A thought for the day…
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
– Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astronomer
 IN THIS ISSUE
Notes from Mary Bogie
Acting Regional Administrator
Throughout this pandemic, our primary goal as an organization has been to do our part to slow the spread of COVID-19 and to ensure our workforce is healthy and able to support critical services. We all know we can’t take a break from our services and responsibilities. Our neighbors rely on us, and we are proud to serve our region during this difficult time.
Thank you to all our employees for staying steady during this crisis. It has been an incredibly stressful time for all of us as our lives have been disrupted, from changes at work to health concerns to social unrest. I want to especially thank our coworkers who are continuing to report to the workplace every day to provide our critical services on-site.
As always, we’re committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all our workers. To maintain that commitment during the pandemic, we have instituted safety procedures on-site to combat the spread of the virus, implemented a COVID-19 Leave Policy to give staff the ability to stay home when needed, worked with HealthPartners to provide free and accessible testing of the virus, developed the Workplace Reset Plan for our short- and long-term planning, and had some staff switch to teleworking to reduce the number of employees inside our facilities.
The Met Council has more than 4,000 employees who report to a wide range of physical workspaces, including bus and train operating and maintenance facilities, wastewater treatment plants, laboratories, training sites, and office settings. Our Incident Command team has worked hard to establish general safety procedures for all employees as well as site- or area-specific protocols by working with each division.
At our work sites, we’re cleaning and disinfecting workspaces, conducting temperature and health screening for individuals at many of our facilities, requiring face coverings, encouraging physical distancing and hygiene practices, staggering shifts, and maintaining air quality and reducing viability of viruses and bacteria with heightened ventilation protocols.
We also continue to follow guidance from the Governor that all Met Council employees who are able and authorized to telework must do so throughout the duration of the pandemic. Keeping teleworkers out of the facilities reduces the number of employees we have on-site, making these work areas safer for everyone involved.
Thank you to all of our employees for adjusting their practices during this time, staying vigilant in the fight against this virus, and helping each other through this difficult time. Our primary goal is to mitigate the potential for transmission of COVID-19 in our workplaces and broader communities, and that requires full cooperation among employees and management.
The actions we take – both big and small – impact everyone around us. Only by working together and each of us doing our part will we maintain the safety and health of our employees and workplaces, get through this crisis, and head back to a new normal.
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The Planning Chiefs of the Met Council's Incident Command Team recently conducted a survey of staff who primarily work out of the Robert Street or Jackson Street facilities to get their thoughts about eventually returning to the work site, their productivity while teleworking, their team’s morale and communication, and the adequacy of technology and ergonomics while working from home.
The response to the survey was very high, with more than 87% of staff who were sent the survey taking the time to complete it (440 out of 505).
In general, the results showed that most Robert and Jackson street staff:
- Are as productive or more productive from home than they were when reporting to their physical office location (92%);
- Feel moderately, very, or extremely concerned about returning to their physical office location (87%);
- Agree or strongly agree that they have adequate technology (96%) and ergonomics (81%) to work from home for an additional six months; and
- Agree or strongly agree that they would like a more flexible telework arrangement in the future, even beyond the pandemic (91%).
Staff are about evenly divided as to whether their ability to return to the office will be affected by the availability of childcare, school, adult daycare, family member work status, or similar factors.
In addition, staff provided more than 900 written responses to three open-ended questions. The Planning Chiefs will continue to analyze these responses and provide aggregate feedback on trends and emerging issues to Incident Command.
Thank you to everyone who is providing feedback on teleworking and working on-site through surveys like this one or by talking with their managers and work units. We continue to evaluate the situation, and the survey results and feedback from staff will help with making informed decisions.
In as little as 10 minutes, you can get a high-level view of your health habits. When you know yourself better, you know your health better!
Visit the HealthPartners website to take the annual Health Assessment. (Individual responses are HIPAA protected and will never affect your health insurance rates.) You can even take the assessment easily from your smart phone.
