One of his major projects in the first years of the Met Council was the placement of the South St. Paul Municipal Airport.
At the time, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) wanted it located in Ham Lake, adjacent to the Carlos Avery Game Farm.
The Met Council, under Hetland's leadership, vetoed the location and chose Minneapolis rival St. Paul.
His decision was due to the ecologically sensitive nature of the MAC preferred site's surrounding area.
He served as chair of the National Municipal League and the Citizens Forum on Self Governance and had roles in the Advisory Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure of the Minnesota Supreme Court, the Minnesota Zoological Garden, the Minneapolis Charter Commission, The Council on Crime and Justice, and the Minneapolis Downtown Association.