Eagan News
RACE EQUITY AND INCLUSION IN EAGAN
Eagan’s greatest asset is its people. According to the 2020 Census, our community is becoming more diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, and language. Nearly a third of Eagan residents — and 46% of our children — are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
In 2022, the City began to apply a race equity perspective to explore how past practices may have prevented us from serving the needs of everyone in our community. Through a collaborative process with City leaders, staff, and community members, we have reviewed City services, programs, and policies to examine how they serve those who live, work, and play in Eagan. Through this work, we have established a vision: The City of Eagan is inclusive and equitably serves our racially diverse community so everyone can thrive.
THE WORK CONTINUES
The City is committed to continuing to learn and grow over the coming months and years. In addition to our ongoing workforce strategies, next steps rely on community outreach and engagement with residents and stakeholders. This fall, community members will come together to talk about what it looks like to thrive in Eagan, focusing on ending racism as a barrier to success and belonging.
How to get involved
Join us for a roundtable discussion and talk with your neighbors over dinner
Sign up to host a smaller event in your own home, community room, or other gathering space of your choice
Help run the conversations — we’ll train you in the art of facilitati
on
Check out eaganmn.gov/conversations to find the dates and locations for upcoming events and let us know how you want to get involved.
SUSTAINABILITY
At the same time we have been working on our REI initiative, the City has also been focused on another opportunity that is imperative to our community’s future and health, and what residents have shared as a top priority: our natural environment.
As Mayor Mike Maguire said in his State of the City address, nothing is more essential to our collective health than the air and water around us. That’s why Eagan has launched a sustainability initiative to help future generations enjoy the same high-quality, natural environment we value today.
Many projects aim to support this value, including our annual tree sale, which has planted 12,000 trees in the past 30 years; and our water volunteer program, which protects and preserves Eagan’s 1,200 waterbodies. We’re always working to shrink the City’s carbon footprint, too. In fact, the new Eagan Art House will be the City’s first fossil-fuel-free building, relying on solar panels and a geothermal system for heating and cooling.
Minnesota state climatologists warn us about changes in temperature and precipitation. By 2050, Eagan’s average temperatures will increase by about seven degrees. Heat waves are the deadliest severe weather event in the United States each year. Summers in Minnesota are getting hotter, with more extreme swings from drought to large rain events, and winters are getting warmer and icier.
When it comes to both building climate resilience and lessening our impacts, we know that the time to act is now.
How to get involved
We know sustainability is a key priority for Eagan residents — that’s why the first step in creating this plan is to gather as much community input as possible. The City of Eagan has created a community survey to collect input from community members. Fill out your survey at cityofeagan.com/climate to help us better understand your interests, ideas, and concerns.
THE CONNECTION: REI AND SUSTAINABILITY
These two essential initiatives the City is taking on will provide complex and continuous work. And rather than being two isolated initiatives, race equity and sustainability are closely connected. And we must explore that connection for either effort to be successful.
We know that climate impacts are more severe for our vulnerable community members who may be hit harder by the economic and health consequences of environmental instability. For example, existing data shows a strong correlation between areas in the community experiencing the effects of micro heat islands and areas with greater concentrations of people of color. The City is engaging with community members to hear personal stories about how climate change is impacting daily life and exacerbating existing disparities.
These initiatives and issues are huge — and nuanced. We know that sustainability and race equity are key issues that impact our community, and they are two of the most important public policy issues we face.
Keep up our work at cityofeagan.com/rei and cityofeagan.com/sustainability.
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As any high school student in a U.S. government class could tell you, elections are a cornerstone of democracy. By voting, people choose their leaders and make their voices heard. The City of Eagan and our elections staff place a high value on keeping the process clear and open. Many systems are in place to ensure fairness and trustworthiness of our elections.
There are multiple layers of oversight when it comes to elections at the state, county, city and precinct levels. There are many people and systems in place to ensure that your vote counts. Whether it’s the secretary of state, county elections staff, our city clerk, or an election judge, each one serves a role. There are specific procedures around checking voter registrations, keeping ballots secure, and reviewing results. Supporting these practices requires a whole fleet of temporary workers: election judges.
THE ROLE OF ELECTION JUDGES
These local residents who dedicate their time to support the voting process play a big role in protecting fair elections. Judges are neutral, meaning they don’t take sides, and their job is to support a fair election.