The Health Assessment is available for employees who have HealthPartners medical or dental coverage through the Met Council. The assessment, and the $40 gift card for completion (subject to tax), closes on August 31.
If you have questions or need help logging on, call HealthPartners at 800.311.1052. If you need to register for an account, use “Metropolitan Council” for the company name and be sure to have your HealthPartners member ID handy.
... and they may be back for a fourth special session next month
The third special legislative session of 2020 convened and adjourned on a single day on Wednesday, August 12, after Governor Walz extended the peacetime emergency declaration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic under Minn. Stat. 12.31.
Between the two gavels the Senate voted 36-31 approving a resolution that would have ended the peacetime emergency. The House debated but did not take up a similar resolution.
Unlike the first and second special sessions, there was no attempt in either body to act on a bonding bill. Minnesota Management & Budget (MMB) initiated a bond sale in the days leading up to the special session, so leaders decided not to disrupt the state’s financial situation at this time.
The House and Senate did pass a bill to assist adult day service providers and a technical bill to adjust certain deadlines that were in the public safety reform bill that was enacted as part of the second special session.
An extension of the peacetime emergency in September would trigger another special session where outstanding issues such as the bonding bill could still be addressed.
Please feel free to contact Government Affairs staff if you have any questions.
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Read on for updates on some of the recent and upcoming changes and trainings for Microsoft Office 365
- Microsoft Forms external sharing now available
- Skype for Business will be deactivated August 23
- Microsoft Teams Live Events now available, training August 20
- Last intro trainings on Power Automate and Power Apps August 19 and 26
Read full announcements for these and more on the MetNet home page.
If you have any questions about these or other Microsoft products, please contact Enterprise Content Management.
Microsoft Forms external sharing now available
Microsoft Forms is a simple, lightweight app that lets you easily create surveys, quizzes, and polls. It can be used to collect customer feedback, measure employee satisfaction, improve your product or business, or organize company events. Microsoft Forms works on any web browser and comes with built-in themes and question branching so you can create a great survey with minimal effort. Forms adapts to every screen resolution and orientation, so it’s simple for anyone to take part in your polls and surveys.
Simple and powerful analysis is possible because responses are collected in real time. Microsoft Forms then automatically converts the data into easy-to-understand charts to help visualize results. Also, easy exporting to Microsoft Excel lets you use the full power of Excel for in-depth analysis and data manipulation.
Forms features:
- External sharing (new feature!)
- Share as a link, QR code, or embedded within a SharePoint site
- Analysis of results collected in real time
- Ability to connect Forms data to Power Automate
Visit the Microsoft Forms page on MetNet for more information.
Skype for Business will be deactivated
On the evening of Sunday, August 23, Information Services and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) will be deactivating Skype for Business and switching to using Microsoft Teams only.
Your Met Council computer will receive an update that will stop Skype for Business from automatically launching. Skype for Business meetings created by you will be automatically updated to Microsoft Teams Meetings, and you will still be able to attend external Skype Meetings. External attendees using Skype for Business will be able to attend a Microsoft Teams meeting scheduled by you.
Head to MetNet for full details on Skype for Business being deactivated.
Visit the Microsoft Teams page on MetNet for recorded trainings, help documentation, and quick start information.
Teams Live Events now available
Microsoft Teams Live Events became available to all Met Council staff on Friday, August 14. Live Events is a feature that allows you to create a webinar experience with internal, external, and anonymous attendees. Live Events can host up to 10,000 attendees with the option to provide a moderated Q&A, and it does not require professional support staff to run. You may need to restart Microsoft Teams for the option to be available. Live Events can only be scheduled using the calendar in Teams.
To help the organization learn Live Events, we have partnered with Microsoft to provide live training on Thursday, August 20, at 9:00 a.m. Due to the difference in hosting a Live Event versus other meeting options, it is highly recommended that you attend or view this one-hour training and practice prior to running an event. The training will be done through a Teams Meeting, which can host up to 300 people. If you are unable to get into the training, a recording of it will be posted on MetNet by end of business on August 21. To learn more, check the Microsoft Teams Live Events page.
