Emily Zimmer
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Emily Zimmer has worked as a staff writer for the Rosemount Town Pages since 2007. She has a degree in journalism from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Outside of work, Emily enjoys running, reading and gardening.
You can follow Emily's gardening adventures at the Areavoices blog East of Weedin'.
Contact Email
EZimmer@rosemounttownpages.com
History
- Member for
- 5 years 6 months
Author Content
The city of Rosemount is busy planning for a possible Emerald Ash Borer infestation. Readings of an ordinance that allows tree inspectors onto Rosemount properties to detect the invasive pest will be held during the next two council meetings, and the city has devised a plan for the 1,600 ash trees located on public property. Residents also can plan for the destructive little insect, said parks supervisor Tom Schuster. According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture the Emerald Ash Borer, also known as EAB, is an insect that attacks and kills trees.
While things got heated at points, in the end the Rosemount City Council and bar owners came to some agreement over concerns police have been too aggressive in their efforts to catch drunk drivers. Police officers have been encouraged to spread enforcement throughout the city and try to lessen the perception that they are too concentrated downtown.
A Rosemount Police Department review has found no evidence its night officers are too aggressively enforcing DWI stops. According to a memo to the city council, the review did not find any indication DWI enforcement is being conducted in an illegal or unethical manner. The investigation came about after several Rosemount bar owners complained to the city council that aggressive policing was scaring away business. The bar owners told the council during a work session on Feb. 15 they feel like their customers and employees are being harassed by police.
The city of Rosemount had a surplus in 2011. In fact, the city had an excess of more than $548,000. On March 6 the city council decided what to do with that money. The council passed a resolution that distributed the funds in three ways. First, the city will use $60,000 to pay off its part of the debt for the Dakota Communications Center.
As interest in eating healthfully has grown, so has an interest in gardening. But what do you do when you don't have much space? John Zweber says square-foot gardening is the way to go, and he can teach you how to do it. Zweber will present Square Foot Gardening at 10:30 a.m. March 17 at the Robert Trail Library. During the two-hour presentation, Zweber, owner of Easy Gardens by John, will demonstrate how to build 4x4 container garden. He will cover how to choose the amount and kinds of plants that do well in such a garden. He will talk about proper care and harvest.
During her two year stint as Dean of Student Affairs, Christine Pigsley found herself working with veteran students quite often. And during that time she found there wasn't really a good fit for many of them at Dakota County Technical College or any other school. So after her stint ended, Pigsley started brainstorming with some other faculty members to find ways to change that. What they came up with is the Yellow Ribbon Entrepreneurs Initiative. The program will be limited to only veterans and will begin in Fall 2012.
Those piles of already read books sitting on your nightstand could do some good for the community. The Friends of the Robert Trail Library are once again collecting books for the organization's book sale. Through the month of March FORT will collect books, CDs and DVDs to sell. The sale will be held April 19 through April 21. The sale is FORT's only fundraiser. Last year the group raised more than $3,000. "We really appreciate the support we got last year," said Jo Gilbertson, FORT president. The Friends of the Robert Trail Library provides support to the library.
Signs of an economic recovery can be seen throughout Rosemount and mayor Bill Droste focused on those during his State of the City Address March 6 at the Rosemount Steeple Center. Droste gave his tenth State of the City Address as mayor to a crowd of about 60 people. He said over the years there have been several common themes. "One is that the state of Rosemount is strong. And I'm proud to say that is the case this year." As evidence, Droste listed businesses that have opened in Rosemount over the course of the last year. Those businesses will bring hundreds of jobs with.
The city of Rosemount hopes equipping each of its city council members with iPads will cut down on paper use and on the time staff members spend putting together meeting packets. Each Rosemount City Council member was equipped with one of the tablet computers at the beginning of the year. "(The iPads) will more than pay for themselves in a year," said city administrator Dwight Johnson. The cost of the five iPads was roughly $2,500. Johnson said the city should save at least that much in printing and delivery costs in the first year.
After a year hiatus, the Shamrock Film Festival will once again showcase what local filmmaking talent has to offer. After trying some different things in 2010, festival director Beth Adams said organizers are trying to keep things simple in 2012. For the public the festival will have a Best of Show presentation from 6 to 9 p.m. March 10 at the Steeple Center, 14375 S. Robert Tr. Adams said the festival screening will include the winners of the various categories and some previous winners.