(Jackson, Mn.)– Jackson’s new City Administrator continues to introduce himself to the community and is learning more and more about the area. Jim Langborg comes to Jackson from Greenfield, California where he worked a number of years in the fire and EMS fields. He says probably the biggest transition he’s witnessed since moving to the Midwest is the weather…
“I can’t figure it out. I mean it can be 70 degrees one day and then it’s a blizzard the next. I mean just the extremes in weather. You wake up and you look at the weather on your phone and what’s it going to be today? Because it’s always going to be a surprise. I think that’s probably been the biggest change. People are what I expected: nice. The community, clean, safe, comfortable. That was pretty much what I was looking for and what I expected.”
When it comes to city business, Langborg says he’s had some preliminary discussions with representatives of the city’s economic development groups about the possibility of a new industrial park on the north side of Jackson…
“That could involve putting in a new road as well as extending Ballard Avenue. So again none of this stuff is really happening for sure yet but we’re looking at what that would look like and what that would cost and, you know, doing the visionary part of it to make sure that we are increasing our industrial park and that we have room for growth.”
Langborg says they’re also looking into some capital infrastructure projects for 2026…
“Possibly looking at doing some street reconstruction, how much that would cost and how we would pay for that; where are the areas we want to focus on. What surprised me is just some small residential roads, you do a couple of those and it’s seven million dollars. That’s pretty expensive. I can’t imagine what putting in a freeway in would cost.”
Langborg has been on the job as Jackson City Administrator a little more than five weeks. He was a recent guest on our sister station KKOJ’s “Morning Juice” program.
