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Austin resident Jerry Mohrfeld was presented with the Key to the City in recognition of his 34 years of service on the Austin Port Authority Board during the Austin City Council’s regular meeting Monday evening.

Mohrfeld has served on the Port Authority since its inception in 1987.

“I want to thank Jerry for all of the years and words of wisdom and kindness and keeping us grounded on some of these board meetings where we struggled with some of these projects,” said Port Authority President Jerry McCarthy. “Thank you for everything!”

Mayor Steve King highlighted several Port Authority accomplishments during Mohrfield’s time on the board, including:

• Austin Holiday Inn;

• Spam Museum;

• Austin Public Library;

• Austin Town Center;

• Walmart land area;

•Hormel Corporate South edition;

•Hormel Institute Phases 1 and 2;

• Downtown revitalization efforts;

• Oak Park Mall; and

• Former Hy-Vee grocery store.

“That is above and beyond the call to ask a citizen to be serving that much time, and to do it with a lot of moving parts,” King said. “Think of the legacy of what you (Mohrfeld) helped create on that board over the course of those 34 years with the amount of structures that will stand for a long, long time and the amount of development that created a lot of jobs for people in this community.”

“I appreciate being named on the Port Authority,” Mohrfeld said. “It’s been fun and it’s been great… (Austin) is a beautiful town and it’s more beautiful because of the Port Authority and because of the council.”

Mohrfeld is the first person to receive the Key to the City from King.