Public Works Receives State Award for Sustainability Squad, Open for Business Campaign

The City of Saint Paul Public Works Department was recently recognized statewide for its creative outreach to keep our community informed and engaged. The City received two awards from the Minnesota chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA):

• Meet Saint Paul's New Sustainability Squad (Best in Brand Management)
• Grand Avenue Reconstruction - Open for Business (Best in Community Relations)

The Minnesota PRSA award recognizes excellence at the state level. Both campaigns not only won their categories but were recognized as among the top five overall in the state. The common denominator? Collaboration-both within Public Works and in the community with residents and businesses.

"These campaigns weren't created in a vacuum, or with the mindset of, 'Let's just get this done,'" said Lisa Hiebert, Communications Manager for Saint Paul Public Works. "There was a lot of intention and research behind each project. They were created with the future in mind, and they are both campaigns we'll continue to build on."

"I'm so proud of the work that went into listening and truly understanding the needs of Saint Paul residents," said Mayor Kaohly Her. "It's that kind of collaboration, creativity, and care that earned this recognition and, more importantly, the positive impact it's having across our city."

Learn more about each project and hear from the people who made them happen.

Meet Saint Paul's New Sustainability Squad

You may have seen colorful critters popping up in your mailbox and throughout town with helpful tips on recycling and waste reduction. Saint Paul Public Works launched the four mascots, the "Saint Paul Sustainability Squad," as a creative way to inform and engage residents in recycling and waste reduction.

The family-friendly squad, led by Sycamore Squirrel, also includes Reany Rabbit, Robie Raccoon, and Cedar Chipmunk. The squad can now be found throughout Saint Paul-on public garbage and recycling bins, in the quarterly Solid Waste and Recycling Newsletter, and in-person at community events. Each member of the squad is an educational ambassador, making recycling and waste reduction fun with their unique backstories.

The Public Works Solid Waste and Recycling team has found new levels of resident engagement since launching the mascots earlier this year. One of the most popular features has been the squad's Dumpster Diaries series in the quarterly newsletter, which goes out with each bill.

"We're getting inundated with calls after each mailing goes out. You'd think the comments would be about the bill, but they're about the material that's in the newsletter," said Sarah Haas, Solid Waste and Recycling Program Manager. "My favorite comment was, 'I hate to admit this, but the only reason I read your materials is that they're cute.'"

To make the mascots especially eye-catching, Haas and her team partnered with Nico Curtis, Creative Services Coordinator and Graphic Designer for the City of Saint Paul. Building on a history of collaboration with Public Works, Curtis was able to anticipate how the mascots would be used in future outreach materials and tailor them with a range of outfits and poses-even expanding the City's color palette to seamlessly incorporate the diverse new mascots into recognizable branding.

"We have a lot of people in Saint Paul who speak different languages," said Curtis. "We found through the research process that having mascots who are kid-friendly can help kids engage with the materials and teach their families, as well."

This new outreach was made possible by the shift to City-managed garbage collection. Previously, communication was coming from several different haulers. Now, the messaging is consistent to all households in Saint Paul.

"There wasn't unified messaging going out previously. Some haulers provided educational materials, some didn't," said Haas. "By bringing it all in-house, we're providing a unified source of information."

Using mascots to boost community engagement has helped build awareness around the programs and services that are included with the City's residential garbage collection-from monthly bulky item pick up to unlimited mattress recycling. They're one colorful and creative strategy that the Solid Waste and Recycling team uses to help people recycle more and reduce their waste.

Grand Avenue Reconstruction: Open for Business

Another major Public Works project in 2025 was the reconstruction of Grand Avenue between Fairview and Snelling. This was the first street reconstruction project funded through the Common Cent, a voter-approved 1% sales tax increase.

While street reconstruction aimed to improve the vital commercial and residential corridor by investing in infrastructure, the City knew construction would have significant short-term impacts on the business community. To support businesses during construction and keep community members informed and engaged in the construction timeline, Public Works developed the Open for Business campaign.

The campaign brought together businesses, the Grand Avenue Business Association, the Macalester-Groveland Community Council, Macalester College, and community members in a collaborative effort to help businesses survive and thrive during construction.

The Open for Business campaign included:

• Weekly construction website and email updates
• Bi-weekly office hours and regular community meetings
• Distribution of flyers and printed updates throughout construction phases
• Business-specific access maps, "Open for Business" posters and window clings
• Construction Crawl Card with promotions for participating businesses
• Collaborative social media campaign to support the Construction Crawl Card
• Reopening Celebration with ribbon cuttings and giveaways

"The Open for Business campaign gave us the space to promote the fact that this was a business corridor and to pay extra attention to businesses who were impacted," said Jeannette Rebar, community engagement coordinator for Saint Paul Public Works.

Much of the campaign's success was due to real-time support based on community and business feedback. By listening and responding to proven neighborhood needs, the Public Works Street Engineering team helped ease the impact on local businesses and residents. For example, Public Works created additional short-term parking to side streets off Grand Avenue to help customers continue to park nearby and frequent businesses. When residents noted a safety concern during construction with cars parking too close to the intersections, the Street Engineering team put low barriers in place to prevent cars from parking too close to the corners, while allowing pedestrians and oncoming traffic to see each other.

Public Works is now transforming the initial Open for Business campaign into an innovative Open for Business Toolkit: Guide for Businesses. This new guide will provide educational resources on street reconstruction planning and timeline, plus resources for nearby businesses to continue thriving throughout construction. It will be published and available to businesses starting this summer.

"Businesses are new to street construction. Public Works is very experienced in it," said Steve Dodge, Street Engineering and Construction Manager. "What I observed and what the communications team delivered is going to be very helpful to residents and businesses, because they've never experienced construction on their street before. We're outlining strategies to help people better prepare and manage through construction."

The City of Saint Paul is proud to recognize our award-winning Public Works department for their creativity and commitment in community engagement. Catch the Sycamore Squad around town and keep an eye out for future Open for Business campaigns during street reconstruction projects.

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