Inver Grove Heights Week in Review March 14-20

Inver Grove Heights Patch kicked off last week with a story on the enrollment decline facing the Inver Grove Heights Hockey Association. Hockey association officials estimate enrollment in the association has dropped by 50 percent over the last several years. If the decline continues unabated, the association may be forced to merge with another community hockey association, or fold.

The Inver Grove Heights School Board roughly $576,000 in budget reductions on Monday night, which include the elimination of 12 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff positions in the district. The district, Superintendent Deirdre Wells said, is facing a general fund deficit between $346,000 and $1 million, depending on how much funding — or how little — state legislators choose to allocate to schools this spring.

While the school board was considering cuts, the Inver Grove Heights City Council was . The council on Monday approved a $4.37 million street reconstruction project in the South Grove neighborhood and reviewed nearly $30 million in proposed street repairs that could take place over the next six years.

The 2010 census results on Wednesday, and the numbers revealed that Inver Grove Heights grew by roughly 4,000 residents between 2000 and 2010. Much of that growth was driven by the city's black, Hispanic and Asian populations, which more than doubled.

Patch closed out the work week with a feature on longtime Inver Grove resident Vance Grannis, who is a 250-acre nature center within the city's limits. The center, Grannis believes, could become a place where students and families become reacquianted with nature through outdoor education and recreation opportunities.