Chat with City Staff at Downtown Thursdays

Owatonna’s Downtown Thursdays feature local food, music, shopping and art on the first Thursday of each month during summer. Chat with new City Administrator Jenna Tuma and Fire Department staff in the City’s booth September 4 in Central Park. Additional Downtown Thursdays information is available at Owatonna.org.

OHRC human library at 2024 Downtown Thursday

2025 Welcome Week

The Owatonna Human Rights Commission (OHRC) is planning several activities to celebrate 2025 Welcome Week activities. Welcome Week events will focus on bringing together immigrant and non-immigrant community members for fellowship and exchange.

Downtown Thursday

September 4 from 5 until 7 p.m.

OHRC commissioners will host a booth with a Human Library near Central Park. The goal of the Human Library is to foster awareness that can challenge stereotypes and prejudices. During this event, readers can check out ‘human books’ for one-on-one conversations or access videos of the ‘books” by scanning a QR Code on the book information flyers posted at the OHRC booth. A variety of “books” will be offered, the Human Library was developed in Copenhagen in the spring of 2000 as part of an anti-violence movement and is now done internationally as part of a worldwide movement for social change.

Soccer Game

September 7 at 6:30

OHRC will host a soccer game and Meeting on the Field at the Daiken Soccer Complex. Everyone is welcome to cheer on these talented teams. Families are invited to enjoy the Rec on the Go free activities.

Loans Provide Support for Downtown Renovations

A forgivable loan program is making an impact on Owatonna’s downtown. The program, offered by the Owatonna Economic Development Authority (EDA), provides forgivable loans to building owners and businesses in the downtown area who want to improve their buildings. The program provides up to $10,000 for interior improvements and $10,000 for exterior improvements that help with code compliance or make the building more historically accurate. All loan amounts awarded must be matched by private dollars. Loans are forgiven if the business continues operating for a five-year period. The program is in its seventh year and more than $470,000 has been awarded to more than 40 buildings. This is one of the tools the EDA uses to help revitalize Owatonna’s historic downtown. For additional information about the program or to apply, contact Lisa Cochran, MainStreet Director, at 507.451.7970 or visit Owatonna.biz.

Sign Up for Citizen Alerts

Anyone can receive alerts about emergencies and other important community news by signing up for the Steele County Emergency Notification System. This notification system enables Steele and Rice Counties to provide residents with critical information quickly in a variety of situations such as severe weather, unexpected road closures, missing persons, evacuations of buildings or neighborhoods and criminals that may pose an immediate threat to public safety or property.

Free Trees and Tree Planting Events

Join others in Owatonna to plant trees that will cool and clean the air, provide shade and beautify the community. There will be a free tree pick up September 5 from 3 until 6:30 p.m. in Central Park, 100 East Main Street. Residents living in qualifying areas can receive a free tree to plant in their yard! To check eligibility, scan the QR code or visit https://bit.ly/GRGFreeTree.

Plantings will be held October 11 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Fremont Park, 505 North Grove Avenue and at the Archery Park, 711 North Elm Avenue.

For more information or to sign up, visit greatrivergreening.org/urbantreecanopyprogram.

Open Basketball Returns

As fall approaches, open basketball for all ages is, once again, being offered at the West Hills Gym. Children ages 12 and younger must be accompanied by an adult. Play games, practice shots and work on dribbling skills. To ensure safety and enjoyment for all participants, guidelines and rules must be followed. This includes wearing appropriate footwear and clothing, respecting fellow players and following the directions of City staff. Registration is required. The daily cost is $5. Visit owatonna.gov/prcatalog for details and to register.

Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over

The Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths (TZD) program is actively working to reduce traffic fatalities and severe injuries, including a focus on impaired driving through campaigns like "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over". The Owatonna Police Department, along with other law enforcement agencies around the state, will participate in this campaign August 15 through September 1 with extra enforcement particularly during the Labor Day holiday. The program encourages drivers to make safe choices and avoid driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

New Police Technology

On April 1, the Police Department began partnering with Flock Safety to add fixed-location Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) to public utility infrastructure in Owatonna.

Flock Safety, based in Atlanta, Georgia, provides surveillance technology to public and private sectors with a mission to help communities and law enforcement fight crime and enhance public safety.

Flock ALPRs send real-time alerts to the emergency communication center for any alert listed in the state and national databases. This includes stolen vehicles or vehicles associated with missing, endangered or wanted persons. Flock data also helps law enforcement solve crimes by providing objective evidence. ALPRs signal law enforcement personnel to respond to specific locations when a license plate alert is received. Flock also allows agencies to create custom “Hot Lists” to locate vehicles associated with local. Flock agencies can also share data to help solve crimes. There are currently 53 Flock agencies in Minnesota and more than 5,000 communities covered nationwide.

During the past two weeks, Flock has begun installing the solar-powered ALPRs at key ingress routes around Owatonna as follows:

Cedar Ave South at 22nd Street
Hoffman Drive west of I-35
Hoffman Drive east of I-35
West Bridge Street at I-35
26th Street at County Road 45 North
Bixby Road at 18th Street SE
Cedar Ave North at 24th Street
46th Street at I-35

Flock cameras are not traffic cameras. No private data on individuals is collected or accessible in the Flock database. The license plate data is protected and stored in the cloud for 30 days.

