Elk River, Minnesota

amazing what you can do with dirt and they found a really nice niche for it. Along with CDI (Crystal Distribution Inc.), a curb manufacturer, we have the headquarters of Cretex Companies which began as a local operation. There are also a lot of tool and die-type businesses doing machining work, like J&J Machine and Elk River Machine Company, large companies who fabricate parts for the aerospace, defense, and medical industries. Distinctive Iron is another company in the process of expanding – they provide not only decorative iron work, they also make large support beams. They’re going to be supplying the beams for our multipurpose facility project; they won the bid, which made us very happy.” That multipurpose project of which Portner speaks is one piece of a $35-million referendum, slated for improvements in Elk River’s parks and recreation facilities - part of a quarter billion dollars worth of infrastructure investments the city, state, county, and school district are going to make in the community over the next several years. “The multipurpose facility is expected to be completed by the fall of next year,” Portner reports. “It will include public meeting room space, banquet facility space, two sheets of indoor ice for hockey, figure skating, and broomball, a 30,000-sq.-ft. turfed field house, and also a recreational program area for senior citizens. Along with that, we’re upgrading a couple of athletic complexes; one is Lion John Weicht Park, which is going to get two fast-pitch softball fields and a modern restroom/ picnic facility. This is in the core of our downtown, so it’s going to create a new athletic field amenity right in the middle of our most populous area.” Another upcoming project is called the Lake Orono Restoration and Enhancement (LORE) project. Lake Orono, located entirely within the city, is a shallow, 300-acre dammed reservoir that captures runoff from a large, 611-square-mile watershed, located within the counties of Sherburne, Benton, Mille Lacs, and Morrison. Over time, sediment from development, agriculture, storm runoff, and other factors settles on the lake bottom. As this sediment continues to build upward, the aquatic health of the lake can become threatened, thus requiring dredging to restore its natural depth. The overall