Inver Grove Heights has picked a community development director to succeed Tom Link, who is retiring Aug. 17 after three decades on the job.
The city council this month approved the hiring of Janice Gundlach, who since 2014 has been New Brighton’s planning director and assistant director of community assets and development. For 12 years prior, she was New Brighton’s city planner.
Gundlach, who starts her new job Monday, will also oversee the planning, zoning, building inspections and economic development departments.
When Link was hired in November 1986, he filled a brand new position in a second-ring St. Paul suburb on the cusp of a residential and commercial development boom.
“It’s changed tremendously,” Link, 65, said this week of the city, which is now home to just over 35,000 residents and is preparing to further open its vast northwest area to residential development. “It’s been a really a good experience, I’ve enjoyed it.”