Metro briefs: Candidate fields for Carver County Board seats set for November election

By Staff reports, Star Tribune

August 15, 2020 at 10:58PM
CARVER COUNTY

County Board field set for fall election

John Fahey, a bank executive from Norwood Young America, and vegetable farmer Mark Willems of Dahlgren Township will face each other in the November election for the Fifth District seat on the Carver County Board.

Fahey captured 30% of the vote in Tuesday's primary election, while Willems ran a close second with 28%. The seat opened when Board Chairman James Ische decided to retire after holding it for 24 years.

In the Third District, Matt Udermann of Chaska will challenge Commissioner Randy Maluchnik, also of Chaska, in the fall. Udermann, founder of the technology and art company DoWhimsy, won 54% of the vote. Maluchnik, a retired Army veteran who has served on the County Board since he was first elected in 2006, captured 40% of the vote.

KATY READ

burnsville

MVTA gets federal funds for bus garage

The Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) will get a $2.8 million federal grant to make repairs to a deteriorating bus garage in Burnsville.

The garage, built as a manufacturing plant in the 1970s, has a crumbling foundation and was ranked in 2018 as the worst bus garage in the metro area.

MVTA will use the grant from the Federal Transit Administration to make structural repairs, address safety issues and accommodate fleet and service needs, said Richard Crawford, an MVTA spokesman.

The transit agency will still need about $5 million to complete the project, he said.

The MVTA provides transit service for eight cities south of the Minnesota River in Dakota and Scott counties.

TIM HARLOW

LINO LAKES

Dig study will delay start of trail project

The start of construction of Anoka County's first formal single-track bike trail system has been postponed likely until next spring, owing to an ongoing archaeological study.

County Parks Director Jeff Perry said construction of the bike trail at Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Park Reserve had been expected to begin this fall. But the county anticipated a possible delay in the $115,000 project because the area is a "hotbed for archaeological artifacts," typically remnants of pottery made before the arrival of Europeans, he said.

Local and federal grants are helping fund the project, building 12 to 15 miles of single-track trails for mountain and fat tire biking. Perry said results of the study, primarily state funded, will affect the route and total trail mileage.

Kim Hyatt

Roseville

Scheider to succeed Mathwig as chief

Roseville Police Deputy Chief Erika Scheider has been named the department's next police chief, effective Sept 1.

Scheider will replace retiring Chief Rick Mathwig, who joined the department as a patrol officer in 1989 and has served as chief since 2010.

Scheider, 46, started as a patrol officer in 1997 and climbed the ranks to detective, sergeant and lieutenant. She earned a master's degree in police leadership from the University of St. Thomas and a graduate certificate in criminal justice from the University of Virginia, and has trained as a hostage and crisis negotiator.

Roseville has a population of about 36,000 that doubles in the day when workers and shoppers fill the city. Scheider will manage 51 sworn officers.

Shannon Prather

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Staff reports, Star Tribune