Celebration of Fridley Mayor's Award Set for Tuesday

in northeastern Minnesota from accepting a big award at the League of Minnesota Cities' annual conference in Duluth, but a local event will try to make up for that.

The forecast is much more favorable for Fridley. The city's is the place for a celebration of Mayor Lund winning the League's 2012 C.C. Ludwig Award. The event is Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, 5–7 p.m., with a program at 6 p.m.

The award, for "vision, statesmanship, and unwavering commitment to the public good," goes to only two mayors each year. Three judges selected Lund from all the mayors of Minnesota cities with 10,000 or more residents. (The other mayor honored, for cities of fewer than 10,000 residents, was Tim Geraghty of Newport.)

In announcing the award, the League of Minnesota Cities said Lund worked with the Fridley City Council and city staff

“…to provide very high quality local government services and capital projects that are not only responsive to community needs, but are affordable to Fridley residents.

"He has served as Fridley’s mayor since 2001. In 2007, he organized a successful campaign to remove utility rate restrictions from the Fridley City Charter. Lund has also actively campaigned on the city’s behalf for a number of legislative issues, including funding for a Northstar station site, funding for Springbrook Nature Center improvements, and reform of the state’s local government aid formula."

The celebration is sponsored by Fridley Knights of Columbus, Fridley Lions, Springbrook Nature Center Foundation, Lee Carlson Center and the Residents for Maintaining Water Systems.

Malcolm Mitchell, chair of the Springbrook Foundation, said in a statement from the Scott Lund for Mayor campaign:

“Mayor Lund has been a generous supporter to our Community, and he deserves to be publicly recognized for all of his achievements.”