The city of Marshall has started the summer with much activity and below is a snapshot of some of our work:

The Addison downtown parking lot reconstruction was completed and ensured a much-improved traffic flow along with a stronger and safer surface.

The weather cooperated for the city’s Juneteenth event with over 200 people attending the Food Truck event on 3rd Street and the evening performances held at Justice Park. The event was a success and made possible by donations from Avera, Southwest Initiative Foundation, SMSU, Hy-Vee and Visit Marshall.

In late May and early June, the city hosted Minnesota State High School (MSHL) section playoffs in both softball and baseball. These tournaments brought in over 4,300 players, coaches, and fans into the Marshall community. This meant coordination between the MSHL and city staff to ensure fields, concessions and contingency plans were all in place to make this happen.

Economic development progress continues to rebound and flourish with several projects starting construction: Southwest West Central Services Cooperative (SWWC) has begun construction of their central administrative offices which will encompass 16,000 square feet. SWWC serves school districts in 18 counties and has been in existence for nearly 60 years with Marshall being their home for much of that history.

Solugen, which broke ground in April, has continued to develop their site located south of ADM and recently learned of economic development assistance from MN DEED as well as the Department of Energy. Solugen will get corn sugar from ADM corn-processing and process that dextrose into chemicals that end up in packaging, food, medicine, fertilizer, water treatments and more. The new plant is expected to create up to 100 jobs during construction and 56 jobs at the facility once it’s up and running in 2025.

Runnings recently announced the acquisition of Home of Economy, a family-owned business with eight stores in North Dakota. With this purchase, Runnings will expand to 90 store locations in 12 states from New York to Montana. A second Kwik Trip convenience/fuel store has started construction at the intersection of US Highways 68 and 59 with anticipated completion in November of this year.

A planned Les Schwab tire retail store will begin construction soon at the intersection of Highway 59 and Boyer drive, near Walmart/Aldi. Work has begun to bring Marshalls retail/department store into the former Shopko building. This will bring many additional commuters/visitors and shoppers to our city. SW Regional Airport has seen building activity as you cross the Madrid Circle bridge-a new private hangar was recently completed and site work has begun for a new Snow Removal and Equipment Storage building for airport operations to allow for existing hangar space to be leased to private individuals.

All the more important is our public safety and infrastructure work. With recent rain and rising Redwood River levels, the city took time to ensure equipment was in working order, emergency and contingency plans were reviewed, and steps to communicate with the public were taken. Reflections from past near flood stage events were discussed as those experiences provide the city with knowledge and intuition with what might happen in the future. The more than normal rain has also provided the time for the city to reflect on the history of Marshall flooding and how far we have come to protect the city from future flooding.

The flood control project diversion channel has protected the city many times since the last major flood in 1993. In addition, numerous and frequent public work projects past and present such as upgrading storm water systems and wastewater equipment have meant improved conveyance of water to keep up with weather events.

On any given day, the city of Marshall Council and staff are communicating, analyzing, sharing information, deciding on the best course of action that will lead towards the goal of ensuring city services remain effective. Businesses and residents too have also solved problems, took part in our activities or spurred development. Together our community is ever the more successful.

— Sharon Hanson is the city administrator for the city of Marshall