Power Automate and Power Apps empower you to be a citizen developer
Our last Introduction to Power Automate training is happening on Wednesday, August 19. A recording of the training will be available for future use on MetNet. Power Automate and Power Apps are Microsoft tools that make it practical for business users to automate processes. You can use Power Automate to automate workflows between your favorite applications and services, sync files, get notifications, collect data, and much more. You can use Power Apps to build custom applications and forms with business logic and workflow capabilities to transform your manual business processes into automated processes. The last Introduction to Power Apps training is being held Wednesday, August 26.
Visit MetNet for more information on Power Automate or Power Apps. If you are creating more complex solutions, please submit a project request so ECM can provide adequate support. For training in these applications, please visit the ECM webinar calendar.
Employees across the organization are doing their part to keep Met Council services and programs running at full steam despite COVID-19 and the state lockdown. But we’re all in this together. To help share a little virtual camaraderie, we’re asking staff how their work has changed and what it’s like to serve during a pandemic.
To share your story or suggest someone who is doing outstanding work, please email thewire@metc.state.mn.us.
Matt Gsellmeier
Budget Manager
Finance, Environmental Services
How has the pandemic affected your day-to-day work?
The pandemic hasn’t had much affect on my work, and most of what I do can be done online. I also think the Environmental Services Finance Team has a strong chemistry, and we’ve been able to successfully interact using Teams or Webex. However, I do miss seeing everyone in the office, and being able to stop in and talk to people face to face.
What’s it like working through a pandemic?
If I could sum it up in one word it would be uncertainty. At this point, I don’t think anyone can definitively say when things will go back to normal. With that said, I think senior leadership has done a nice job listening and working with everyone through the pandemic. For example, Larry Rogacki is our ES Incident Commander, and he is constantly thanking everyone and being supportive. Larry is just one example, but it seems like our leaders understand that this is a difficult time, and they want to listen and help people as much as possible.
How has your life changed outside of work?
So much has changed, but the thing I’m currently trying to figure out is school for my five-year-old son. My son’s elementary school proposed a hybrid model with two days a week in person, and three days a week online. The school also proposed a fully virtual (online) option, which will probably work best for my family. I am very lucky because my father-in-law is retired and he can help with my son while my wife and I work.
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Jenna Ernst
Program Technical Specialist
Metropolitan Transportation Services
How has the pandemic affected your day-to-day work?
My day-to-day work has come to rely more heavily on email and video calls. So much of what I do is time sensitive and I often need to communicate quickly with others. I’ve found that since most of my colleagues are working remotely we’re able to respond to each other even faster than we did pre-COVID-19.
What’s it like working through a pandemic?
I definitely miss my colleagues and being able to pop over to their desks to ask a question. However, this pandemic has helped us “learn by fire” when it comes to technology, and I’m grateful that the Council has resources for us to do our jobs just as well remotely.
How has your life changed outside of work?
Now that my days have changed and I don’t leave my house very often (or go very far when I do), I recently signed up for HOURCAR and am trying the car-free life. I’m fortunate to be able to make this decision and am enjoying the positives of this season of life!
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After a delayed start due to the pandemic, a smaller cohort of college students were brought on staff in June for the Met Council's summer intern program and are now deeply engaged in work across the agency. Here we're introducing students to share their summer experience so far.
Freddy Fernandez
SWLRT Stations Intern
Metro Transit
University of Minnesota – Civil Engineering
What is your Met Council job assignment?
I am responsible for tracking all the pile that is placed in the Southwest Station. Using this information, I will be able to calculate the total cost of pile used compared to the initial estimated cost. I mark down all the RFI’s completed on our plan sheet for Southwest Station. This keeps us organized and up to date with our plan sheets.
What are you learning?
I am learning many things in this internship every single day! The biggest thing I learned is how pile foundation works. I learned how and why pile foundation is used in this project.
