The City of Delano

With its rich heritage and promising future, the City of Delano exemplifies the “Spirit of Community.”

Located on the western fringe of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, Delano offers a pleasant blend of commerce and small-town living. The people of the community pride themselves on their national award-winning school district.

The tradition of this historic river town carries over into all aspects of community life. Delano is proud of its past, and looks to the future with ambition and optimism.

Welcome!

Mission and Vision

The mission of the City of Delano is to continue to provide the highest quality public services that effectively address changing citizen and community needs in a fiscally responsible and friendly manner.

City strategies and goals

Annually, the Delano City Council convenes with members of its staff to discuss its strategies and goals. In 2007, the city council has adopted the following strategies:

1. Provide high quality infrastructure and services in a planned, fiscally responsible manner. In concert with its mission, the city expects its residents to enjoy a high level of service and infrastructure performance. At the same time, the city’s goal is to provide this level of effectiveness while maintaining efficiency.

2. Ensure the city’s financial stability. During a time of growth and expansion of infrastructure, the city’s financial stability is key.

3. Encourage communication of information and ideas with residents and business owners. The city has established a local web site – www.delano.mn.us – to communicate information about city affairs, including agendas, minutes, and project updates. The city looks to improve its use of communication vehicles in the coming years to provide better communication with residents and business owners.

4. Manage high quality growth consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan serves as the city’s outline for growth and new development. The city looks to continue managing and controlling plans for new development in a manner consistent with the goals and objectives in the plan.

5. Ensure a well-trained and productive workforce to meet the changes of the city. The city’s workforce is one of its most valuable resources in terms of delivering quality services. Continuing to ensure that the city’s staff is well-trained and knowledgeable on issues relating to the services they provide are crucial to delivery of high quality services.

6. Increase accountability by measuring and evaluating service delivery. The council recognized that in order to improve service delivery, an honest assessment of current strengths and weaknesses needs to be completed.

7. Continue to improve the city’s downtown. The city will look to continue downtown improvements, supporting private property owners’ efforts to improve their properties and facilitate public improvements.

The City of Delano

The City of Delano provides a wide variety of services for its residents and business community. Within the city’s mission, maintaining tight fiscal responsibility is important in its provision of services. To best accomplish its goals, the organization is divided up into six service areas.

Public works

The Delano Public Works Department is responsible for the physical maintenance of the city’s infrastructure. Five full-time employees and as many as six part-time seasonal workers keeps the city’s streets clean, sewers operational, and parks maintained.

The Delano Public Works facility is located at 402 County Road 30 SE, Delano, MN 55328, (763) 972-0580.

Public safety

Delano and the surrounding area is served by a volunteer fire and rescue department, consisting of 27 community members. Over the last three years, this dedicated team has responded to more than 400 calls for help in an average year, in addition to the extensive training requirements that prepare its members for duty. The services the department provides range from fire suppression to medical assistance and vehicular accidents.

The Delano fire station is located at 245 2nd Street N, Delano, MN 55328, (763) 972-0581.

For emergency response, call 911.

Delano contracts with the Wright County Sheriff’s Department for police services. In addition to the county-wide service already provided by the department, the city commissions services in the form of additional officers in the community.

The Wright County Sheriff’s Department is located at 10 2nd Street NW – Room 170, Buffalo, MN 55313-1197, (763) 682-1162.

For emergency response, call 911.

Community services

Planning/Land Use

As the city continues to grow, planning land uses and infrastructure is vital to the future of the community. With demand for housing and commercial development, requests to the city for additional infrastructure and services continue.

The growth pressures require clear direction from the city’s planning commission and the city council. The city’s strategy of ensuring high quality growth in a controlled fashion requires diligence on review of applications and planning future development areas.

The comprehensive plan is the backbone for the city’s planning efforts. The comprehensive plan was last updated in 2002, largely with the assistance of a 24-member community task force that developed many of the policies and guidelines. The document outlines requirements for new development and identifies ideal land uses for all areas of the community.

Specifically, the comprehensive plan establishes growth rate ranges for residential growth, recommending enough growth to pay for infrastructure and services without burdening the existing community, yet restricting growth at levels deemed harmful to the plan’s objectives. The plan identifies necessary park areas, transportation corridors, infrastructure needs, and design characteristics.

New development typically begins with the annexation process. The City of Delano is nearly fully developed, in terms of its existing land. Property owners in adjacent Franklin Township, however, are allowed under state law to request the annexation of their property into the City of Delano. There are other forms of annexation that typically pit townships and cities into an adversarial relationship; however, the city has avoided these approaches and chosen to annex only requesting property owners.

