. Construction should wrap up in January.

SARAH LEMAGIE