Edina honors four decades of environmental health leadership
The Edina City Council held a retreat on March 15 to recognize Solve Wilmont's 40-year career as an Environmental Health Specialist and Recycling Coordinator, celebrating her role in transforming the city's approach to public health, recycling, and water safety.
Wilmont's career with the City of Edina began in the mid-1980s in the Parks and Recreation Department, where she managed swimming lesson registration. She later transitioned to the Health Department, driven by a core belief that "public health isn't meant to harm people—it's really meant to improve their well-being."
During her four decades of service, Wilmont oversaw major expansions to Edina's recycling program. She witnessed the system evolve from small buckets collected weekly at the curb to modern carts on a bi-weekly schedule. Most recently, she championed the city's organics collection program, which she first proposed in 2012 and saw implemented in 2020. "I was part of the very early programs for the recycling system from its expansion to a little bucket down at the curb collected weekly to the cart now that we use every other week and then the most recent expansion was Organics," Wilmont said.
Wilmont also played a key role in improving water safety at public facilities. She served on the Recreation Water Advisory Committee and helped implement new federal water safety regulations (VHSA) following a tragic pool drain incident. As president of the association overseeing implementation, she worked to reduce waterborne illnesses and improve water quality standards across the city's recreational facilities.
Reflecting on her career, Wilmont emphasized the importance of embracing change in municipal operations. "The big thing about change is that it should happen," she said. "It's hard for us to embrace change sometimes because it's comfortable to be where we're at, but if things don't change, I mean every year we age—that's a change we just have to embrace."
The retreat highlighted how Wilmont's willingness to champion new initiatives—from curbside recycling to organics collection to updated water safety protocols—has shaped Edina's environmental and public health landscape over four decades.
This story was created by artificial intelligence (a large language model) based on the proceedings captured in the video below.
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Other Topics from This Document
Recycling Program Expansion
Water Safety and Pool Drain Regulations
Organizational Change Management
Also from this meeting
▸Meeting Analysis
“Public Health isn't meant to harm people it's really meant to improve their well-being”
“I was part of the very early programs for the recycling um system from its expansion to a little bucket down at the curb collected weekly to the cart now that we use every other week and then the most recent expansion was Organics”
“The big thing about change is that it should happen um it's hard for us to embrace change sometimes because it's comfortable to be where we're at uh but man if things don't change I mean every year we age that's a change we just have to embrace right”
“I was part of the recreation water advisory committee when that new regulation came in pack I was a president of that Association that's one of the areas that I've really embraced in the public health system that we can make some significant changes that can benefit the water quality and the safety for reducing waterborne illnesses”
▸Source Document
[Music] upon celebrating her 40th anniversary working with the city of Edina environmental health specialist and recycling coordinator solve Wilmont recently said that change is the constant in life since starting her career in the mid 1980s Wilmont has certainly seen her share of change Edina TV met with her recently to take a look back at the impact she's had in our community 40 years ago solve Wilmont was looking for a job I walked into the city what she found was a career it happened to be registration season and the staff there were swamped they said well if you can start today we'll put you on right now and so she began working for the Parks and Recreation Department at that point computers weren't widespread in the city yet we were using uh cards for limits on registration for swimming lessons once the cards filled up with names that class was full an even better fit in the city soon presented itself and Wilmot knew exactly what to say and I have a degree in biology and the health department was expanding by one person so I was able to use those words in the interview to say well Public Health isn't meant to harm people it's really meant to improve their well-being for the decades that followed Wilmont has been at the Forefront of many changes in public health I was part of the very early programs for the recycling um system from its expansion to a little bucket down at the curb collected weekly to the cart now that we use every other week and then the most recent expansion was Organics and the first memo I wrote was in 2012 and it took us till 2020 to actually initiate the program as well as overseeing major updates in swimming pool safety following a tragic event Abigail Taylor um the child that had a terrible accident at a pool because of a drain cover her family was involved here in Idina they lived here in Idina so I was part of the recreation water advisory committee when that new regulation came in pack I was a president of that Association that's one of the areas that I've really embraced in the public health system that we can make some significant changes that can benefit the water quality and the safety for reducing waterborne illnesses uh through those changes after being part of so much over four decades while making Idina a safer place to live and visit what has Wilmot learned the big thing about change is that it should happen um it's hard for us to embrace change sometimes because it's comfortable to be where we're at uh but man if things don't change I mean every year we age that's a change we just have to embrace right so that's where we need to look at change of something to embrace and see what we can do to make that change a good thing from E of Fire Station 1 I'm Scott Denfeld Edina TV one more area of change in wilmot's 40 years with the city included meeting her future husband while he was an electrician in the public works department the couple has two sons
This story was created by artificial intelligence (a large language model) based on the proceedings captured in the video below.
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