Chris Hahn

Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, September 14, 2023.   Reprinted with permission and gratitude.

By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy

 

Greg Melartin never gets tired of working on cars.

There’s possibly an occasion when he’s feeling that it’s time for new tread, but never a day when taking them apart and putting them back together has worn on him so much as to blow a gasket.

“It wasn’t Hot Wheels that started this. The first car memory I have was when we were living in a trailer park in St. Charles—I was probably 8 years old at the time—and my mom’s friend Dave Nolting had a custom-built 1946 Ford coupe of some kind with pearlescent pink and purple paint. That car, being all shiny and sitting in the trailer park, was probably the most expensive thing I had seen in my life, and it showed that you can have more,” recounted Melartin, Spring Valley resident and proprietor of Matt’s Body Shop, speaking on a different occasion about just how the curiosity pulled him under the hood and got him tangled up in the belts and gears. Of course, this is the guy who’s dismantled so many different household appliances—including ones his mother didn’t want him to when he was still a kid—and motorcycles, cars and trucks, that he’s lost track of the actual number of his own vehicles that he’s either taken apart to reassemble for fun or to revamp into something entirely different or to sell for change to buy something new, like that Dairy Queen hamburger he delivered in trade for a car he sold to someone else the very next day.

Though he’s always had a wrench or screwdriver in hand, he hasn’t always owned Matt’s. He’s been an employee of the United States government— twice deployed overseas—making his current enterprise veteran-owned, and he’s also worked in construction, as just before he bought Matt’s from Chris Czapiewski in March 2021, he was employed by Terry Fetterly Construction. He’d long considered opening his own repair shop, but upon the occasion which presented itself to him while he and his wife, Oy, were living in New Jersey, they decided to spend the money instead to move home to Minnesota—specifically Spring Valley, because that’s where his grandparents, Curt and Barb Osterhus and his mom, Sarah Osterhus, awaited his return. Approximately ten vehicles, revving up the idea for a town festival, and an occupational epiphany later, he chose to seize the moment when Czapiewski and longtime Matt’s employee Dave Blazing offered to remain at the body shop to help him get comfortable in the driver’s seat. “Chris and Dave stayed on with me, and Dave was here for six months. Chris said he’d stay a year, and he ended up being here with me for two years,” Melartin recounted, “and the first day after the papers were signed, Chris and Dave were here, and the phone rang. They looked at each other, and you could tell that they were thinking, ‘This is not my rodeo anymore,’ so I thought, ‘I’d better get that.’”

Melartin credits his time in the military and his work for Fetterly Construction for giving him the training he needed to become a business owner. “I liked working for Fetterly. He was very ethical and empowering— the type of leader I try to be–not a micromanager. The people I have working for me are better than ever. Chris is an amazing body man, and the mechanics I have working for me are amazing, too. They can easily figure out what’s going on with a car. I think it’s important to put people in a place where they’re going to excel. I always, in the back of my mind, had the idea that I wanted to be a business owner. You’re always learning, learning, learning. Leadership abilities have always been important to me. I was a leader in the military, and now I’m in marketing, customer service, numbers– being an owner, you have to know your numbers. Being an owner is a huge blessing. I’m happy with the deal, and I owe them for their help. Flexibility is something that took the longest time to get used to, but I’m the first one in and the last one out.”

He immediately got busy overhauling the accounting system, “setting up processes and policies to make the shop more automated if I’m gone or the mechanic is gone,” and assessing how efficient the building was in relation to service turnaround time, which, at the time that he bought the shop, was an important factor simply because it was mid-pandemic and supply and demand greatly affected how satisfied the end users of all products and services were if they did or didn’t receive what they expected. A few tweaks here and a wrench-turn there, and he had expanded the body shop to include more services than tires and buffing out scratches and removing dents – now offering mechanical serv[1]ices, “a proper, full analysis of vehicles so that customers know in a reasonable amount of time if it’s feasible or economical to repair” a car, and in case of close encounters with road-rashed deer, “if they bring it to me, I’ll give them just a curbside estimate so that they know that if it’s between $6,000 and $8,000, they know that they can total it out.”

