John McCarthy, the chief financial officer for the city of St. Paul, is leaving City Hall after 18 years.

McCarthy has been named as the new chief financial officer of the League of Minnesota Cities, the state’s largest municipal membership association. He will join the league on June 2, replacing current CFO Mark Ruff, who announced his decision to step down earlier this year.

McCarthy will oversee all of the league’s financial reporting, accounting, budgeting and accounts payable. He has worked for the city’s Office of Financial Services since 2007 and has served as the city’s chief financial officer since 2019.

A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said plans for “interim leadership” will be announced in coming weeks.

The league represents more than 830 member cities through advocacy, education, training and policy development.

On Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council officially swore in Jay Willms as director of city council operations. Willms, who was previously a principal fiscal analyst with Ramsey County and before that delivered nonpartisan budget analysis for the state Senate, had served since June 2023 as the council’s chief budget officer.

He replaces Brynn Hausz, who was director of city council operations until November 2024. Willms had served as the interim director since that time.

— Frederick Melo

Council hires part-time city administrator

Scott Hildebrand, city administrator in Landfall and Maple Lake, Minn., is adding another city to his roster.

Hildebrand has been hired to be part-time city administrator/clerk of Birchwood Village. Hildebrand will work 20 hours per week; city officials expect he will work at least four hours in the office, on Thursdays, and be available by appointment if requested, according to the hiring letter.

Hildebrand will be paid $36 per hour and not receive any benefits, the letter states.

The Birchwood Village City Council agreed to a six-month contract with Hildebrand; a review of performance and general satisfaction regarding the relationship will be conducted after 90 days and again at the end of the term.

Mayor Jennifer Arsenault said Tuesday that she and the rest of the council are “delighted” to have Hildebrand on board.

The former city administrator, Rebecca Kellen, resigned on Feb. 7. She had been with the city for almost three years.

According to an article in the Maple Lake Messenger, Hildebrand was hired in July 2024 to be city administrator in Maple Lake, population 2,200. His starting salary was reported to be $101,358.

Since January 2024, he also has served as the part-time city administrator/HRA director in Landfall, an 840-resident mobile home park.

It wasn’t clear on Wednesday whether Hildebrand planned to continue working at both cities; he did not immediately return a phone call or email seeking comment.

Hildebrand previously served as city administrator of Pine City, Minn.; village administrator of Turtle Lake, Wis.; city administrator of Valley Center, Kan.; professional standards manager of Rochester, Minn., and risk manager/assistant city attorney of Lenexa, Kan. He also has worked as a staff attorney for the League of Kansas Municipalities.

Hildebrand has a law degree from Washburn University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Oklahoma State University. He also has a certified public manager certificate from the University of Kansas.

— Mary Divine

Improv Festival planned June 5-8

The 19th annual Twin Cities Improv Festival will run from June 5 through 8 at the Phoenix Theater in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis trio Five Man Job — Butch Roy, Nels Lennes and Lauren Anderson — founded the festival in 2006 and also run the weekly Improv A Go Go showcase at Minneapolis’ Strike Theater.

The festival features four sets the first three nights and a finale with four troupes on June 8.

In addition to locals, the festival will feature performers from Chicago, Los Angeles, Des Moines and Tokyo.

“The region’s premier celebration of unscripted comedy” will also include a series of workshops, including How to Improvise Like a Married Couple, Be Your Own Action Hero and Character Workout.

For the full schedule and tickets, see the festival’s website at twincitiesimprovfestival.com.

— Ross Raihala

Segment of I-35W closing this weekend

A stretch of Interstate 35W between Burnsville and Bloomington will be closed in both directions beginning Friday night and opening up again on Monday morning, according to state department of transportation officials.

The closure will begin at 9 p.m. Friday between the I-35W/35E split in Burnsville and Interstate 494 in Bloomington, the Minnesota Department of Transportation said. The freeway is to reopen by 6 a.m. Monday.

During that time, crews are going to take down the Burnsville Parkway and Minnesota 13 bridges over I-35W.

Detour signs will direct motorists to I-35E, Minnesota 77 and I-494.

In addition, MnDOT said several ramps will be closed in the construction area during the project.

— Staff report

State is first to shield weedkiller’s maker

A new first-of-its-kind law enacted in North Dakota could shield agrochemical manufacturer Bayer from lawsuits claiming it failed to warn customers that its popular weedkiller Roundup could cause cancer.

Though the immediate effect may be small, given that North Dakota is among the least populated U.S. states, Bayer is hopeful that success there could lead to similar laws being passed around the country. The company faces an onslaught of lawsuits seeking billions of dollars for alleged harm from Roundup. The next state to follow North Dakota could be Georgia, where a similar bill is pending before Gov. Brian Kemp.

Bayer, based in Germany, acquired Roundup with the 2018 purchase of St. Louis-based Monsanto. It contends glyphosate, an active ingredient in Roundup, has for decades provided a safe and efficient way to control weeds with less tilling, which helps prevent soil erosion. For crops such as corn, soybeans and cotton, Roundup is designed to work with genetically modified seeds that resist glyphosate’s deadly effect.

“Without crop protection tools, America’s consumers could face higher costs to provide for their families and put food on the table,” Brian Naber, Bayer’s president of crop science for North America, Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement praising the North Dakota law.

North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong declined to comment Thursday about the legislation, which he signed without fanfare a day earlier.

Bayer has been hit with about 181,000 legal claims alleging that Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Though some studies associate glyphosate with cancer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.

Bayer, which disputes the cancer claims, has teamed with a coalition of agricultural groups to back legislation in at least 11 states this year seeking to undercut the main argument made in the lawsuits.

The bills declare that a federally approved label on pesticides is sufficient to satisfy any duty under state law to warn customers. Bayer also has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the legal claims.

Many agricultural industry groups contend glyphosate is an essential tool for farmers. They’re concerned that mounting legal costs could lead Bayer to pull the product from the U.S. market.

— Associated Press