Before the voting begins, election judges help get everything ready. They test machines and set up voting materials. They’re responsible for running polling places on election day, and they help voters register, check in, and place their ballots securely in the voting machines.
On election night judges are responsible for finalizing results, taking down election day equipment, and securely and safely returning election materials and voted ballots to City Hall.
MEET YOUR ELECTION JUDGES
The poll workers in Eagan are your neighbors. Here are three who were gracious enough to tell us a bit about their experience working on elections. Ankit Mukhopadhyay and Kirsten Fong first served as election judges during the August primary. Bob Newman has been serving as an election judge for more than 20 years.
Ankit Mukhopadhyay
- Q: Why do you serve as an election judge?
- A: I knew I wanted to be an election judge from my background in politics and involvement in Youth in Government. It was also about helping my community and making our city a better place.
- Q: Who would you encourage to consider being an election judge in the future?
- A: I think anyone who is interested in politics or government, or anyone who wants to be involved with their community.
- Q: How do you think this work is important to the community?
- A: I think it’s about fulfilling our civic duty. Unfortunately, I can’t vote yet, but the best I can do is encourage voting in my community, which I can do by being an election judge.
- Q: What do you like best about working as an election judge in Eagan?
- A: I think the people you work with are what make being an election judge the best thing possible. You’re with these people for 15 hours, and it can get boring. But you can make connections, talk, and maybe come back next time to do it all over again.
Kirsten Fong
- Q: Why do you serve as an election judge?
- A: I have thought about being an election judge for several years as I had a coworker who participated. After I retired from my federal position it was time to get involved. One of the most important rights of American citizens is the right to vote. I believe in being civic-minded and helping out where I am able.
- Q: What do you like best about working as an election judge in Eagan?
- A: I started with a primary, so it was a quieter day to learn the process. I met so many new and wonderful people at my precinct. From new voters just registering to people who have been voting for 50+ years, we were able to make this location one that was safe and comfortable and willing to assist with whatever was needed.
- Q: Anything else you’d like to tell readers?
- A: We received training before election day and a manual to take with us so we could look back on how things are to be done. It was very well run, and I felt completely at ease being a first timer.
Bob Newman
- Q: Why do you serve as an election judge?
- A: When I moved to Eagan I became involved with my local precinct caucuses and was asked by leadership to apply to be either an election judge or a voter challenger. After hearing the job description for each position, I thought that I wanted to be someone who helps people vote.
- Q: Who would you encourage to consider being an election judge in the future?
- A: Anyone who is genuinely interested in working with others who share a passion for civic engagement should consider applying.
The job is a great experience for those who may be a little skeptical about how our elections are run because they will experience firsthand the inner workings of our electoral system and see all the security and safety measures that are in place to ensure continued election integrity. - Q: What do you like best about working as an election judge in Eagan?
- A: It’s great to welcome and be in touch with the voters in Eagan. I especially like working in different precincts and working with a lot of different election judges. Most of all, the Eagan city election staff is great to work with and provides excellent training activities and materials which makes an election judge’s job very comfortable and fun.
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Music teacher Micah Boudinot first learned about garlic mustard during the COVID-19 pandemic. Spending more time at home, she started noticing pretty white flowers dotting the area. Then she saw a Facebook post warning that this invasive plant was spreading throughout Minnesota.
Armed with this knowledge, Boudinot quickly found out how satisfying it can be to pull this plant — and how long it can take to eradicate it. “I spent hours upon hours pulling garlic mustard,” she says, noting how easy these plants are to pull. “I saw progress over three years — there weren't as many tall plants or clusters anymore.”
Fast forward to 2024, and you'll find Boudinot in the forest near Oak Ridge Elementary with a class of students, all pulling and gathering the invasive plant.
“It feels so good to have this big impact, and it's accessible to anyone and everyone. I realized my K-5 students could do it, so I educated them about how to recognize thistle versus garlic mustard [and] about identifying plants and their structure,” Boudinot says. “We even learned about another plant that combats the itch from stinging nettle.”
The students have eradicated much of the garlic mustard on their school's property and moved onto the surrounding City land to continue their efforts.
“It's always a joyous, exuberant moment when they pull out a plant,” Boudinot says. “They feel like they're saving the earth. It's a big win. They beg other teachers to go out and pull more — it's becoming a whole-school movement.”