“It’s grown significantly. The community had a need for experienced mechanics…also, everyone was backed up. Me and the other shop owners were backed up and people had nowhere to go with their cars because it was a supply-and-demand issue. But I was able to expand the mechanical portion of my business. I’ve updated quite a bit of the equipment…and pretty much immediately, I decided that the biggest hindrance was that we had only one overhead door, so anytime someone parked in front of that door, the bay would be blocked. It slowed down efficiency, and I wanted to do oil changes and mechanical service. I knew that I had to add a side door to make it usable.”

The sale of an easement across the back of the lot to the Penz Group and Chevrolet of Spring Valley for the construction of the new Chevrolet dealership allowed Melartin to expand the shop by an entire service bay to make it more accessible and efficient for his business to operate.

“I added a door to the side to make it usable. With the new dealership, it presented me with an opportunity to sell and allowed me to build a 1,500- square-foot expansion. That gave us three more doors, so we’re not always jammed up. I’ve added that extra bay and two lifts. There’s a flat bay for mechanical and tires. That freed up room in the body shop for body shop work so we can move more efficiently. That means there’s quicker turnaround for repairing a car. The turnaround could be…about three weeks if it’s a very, very big job (to repair and rebuild a car), but that’s helped get turnaround to about a week to a week and a half or so.”

Melartin feels that his customers should receive exactly the parts and service they expect, even if their insurance companies insist that they don’t need to pay for repairs to a specific standard. “One of the benefits I’ve focused on is that we work for the customer. There are a few good insurance companies that want to take care of their customers, but a lot of insurance companies try to force people into [taking less on a claim]. I’m not one of those shops. I work for the customer, and one of the benefits for my customers is that I do the full analysis.” Additionally, he’s willing to “do pre-purchase inspections so that people can make better decisions…I’d highly suggest that anyone looking to buy a used vehicle ought to have it checked by a body shop and mechanical shop, and we’re both.”

He continued, “Spring Valley deserves a place to have a vehicle properly inspected and repaired after an accident, somewhere where they can get quality repairs, and to do that, you have to take care of employees and customers and charge appropriately for services. I’ve kept a lot of longtime customers, and I’m really happy that that transition went smoothly for the community. That’s great.”

Nearly three years into business ownership, Melartin is satisfied that he’s chosen work with tread that aligns with a balanced life–just enough working on cars each day that he can go home to his own family at night and be certain that he’s had a good time…and his mom won’t even be looking for the parts of her toaster anymore.

Matt’s Body Shop is located at 1140 N. Broadway, Spring Valley, and is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, stop in with questions or call 507- 346-2161 or log onto the shop’s website at www.mattsbodyshop.com.

 

 

 

Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325

Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, September 7, 2023.   Reprinted with permission and gratitude.

 

Dana Simmons wanted to be knit, so she joined the Knights. “I came to Kingsland because I missed being part of a smaller school in a close-knit community. I am from a small town, so Kingsland feels like home to me,” stated Simmons, Kingsland’s new 5-12 principal, sharing why she chose to become part of the Kingsland staff as an administrator.

Simmons is a transplant from up north who determined that teaching anywhere was in her personal yarn strand. “I graduated from East Central High School in Finlayson, Minnesota, in 1998, and I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2004, my master’s from East Tennessee State University in 2018, and my specialist degree from Minnesota State University-Moorhead in 2023. This is my 19th year in education, and I was an English teacher for many years prior to becoming an administrator. Prior to Kingsland, I was in Red Wing and then Tennessee before that. When I was a teacher, I taught English language arts because I love reading and writing myself, but I found it thrilling to help my students find a book that they thoroughly enjoyed or helped them learn how to express their thoughts on paper. I then went into administration because I wanted to help teachers be successful in the classroom and work to create welcoming school communities where students thrive.”

She stated, “While all subjects are important for students to learn, I believe that learning how to communicate effectively, work hard, and have integrity are some of the most important things that we can teach young people. The main challenge with any new position is that of change. Change is hard for everyone, whether it is a new rule or policy or a new person in the office.”

She remarked that she’s going to do her best to become part of the district’s fabric as she adjusts to being the new person in the office. “As the new principal, I am excited to get to know families throughout Kingsland. Since I am going to be working with fifth through twelfth grades, I will have the opportunity to meet and build relationships with many new faces. I am most excited to be part of Kingsland’s staff because I thoroughly enjoy getting to know new people and building relationships. People here have been amazing!”

