Rolla, ND

I hope everyone’s July 4th was a very patriotic celebration!!! Rolla came alive with its annual Ragtop parade and festivities. There was music in the parks and alot of heat and humidity to go with it. The parade was held on Sat with the kiddie parade starting out the day and the ragtop parade at 12:00. There were over 100 parade entries with a special tribute to Tom Munro at the beginning of the parade. Tom was a life long community member and contributed so much to Rolla as well as other communities. Tom passed away unexpectedly on June 21 at his lake home. Tom was a lifetime member of the fire department so they also honored Tom during this special time. The community will definitely miss this special man. The parade ended with a special tribute to Tony Sims, sheriff of Rolette Co. Tony lost his battle with cancer and was laid to rest on July 3rd. Law enforcement from near and far brought a vehicle or two to give Tony a special send off with a line-up of law enforcement vehicles, sirens and lights on high, forming a long, long line down the parade route. Some of the parade entries were very creative . Convertibles are always the highlight but there are always some beautiful classic vehicles too. There was a classic vehicle show on main street following the parade as well as motorcycles. The Arts Council had a very nice open house at the city hall. Some very talented individuals had wood work and art work on display. There were even some items for sale.  Food vendors were a plenty so no one had to leave hungry!! The fireworks display was held on Fri evening. Another 4th of July is in the history books…………………

The Rolla Horizons Program reached it’s goal of completing 18 months of community study and plans for improvement. We were excited to attend the final Celebration Event in Bismarck on May 4th.  Fifteen North Dakota communities completed the program and were presented awards and treated to a grand luncheon. 

Pictured left to right in the photo are Dr. D.C. Coston (NDSU vice president of Agriculture and University Extension) Mae Murphy, Devin Dvorak ( President and CEO of ND Community Foundation), Albert Johnson, Gov. John Hoeven, Kevin Walker (Pres. and CEO of the NorthWest Area Foundation), LeAnn Vollmer, Laura Hendrickson, Gloria Cover, Esther Krumwiede and Maureen Munro.

TRAIN ND from Lake Region State College in Devils Lake did a workshop on May 11th on this topic. We had a very nice turn out from a variety of community businesses. The Legion Auxiliary ladies served a very delicious meal and I know no one left hungry!!! Grace Kurtz the facilitator gave a very eye opening presentation on the role of front-line employees and the impact they have on a business and the community. She also showed us the link between tourism and customer service. A growing business has awesome front-line employees. Treat every customer as tho they are a “mystery shopper”. Keep that smile on your face even if you are having a bad day. Look in the mirror and who do you see, someone pleasant or someone pretty grumpy. Who do you think your customer would want to talk too??? All customers are important……..whether they are local or visitors to our community. Put a title behind your name of “ambassador” and be one for your business, community and state……..

Presentation Medical Center is having a health fair on May 11th (7:00-5:00). Many booths and activities for all ages. Free blood pressure checks.  Fasting blood panel for $35 and no appointment necessary (7:00-noon).Lotz of health related info as well as registration for prizes at the different booths. Balloons and tattoos (fake ones) for the kyds. Healthy snacks will be served all day. Enjoy a healthy day at the health fair since admission is free.

Rolla will celebrate its’ 125 anniversary in July of 2013. The committee is currently seeking help from the public in selecting a logo for the event. Anyone interested in submitting a logo can do so by mailing it to The City of Rolla, P.O. Box 1200, Rolla, ND, 58367.

The Mt. Pleasant School Foundation held it’s 25th  annual meeting and dinner last Sunday.  Everyone enjoyed the meal ,the entertainment and the information shared by Mr. Palmer, Superintendent of Rolla School.

The foundation has four objectives.  They are to provide an on-going fund for high school graduates who desire a post-secondary education,to provide revenue for new and innovative educational materials that promote excellence in education and to assist in enhancement and improvements to educational facilities and needs of students, and to support and improve the faculty and instruction for students and works with the goal of improving overall academic excellence.

 Funds come from donations from families, organizations, memberships and memorials.  

Children’s Choir made of select fourth, fifth and sixth graders presented a part of the program as well as several members of the High School Vocal and Band departments .  National Qualifiers for FCCLA gave presentations. They are Kelsey Boe and Ethan Mickelson.  They will be attending the National Convention in Chicago this summer.

In reviewing some of the entries I have made to this blog-site, I discovered a huge oversight.  With regards to the coverage of the fantastic Job Fair we pulled off in February, I realized I had neglected to mention a person who gave us the foundation for the event.  We had asked Judy Barstad from the North Dakota Career Resource Coordinator Program  to help us with the initial planning, since we were a little unfamiliar with sponsoring and organizing such an event. She was so gracious and knowledgeable.  She traveled to Rolla free of charge and gave us a lot of really good information on how to plan a job fair.  We are grateful to her for her input and are very sorry about the oversight.  Thank you so much, Judy.  Better late than never, I hope. 

