Mayor, superintendent update community at third annual event

    Montgomery Community Foundation (MCF) transitioned the care of the third annual event, Montgomery State of the Community, to the care of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce (MCC) while still providing funding support. 
    Along with the change in oversight came a change of day and format. MCC Executive Director Caitlin Huiras moved the event to a weekday at lunchtime and included lunch this year as a part of the deal in attempts to attract more of the community than what the previous two years brought on a Saturday morning.
    The change to Thursday, April 2, 12 p.m., appears to have had some success, with about 40 people from the community attending in total, to hear Montgomery Mayor Thomas Eisert and Tri-City United Schools Superintendent Kevin Babcock speak. 
    
School District Update
    “Over the last 10 years, Montgomery and Lonsdale have increased in population significantly, about 800 people since 2020 to today,” said Babcock. “We want to be a part of that growth.”
    The superintendent said while other schools are losing numbers in enrollment, the district has maintained a pretty consistent amount — about 1,824 students. He also said that special education students have continually increased with almost up to 22% in the district. Babcock says that state funding cuts will be affecting the school next year to help support special education and transportation of students.
    “Ninety-one percent of kids graduate,” said Babcock. “A couple of years ago it was lower, but it wasn’t. We we were doing some recording wrong. Not because we didn’t try to but because we were trying to do it right but it didn’t get into the system right.” Of those that graduate, he says 65% also go onto pursue further education.
    The state enacted the READ Act last year, which the school has implemented. The school will also be implementing a new math curriculum that will allow congruency from kindergarten through 12th grade. Babcock also said that STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering; Arts, AVID and Agriculture; and Math) has been expanded from grades 7-12 to all grades now. 
    “Nearly 70% of our high school students have...
    
City of Montgomery Update
    Mayor Eisert gave a comprehensive look at the city’s current situation and looking forward. 
    He highlighted first the new playground going in Memorial Park. It’s scheduled to go in this year. However, the city applied for an outdoor recreation grant through the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MnDNR) that would cover 50% of the $275,000 cost. If that grant is received, the playground installation could possibly be delayed until early 2027 because of how the funding could work out. 
    If the grant funding isn’t approved by MnDNR, then the playground would be completed this summer utilizing the allotted funds from the city’s Park Improvement Fund.
    “The American Legion Auxiliary will be hosting a free ice cream social on June 25th in celebration the 250th anniversary of our country. That will be held along with Music in the Parks,” said Eisert. The city brought back again 12 dates of Music in the Parks every Thursday, in coordination with the Montgomery Farmer’s Market. The mayor said that a $2,500 grant from Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, $1,000 grant from Minnesota Valley Electric, and an additional $1,100 in other donations that made the music series possible.
    Regarding the state of taxes and projects in the city, Eisert said, “We’ve held several town halls — three of them last year and three of them this year — on how we are going to address our street improvement projects. We understand that the tax load is getting to be difficult. So, we’ve kind of come up with a hybrid plan that will buy us a little bit of time, about 10 years.” 
    That hybrid plan includes a partial mill and a full overlay of the eastern two portions of the remaining four Street and Utilities Improvement Plan (SUIP). The public works advisory board, at their last meeting, took a look at timing and if there are more options. It appeared from that meeting that there wouldn't be more SUIP areas done until at least 2030 or 2031, where they would start on the western two portions left of the SUIP and likely spacing the projects out between 4-6 years.
    Eisert talked about the Capital Improvement Plan for the wastewater facility, which cost estimates being about $15-18 million for...

Oops! You are missing out on a large chunk of this story because only limited amounts of material are available publicly! Pick up a copy of the April 9, 2026, Montgomery Messenger at a newsstand to read the full story. Subscribe online or by phone at 952-758-4435 today to not miss any news in the future.