Dakota County news briefs: Burnsville offers behind-the-scenes look at PD

Burnsville police will accept registration until Aug. 9 for a new session of its citizens academy on how the police department works.

The 11-week class will begin on Sept. 5 and run until Nov. 14. The weekly sessions will be from 6 to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday evenings covering such topics as the function of patrol, investigations, physical evidence teams, the domestic abuse response team, the bike patrol, the traffic division and the K-9 units.

Participants are asked to attend each session.

To participate fill out an application online at www.burnsville.org/citizensacademy and return it to the Burnsville Police Department no later than Aug. 9. The class is open to 24 people who live or work in Burnsville.

Work will begin at 7 p.m. Sunday on Dakota County's $1.2 million repaving of 4.5 miles of County Road 42 across Apple Valley. The only segment of the road not to be resurfaced was upgraded for the Cedar Avenue busway.

The old pavement will be milled off and replaced with two inches of new blacktop to provide a smooth ride and eliminate potholes, said assistant county engineer Todd Howard.

The project included updating pedestrian curb ramps and storm sewer improvements.

The road will remain open with lanes closed as needed for paving, Howard said.

Over six years, Burnsville plans to outfit all 3,800 fire hydrants in the city with new Storz brand nozzles.

Last week the City Council accepted a bid from Didion Contracting LLC to replace the first 322 nozzles this year. Owners of 58 private hydrants will pay $14,790 for the same work .

Storz nozzles allow fire departments to connect hoses with a fast quarter turn, which is expected to save Burnsville 60 to 90 seconds in fire response time, said Public Works Director Steve Albrecht.

Burnsville will spend $46,374 to replace the electronic message sign in front of City Hall with a new one that employs energy-saving LED lights.

The old sign, purchased in 2005, is worn with obsolete software that has resulted in outages and errors. The software issues have limited messages to one a day.

City officials said the new sign will be more attractive with updated technology that will allow the display of multiple messages a day.

The Dakota County Historical Society has hired a new executive director.

Lynn Gruber began her new job as head of the organization last week. She succeeds Chad Roberts, who left to become president of the Ramsey County Historical Society earlier this year.

Gruber spent more than 30 years at several nonprofit health care concerns, including heading the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association, the state's high-risk insurance pool for people who have been turned down in the private market because of pre-existing conditions. In 2011 she started Summit Solutions Unlimited, a health care consulting firm.

The Dakota County Historical Society was formed in 1939. It provides more than 75 public programs annually at a variety of sites, including the Lawshe Memorial Museum in South St. Paul, the LeDuc Historic Estate in Hastings and the Burnsville Performing Arts Center, and at county libraries and government centers.

Matthew Fulton, who served as the city manager of New Brighton for 13 years and was Coon Rapids city manager for six years, has been selected by the West St. Paul City Council to fill the post in their city.

No starting date has been set for Fulton, who is in negotiations over the terms of his contract. West St. Paul has been without a city manager for a year and a half. The position has been filled by acting City Manager Sherrie Le.

One of the first issues facing Fulton is how the city will proceed on City Hall improvements. Earlier this year the council put the matter on hold until the new administrator is on board.

LAURIE BLAKE and SUSAN FEYDER