Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Seventy years of public service for City of Eagan - 1/1/200070 YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE ...
Polzin, Rahn Look Ahead To
Stable Future For City Of Eagan
By NICK MOTU
Staff Writer
EAGAN -- In an age when cities
erect statues, buildings, plaques,
and street signs remembering
their city fathers, it is rare to find
a city that still has theirs actively
involved in governing. Eagan is
such a city.
Mayor Herbert Polzin and
Councilman Arthur Rahn will re-
tire from Eagan politics Jan. 1. It
will be the end of an era in
Eggan's history.
Mayor Polzin first entered
Eagan politics in 1928 when he
became an election clerk. In 1942
he was appointed treasurer of
Eagan Township. In 1955 he or-
ganized the Eagan .Planning
Commission and was chairman
and board member of the body
until 1972. That year the
Township of Eagan became the
City of Eagan and Mr. Polzin
became Mayor Polzin,' the city's
first mayor.
He has held that position ever
since and says, "I was never de-
feated in an election and I'm kind
of proud of that."
Councilman Rahn has been in
Eagan government for 24 years.
He has been town board
supervisor, its chairman, and a
member of the Eagan City Coun-
cil since its inception five years
ago.
Mayor Polzin and Councilman
Rahn have never regretted their
political lives in Eagan. "I didn't
make any money at it, I pro ,
bably lost money, Mayor Polzin
said, "but it was interesting."
Councilman Rahn has also en-
HERBERT
n-
HERBERT POLZIN
joyed being involved in Eagan
politics but added, "It's going to
seem kind of funny not going to
city • council meetings every
Tuesday night."
What has changed from when
Eagan first began as a township
to the present when it's one of the
fastest - growing cities in the
metro area?
Mayor Polzin said that "When
Eagan first became a township,
they met on the first Tuesday
after the first Monday in March
and discussed the year's budget
and road construction. Now it is
much more intensified."
"It's not a bedroom communi-
ty anymore," Councilman Rahn
said in explaining that now
Eagan is much more developed
than 40 years ago. "All at once in
'59 and '60 houses and buildings
were springing up everywhere."
Both Mayor Polzin and coun-
cilman Rahn feel that Eagan has
taken the right steps to secure a
stable future. Mayor Polzin is
proud of the fact that "Eagan has
about the second lowest tax rate
ARTHUR RAHN
in the metro area." He advised
future lawmakers to follow the
same path and keep taxes down.
"I thought everything rolled
pretty good," Councilman Rahn
said in looking back at his years
in Eagan government. He said
that in the future it's going to be
easy-for lawmakers because "re-
sidential zoning and industrial
buffer zones are already set up,
and its hard to change these."
What will two men with over 70
years of experience in Eagan
government do with their time
after they retire?
"I'm 40 years behind in fishing
and traveling," Mayor Polzin
said.
Councilman Rahn said that he,
too. will catch up on his fishing
but added, "I'll still attend Tues-
day night council meetings when
there is something important to
my neighborhood."
As the old saying goes - You
can't keep a fish out of water.