What are the favorite and least favorite aspects of your job?
My favorite part of the job is being out on the field. I like to see everything that goes on and enjoy learning what the workers are doing and why they are doing it. My least favorite thing is spending time on my computer. It is very important to do it; however, I am more of a hands-on person and don’t like being stuck in the office for too long.
What two or three experiences will you take forward?
An experience I will take with me is seeing all the pile driving and concrete pouring done on the field since it was my first time experiencing it. Also being able to read plan sheets and then go to the site and understand what is taking place there.
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With so many of us working from home now, video conferencing has become the primary way we work with and communicate to our peers and others. In addition, many of our kids are learning via video conferencing.
It's a dangerous online world out there, but in just a few minutes with this training – “Video Conferencing Safely and Securely” – you can learn five simple tricks to using these new technologies safely and securely.
For more advice on cybersecurity, download and share OUCH! with family, friends, and co-workers. As always, it is translated into more than 20 languages.
OUCH! Archives
 Introducing tuj lub...
 Ancient Hmong game of skill on display
Keller Regional Park near Lake Phalen in Maplewood in 2016 became one of the first sites in the United States to build a tuj lub – "too loo" – court. The game is an important cornerstone of the Hmong community and has roots dating back 5,000 years in Laos. The Keller Lake court draws weekend crowds all summer and is the heart of the Hmong community's Freedom Festival on July 4. The game is sort of a combination of bowling and bocce ball but is much more difficult – even more difficult than it looks in photos. To score points, players need to chuck a wooden top downfield off the end of a string on a pole and strike down other wooden tops up to 40 yards away. Learn more from a short video on TPT Almanac.
Wedding well-wishes from a safe distance for one Met Council colleague…
 Wedding family in front, staff supporters behind
Communications staff came together Monday for a heartfelt drive-by honoring their colleague Caroline Griepentrog on the occasion of her wedding in Forest Lake Sunday to Dmitry Katkov, who works with the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
Griepentrog, a Program Technical Specialist who joined the Met Council in 2018, said she was moved by the display from her colleagues.
In the photo above, Caroline and Dmitry pose in the foreground with their children (Ana, Alexa, and Max). In the background above, from the left, are Jeanne Landkamer, Jeff Syme, Crystal Mulry, John Schadl, Michelle Fure, Communications Director Terri Dresen, and Bonnie Kollodge.
Congratulations, Caroline and Dmitry!
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SWLRT full funding grant agreement moving forward
The Met Council and its partners recently announced that its Southwest LRT Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) is moving forward in Washington, D.C. The FFGA will free up $928.8 million in federal funds to cover nearly half the cost of Southwest LRT implementation. The $2.003 billion project will be the largest infrastructure project in the state’s history, creating nearly 7,500 jobs with a nearly $350 million payroll. “This is incredible news for the Twin Cities and state of Minnesota,” said Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. “The Southwest Light Rail Project will be transformative for so many communities when complete and encapsulates the idea of a One Minnesota."
“When I was appointed Met Council Chair, Gov. Walz charged me to work with the Trump Administration to ensure Southwest LRT receives its Full Funding Grant Agreement. I am grateful for the strong collaboration with FTA, their recognition of the project’s benefits and notifying Congress,” said Met Council Chair Charlie Zelle. “I believe in transit and I believe in Southwest LRT and all the benefits it will bring to not only the metro but for the state of Minnesota. We have already seen the private sector investment along the alignment, and we have heard from the community, which shares our enthusiasm for this project. I have no doubt members of Congress will also see these benefits.”
Read more on MetroCouncil.org.
Met Council awards $900,000 to expand regional parks and open space
The Met Council recently awarded nearly $900,000 to Washington and Ramsey counties and the Three Rivers Park District to buy property for regional parks and open space. Met Council officials say the investment reflects the region’s commitment to grow the region’s network of parks and trails, preserve natural resources, and encourage the use of regional parks among all residents. The approved purchases include two small parcels for existing regional park land in Rogers and White Bear Township, and a larger parcel in Cottage Grove to help develop a new regional park on Grey Cloud Island.