Working together
Adam Schnaible, City forestry maintenance supervisor, met with Boudinot and her students to help their campaign and to haul away the garlic mustard plants.
“It's a fun collaboration,” Schnaible says. “The teachers are leading the charge, educating the kids on what's what. They go out and play in the woods and do this work, and it makes me happy to see it and be involved.”
Schnaible notes that you can spot garlic mustard along any major roadway in Eagan. “It's become a lot more prevalent in the last five or six years. One plant can shed 1,000 seeds, and the window for managing it is really short. We don't have a lot of seasonal staffing until mid-May, and by then, the window is almost closed.”
That's why the Oak Ridge volunteers are key to helping manage this invasive plant. There are similar volunteers working to control buckthorn. “Garlic mustard is like the new buckthorn, but maybe even worse,” Schnaible says. “They both fill in every spot and outcompete native plants.”
“It's fun to interact with teachers and kids to see how it all comes together,” Schnaible says. “Maybe in 20 years, one of these kids will be the green industry professional who comes up with a way to manage these troublesome plants.”
Get involved
Like to help fight garlic mustard on your property or in a city park? You can do it on your own or even organize a group. For more information on plant identification and best management practices, visit dnr.state.mn.us and search “garlic mustard.” Join the volunteers protecting Eagan's natural beauty!
Garlic mustard is native to Europe but invasive in our area. Outcompeting native plants, it spreads quickly and is best removed in early spring before flowering. If pulled after flowering, the plants' seeds can still mature, causing further spread. That means later in the season, plants must be bagged and removed to prevent spreading.
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Back in 1997, Hanson's "MMMBop" made the band a household name, Titanic hit theaters, and the final season of Seinfeld aired. More importantly, at least locally, the Eagan Art House first welcomed our art community. And just like Seinfeld, the Eagan Art House became a classic. But sometimes even something much beloved needs a refresh, and the time has come for a new building for Eagan artists.
At the May 7 groundbreaking, resident Elizabeth Edwards emphasized the need for more space. "Having more space means getting to make more art, and that's a great thing for Eagan."
In addition to more space — 10,000 square feet in total — the new facility will feature two pottery studios, space for making raku pottery, and two more classrooms for a variety of programs and activities.
PROJECT TIMELINE & DETAILS
Additionally, sustainability and accessibility will be important new features. Impressively, the new Eagan Art House will be the City's first fossil-fuel-free building, relying on solar panels and a geothermal system for heating and cooling. Plus, the new facility is designed for ease of use for all. The current art center is a rambler-style house designed for a family, not for the nearly 6,000 annual community users it currently receives. That means doorways, hallways, and entrances can be challenging to navigate.
"We were intentional throughout the design of the new facility to make sure it was welcoming and inclusive for all," says Tanya Mozingo, Eagan's recreation superintendent. "From how you get into the building to what type of art and activities are going to be offered there, we wanted to have a space for everyone."
Says Edwards: "We're excited that Eagan is supporting this. It's really important and we're happy about that."
The new Eagan Art House is scheduled to open in fall 2025. However, classes at the current building will continue throughout construction until the new space opens.
To follow updates or to learn about other Parks and Recreation projects, visit cityofeagan.com/parkprojects.
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You can now enjoy your favorite parks with added peace of mind, thanks to the recent installation of automatic external defibrillator (AED) devices at many key locations. Crucial for providing early, lifesaving intervention in cardiac emergencies, they’ve been strategically added to 13 of the City’s busiest parks and are now in a total of 16 Eagan parks.
This collaborative effort between Eagan’s public safety and parks teams was driven by community feedback, aiming to make emergency response more accessible and to strengthen safety in Eagan’s parks.
“Having AEDs in our public spaces is extremely important,” says Jake McPherson, Eagan Fire captain and AED initiative advocate. “If someone’s heart suddenly stops, giving them CPR right away and using a defibrillator quickly can help them survive.”
Each AED is equipped with clear instructions, making them user-friendly, even for those without medical training. “In the event of sudden cardiac arrest,” McPherson continues, “the first thing a bystander should do is call 911. The dispatcher can get us, the emergency responders, on the way, and also provide a code to unlock the AED cabinet.”
Once accessed, the AED guides the user through administering CPR and electrical shocks to the heart. This straightforward process serves as a vital resource before paramedics arrive, ensuring that help is within reach during emergencies.
