BUSINESS NOTES
CAREER
Supinski gains recognition
BAXTER -- Jeff Supinski, Unicel retail operations manager from Baxter, was selected as the winner of the Leader of Excellence award for the first half of 2005.
Twice each year Unicel selects an individual from its Midwest area management team to receive the Leader of Excellence award. The recognition goes to the manager who consistently meets and exceeds key job requirements. Finalists are nominated semi-annually and a committee of their peers selects the winner.
Supinski, Baxter, consistently demonstrated a positive attitude and determination in modeling and motivating retail managers to achieve their sales goals, Unicel reported.
Supinski, a 1988 St. Cloud State University graduate with a marketing degree, has been with RCC since 1992. He has been employed in the wireless industry in the Brainerd area for 15 years, beginning his career as a sales representative. He previously was territory manager and retail sales manager.
Clough attends conference in NYC
Cindy Clough, owner of Just For Kix Studio in Brainerd, attended the National Dance Teacher Conference in New York City in early August.
More than 900 dance teachers from across the nation participated.
Just For Kix is incorporating more ballet, tap and jazz into its curriculum. The goal of attending the workshop was to bring back new techniques, ideas and ways to motivate and inspire area dancers.
Strobl joins coroner's office
Dr. A. Quinn Strobl joined Dr. Janis Amatuzio and Dr. Butch Hanson in their forensic medicine practice.
Amatuzio is Crow Wing County coroner, with offices in Coon Rapids.
Strobl, Minneapolis, completed a forensic pathology fellowship at Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office and has additional subspecialty training in toxicology and molecular biology. Her credentials will be key in the interpretation of DNA, toxicology and trace evidence analyses. This will enhance forensic services to Crow Wing County attorneys and law enforcement, Amatuzio reported.
Strobl earned her medical doctor degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed her residency in laboratory medicine and pathology at the University of Minnesota.
Amatuzio reported the construction of a forensic pathology complex by Anoka County is anticipated in the near future, which is expected to expand services for Crow Wing County.
AWARD
Pine River sanitary district gains award
PINE RIVER -- The Pine River Area Sanitary District, with its wastewater treatment plant in Pine River, was selected to receive a Region 5 USEPA Operation and Maintenance Excellence Award for second place in the Small Advanced category for 2005.
The sanitary district is one of nine entities to receive regional operation and maintenance awards this year.
The Pine River facility is contract-operated and is designed to treat a flow of 246,000 gallons per day, receiving an average of 119,000 gallons per day, while serving a scattered population of nearly 1,350 in Pine River and Chickamaw Beach, Wilson Township and Barclay Township. The plant consistently removes an average of nearly 98 percent of the biochemical oxygen demand and suspended solids and 93 percent of the phosphorous from incoming wastewater, manager Todd Allen reported.
The plant discharges into Norway Brook, which flows into the Whitefish Chain of Lakes and then to the Mississippi River.
The award is primarily based on excellent pollutant removal and other factors that include: The facility is contract-operated by Veolia Water North America Operating Services and staff is responsible for treatment plant operation and parts of the collection system; much of the facility operation and maintenance is computerized resulting in improved plant efficiency; the facility has an outstanding safety program; the facility has a strong public education/outreach program, which involves local grade schools, high schools and colleges in training and educational activities; and the facility has an excellent compliance record with no effluent violations the past three years.
Mike Oates, lead operation and maintenance technician; Cynthia Anderson, administrative assistant; Alan Johnson, board chairman; and four other board members were recognized. Short Elliott Hendrickson was the design consulting firm for the latest plant upgrade.
In the past five years, the Pine River facility received four certificates of commendation from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and a Treatment Facility Operations Award from the Central States Water Environment Association.
ACTIVITIES
Mille Lacs Band offers job assistance
The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is offering welfare and job assistance services to members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe who live in Anoka, Hennepin and Ramsey counties that will ease the burden on these counties' systems, the band announced.
The Mille Lacs Band will provide employment and assistance programs, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a program that helps qualified individuals with families find and prepare for work and transition from welfare to self-sufficiency. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families replaces the county-operated Minnesota Family Investment Program for eligible urban members of the Bois Forte, Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs and White Earth bands.
Grant to help build clinic in Randall
RANDALL -- Steve Wenzel, state director of Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced Consolidated Telecommunications Co., Brainerd, was awarded a $300,000 grant.
Consolidated Telecommunications Co. will use the grant to help St. Gabriel's Hospital in Little Falls finance equipment and construction of a physician's clinic in Randall.
Randall residents worked hard to make the project happen, Wenzel said in a news release.
In addition to the USDA Rural Development grant, CTC will contribute $60,000 to the project. The remaining funding comes from the city of Randall, $25,000, and from St. Gabriel's, $15,000.
USDA Rural Development has funding available for housing, clean water, hospitals, high-speed Internet, economic development, job creation and other essential infrastructure. Since 2001, the agency invested more than $2.1 billion in Minnesota.
For more information, go online to www.rurdev.usda.gov/mn or call the office in Baxter at 829-5965.