Edina city manager Gordon Hughes says "it's time to take a breather" before he begins the next phase of his working life. So after 36 year in Edina city government, Hughes will be leaving his position on July 30. "Not retiring," he says. "Just trying to figure out what's next."
A native of Worthington, Minnesota, Hughes began working as Edina's environmental planner in 1974, not long after graduating from the University of Minnesota. he was promoted to city planner in 1977 and then went on to become assistant city manager in 1985. In 1998, Hughes was named city manager, a position he has held ever since.
"Edina has always had a very engaged citizenry," he says. "they have always been very interested in what city government is doing. We have many active volunteers as well as dedicated elected officials. That has always been the case here."
"I've been the manager of the best city in the country," Hughes continues. "it's a city that has always had high standards and expectations."
We asked Hughes what has changed over the years, and also wanted to know about some of the most memorable events that have occurred in the city of Edina under his watch.
From Typing to Technology
"When I first started here, the IBM correcting Selectric typewriter was considered state-of-the-art word processing," recalls Hughes with a laugh. "Before that, I think we were buying Wite-Out by the gallon." back in the day, city budgets were typed on carbon paper, in triplicate, then mimeographed ("or Xeroxed as we used to say") for distribution.
Hughes also remembers stopping at the switchboard when he came to City Hall for his job interview in 1974. "They were still using a cord board. All the calls went through a central location--there was no such thing as direct dial," he says.
The advent of e-mail, social media and web streaming has had a significant impact on the way cities like Edina do business these days explains Hughes. "they say the word 'transparency' is overused in city government, but really, that's changed things dramatically," he says. "Citizens have access to so much more information than they used to have. Our website alone has thousand of pages. In the old days, people had to come directly to City Hall to pore over files if they needed to research something."
Marge Gunderson at Edina City Hall? You Betcha.
back in 1996, Hughes recalls a staff member coming into his office and telling him that "two high school kids from St. Louis Park" had asked if they could do some filming at City Hall over the upcoming weekend. Hughes Ok'd the idea, saying he was fine with it as long as they left everything in order when they were finished.
The two "kids" were none other than Ethan and Joel Coen and the filming was for a little movie called Fargo.
All of the police department footage, including shots of Marge Gunderson (Actress Frances McDormand) on the job, was filmed in the Edina police department offices and at City Hall, which the Coens used as a substitute for the Brainerd offices portrayed in the movie. "I guess they thought we looked more like Brainerd than Brainerd," says Hughes, adding that the following morning several "Brainerd City Hall" signs were found taped over Edina signs.
Most of the staff never knew about the building's brush with fame until the film was released. Hughes himself didn't see Fargo until three or four years later. "I'm not that much of a movie guy," he admits.
The Worst Day and The Best Day
It was on November 16, 2000, during a phone conversation with former Chief of Police Mike Siitari that Hughes first learned of a robbery at Firstar Bank in Edina and the shooting of officer Mike Blood.
"An officer came into Mike Sitar's office while we were talking and told him what happened," says Hughes.
Admitting that it "was an awful day" for the city, Hughes also remembers it as one of the best, due to the remarkable way the Edina police department handled the crisis. For a community like Edina to experience a violent incident like that--the bank robber was killed and Officer Blood sustained serious injuries, the effects of which still plague him--was challenging, says Hughes, but also demonstrated the community's sense of resilience.
From Concept to Reality: Centennial Lakes and Edinborough Park
"Both of these projects were such big deals for the city of Edina, as they were an example of a groundbreaking joint venture between the public and private sectors," says Hughes.
On a personal note, he says that being involved from the idea phase of the projects to their completion was very satisfying. "So many times in city government, you see the beginning of a major project and are long gone before it's finished," explains Hughes. "Or you come in at the end of the story. To be involved with the entire process was a real hoot."
The innovation behind the creation of Centennial Lakes and Edinborough Park was especially noteworthy, he added, because "there really wasn't a blueprint for us to follow on this type of mixed-use development."
Hughes credits the Edina City Council for its willingness to be flexible and open to ideas during the entire course of the development and building process. "I believe the members at the time definitely took some political risks," he says. "There were many times the council could have gotten cold feet, but never did."
For Sentimental Reasons
"One of my best memories of my time here is the fact that this is where I met my wife Judy, when she came to City hall to interview for a job in 1978," says Hughes. The couple married in 1981 and has three children; the youngest just graduated from college. They live in Eden Prairie where Judy works for the Eden Prairie school district.
