That’s him. That’s him in profile, anyway. In the center of the photo in the gray suit. That’s the Mayor of Mosquito Heights, Minnesota – The Honorable Buzz Olson. We had the honor of hosting Mayor Olson in our Council Chambers yesterday. Normally, I would be quite a bit more protective of my Mayor’s Council Chambers, but this was a special circumstance.
You see, Mayor Buzz Olson is only a pretender. He’s an actor. He is a character created by the League of Minnesota Cities for a series of training and educational videos designed to help new (and old sometimes too) elected officials get familiar with their new roles as elected representatives on City Councils across our state. In the series, Mayor Buzz Olson leads the fictitious City of Mosquito Heights through many hypothetical public policy challenges, with an occasional stumble and goof, all in the name of creating better local government in Minnesota.
What I did not know about the City of Mosquito Heights until about a month ago is that they meet right here in the City Council Chambers in Eden Prairie. I got a call from League staff last month asking me for permission to shoot the new training video in our Council Chambers and it was then that I learned that all of the video series segments had been shot in our Chambers.
This is a view of Mayor Olson being interviewed by a fictitious news reporter (perhaps from the Mosquito Heights News, or maybe the Mosquito Heights Sun-Current) about something going on in Mosquito Heights. Sorry about that bright sun spot in the middle, but the film crew had quite the array of lights and microphones around the Chambers. It was difficult to get a good view of the action.
I’m happy that we can contribute to the League’s training efforts by sharing our Council Chambers with Mayor Olson and the City of Mosquito Heights. We are fortunate here to have such an attractive and functional City Council Chambers. Its simple, but dignified, design is something that Eden Prairie citizens can be proud of.