Quarry Park pickleball player: “I have an irregular heartbeat, so just knowing there’s an AED device at the pickleball courts makes me feel safer.”
As Eagan continues to invest in its parks and public spaces, the addition of AED devices underscores the City’s commitment to creating a safe and inclusive environment for all. A great parks system goes beyond providing amenities. According to Andrew Pimental, director of Parks and Recreation, it prioritizes community safety and well-being.
“The AEDs in Eagan parks symbolize our dedication to listening to the community,” he says, “and ensuring park amenities are provided in the safest way possible.”
Whether you’re enjoying a game of pickleball or a leisurely stroll, the presence of AEDs offers an additional layer of protection, so Eagan parks remain safe spaces for people to be active and connect as a community.
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Committee members (from left) Stacey Johnson, Richard Johnson, and Carmen Lewis
Residents lead Juneteenth planning, with City support
Juneteenth — the holiday commemorating an effective end of slavery in the United States — was first celebrated in Texas in 1866.
It took until 1979 for Juneteenth to become an official holiday in Texas, and it wasn’t until 2021 that the federal government established it as a federal holiday.
Minnesota adopted the holiday in 2023, and the City of Eagan followed suit — we’re celebrating every year, from here on out.
Last summer Eagan residents Richard and Stacey Johnson plus Carmen and Manu Lewis reached out to ask how the City planned to celebrate the newly official holiday. In conversation with staff members, the group concluded that because Juneteenth is so deeply rooted in Black history and identity, the City should support, rather than lead such a celebration.
Over the past year, these residents have worked hard to plan for a vibrant event with music, food trucks, activities, and an educational history walk. The event will take place at Viking Lakes from 3 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 23.
“We live here, and part of us living here is being able to lift up what we’re celebrating as a diverse community,” Carmen Lewis says.
Richard Johnson expressed enthusiasm for working alongside the City in the planning process. “We should learn together,” he says, “so we can live, work, and play together.”
“Eagan’s vision is to be an inclusive and equitable city that serves our racially diverse community so everyone can thrive,” Mayor Mike Maguire says. Listening, supporting, and partnering on events like this with community members can help us achieve that vision.
The City will formally recognize Juneteenth at Eagan Market Fest on Wednesday, June 19, and introduce the planning committee, who will then invite the community to the June 23 event.
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Refreshing the ECC: our hub for connection
For more than 20 years, the Eagan Community Center (ECC) has been a hub for people of all ages to recreate, connect, and build community. Today the ECC hosts over half a million yearly visitors at The Blast Indoor Playground, gymnasiums, the fitness center, group fitness classes, special events, weddings, meetings, and 50+ Seniors activities.“The facility serves the community in a variety of recreational areas and supports our community’s health, both physically and mentally,” says Andrew Pimental, Eagan’s director of Parks and Recreation.
Since its opening, the facility hasn’t had any major additions or renovations. “Our building maintenance team has done a great job of keeping our facility from looking its age,” says Jared Flewellen, assistant director of Parks and Recreation. “It’s time to reinvest in the facility to ensure that for the next two decades, it remains a safe, accessible, and enjoyable place for our community members.”
PROJECT TIMELINE & DETAILS
Project goals include making it easier for visitors to move throughout the building, creating more multipurpose spaces for a variety of activities, and retaining the facility’s timeless aesthetics. “Our goal is for visitors not to notice the new addition — for it to blend seamlessly,” Flewellen says.One reason that TKDA and Moody Nolan, the architecture and engineer contractors respectively, were selected is their familiarity with the building — some of their team members were part of the original ECC project.
The “big move,” as it’s been described during community meetings, will relocate the fitness center from the lower level to the upper level, creating connections between the track, group fitness studio, and new fitness center. The current fitness center will become another multipurpose space for activities, rentals, and meetings.
Construction is planned to begin in the fall of 2025 and wrap up in 2026; all major components of the building will remain open and operational during the remodel. Areas will be built in stages, allowing for one area to be completed and opened before another is closed.
“We may see some minor detours inside the facility, but we look forward to seeing our renters, fitness center members, gymnasium users, and children in the playground during this process,” Pimental says. To follow updates or to learn about other Parks and Recreation projects, visit cityofeagan.com/parkprojects.
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