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Greetings!

With a chapter membership of over a thousand, covering a very large state, I’m certain a brief intro is probably in order. My name is Nick Egger, and I joined the City of Rosemount as its Public Works Director back in September. I most recently served in the same role right next door as Public Works Director for the City of Hastings, which is where my career began about twenty years ago. While I’ve been a member of APWA since the mid-2000s, I became more active about a dozen years ago in being tabbed to join the Membership and Special Events Committee. Over time my involvement eventually led to being elected to the Executive Committee, first as the Director of Public Works/City Engineer, and then eventually I was elected as Secretary-Treasurer, Vice President, and finally to the role of President for 2022. It is my honor to have served the chapter in these previous roles, and likewise to serve as the 2022 Chapter President.

As much as I like winter activities and getting out on our backyard hockey rink with my kids, I’ll bet I’m not alone in confessing to a recent daydream or two of warmer weather. In fact, as I write this, we’re experiencing our first major snowfall of 2022, and drifting (pun intended) off into springtime thoughts for a few minutes is pretty inviting. That groundhog sure is making good on its forecast for a delayed meltdown and the reappearance of foliage.

Like springtime weather, something we can all embrace is the energy and dedication put into our chapter’s work. I felt the momentum building up again throughout 2021 as we began to have the ability to resume committee meetings, social events, and conferences in person. It appears we are finally closing in on leaving the worst of the pandemic in the rearview mirror, and although we’ve all become experts at facilitating and participating in online meetings, the boost in spirits from face to face contact with each other can’t be beat. Time to seize on some opportunities.

With that, in the first couple of executive committee meetings of this year, we’ve discussed the goals and objectives each committee will be working towards in 2022. From bringing added value and perspective through diversity and inclusion focused presenters at our conferences, to promoting entry into public works careers with scholarship offerings, to developing educational content for various levels of public agency staff on the importance of environmental protection, to creating interview videos with chapter leaders throughout the year, in these few examples the enthusiasm, creativity, and passion among the members of our committees has shone right through.

Elsewhere across the chapter, we’re continuing other important work and initiatives that have been in the making for some time. 

Infrastructure Month
With February as Infrastructure Month, the Raise Our Grade Subcommittee is once again hosting weekly “Let’s Talk Infrastructure” sessions on Zoom, aimed to engage with elected officials in an effort to bring them a deeper understanding of many of the things we contend with as public works professionals and to illustrate the critically symbiotic relationship between good reliable infrastructure, economic success, and quality of life. This year’s theme focuses on water infrastructure and water resources. The last session of this year is scheduled for 7:45-8:30 am on Thursday, March 3, via Zoom. Although all sessions are recorded and published on YouTube, I encourage you to attend and to make your local elected leaders aware of the opportunity for learning more.

Spring Conference – Back to Grand View Lodge!!!
Coming off of a highly successful 2021 Fall Conference, and with the outlook for more in-person events showing promise with each passing day, I’m thrilled to say that we’ve solidified plans to resume an in-person format for our annual spring conference back at the venue we know and love, Grandview Lodge. I can’t wait to get back! Registration should begin in early April. 

Pursuit of 2026 PWX
One goal of the Minnesota Chapter is to host either PWX or the Snow Conference every 5-10 years. Many of you may remember when we hosted the very first PWX in Minneapolis in 2016 and what a lift it becomes to put on such a production, but also what a success we were able to make of it. APWA recently put out a solicitation for interest from local chapters in hosting a future PWX event, and we have filed a preliminary indication of our interest to host in the 2026 timeframe. 

All of this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There is no question in my mind that our chapter will continue to accomplish much throughout 2022, and I am very excited to see it all take shape!

Nick Egger, PE
2022 APWA-MN Chapter President