Commissioner Dan Engelhart

Commissioner Engelhart

District: 1

Commissioner Engelhart

Mailing Address

2117 West River Road N
Minneapolis, MN 55411

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Contact

Phone: 612-230-6443, Extension 1
Email: dengelhart@minneapolisparks.org

Board Committees

View Committees and Vote History

Park-Related Appointments

Administrative and Finance Committee
Internal Audit Committee
Legislation and Intergovernmental Committee, Vice Chair
Minneapolis Tree Advisory Committee
Planning Committee
St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board
Standards and Conduct Committee, Vice Chair

Bio

Park Board District 1 and lower Northeast have been my home since 2007. I grew up in Wisconsin and became an environmental organizer in 2001 after graduating from UW Eau Claire. I organized in New Jersey around water quality, then came to Minnesota as a team lead for the paid canvass for Paul Wellstone in 2002.

Over the years I’ve been involved with the Park Board through the Above the Falls Community Advisory Committee as well as other MPRB issues and active throughout the city in organizing and activist spaces. Our amazing parks and programming and our unique governance is as local, and community based as we can be.

I’ve spent most of my career as a labor organizer and negotiator, serving for the past 14 years as a Senior Business Agent at the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE). I’m excited to form and chair the Committee on Employee Relations to strengthen our excellent Park Board workers’ labor conditions and relationships with management.

My priorities as commissioner include the water we have in District 1 which is the river and the Above the Falls Plan, water quality and equitable access to green spaces in SE neighborhoods. In my free time I love to mountain bike, hang with dogs and people, Nordic ski, see live music, and organize in community toward collective liberation.

About the Board

In 1883, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board was created by an act of the Minnesota State Legislature and a vote of Minneapolis residents. It serves as an independently elected, semi-autonomous body responsible for governing, maintaining, and developing the Minneapolis Park System.

City of Minneapolis voters elect nine commissioners every four years: one from each of the six park districts, and three that serve at-large. View Commissioner District Interactive Map.

Board Appointments

An annual meeting of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board takes place on the first business day in January of each year. The following business is conducted:

The Board elects two Commissioners as President and Vice-President and appoints a Secretary who is not a member of the Board.
Whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of an elected Commissioner, the Board fills that vacancy, usually through appointment.
The President appoints Commissioners to serve on Standing Committees of the Board. Each Committee has five Board members (including the Chair of the Committee), with the Chair of the Committee named first. Standing Committees include:
- Planning
- Recreation
- Operations and Environment
- Administration and Finance
- Legislative and Intergovernmental Committee
- Standards and Conduct
- Employee Releations

Also at the annual meeting, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board of Commissioners appoints community members to five ongoing advisory board commission appointments within Minneapolis. Members of these committees advise park Board Commissioners and other agencies on a wide variety of subjects by making recommendation on important policy matters. For more information about the committees and to apply, please visit the Advisory Board Commission Appointments page.

Roles & Responsibilities

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board performs its many duties through the contributions of elected Commissioners and the leadership of the Superintendent. Their actions are guided according to the following roles and responsibilities.

Commissioners:

Develop park policies
Enact ordinances governing the use of neighborhood and regional parks, parkways, beaches and lakes, and special use facilities such as pools, ice arenas and golf courses
Appoint the Superintendent