City Of St. Louis Park: Former City Of St. Louis Park Deputy City Manager Receives Labor Relations Award

Press release from the City of St. Louis Park:

September 23, 2021 11:14 a.m.

Nancy Deno, former City of St. Louis Park deputy city manager and human resources director, recently received the 2019 Excellence in Labor Relations Award from the Minnesota Public Employers Labor Relations Association (MPELRA). The award was presented at the August 2021 MPELRA annual conference, one year late as the organization’s 2020 conference was canceled due to COVID-19.

Deno, who retired from the city in April 2021 after 23 years, served as the chief negotiator for the city with five union groups. Achievements cited in her award nomination included successfully renegotiating 2010 and 2011 wages with union groups in order to weather the economic storm of 2009, while maintaining good relationships that resulted in mutually beneficial labor agreements in subsequent years. She was also recognized for a more recent success in all five union groups adopting language requiring above average performance in order to advance in pay, a vision championed by the St. Louis Park City Council.

“Nancy’s trusting, honest and approachable style as chief negotiator and her ability to build relationships has given the City of St. Louis Park the ability to weather crises with little disruption to services, to reward high performance and to implement new and innovative programs and policies based on the vision of the city council,” concluded the award nomination.

The annual MPELRA award is given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the management role in public sector labor relations during their career and is MPELRA’s highest acknowledgement of the recipient’s dedication and achievement in the development of positive labor-management relations.

This press release was produced by the City of St. Louis Park. The views expressed here are the author’s own.