Read more on MetroCouncil.org.
Nominations open for R.A. Unsung Hero Awards
Nominations are now open for the 2020 Regional Administration Unsung Hero Awards. Please take this opportunity to nominate your colleagues for their outstanding work during these unprecedented times. Remember that the Unsung Hero awards recognize employees in the Regional Administration departments. (Environmental Services, Community Development, Metropolitan Transportation Services, and Metro Transit have unique programs to recognize their employees.)
Unsung Hero nominations can be made in one of four categories:
- Process improvement
- Outstanding results
- Positive contributions to the work environment
- High-performing teamwork (Unsung Team Hero Award)
More details are listed here with the nomination form. This year’s online recognition event is scheduled for November 16. Watch for details in October.
Sand Creek's August newsletter features helpful stories on heading back to school, managing COVID-19 fatigue, managing stress, and much more
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Are you feeling anxious about ensuring a smooth transition for children going back to school? After their lengthy absence, you may need to be more deliberate.
You can learn how to help your family cope with the impending changes in this month's employee newsletter from Sand Creek, the Met Council's employee assistance program.
This month's newsletter also features the following topics:
- Alcoholics Anonymous & COVID-19
- Managing "COVID Fatigue"
- Don't Mess with Melanoma
- Stress Management
View and download the newsletter (PDF).
Read the Spanish language version (PDF).
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Special Edition
Due to a reporting error, several employee anniversary dates were overlooked in "Salute to Service" in July and August. With apologies for the oversight, here is the full list of work anniversaries for July and August. This recognition includes only Robert Street employees and Regional Administration employees working off-site. For recognition of Metro Transit and other Environmental Services employees, see Insights and ES Update, respectively.
Years of Service
30 Years
Jan Price, Library and Information Resources Coordinator, Communications
25 Years
Kristi Latterell, HRA Coordinator, Metro HRA
Tanya Mayer, GIS Specialist 3, Information Services
Todd Rowley, Director, Talent Management, Human Resources
20 Years
Alison Coleman, Senior Administrative Specialist, Transportation
Paul Hanson, GIS Specialist 3, Information Services
Rene Heflin, Manager, Environmental Services
15 Years
Anna Bessel, Assistant Manager, Environmental Services
Chris Piehowski, Benefits Specialist, Human Resources
5 Years
Martin Aguero, Business Analyst 3, Human Resources
Marcus Allen, Technical Support Specialist 3, Information Services
Dave Brown, Principal Engineer, Environmental Services
Lori Connery, Program Technical Specialist, Finance
Mike Herbst, Program Administrator, Metro Mobility
Matt LaTour, Director, Program Evaluation & Audit
Jacob Lavigne, Principal Financial Analyst, Finance
Amanda Martens, Principal Administrative Specialist, Risk Management
Emmett Mullin, Manager, Regional Parks & Natural Resources
John Schadl, Senior Communications Advisor, Communications
Mike Shand, Facilities Maintenance Technician, Central Services
Dale Tribby, System Engineer 4, Information Services
Eric Wojchik, Planning Analyst, Community Development
 Time Out of Mind, photos by Katie Driscoll
Project Coordinator Katie Driscoll fulfilled a childhood dream when she took a two-month trip in Africa a few years ago after she had graduated from graduate school. Her trip traversed 10 countries, 1,500 miles, and countless elephants, lions, zebras, leopards, and cheetahs – and finally mountain gorillas (as seen in The Wire last year). “All I can say is that it was everything I hoped for and more. Watching Planet Earth or National Geographic will never be the same,” she said. These days she daydreams about taking an airplane again so she can share new adventures with her one-year-old son, Jack.
The Wire is published every two weeks for employees of the Metropolitan Council. Everyone is invited to submit comments and story ideas. Contact the editor at thewire@metc.state.mn.us
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