It was a relative short one Wednesday March 5 as the Cottage Grove City Council met to consider city business. On the night’s meeting agenda were four presentations and a bond sale.
Held the night after a late season snowstorm with no one speaking in open forum, motion to adopt the night’s meeting agenda was made by Council Member Monique Garza, then seconded by Council Member David Thiede. Motion to approve the consent amended was made by Garza and seconded by Justin Olsen.
Prominent at the March 5 meeting were presentations, including an Eagle Scout Award, $1,000 donation from the East Cottage Grove Scramblers, $3,500 Lions donation to the Craig Woolery Scholarship, and a 2025 bond sale.
Starting with the bond sale, Finance Director Brenda Malinowski appeared for a brief presentation.
“Mayor, members of the council, you will be awarding bond series 2025 A,” Malinowski said of Resolution 2025-04 authorizing $10,000,000 in general obligation bonds. “Those will be used to pay for pavement management, equipment, the water tower construction, and then the River Oaks irrigation project,” she said.
With the city awarded a AAA bond rating and 11 bidders for the debt issued, low bid for the bonds at market was 3.097 percent. The winning bidder for the newly issued debt was the Baker Group of Oklahoma City.
“Because of that favorable bid we have over a million dollars premium in bond,” Malinowski said of the bond sale. “So what that means is we will be utilizing that for pavement management and equipment. So things we identified in the management plan that we would be issuing debt for in the future we will be utilizing that for,” she said of the premium. Among the reasons for the favorable situation cited by Malinowski was Cottage Grove’s tax capacity and making of a financial plan by the council 10 years prior.
Approved with motion by Council Member David Clausen and seconded by Garza, the 2025A bond series was not the only thing on the night’s agenda.
Also at the March 5 meeting were three other presentations, starting with Eagle Scout. Mayor Myron Bailey welcomed new Eagle Scout Owen Behlke to the front for council recognition.
“Congratulations on obtaining the rank of Eagle Scout through Troop 5, Cottage Grove Minnesota, presented this 5th day of March, 2025, from the City of Cottage Grove, Myron Bailey Mayor,” Bailey told Behlke. “So on behalf of all of us up here, our staff, and all the citizens of Cottage Grove, congratulations.”
Eagle Scout Owen Behlke shared more on his Eagle Scout project.
“Hello everyone,” Behlke said. “My name is Owen Behlke. I just achieved my Eagle Scout Award and had my ceremony this past February. My project was building a tetherball court for the city of Cottage Grove in Pine Tree Pond Park. It is still standing. I built it out of cement so I would really hope it’s still there. It took us about three days to build it entirely but six months to plan it and fundraise, and I wanted to thank everyone here for being here to support me for this, and I also wanted to thank my parents for supporting me throughout my entire scouting journey and for anyone if they are listening or watching that has lended support to my project through financial funds or through helping me out via volunteering, thank you so much. This project would not have gone the way it did without any of you. Thank you.”
Informed by Council Member Justin Olsen of their presence, Behlke gave a special thank you to the Lions Club.
“The Lions Club was one of the deciding factors for if I was going to do my project and your support made all the difference,” Behlke said. “I cannot thank you nearly enough.”
From Eagle Scout recognition the meeting moved to a check presentation by the East Cottage Grove Scramblers.
“Our next presentation this evening is the donation by the East Cottage Grove Scramblers to the Police K9 Program,” Bailey announced.
Public Safety Director Pete Koerner presented on the donation.
“This is great to get this donation,” Koerner said. “I’ve just tried to highlight a couple of things the East Cottage Grove Scramblers have participated in.”
Highlighted by Koerner in particular were the Washington County Star Trail, with the East Cottage Grove Scramblers grooming 50 plus miles of the 140 miles of snowmobile trails in Washington County. Also highlighted was the group’s promotion of recreational activity in the area and responsible riding, along with the Dust’em off Vintage show, a snowmobile and swap meet with food, vendors, raffles, and a vintage radar gun. The club also meets with the Public Service Commission once a year to go over the trails.
The club then coming up to present the $1,000 check
“They’ve decided they want this to go towards the K9 program,” Koerner said, listing a K9 treadmill and equipment for a K9 training area among possible uses.
