The Grovecast debuted last month, featuring Community Development Director Emily Schmitz as its first interview guest.

Image courtesy City of Cottage Grove.

I’ll be honest, I thought you were going to laugh me out of the room when I suggested recording an audio broadcast.”

Cottage Grove Communications manager Phil Jents

Building understanding is important.
With that view, we’ve got news. ‘The Grovecast’ is here.
Recorded by True Lens Community Media (formerly the South Washington County Telecommunications Commission), ‘The Grovecast’ made its official debut this month, with Cottage Grove Communications manager Phil Jents interviewing Community Development Director Emily Schmitz on her job, an interview that garnered 146 views in two weeks.
“I’ll be honest, I thought you were going to laugh me out of the room when I suggested recording an audio broadcast,” Jents tells Schmitz.
“And I said, why wouldn’t I? It sounds like a great experience!” Schmitz said in reply.
“Real quick, why don’t you just tell us about community development?” Jents then asks Schmitz in the first broadcast, appearing on the city YouTube channel.
“Yeah, Phil, a lot of folks when I say ‘I’m a planner,’ they’re like, ‘what do you plan?’” Schmitz says, going on to discuss how her department operates.
“Our department covers all the way through building permitting,” Schmitz shared, saying her department ensures that building plans fall in line with city ordinances and the state building code.
Also appearing on ‘The Grovecast’ to date is Mayor Bailey, an episode some 20 minutes and 41seconds long. Jents opens by explaining the rationale for the new audio broadcast.
“We are trying something new here and going out on a limb,” he says in the intro to episode two of the Grovecast. “Our hope is to demystify city government and also showcase the real human beings who provide the services you rely on and who work for you every day.” Jents and Schmitz then interview Mayor Bailey on his job, which does not (it turns out) include a mayor’s mansion, something that Bailey finds schoolchildren often think.
“The non-existent Mayor’s mansion,” he tells Jents and Schmitz.
Planned for monthly installments, comments are currently turned off for the information oriented Grovecast but welcomed during public comment at meetings in city hall. Regular council meetings held the first and third Wednesdays of the month, with city commission meetings also held at city hall.