The new year brings a couple of changes to the City Council leadership. Becky Norton will serve as President for a second year after receiving a unanimous vote at Monday's meeting. New in 2022: Evan Brown was unanimously elected Vice President, and Laurel Stinson was unanimously elected Pro Tem. Learn more about each member of your current six-member City Council and Mayor on the City's website. Plus, remember you can reach out anytime to the full Council and Mayor by emailing them at citycouncilmayor@ci.red-wing.mn.us.

Jay McCleary was a true champion of sustainability. A longtime City employee who volunteered for the Sustainability Commission in his retirement, Jay played a pivotal role in many of the City's sustainability initiatives. To honor Jay's work, the Sustainability Commission named its new annual award after him and chose Jay as the first award-winner. Sadly, Jay passed away before he could receive his award in person. His wife, Nancy, accepted on his behalf during Monday's City Council meeting. Now Jay's legacy will live on through the Jay McCleary Sustainability Award. If you know someone who promotes sustainability and environmental stewardship in our community, nominate them now for the 2022 award. Nominations are open until February 28. Thank you, Jay, for everything you did for the City and our community. We will miss you.

With COVID-19 cases surging, Red Wing is moving back online for all City meetings and workshops. Starting January 24, meetings will be conducted on the virtual meeting platform Webex again instead of in the Council Chambers. You're still encouraged to participate, and joining is easy. Just locate the link at the top of every meeting agenda and enter the passcode provided when you're prompted. If you don't want to participate but you still want to watch, view any meeting live on Channel 6 or livestream through the City's website.

Help us make a difference one tree at a time! Red Wing will lose about 25% of its tree canopy due to the Emerald Ash Borer. The sooner we remove and replace our ash trees, the sooner we will have a healthy canopy again. Sign up now to receive a free tree in the boulevard in front of your home, and watch this video to learn what else you can do to help.

You can create more peace within yourself, your home, workplace, school, neighborhood, family, and community —and this is a great place to start. This free 2-hour event will help you build awareness and resilience within yourself, and awareness of trauma in others, so we all can speak and understand each other better. Join us Saturday, January 22, from 10:00 a.m. to noon. The event is facilitated by Crixell Shell of the MN Peacebuilding Leadership Institute and sponsored by the Human Rights Commission. The session will likely be virtual (instead of in-person as planned). Register today! Please share with friends, friends, and co-workers — this is for EVERYONE.

We all know it can be hard to keep a New Year's resolution, so if your resolution includes community and sustainability goals, we've got the perfect place for you. The Sustainability Commission is looking for new members, and you could be one of them! Bring your passion and ideas, and help make changes that will make Red Wing a better, greener place for all of us. Apply today.

In late 2021, the Red Wing community held meetings to develop a plan to address homelessness and housing instability. You can now read that final plan here. The meetings, hosted by the City of Red Wing and our local United Way, were facilitated by Ali Niemi of North Star Policy Consulting. Ali presented the final plan to City Council on January 10, and Council will vote to accept the plan on January 24. Have comments or questions on the plan? Email us here or call 651-385-3618. Stay tuned for details on next steps for turning the plan into progress.

Wednesday, January 12 at 6 p.m.

Wednesday, January 19 at 6 p.m.

City Council Chambers

Thursday, January 20 at 5:15 p.m.

Monday, January 24 at 6 p.m.