East Cottage Grove Scramblers President Jeremy Goebel spoke on the donation.
“I just want to say ‘thank you’ to everybody for the partnership we’ve had with the city,” he said. “We’ve grown big the last few years and working with the public service commission getting the trail to stay where it stays and now with the police department. I just want to say thank you.”
Motion to accept the $1,000 donation to the K9 program was made by Justin Olsen and seconded by Thiede.
From the East Cottage Grove Scramblers donation to the K9 program, things moved to the Craig Woolery Scholarship, a $3,500 donation made by Justin and Kim Olsen along with the Cottage Grove Lions Club.
Koerner presented on the scholarship.
“I always like to take this opportunity to explain more about our public safety board, what it is and what they do.”
Made up of citizens from different backgrounds with police and fire representatives as well, the Public Safety Board was involved in many different community events, helping out. They also contributed to fitness equipment, portable speed signs, and firefighter particle hoods.
Among the things the Public Safety Board did was administer the Craig Woolery Scholarship, awarded to fund future law enforcement officers in their post-secondary education.
Due May 1, 2025 for the present year, the scholarship is open to Cottage Grove residents pursuing post-secondary education in law enforcement, Emergency medical services (EMS) or firefighting. Applicants for a the $1,000 or more scholarship must submit a 300 to 500 word essay describing what area of public safety they are interested in and why they are seeking the scholarship. The essay should also describe their active involvement and experience within the community. A letter of recommendation from a non-family member and proof of enrollment at an educational institution are required as well, along with a cover letter.
Those choosing to submit their scholarship application by mail may do so to:
Cottage Grove Public Safety Board
Attention: Craig Woolery Scholarship
12800 Ravine Pkwy S,
Cottage Grove, MN 55016
“With that I’d like to give Council Member Olsen to say a few words,” Koerner said.
“Thanks,” Olsen replied, then inviting the Lions, Public Safety Board, and Katie Woolery to the front.
“This is one of my favorite times of year,” Olsen said. “My wife Kim and I started this scholarship named for my friend Craig Woolery when he retired from being the public safety director here in the City of Cottage Grove. It’s one way to preserve the tremendous legacy of Craig’s service to this community. He did so many great things, whether as a police officer, D.A.R.E. officer, as one of our bike cops…he progressed through the ranks of our police department and became our public safety director. Not only that but he briefly served as our city administrator. What that tells me and should tell you is that Craig’s legacy is service. He was very passionate about community, serving the members of this city council and serving his family and colleagues. And he would do whatever it took,” Olsen said, adding that Woolery had gone through firefighter training when he became public safety director to better understand the firefighting side of things.
“That really speaks to who Craig is as an individual and as a leader,” Olsen said.
Thanking the Public Safety Board for administering the program, Olsen said he and his wife had donated $1,500 to the scholarship, with the Lions contributing an additional $2,000.
Olsen turned things over to Lions board member Eric Witt.
“Thank you Justin,” Witt said. “Just to follow up on Justin’s words on service, Lions International, our motto is ‘We Serve,’ so it couldn’t be a better partnership. We appreciate this partnership so much. The Lions really enjoy the relationship we have with the Cottage Grove Public Service…we are honored to be here and present this donation tonight, and we look forward to the young people that are coming up in this department.”
Olsen then turned the microphone over to Public Safety Board President Julie Rice.
Giving thanks all around, President Rice shared the board’s role.
“Thank you for entrusting our board to take in the scholarship applicants and vet them and decide who’s going to receive the scholarship for this year,” she said. “Also, with our scholarships, one of our previous recipients is working his way up to become a police officer for the City of Cottage Grove. Several of them go through CSO training, they become CSO officers, some started out with Police Explorers, which our board also supports…where the Lions Club serves the community, our fundraising serves the public safety,” she said. Last to speak was Katie Woolery.
“I do want to thank Justin and his lovely wife Kim for starting this scholarship,” she said. “And also Mayor Bailey, Director Koerner, Cottage Grove Lions, Council, Public Safety Board, I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done to support this scholarship. Thank you for all you do.”
Motion to accept donations to the Craig Woolery Scholarship was made by Thiede and seconded by Clausen.