River Falls' Mayor Dan Toland opened the State of the City address at Tattersall in front of residents and community business leaders playing "Back to the Future" movie character Doc Brown in a video.

Mayor Toland, donning a white wig and lab coat, resembled a crazy troll hair pencil; many may remember the 1980's pencils rotated in between hands making a Mr. Miyagi-like hand motion to fluff up the synthetic follicles.  

The annual State of the City address was 1980's related, the crazy troll pencil and Karate Kid references, withstanding.     

"Great Scott!" was the most memorable line from Doc Brown during the 1985 "Back to the Future" movie. It was ironic, as the man playing Marty McFly was none other than River Falls' most famous "Scot" with one 'T," City Administrator Scot Simpson.

Toland, the longest tenured mayor in the 177-year history of River Falls, is currently in his 13th year as mayor3. May 1 of this year will signal Simpson's 16-year anniversary in his current position. "Marty" Simpson was outfitted in an orange puffer vest. 

"Doc" Toland and "Marty" Simpson brought the attendees back in time in their city owned Toyota Prius powered by the "Falls Capacitor," in lieu of a DeLorean. The "Back to the Future" themed City of River Falls' informational video produced 1.21 gigawatts of laughs from the crowd during its approximate two-minute tenure.

The video brought our heroes back 150 years to learn about the origin of the city's largest employer and utilities' customer, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. As "Doc" Toland and "Marty" Simpson traveled back to the future, they made stops highlighting 130 years of public utility water beginning in 1894, and the first city library in 1917.

When "Biff" in the "Back to the Future" movie rear-ended a manure truck and his car was covered in manure, "Doc" Toland and "Marty" Simpson informed the viewers of a brand new biosolid facility to be completed this summer.

In the movie, Lyon Estates in the mythical Hill Valley was no more than a sign in 1955. The same was true for the new Mann Valley Corporate Park with high density residential housing and business property.

Another famous line in the "Back to the Future" movie was when "Doc Brown" said, "Roads? Where we’re going we don't need roads."

"Doc" Toland and "Marty" Simpson, however, explained how in 2025 the City of River Falls works with the state's gas tax revenue to help maintain city roads and built the new round-about on South Wasson Lane.   

After the video was completed, "Doc" Toland and "Marty" Simpson vanished somewhere into another time dimension and Mayor Dan Toland appeared while attendees finished their purchased breakfast. He briefly spoke and introduced City Administrator Scot Simpson.

The Pierce County Journal interviewed Simpson to further discuss the topics included in the State of the City address.

The most eye-popping statistic of the morning was the need for housing units in River Falls in the next five years. The City of River Falls hired Maxfield Research to conduct the feasibility study. Maxfield Research is a real estate consulting firm.

"A lot of builders and developers use them (Maxfield) to see if it makes sense to build in certain places," said Simpson. "We needed to get some demographic and economic data to find out what it looks like."

The information produced stated River Falls will need an additional 693 senior housing units by 2030, 317 multi-family rental units, 135 multi-family for sale units, and 221 single family for sale units.

"Senior living can also include twin homes," said Simpson. "One of their emphases is that all housing helps all housing."

Even though housing unit development is dominated by the market, according to Simpson, he says the city can help facilitate it with the regulatory environment,

"We're looking where we need to get out of the way in some areas and be prepared to take things on when it comes to utilities," said Simpson. "The private market can't provide its own utilities."

The Lake Elmo and Cottage Grove areas of eastern Minnesota are among of the fastest growing areas of the Twin Cities metro area, according to WorldPopulationReview.com. St. Croix County is the fifth fastest growing county in Wisconsin, according to Stacker.com. 

"Realtors used to say, 'drive until you qualify'," said Simpson. "But with the cost of new construction, it's not substantially different at the base level."

In non-city administrator jargon, a new "starter" home will cost $400,000 to build no matter what city it's built in.

"The cost of new construction definitely presents some challenges to smaller communities," said Simpson.

The city partnership with UW-River Falls has been a topic in recent months with the recent $100,000 River Falls Municipal Utilities’ sponsorship for the nearly completed UWRF Science and Technology building.

The quick response by some residents was leery of municipality dollars being given to the University.

"The amount was reasonable given what comes back in utility revenue," said Simpson. "The utility municipality is a business, and they have to act like any business does supporting its interest. Our utility bills in the city don't look the same if you don't have the University as a customer. They (UWRF) are the biggest customer by far and there isn't even a close second."

The biggest laugh during the State of the City address was when "Biff" in the movie "Back to the Future" ran into the manure truck and said, "I hate manure."

The City of River Falls paid $9.5 million for a new biosolid facility that will be functioning by this summer. In the past, River Falls would haul about 8,000 gallons of end sewage daily to Ellsworth. This new facility will save $621,000 per year.

"We're constantly analyzing our operations," said Simpson, "and we had the opportunity to look at alternatives. It's not only good for sustainability but very advantageous to our rate payers."

Two other city facilities received state grants for upgrades including $4.08 million for the city library and the fire station. The library was built almost 30 years ago. Its renovations will see additional meeting rooms, enhanced space for teens, and modernized technology. Renovation will begin this summer.

The fire station received a $1,4 million state grant for updating training space, a multipurpose room, and other enhancements. The fire station renovation will begin in the fall of this year.