Storm drain covered with leaves with pooling water

Help Requested to Keep Stormwater Flowing

The July 28 windstorm resulted in heavy tree damage and an extraordinary amount of fallen debris from trees on boulevards and private properties. Rain moves this debris into the streets and stormwater catch basins and creates clogs.

The City is seeking assistance from community members to clean up leaves and branches from stormwater catch basins to prevent localized flooding and clogs deep within the stormwater system. Once debris is removed from the top of a grate, water should flow freely into the catch basin. During heavy rain events, it may take some time for all of the water to drain, but if significant issues persist, please visit Owatonna.gov to Report a Concern.

Homeowners interested in adopting a catch basins near their property long-term should contact the Stormwater Division or visit Adopt a Catch Basin | Owatonna, MN for additional information.

2025 Public Works Department Project Updates

The 2025 Construction Season is wrapping up. The Engineering and Streets Divisions had a busy summer working with contractors to complete projects that contribute to preserving municipal infrastructure.

18th Street Trail Project

A pedestrian and bicycle trail along the South side of 18th Street SW and the North side of 18th Street SE from Linn Avenue to Austin Road has been mostly completed. Ulland Brothers of Albert Lea was the contractor for this project. With the recent addition of the trail, there is a change to the angled parking in the parking spaces near the 18th Street SE and Austin Road intersection. Due to the volume of daily traffic on the road, along with the new distance between the traffic lane and the front of the parking stall, traditional angled parking no longer met the required State Aid parking rules. However, the State granted a variance that did allow for 60-degree back-in parking stalls. Back-in parking may take some time to get used to but offers many benefits including safe loading and unloading of vehicles directly from the trunk to the trail. It also enhances safety for motorists as drivers are facing forward when leaving the parking space allowing greater visibility. Steps to Back-In Parking:

After finding the space you want to park in, use the turn signal to indicate you will be parking.
Stop just past the space (similar to parallel parking).
Slowly angle back into the parking space until the curb is reached.

The patience of trail users and drivers is greatly appreciated as everyone acclimates to the new parking requirements.

2025 Street & Utility Project

Linn Drive SW and Oakdale Street SW were part of this year’s reconstruction project. Updates to the sanitary and storm sewers, water main and roadway surface were included in the project. Wencl Construction was the contractor and the project is nearly complete.

Street Maintenance Projects

Overlays: 3.2 miles of street overlays were completed. 1.56 miles of roadway were overlayed by the Owatonna Street Department and Steve James Excavating performed the preparation work. The remainder of the paving was completed by Crane Creek Asphalt of Faribault.
Crack Sealing and Seal Coating: 5.02 miles of crack seal/seal coating was completed by Pearson Bros. of Hanover.
CIPPS (Cured in Place Pipe System): 9,000 linear feet of sanitary sewer was lined by Hydro-Klean.

Watch City Meetings Online!

Owatonna’s City Council meetings are available to watch live or on demand. Visit owatonna.gov/Government/Mayor & City Council to see options and links. Click this link to view a live feed of Owatonna’s Public Access, Education & Government Channel where City Council meetings are aired live and rebroadcast. Or, to view any past City Council meeting on demand, click this link: owatonna.gov. Owatonna School Board meetings are also available to view through these options.

Annual Watershed-wide Clean-up

September 13

Join Clean River Partners for their largest annual volunteer event of the year - the Cannon River Watershed-Wide Cleanup! This marks their 17th year of bringing communities together across the Cannon River Watershed to clean up area parks, rivers and lakes. Be a part of it!

📅 Date: Saturday, September 13, 2025
🕘 Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
📍 Location: Morehouse Park - Owatonna

Learn more and sign up by visiting the 2025 Clean Up Event Page. Contact Brad Rademacher at 507-774-7300 or bradley.rademacher@owatonna.gov for additional information.

Saving a Seat for YOU!

The public is invited to attend the City's public meetings. Unless otherwise specified, these meetings are held at City Hall, 540 West Hills Circle. Agendas, meeting minutes and City Council packets are available in the Agenda Center on the City’s website: https://owatonna.gov/agendacenter.

August 27: City Council and staff Preliminary 2026 Budget Workshop (2 of 3) presentations from the Public Works, Fire, Finance and Information Technology Departments at 4 p.m.

September 2: Study Session at 5:30 p.m. discussion on the 2026 Preliminary Budget and, at 6 p.m., Roger Warehime, Owatonna Public Utilities General Manager, will provide information regarding proposed natural gas services updates on Broadway Street. If time permits, there will be general updates on various boards and commissions. Then, there will be a regular City Council Meeting at 7 p.m. including a continuation of the August 19 public hearing regarding establishing Development District #22 and adopting a Development Plan for this district. There will also be a public hearing to consider a Five-Year Street Reconstruction and Overlay Plan and issuing bonds.

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August 27, 2025