Waite Park Plans for the Future with New Leadership and Development

WAITE PARK (WJON News) -- It's time to build for the future and the next generation. That was the message at the Waite Park State of the City Address on Wednesday. The City emphasized its investment in technology and staff, such as the new full-time Fire Chief, IT Network Specialist, and Water Resource Technician.

New tools like the monthly newsletter have helped keep people informed.

Mayor Ken Schmitt says the staff is focusing on growing the city and making things better for everyone. He says the time is now to get a full-time fire chief for Waite Park:

"Well, you know, the big thing with the fire department is that because it's volunteers, and every fire department that has that has been struggling getting people, so we figured we needed to get a full-time person in there to help with the recruitment, the training, and putting everything together."

The City also highlighted all the recent new developments, like two new apartment complexes and the Metro Bus Transit Center coming on 2nd Avenue.

The state of the city was held at the Ledge Amphitheatre

City Administrator Shaunna Johnson says Waite Park's new page on MinnesotaLiving.com is another tool to encourage people to stay and explore what Waite Park has to offer:

"So many opportunities that we have here, we spend so much time maybe going to our same restaurants, and we don't necessarily think about all of the different types of restaurants that we might have, so we're really focusing our efforts on really staying local and really trying to, to really just showcase the great community that we have."

Johnson says the city is really trying to focus on community engagement in everything they do and credits Mayor Schmitt for leading the way in many of those efforts. Overall, Waite Park wants to build a sense of community and to keep people who visit the city coming back for more.

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READ MORE FROM AUTHOR PAUL HABSTRITT