We were so happy to be able to host visiting physician Anthony Flagg and his wife Shannon, along with the  CEO of Northland Health Center, Fay Hagen and her husband Paul at our April Horizons Social.  Dr. Flagg is visiting the area and was interested in what sort of projects our Horizons Program is involved with.

The Social  was one of the last we will be holding before our 18 month journey with Horizons is completed.  We reviewed our progress with committee activity since we last met, and satisfied ourselves with wonderful food served by the American Legion Auxiliary.

The Activity/Community Center Committee reported that it meets the 3rd Thursday of every month working on ways to achieve the goal of a new building for Rolla.  They have asked Don Fry of Ottertail power Company to work with them in setting up timelines and goals . This partnership has proven quite beneficial.  Mr. Fry has prompted the community to come together to act upon a strategic plan for the city, which is critical for applying for grants. The JDA has also partnered with us in providing financial support for a grant writing website from private foundations . The target date for the completion of the new activity center is 2013. All of this planing is very exciting and proves that where there is a will there is a way.

Also reporting were the Tourism, Job Fair, Info Hub and Grant Writing Committees.  We are still working on a community garden and quasi-centennial activities.

One of the goals of the Rolla Horizons Program was to try to alert all the entities of the community of each others activities.  We didn’t want to duplicate each others efforts. Thrifty is as Thrifty does. One of the ways we are trying to keep each other current on activities is through our community blog site. If we all post our meetings and agendas we can remind each other of what is happening and work together.

Look for notices on www.rollaric.blogspot.com.  If you want to post a notice contact Curt Bonn.

Also notices are posted on the Rolla Chanel.  

Welcome to Main Street.  That’s the catchy title of our upcoming workshop for business owners, employees and residents .  We have partnered with TrainND, the American Legion and Horizons to bring this very worth while learning experience to our community. 

We are looking forward to a good crowd, since we sent out about 80 letters inviting people to come. The American Legion is donating space for the gathering, Horizons is responsible for the organizing and the food.  Train ND will provide the instructors.  

Summer is just around the corner and with that comes more travelers to our area. The workshop gives everyone help with how to put our best foot forward and make a good impression on those visitors who might stop by.  It will also offer ideas on how improve our customer service to the people we see on a regular basis. It’s sort of “Manners 101″.  It’s good to be reminded how to be pleasant and kind to one another.

If you are interested in attending, and have not yet registered log on to www.lrsc.edu/workforceand click on Rolla Horizons and sign up for the session.  You can also call  1-800-443-1313 ext. 1578.

The workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, May 11, 2010 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Food will be served beginning at 5:15. Registration  should be in by May 4, 2010. Hope to see you there.

We have had a wonderful response to the Computer Classes which are being offered by the Horizons Program to the community.

We have been able to acquire the very valuable expertise of Marlo Miller, an instructor with Train ND Northeast.  She has conducted 5 sessions to date and will begin a series of three classes on Basic to Intermediate MS Excel tomorrow evening.

She conducted two sessions of “What’s New in MS Office ‘07, with both classes full.  Her next series was three sessions of “Basic to Intermediate MS Word ‘07. 

By partnering with TrainND Northeast, and the Rolla Public School, The Horizons Program has been able to provide a much needed source of continuing education to the adults of our community.

The Rolla Job Development Authority, The Rolla Horizons program and Turtle Mountain Communications formed a partnership to conduct a session  of  five Webinars  put together by the Heartland Center for Leadership Development .

Each month people from Rolla get together in the conference room at the Turtle Mountain Communications building to join groups of similar individuals from different communities across the state. We are linked by computer and telephone hook-up. We can all hear the moderator and the other participants and are able to share our thoughts with them as well.  

The first session was entitled “Rural Communities Can Thrive in the 21st. Century.” The following sessions are entitled “Entrepreneurial Coaching — From Crisis to Economic Growth”,  “Plowing New Ground- Refreshed Leadership Development for Revitalized Economies”, “Energized Youth — Energized Communities” and “People Count– Rebuilding Rural Communities with People Attraction Strategies”

The JDA paid the registration for the group, Horizons provides the lunch and Turtle Mountain Communications provides the meeting space and the technical support.

We are nearing the end of our association with the Horizons program so we are going to have a community celebration to mark our 18 months of hard work!!!! The Horizons committees did a great job in their new endeavors to make Rolla a better community for all the citizens and our out-of-town friends. Mark your calendars for the celebration on April 18th (Sun) starting at 5:00pm with a complimentary meal. We will have updates on what the committees are working on and hopefully what they will continue to work on. We will meet at the Legion Cabin and enjoy an evening of fellowship……everyone is welcome to attend