I can tell you I’ve surrounded myself with a wonderful leadership team.”

Cottage Grove Public Safety Director and Police Chief Pete Koerner.

The Grovecast just dropped a new episode, featuring show hosts Phil Jents and Emily Schmitz. Started in May and dropping a new episode monthly, the city produced Grovecast seeks “to demystify city government,” showcasing the real people behind city government as well as policy enforcement.
As for the show hosts, Jents is the Cottage Grove Communications Director and Schmitz is the Community Development Director. Sitting down to answer questions from Schmitz and Jents this September was Cottage Grove Public Safety Director and Police Chief Pete Koerner.
Promoted to public safety director in 2018, Koerner oversees police, fire and emergency management for the city of Cottage Grove.
First up was a softball question on what superpower Koerner would like.
“Maybe just go back in time and redo some things,” Koerner said, with Jents saying last month’s guest and Parks Director Zac Dockter voiced a similar time travel wish.
“I think his was more from a history standpoint,” Jents said of Dockter. Koerner went on to share in followup that his favorite food was wood fired pizza, although he will do other pizzas as well.
From softball questions the interview moved on to more substantial topics, including what public safety directors do on a daily basis.
“What is it you do as a public safety director?” Jents asked Koerner.
“I do get asked that often,” Koerner replied. “The public safety model is not unique, but it’s not everywhere. A lot of cities do have a police department and a fire department. We operate under one umbrella. I mean, there’s just a lot more efficiencies with that and shared staff. So as a public safety director I’m also the police chief. That’s required statutorily to have a chief law enforcement officer, but I oversee the police department and fire and EMS, and emergency management. So it’s kind of all—and then you know, we have shared support staffs to help with it all.”
“So how does that break down?” Jents asked. “ I mean that’s quite a large department, you have fire and EMS, police. There’s a lot underneath those umbrellas, what all is in your department, in your purview?”
“Sure,” said Koerner. “I can tell you I’ve surrounded myself with a wonderful leadership team. I’m not the expert in everything, so when you look at our fire department they also oversee EMS. I have a fire chief that I oversee. He has two deputy chiefs. So you know we have the different chain of command and then obviously within the police department we have different areas with the patrol. That’s what people see.”
“When people see cops they think ‘squad car,’” Jents said. Koerner said police work also included things like investigations and case management.
“Each of those levels I do have a captain that oversees that,” he said. Also involved with public safety is emergency management, something involving more than just the public safety department.
“We’re all involved in that,” Koerner said of city departments and emergency management. “I mean, if there’s a true emergency or something it’s not necessarily going to be just a police function…IT, you name it, they’re all coming.”
Schmitz said she was impressed by the department’s professionalism.
“I’m often impressed,” Schmitz chimed in on balancing the need for seriousness and treating people with respect.
From there things moved to what got Koerner interested in law enforcement.
Raised in Cottage Grove but unsure what he wanted to do after high school, Koerner was inspired by a ride along with a neighbor named Officer McClellan. Koerner then went to community college before applying to be a Community Service Officer (CSO) for the city, hired back in 1992. In 1998 he became the city’s first School Resource Officer (SRO), later serving as a midnight sergeant before becoming the public safety director in 2018.
“So just a little over 33 years of service to the city,” Koerner shared. When he first started he drove around in a squad without a computer and went after crimes like shoplifting. Officers today meanwhile have such technology in their daily lives and are tasked with solving more complex cases than before.
“So do you remember anything from the ride along that hooked you in?” Schmitz asked for the ride along from the early 1990s.
“I think it was just in general,” Koerner said. “I was kind of raised, my dad was in the Lions Club, he was big in the Athletics Association. So I was brought up always serving, helping people.”
Not a person who can sit behind a desk for eight hours a day, meanwhile, Koerner spends much of his time out in the community, getting to know residents and build connections.
“You know everyone in Cottage Grove, I’m convinced. ” Jents said. “All 42,000.” With 33 years of public service, Koerner said he knows “a good number,” also being a lifelong city resident. Building connections with residents but also called sometimes to issue tickets, Koerner shed back on a common misconception on police work.
“It’s not all about citations,” he said. “We want the behavior to stop. A ticket isn’t always the way to do that.” A good deal of ticket revenue also went into court and other costs, making the return to the city less than what some may think. Officers also work to educate residents and promote better driving practices, thereby enhancing driving safety. Also involved are things like administering Narcan for overdoses.
“It’s all encompassing,” Koerner said of the public safety department and its work. “I’m always reminded that public safety has 48 percent of the city’s budget, so we’re very aware of that.”
Tasked with enforcing both short and long term policies, Koerner also works on the department budget and improving efficiencies.
“What led me to this is something different every day,” Koerner said of law enforcement.
Dropping a new episode monthly with reported listeners from across the globe, the Grovecast is available online at https://thegrovecastcg.podbean.com/