Building and Zoning

The city enforces the Minnesota State Building Code and the city’s zoning code for building construction and property maintenance. Building permits are reviewed by the city’s building official, and all necessary inspections are performed for every permit.

Zoning complaints are also investigated by this department. The city pursues zoning issues on a complaint basis and works with property owners to gain compliance.

Parks and Recreation

The city provides park and recreation services in Delano for the greater community to utilize. Parks and recreation programs are an important contributor to a community’s quality of life, and Delano is working diligently to provide greater opportunities.

The city provides summer recreation services for youth by supporting and assisting programming of other agencies and organizations. Community Education provides summer enrichment programming, the “Discovery Zone,” with financial assistance from the city. Further, the city provides financial assistance to several other day programs. In addition, the city supports summer youth baseball and softball programs.

Park development and rehabilitation are also important to the livability of the community. Delano’s parks offer green space, sports facilities, trails, and many other outlets to enjoy Minnesota’s great outdoors. The city provides a variety of park needs, ranging from smaller parks located within individual neighborhoods to larger community parks, such as the Central Park.

Delano is served by a seven-member parks and recreation committee that provides research and recommendations critical for decision-making to the city council. One of the present significant efforts of the committee is the implementation of the Central Park Master Plan. The improvements have already produced the Big Rock Play Area (2006), two new youth/softball ball fields presently under construction, and the redevelopment of the northern-most ball field slated for 2007.

Delano Senior Center

The City of Delano, in partnership with Senior Community Services and Catholic Charities, operates the Delano Senior Center. The center is a gathering place, resource center, and program provider for seniors in the Delano area. Daily lunches are served through the dining program, along with Meals on Wheels that are delivered through a network of volunteer drivers.

The senior center also operates Delano’s senior transportation service. Rides are provided to and from the senior center, as well as to other destinations in the area.

Open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The senior center is located at 234 2nd Street N., Delano, MN 55328, (763) 972-0574.

Housing

The city, through the economic development authority, operates the Crow River Villa Apartments. The Villa Apartments provide 30 units of affordable public housing. Crow River Villa Apartments are reserved for those seniors, age 62 or older, handicapped and/or disabled persons that are able to live independently or with the help of a privately contracted service.

The Crow River Villa Apartments are located at 125 5th Street South, Delano, MN 55328, (763) 972-2945.

Delano Library

The Delano Library is operated by Great River Regional Library and open six days a week. The library provides Delano area residents with many reading and media resources, along with public computer access. The library is also supported by the Delano Friends of the Library, a non-profit organization.

The library is located at 160 Railroad Avenue, Delano, MN 55328.

Municipal Enterprises

The City operates two distinct and different enterprises: a municipal liquor store and the Delano Municipal Utilities.

Delano Wine and Spirits is the city’s municipal liquor store. Located next to Coborn’s at Delano Crossings, the municipal liquor store exceeds $2 million per year in sales, bringing more than $175,000 in profits back to the city. Proceeds of all sales are reinvested 100 percent in city parks, which has been instrumental in the Central Park redevelopment and other parks projects.

Delano Municipal Utilities (DMU) operates the city’s electric and water utility enterprises. Dating back to the early 1930s, DMU was established as the Delano Water, Light, and Power enterprise. Today, it operates under the DMU name. It is governed autonomously by the Delano Water, Light, and Power Commission, which has the authority to buy and sell power, manage its employees, and establish the necessary rates for its services. The city council appoints members to three-year terms on the commission.

Delano Municipal Utilities is located at 11 Bridge Avenue, PO Box 65, Delano, MN 55328, (763) 972-0557.

Finance

The city’s Finance Department is responsible for managing the financial affairs of the city. The department collects revenues and handles payable expense of the city. It provides monthly reports to the city council on the financial status of the city.

In 2005, the city’s financial status was analyzed by Moody’s Investment Service, which recommended an upgrade in the city’s financial rating. The upgrade reflected the city’s strong fund balances, steady-to-declining tax rate, and sound financial planning.

The Finance Department is operated at Delano City Hall.

Administration

The Administration Department of the city is responsible for a variety of tasks. Primarily, the department oversees and supports all of the other departments within the city. The council provides its direction through the city administrator on policy decisions, which are then directed to those involved with delivering the services. The department also is responsible for retention and dissemination of all public documents and information.

In addition, the department handles most licenses and permits issued by the city. Dog licenses, liquor licenses, burning permits, and others are issued at Delano City Hall.

In terms of licensing, the city also operates the local deputy registrar’s office. This office provides residents and business owners a local opportunity to renew license tabs for motor vehicles, trailers, and recreational vehicles.

The Delano City Hall is located at 234 2nd Street N., PO Box 108, Delano, MN, 55328, (763) 972-0550.