Linda Loomis: 'Ten Years as Mayor, Decades of Service'

After Tuesday night's city council meeting, Linda Loomis will no longer be the mayor of Golden Valley after serving for ten years. Loomis lost her bid for re-election when won the Nov. 8 election.

As both Loomis and others have said, she worked overtime in a role that's officially labeled a part-time job. During her last city council meeting on Dec. 20, 2011, members spoke highly of Loomis' work as mayor but also spoke about Loomis' work outside the mayor's office—something Loomis said she plans to continue.

Council Member Paula Pentel addressed and spoke on behalf of the council as she presented Loomis with a silver bowl "or her dedication, service and commitment to excellence on behalf of the citizens of Golden Valley."

Here are what Pentel, members of the council, and Loomis herself said about her time in office.

Council Member Paula Pentel:

We’ve has some tough decisions that you’ve been a part of.

The housing maintenance code, the deer management plan, talking about “McMansions,” the I and I ordinance…

There have been over 2700 inspections done since we started doing that in 1997.

In the time you’ve served, we’ve constructed 41 miles of street, almost eight miles of sanitary sewer mains have been rebuilt, four and a half miles of water main have been replaced or repaired, and over two miles of Bassett Creek have been stabilized.

These are all great things.

And also, we achieved a triple A bond rating—thank you very much. It wasn’t all your doing, but it was a great thing for our city.

Ten years as mayor, but decades of service. Linda has served since 2022 on the Bassett Creek Water Management Commission. She’s been the chair for the past two years.

(The Bassett Creek Commission) is a commission very important to the city of Golden Valley. Much of  (Bassett Creek) runs through Golden Valley. (The commission) is a taxing authority so how they spend their money should be very important, and having our mayor sit on that board has made them make better decisions. Thank you for that.

You’re the Golden Valley representative to the Hopkins School District Advisory Board, which is an important position as well.

She sits on the joint water governance task force—that’s the working group with the city of Minneapolis.

In terms of citizen involvement, Linda has been paramount in the city of Golden Valley over the past ten years. She served on the initial steering committee for Envision Golden Valley, and she’s been the chair of the Envision Connection Board, which has brought hundreds of Golden Valley residents into service for the community.

I came to know Linda when she was on the Open Space and Rec Commission, where she served from 1994 to 2001, and she was the chair for six years.

And I also came to know Linda first when we started on this idea of the “heart of the city.” There had been plans afoot to put a Cub grocery store where we now have our Golden Valley Commons.

A group of citizens came together with an idea—could we do something different? Linda was a big part of that. We had a good time being sort of radical out there.

We’ve done “gorilla gardening” in various places—we’ll keep quiet about that—just know it’s very fun.

Outside of her council duties, Linda sits on the executive board of PRISM—People Responding in Social Ministry. She’s an active member and current treasurer of the Golden Valley League of Women Voters.

But I think one of the ways Linda is well know throughout our community is by being the nice woman who delivers dinner at your door. And you’ve done that for more than ten years.

In appreciation for her dedication, service and commitment to excellence on behalf of the citizens of Golden Valley, we thank you for your leadership and your many contributions to our community.

Council Member DeDe Scanlon:

I really didn’t know you until we were out door-knocking and I invited you to come into my house so we could discuss group homes, among other things those years ago…and housing maintenance.

It’s been fabulous. You’ve been a real rock on this council. I think you have a very incredible way of looking at things. The knowledge you have of the city and the dedication is going to be a tough shoot for anyone else to try to fill.

Thank you for all of your years and all the worked you’ve been able to share with us.

Council Member Mike Freiberg:

I didn’t really know you until I was sworn onto the council eight years ago. I think you’ve put in an incredible amount of time in what is a part-time job.

I’m just amazed at how much work you’ve done and how knowledgeable you are about city affairs, and I greatly respect your service to the city.

I can you grew up here and care about it as much as I do.

Council Member Bob Shaffer:

I knew you on the planning commission because you would come to speak on pertinent issues…They were always these very carefully thought-out and detailed, very thorough ideas. So I was kind of always watching her to see what she was going to say when she was in the audience because there was always something coming out of there.

Serving on the council with you as the mayor has always been a privilege and thank you very much for your service.

Mayor Linda Loomis:

It’s been a very great honor and privilege to serve the citizens of Golden Valley and we’ve gotten a lot done.

I think it’s fair to say that the city right now is not the same city it was ten years ago when I started.

Just talking to staff, none of the city council people even had emails when I first started, let alone all of the electronic communication we’ve developed to residents since that time.

It’s been a great ride, and I’m looking forward to being able to do all the stuff that I thought wasn’t appropriate for me to do when I was mayor.

Maybe Paula and I can do some more “gorilla gardening.”

I want to thank everybody. It’s been great. I really appreciate all of the citizens and residents who have come forward and done stuff for the city—the 125^th anniversary committee, the Envision, all of the boards and commissions, the deer task force.

Every time we’ve asked residents to step forward, we’ve always gotten a great response.

Other city councils, other city staff…actually throughout the whole state, Golden Valley has a very good reputation and is one of those cities that is looked up to by everybody, and everybody wants to be us.

I’m not bragging, but that’s how it’s viewed.

Thank you, I’ll miss you Tuesday nights. Maybe now I can read a book.