Simmons lives in Stewartville with her family. “I live in Stewartville with my husband, who teaches at Stewartville High School, my seventh-grade son Dexter, my sixth-grade daughter Gabriella, and my kindergarten daughter Isabella. During my spare time, I attend my kids’ sporting events, cook, garden, and spend time with family.

 

Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325

Original article published in the Mower County Independent, Thursday, July 27, 2023.   Reprinted with permission and gratitude.

By Gretchen Mensink Lovejoy

 

So shiny, even the crows know it’s automatic. “It is a fully automatic car wash with a separate drying bay,” said Midwest Sales representative Stacey Rath, speaking of the new @ The Car Wash automatic automobile soapbox that now stands on the south end of the Midwest Sales dealership’s lot just off Highway 63 in Spring Valley.

Rath explained that the owners of the Midwest company, which owns the Midwest Sales dealership, determined that there was a surplus of dusty cars and a dearth of places that could suds, brush and dry them to satisfactory condition, short of standing in one’s driveway and getting soaked while obsessing over that one spot that won’t buff out.

“After the closing of Fowler’s car wash, we knew there was a need for the area to have one, and we just needed to find the location. When Midwest moved into the Kuehn Motors location, the wheels started turning. Midwest had been planning this since the summer and fall of 2022, and the previous building on the lot had to be torn down so we could construct a new site and make room for the car wash and a shop for Midwest to utilize in place of the one that was removed.” She elaborated, “Construction began after the purchase of the location in 2022, but getting equipment and parts has been a struggle that delayed the hopeful spring 2023 opening. Waiting on materials was the biggest challenge because we experienced several delays with getting materials and shipping.”

The car wash had its first spin cycle in late June or early July, and it’s spacious enough for vehicles of most sizes. “We can wash cars, SUVs and pickup trucks. The maximum height is 90 inches, so see the posted sign outside of the wash bay for instructions. We do not have a wash bay for oversize vehicles or semi-trucks. We can wash a variety of vehicles that are under 90 inches in height—please be cautious of the pressure from the washer and dryer, and be sure remove any loose items on your vehicle and/or in truck beds before entering the car wash—and @ The Car Wash offers three different levels of washes, including Elite, Elite Plus, and Fire and Ice, along with several a la carte items and a vacuum for your use after you exit the wash and dryer bays. We do have heat in the car wash, and there is a separate drying bay with automatic blower that goes around your vehicle twice.”

Rath explained that the first wash option, an Elite, is “your basic wash that includes a chrome and glass clean, a hot foam bath, underbody wash, Turtle Wax triple foam, high pressure rinse…the Blazing Glaze, finished off with a spot-free rinse and blow dry.” Drivers may choose to upgrade to the Elite Plus or Fire and Ice washes to further scrub and polish their cars or trucks and see how much attention it attracts from people and curious crows who can see their reflections in just about every angle and not have to see “those pesky bugs plastered on your vehicle.”

She added, “We also offer some additional services, such as ice and mud prewash, an all-hot water wash, liquid ceramic coating and a double rocker (panel) blast. Check out our Fire and Ice package for…a shiny clean car.”

@ The Car Wash is open to the public and will also serve Midwest Sales. Rath pointed out that customers may choose to stop through and use it for one wash or many. “Memberships are available for those that want a hands-free experience at the pay station, so see Midwest Sales during business hours to get your membership…we do offer gift cards and monthly memberships.”

What’s more exciting than something that’s new, and not to mention the car wash has some great features to keep your vehicle clean.”

Midwest Sales representative Kristi Jack added in conclusion, “All of us from @ The Car Wash, Midwest Sales, Leasing and Contracting would like to extend our appreciation to the community of Spring Valley for the warm welcome and voices of encouragement that they have extended. Also, to the Kuehn family for allowing us to be an extension to their family legacy. We plan to be in this community for years to come and be your total car care provider, just as you expected from the Kuehn family in years past.”

For more information on Spring Valley’s new car wash, log onto the @ The Car Wash Facebook page at At The Car Wash_Spring Valley.

 

Courtesy of the Mower County Independent, 135 E Main St. LeRoy, MN 55951, (507)-324-5325