Citizens Academy Profile

Through a seven-week series, attendees of the Hennepin County Citizens Academy learn how county government works. The Citizens Academy features topics like winter road plowing, light rail transit and property tax assessment. Participants meet county leaders and learn about all the services the county provides. The series is free to the public, and we spoke with Andrew and Melissa Buss to learn more about their experience so far.

Andrew and Melissa Buss

Where do you live?

Andrew: We live in the Tangletown Neighborhood. We both grew up here, and after a career took us elsewhere, we chose to come back to Minneapolis, and even recently bought the house I grew up in.

Melissa: My father retired as a Minneapolis Fire Captain at station 27, which is now the Bruegger’s Bagels at 46^th and Nicollet. My son is a 4^th generation firefighter, and it’s nice that they kept the feel of the firehouse, because we can take our grandkids there.

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How did you hear about the Citizens Academy?

Andrew: I coordinate statewide training for the Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) Board for Minnesota. I have experience with the county through child protection cases and the juvenile and family court process. I am also an appointed Commissioner for the Minneapolis Police Conduct Oversight Commission, and am going through the Minneapolis Police Department Citizens Academy. Through that, I came across the information for Hennepin County’s program.

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Why did you decide to participate?

Melissa: I am curious about how things work, and was interested in taking in-depth tours of county facilities. So far it has been great. My family has worked for the state, county and city all my life. My mom retired from doing vital statistics research in the Hennepin County Service Centers full time, but still works for the county part time- and a lot of this was information I had never heard.

Andrew: This is something my wife and I can do together, and neither of us had a good understanding of the county services with any sort of depth. This was a good way to learn about many of the things that we don’t really think about. Where are sales taxes going? What are my property taxes funding? I liked that we have the opportunity to ask a lot more questions from people each week who work in specific county departments.

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What has your previous experience with Hennepin County been like? Does this help your understanding of how the organization functions?

Melissa: The Hennepin County is my normal, so I’ve been very surprised to hear how intricate the workings of the county are. I’m a lifelong Minneapolis resident, and I’m more proud than ever to be a Hennepin resident.

Andrew: It definitely gives me a better understanding. I’ve worked for the state for around 13 years, so I’ve had some idea based on the programs I interact with how the county works, but never really had direct experience as a resident. We knew very little about specific divisions and departments, so this provides us the opportunity to delve a little deeper into areas that have more interest to us.

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What has been the most interesting session so far?

Andrew: The library was interesting, because we had a behind-the-scenes look at book distribution and ordering. I liked the piece on communications and the chief public defender and corrections, because the courts and public safety pieces tie in with my work. The real value has been the whole series, because I get a little bit of everything.

Melissa: HCMC was the most interesting for me. It was interesting to talk to the medical director, but my interest was more personal. My mom uses HCMC facilities, so it was interesting to learn more about what they do. I was also born at Swedish Hospital, which doesn’t exist anymore, but is part of the HCMC campus downtown.

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Which facility did you enjoy touring most?

Melissa: I really enjoyed touring the 911 facility. The county saved money building a new facility on land they already owned, but they have enough amenities to support emergency services across the county and were able to give the dispatchers windows and other features in the facility to reduce the stress of their jobs.

Andrew: We went to the Southdale library, and we had the behind-the-scenes tour, and got to see a big warehouse of books and saw the mechanism for distributing books across the system. That was really interesting. I was also really interested in the 911 center to see the new facility and equipment, and learn about  the methods that are employed in that work.

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What are your bigger takeaways?

Melissa: I really enjoyed this because the whole program is based around making the programs accessible for people who need it. So much of this whole academy is letting people know what is out there. If you have a need or develop a need later on, now you know what your options are.

Andrew: Getting an idea of how all these pieces blend together to make things work is really important. Being from Minneapolis, I was interested in hearing more about the interactions and differences between the county and the city. For the smaller areas that don’t have the city infrastructure, it is interesting to see what the county does. Where does the county have jurisdiction? Where does the county have the ability to make or suggest policy?

 

Andrew and Melissa Buss reside in the Tangletown neighborhood. The Hennepin County Citizens Academy is held twice yearly, in the spring and fall. For a summary of each session, see below or click here. To stay informed about the fall session, click here.

• Week 1: Your county government
• Week 2: Sustainable development and transit, economic development and environmental services
• Week 3: Health and medical services
• Week 4: Human services
• Week 5: Law enforcement and corrections
• Week 6: Emergency management, transportation and county fleet
• Week 7: County Attorney’s Office, 4th Judicial District Court, collaborations, volunteering and jobs