Rutland, ND

Rutland should be proud to learn that our Mayor was honored at the North Dakota League of Cities Annual Conference as the “Outstanding City Official for 2008.”  Ron Narum has served as our Mayor for 36 years.  During his tenure, the city streets have been resurfaced, additions were made to City Hall, and the sewer system was renovated and the lagoons were rebuilt.   Ron was one of the founders of the Rutland Museum and serves as the caretaker of the museum, pioneer house and country school exhibits for 20 years.

Ron has been chief of the volunteer fire department and served on the board of the fire protection district. He is chairman of the county jobs development authority, a member of the county weed control board and president of the county historical society.  He has served on the boards of the Rutland Community Club, the Rutland Community Development Corporation, Rutland Community Housing, the Lake Agassiz Water Authority and the North Dakota League of Cities. Prior to becoming mayor, Ron served as a city council member.   

After receiving this award, Ron Narum said, “Well, this is a surprise. But, it isn’t just all my work…it isn’t just me…the community makes everything happen. And the community really appreciates when you can do even small things for them.”

Congratulations to Ron!

The weather was absolutely beautiful.  Why would anyone want to be inside on such a lovely afternoon?  Lots of people, if you consider the crowd that attended Rutland’s annual Fun Nite.  The Town Hall was packed with people playing Bingo or trying their luck for prizes at the variety of games available.  The competition at the Cake Walk was pretty intense and some people went home with 3, 4 and 5 cakes.  I worked in the kitchen serving pop, lemonade, coffee, hot dogs, nachos, walking tacos, bars, ice cream sundaes & root beer floats.  My co-worker and I were sure kept hopping.  Kids went home with full sacks of loot, maybe a bit of a sugar high and a big smile on their faces.  The adults were also smiling after spending a nice afternoon visiting with friends and participating in the games with their children.  Thanks to Diane Smith and Hilary Mehrer for putting together another great community activity.

There will be a meeting of the Screening Committee/Action Plan Chairpersons on Tuesday, November 18 at 7:00 p.m. at Nordland Parish Hall.  The Steering Committee will be discussing the suggestions for the use of the $8,500 we received for successful completion of the Horizon Project.  Rutland residents have provided input through the suggestion boxes at the General Store and Cafe.  Suggestions included: 

Last week I took it upon myself to get some free promotion of Rutland.  Today I received word that our town is included in the Roadside America website.  If you are not familiar with the site, Roadside America offers maps, directions and tourist attraction details as a convenience to its users.  The website authors knew about the Rutland grill sign but it was not on their site.  It is now!  Click here to check out Rutland’s entry at Roadside America.

As many of you have already heard, Hal Nelson of Rutland was seriously injured Saturday, October 18, when his house exploded.  If you missed the broadcast you can view it at WDAY-TV which shows what little is left of his home. You can link to Hal’s CaringBridge site to keep updated on his steps to recovery or to post your words and thoughts for Hal and his family.

A benefit fund has been established for Hal to help him with the costs that will be incurred on his road to recovery.  Donations can be sent to any Sargent County Bank (link for address) with a memo area notation “Hal Nelson Benefit.”  Cash donations are being accepted in a donation jar at the Rutland General Store as well for the Fund. 

At the Rutland Community Club meeting earlier this week one of the items discussed was the bathroom renovation which had been in the planning stages for several months - or is it years?  The discussion brought up the issue of all the needs in the Town Hall including a new heating unit and insulation in addition to handicap accessible bathrooms.  We were told that if some maintenance is not done on the building soon we could lose it.  It is estimated that the cost to update the building would be close to $100,000.

The City of Rutland does not have the funds to do what needs to be done.  Residents are writing grants and planning fundraisers but that will not be enough.  Letters have been sent to current and former Rutland residents informing them of these needs and to ask for donations for a maintenance and rehabilitation fund for Rutland Town Hall.  As seen above, the building looks good from the outside and appears clean and white but as we know looks can be deceiving.

Donations are asked to be sent to the Rutland Community Club, PO Box 65, Rutland ND 58067.  If anyone knows a potential source of large funding for a city building renovation, please let us know.  During these tough economic times we need to identify and approach any and every available source.

Everyone in this community is saying “Uffda” and are most likely thankful that the 24th Uffda Day event is behind us.  Oh, I think that the people who work the event have fun doing some of the chores - especially in the preparation that started two months before.  The work making the goodies — lefse, sandbakkels, krumkake, etc. — brings people together and some come to Rutland from neighboring towns to visit and help during those marathon efforts.   Even after doing this for so many years, we learn new things and brainstorm about what to change for the next celebration.  There is always the weather factor that is out of our control.  However, it is amazing that this community can draw so many for the one day.  Our biggest draw continues to be the lefse.  The dinner and other food and crafts also contribute to get people from far and wide to Rutland.  Despite the weather, we had a lot of visitors to town.  Kudos to everyone who pulled together another successful Uffda Day event.  Next year will be the 25th year and I’m sure that there will be something special planned.  Rutland residents be on alert that we’ll need everyone’s help to get that event going.  It’s not too early to volunteer — get your name on a list with the Community Club or simply leave a comment here and we’ll make sure that you get a call next Fall (or sooner) when the planning starts rolling again!!

No, “The Burger Grill” is not a new eatery in the area.  The Rutland “World’s Largest Hamburger” grill sign is finally back on its support.  The sign received a long overdue paint job this past summer when Tim Anderson worked intensely on the project.  He got started in August but during our September heatwave (remember the heat?) he was getting fried like a burger lying there painting the sign.   However, he was able to get it finished before Uffda Day.  It’s great to see our shiny new ‘welcome sign’ to greet visitors to Rutland!

The Rutland ND homepage is undergoing a change.  Last fall the Community Club initiated a redesign and update of the site which is soon to be launched.  Deborah Banish volunteered to maintain and update the new site.  Hopefully, the final touches will be done within the next month so that there is another Rutland newsworthy site to watch for news.  Stay tuned here for the launch date and a link to the site when it’s redone.

Uff-Da Day 2008 T-shirts are in; get them while they are hot!  Only 100 were ordered for sale.  The T-shirts have the infamous Rutland Lefse recipe on back.  The are available for the bargain price of $13.00 (S, M, L, XL) or $15.00 (XXL); they are 50% cotton/50% polyester.  Shirts may be purchased at Alley Cuts or at the Rutland General Store.  Hurry fast if you want your souvenir, once they are sold out that’s it!