Next job for retiring Bloomington city manager: 'Condo boy'

Early in life, Mark Bernhardson learned the importance — and the price — of pushing for change. His father, a Lutheran minister, "was always trying to move congregations ahead," Bernhardson said. "And I think at least twice it cost him his job."

The son has been more fortunate. Bernhardson, 65, is retiring today after 23 years as city manager of Bloomington, Minnesota's fourth-largest city. It's an exceptionally long tenure for a professional city manager; Bernhardson has served with three mayors and 30 City Council members.

As he steps down, Bernhardson said he's proud he never stopped pushing Bloomington's residents and elected leaders to envision the future.

"If a community is not moving forward in this fast-changing world, it will fall behind," he said.

During his time as city manager, Bloomington opened and expanded the Mall of America; welcomed the Blue Line light-rail service; and built a new civic building and arts center without raising property taxes to pay for them. The city is one of only 27 in the nation with a Triple-A bond rating from all three major ratings agencies.

Bernhardson also developed a reputation as a tireless planner, encouraging the city to set ambitious long-term goals for itself.

His guiding mantras address both the visionary and the pragmatic: "Dream big and make it happen" is quickly followed by "Quality services at affordable prices."

"We were studying the council-manager form of government," he said. "I can still picture that book and remember reading it. And I said, 'That's what I want to do.' "

First came college at Gustavus Adolphus and a hitch as a Navy lieutenant, where he discovered a talent for managing the 35 sailors under him. Bernhardson began his career as an assistant city manager in Edina and the city administrator in Orono before taking the top job in Bloomington in 1991.

When he took office, he said, his predecessor left a portrait on the wall. It depicted a grizzled old cowboy with the inscription: "There are a few things about this outfit that they didn't tell me when I signed on."

Diann Kirby, Bloomington's director of community services, has worked with Bernhardson since Day One.

"He's great at strategic thinking, but also can home in on the smallest details," she said. "He's a macro- and a micromanager. It's very rare for someone to have both those qualities."

And, yes — his wife, a Hennepin County judge, gets her stack of clippings, too.

"He gets four newspapers a day. His car is full of newspapers," Ivy Bernhardson said with a laugh. "Our daughter calls him 'the Unabomber.' " She described her husband as a tireless worker who generally puts in 70 or more hours each week — "and works on all our vacations, too."

That driven side isn't always visible on the surface, she said: "He's very Scandinavian. There's a lot inside that never sees the light of day."

"We live in a time when public servants are at best marginalized and at worst vilified," said Tim Busse, a Bloomington City Council member. "But Mark has provided a guiding hand and a powerful vision for our city."

Bernhardson isn't sure what he'll do in retirement. He hopes to do some university teaching but jokes his main job will probably be "condo boy."

"None of us is perfectible as humans," he said. "But generally, people who are willing to work together can come up with a better approach than working individually.

"I hope to be remembered as one of the foundations on which we built the future — and it was rock, not sand."