Several Northland Mayors hold State of the Cities

The Hermantown Area Chamber of Commerce is hosted the annual State of the Cities for Hermantown, Rice Lake, and Proctor Thursday afternoon.

The Mayors from all three cities spoke at the event and brought some perspective to upcoming projects.

“We felt it was very important to bring these three mayors together to really talk about what’s happening in our region,” said Kim Parmeter, President of the Hermantown Area Chamber of Commerce.”

“The close relationship that we have as far as the surrounding communities has is an ongoing thing. And any time that we can get together, we’d love to,” added Rice Lake Mayor John Werner. “It’s really gratifying to be able to get to get together personally and discussion, and we’ve been bantering back and forth at the table. “

Proctor Mayor Chad Ward took his time to detail funds that will be going towards a city infrastructure project.

“We were just awarded $1.25 million to reconstruct 2nd Street, which is a main artery through our community. That’s a big project that the community’s been concerned about for many years,” explained Ward. “And again, the $500,000 we were awarded through the bonding bill for the salt’s and shared facilities will be another big, impactful project in the city of Proctor.”

Hermantown Mayor Wayne Boucher spoke about some community expectations he’s be hearing.

“We have demands now for greater levels of service and facilities from our residents. We need to work on satisfying those demands. We have to do it in a way that’s financially equitable,” Boucher went on to explain what shape that might take. “Hopefully, you’ll see improved parks, trail system and a new hockey arena within a few years.”

The Mayors were unable to meet in person last year due to COVID.