City Employee Brings Diverse Background to Public Works
Ryan Young's path to becoming a Bloomington equipment operator took him from professional kitchens around the world to the city's snow plows and fiber optic installation sites.
Young, who has worked for the City of Bloomington for three years, shared his unconventional career journey during a recent employee spotlight presentation. Before joining the public works department, he spent years as a pastry chef, working for NFL and Major League Baseball teams in Houston, then moving to the Caribbean, Middle East and Germany for World Cup Soccer and Formula One racing events. He operated bakery stores in Houston from 2008 to 2017 before returning to Minnesota.
In his current role, Young handles winter snow plowing, pothole repairs, catch basin inspections and tree trimming activities. For the past year and a half, he has also served as a fiber optic inspector, overseeing installation safety and compliance with local ordinances. His diverse skill set includes fluency in Spanish, which he uses to communicate with fiber optic installation crews.
Young has collaborated with IT Department staff member Molly McDonald to develop a real-time tracking application for potholes and tree trimming work. The Esri web interface allows teams to map maintenance activities on mobile devices and is currently in testing phase. The technology builds on existing city systems to improve field operations tracking.
Outside his city duties, Young serves on the board of the Bloomington Historical Society, where volunteers are working to digitize artifacts for online viewing using a recently received grant. The organization continues to seek community volunteers and support for its preservation efforts.
This story was created by artificial intelligence (a large language model) based on the proceedings captured in the video below.
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▸Meeting Analysis
This is an employee spotlight featuring Ryan Young, an Equipment Operator with the City of Bloomington who has been with the city for three years. The presentation covers his diverse background from pastry chef to his current role in public works, including snow plowing, pothole repair, and fiber optic installation oversight. Young also discusses his technology innovation work and community involvement with the Bloomington Historical Society.
▸Source Document
[0:22] - My name is Ryan Young.
[0:23] I'm an equipment operator here
at the city of Bloomington.
[0:26] I've been here about three years.
[0:28] I was actually born in Texas.
[0:30] My mom was working at Valley View
[0:33] Elementary for a little while.
[0:34] My father worked at a hospital in St.
[0:35] Paul and we picked Bloomington.
[0:37] Grew up, my backyard was Hag
Park. I snowplow in the winter.
[0:41] On occasion, we repair potholes,
inspect the catch basins
[0:45] and make sure they're flowing properly so
[0:47] that the streets drain.
[0:48] We do some tree trimming
activities during the winter,
[0:51] but as of the last year and a
half, I've been both streets
[0:54] and engineering and I'm assisting
[0:56] with the fiber optic
install in Bloomington.
[0:59] As a fiber optic inspector
or right of way inspector,
[1:03] I'm overseeing that the
installation is put in safely
[1:07] and that they complied to
all our local ordinances.
[1:10] Prior to coming to the
City of Bloomington,
[1:12] my career was in culinary arts.
[1:14] I was a pastry chef.
[1:16] I was based in Houston
for quite a while, working
[1:19] for the NFL and Major
League baseball teams.
[1:21] I then went to the
Caribbean for several years
[1:24] and then the Middle East and
Germany for World Cup Soccer
[1:27] and Formula One racing.
[1:28] So most of my career was in large scale,
[1:31] high quality catering, focusing on pastry.
[1:34] I then opened a bakery in Houston,
[1:36] Texas in 2008 and 9.
[1:38] Had a couple stores and
exited that business in 2017
[1:42] and moved back to Minnesota.
[1:44] Worked in a couple different things,
[1:45] Baker Square Consulting, and
then for the Marriott Hotels.
[1:50] And then eventually Covid
came upon all of us.
[1:53] So at that time I left
[1:54] and got my commercial driver's
license or CDL Class A.
[1:59] I worked in bridge construction
[2:01] and freeway construction for
a company called Schafer.
[2:04] And then an opportunity
arose here at Bloomington.
[2:08] I had seen a thing on YouTube
[2:10] that there was an app out there.
[2:12] I researched it and found out
[2:13] that the city already had
the technology.
[2:16] Together with Molly McDonald in IT,
[2:17] we put together an Esri web interface.
[2:20] It enables the teams to, in real time,
[2:23] track potholes or a tree trim.
[2:25] That information is put on a map.
[2:27] It's on everyone's cell phone.
It's in testing right now.
[2:30] So we're hopefully gonna roll with it.
[2:32] And the most important part
is that I was given the chance
[2:35] to try something to take
a little bit of time.
[2:37] We put together something that
hopefully will be a benefit
[2:40] to us here at Bloomington.
[2:42] I became, over the course
[2:44] of about nine years, fluent in Spanish.
[2:46] I'm able to use that other skill set
[2:49] of speaking Spanish out in the field.
[2:50] It's been a help and hopefully
this summer we'll be able
[2:53] to continue that in my
workout with the fiber crews.
[2:56] So we were asked to be part of
a TikTok trend, so we danced
[3:00] and practiced a song out
in the maintenance bay,
[3:03] and then it was getting
quite a lot of views
[3:06] and it went pretty high
and pretty viral status.
[3:09] I joined the Bloomington
Historical Society
[3:12] and we just received a grant.
[3:14] We are slowly incorporating all
our artifacts into an online
[3:19] viewable space.
[3:20] It's also a small group.
We're all volunteers.
[3:22] So it's been fun to be part of that
[3:25] and I just recently joined the board,
[3:26] so a little bit more involved now.
[3:28] We're doing great things
over there on a small scale
[3:30] and always looking for volunteers
[3:32] and always looking for folks
[3:33] to help us support in any way they can.
[3:36] You know, I really love
working at Bloomington.
[3:37] Being part of the Public Works
team has been great, learning
[3:40] different divisions, what
they do and how we communicate
[3:43] and work with each other
to get that common goal
[3:45] of making a great community
that Bloomington is.
This story was created by artificial intelligence (a large language model) based on the proceedings captured in the video below.
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