Lundgren takes Vergas mayoral race by 10 votes

By Robert Williams

Editor

Mike Sharp can ditch the interim tag from his Frazee mayoral title after a decisive victory over former mayor Ken Miosek during the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Sharp captured 66 percent of the vote and 386 votes to 200 votes for Miosek (34 percent).

Sharp was the Vice Mayor in Frazee when Mayor Mark Flemmer officially resigned from his position at the close of the Frazee City Council meeting on June 12. Flemmer was 18-months into a 4-year term that was to end in December of 2026.

Sharp and Miosek’s race was to complete the term. Sharp was in a no lose situation where he would have returned to his city council position had he lost the race for mayor.

Since taking over and into his campaign, Sharp has been a proponent of stiff enforcement of public nuisance and building standards ordinances, along with taking the lead on banning dangerous dogs.

Both have been issues that residents have complained about. In fact, Sharp was faced with a dangerous dog issue just weeks after taking over mayoral duties after an attack in August.

Sharp has an extensive record of making changes that benefit residents from his near decade serving in Frazee to his prior experience and that seemed to resonate well with voters.

Lundgren wins 

by a thin margin

Given the village of Vergas’ population, it would appear that any run for mayor, is likely to be a close race but the 2024 race between incumbent Julie Bruhn and challenger Dwight Lundgren was the first close race in the past five elections.

Lundgren was victorious by only 10 votes, 118-108 with five write-ins. The 231 total votes is a relatively average number of voters considering two of the past five mayoral races have been uncontested.

Lundgren stated the most important issue in Vergas is to alleviate the wait times at the downtown railroad crossing, which is certainly a common complaint in town. His other primary concerns were retail space, infrastructure and city growth.

Lundgren is the 19th person to serve as the village’s mayor since 1905.

Past four Vergas mayoral races:

2020 144-98 Bruhn over Dean Haarstick

2016 174-9 Haarstick uncontested

2012 182-7 Haarstick uncontested

2008 135-71 Haarstick over Theresa Buhl

City councils 

Frazee and Vergas both had four candidates running for two open positions on each city council and in both cases an incumbent returns along with one new face.

In Vergas, Bruce Albright led all vote getters with 114; newcomer James Stenger nabbed the second seat with 109 votes. Natalie Fischer was unseated with 91 votes and Rebecca Hasse, who was a council fill-in in 2022 after replacing Logan Dahlgren upon his resignation, finished fourth with 62 votes. A fifth candidate, Connie Lee, who pulled out of the race but could not get off the ballot, still held enough popularity to have changed the race after receiving 37 votes that did not count for other candidates.

Albright’s decades of experience working in and with governmental agencies is apparent at meetings. He has been deeply involved in Vergas politics serving on multiple committees and leading the task of updating and modernizing city ordinances.

James Stenger is the new face on the Vergas council after serving on the Event Center board and helping to create the Arts Club that formed in early 2023. Stenger also has experience working with the highly successful community club.

Stenger ran on a platform of wanting to create more transparency between residents and city government and giving back to the community as a Vergas native.

Kemper stays, 

Daggett new man in

Mark Kemper was unsure on whether he wanted to continue serving on the Frazee City Council this past summer even after keeping his seat in a unique situation in 2022. Kemper was voted off the council in November of 2022 after finishing third behind current council members Jim Rader and Andrea Froeber.

However, then council member Mark Flemmer’s victory over Ken Miosek in the 2022 mayoral race opened up Flemmer’s seat on the council and Kemper was appointed after a discussion. Much of the board felt that the wishes of the public should be honored from the election with Flemmer the next highest vote getter. Flemmer nominated former council member Nicole Strand, but did not get a second on his motion. That opened up the door for Kemper’s appointment, which was unanimously approved.

Andrew Daggett was one of two new candidates, along with Michael Geving, vying for the second council seat and having to earn more votes than former mayor Hank Ludtke. Daggett managed that and more, earning the most votes of all four candidates 340 to capture 34 percent of the vote. Kemper was second with 251 votes (25 percent). Ludtke was a close third with 237 votes and Geving earned 170.

At the candidate’s forum held at the Event Center prior to the election, both mayoral candidates and all four council candidates had to find ways to differentiate themselves amidst very similar answers when it came to what main issues are in Frazee.

Attracting more businesses and more housing were the key issues in the race.

Daggett made key statements regarding the differences between affordable housing and low-income housing equating to taxpayer-assisted housing and his desire for Frazee’s goal to be to attract market-rate rentals and actual home ownership.

He also made a concerted effort to want to be the voice of families and individuals, while having experience working with tight budgets and finding creative ways around governmental bureaucracy. A proponent of Wannigan Regional Park, he gave a unique assessment of how the area’s natural resources that were the basis for establishing Frazee had come full-circle to provide for the community again. His messages obviously resonated with voters and it would be difficult not to mention the aid to his cause of having the most recognizable last name in town and the positive history that goes with it.

County 

Commissioner Dist. 3

The retirement announcement of District 3 County Commissioner John Okeson last summer opened up one of three spots on the Becker board this year.

District 3 consists of Holmesville, Erie, Burlington and Lakeview townships, including the City of Frazee.

Phil Hansen defeated Terry L. Mackner by earning 55 percent of the vote (2,191) to Mackner’s 1,782 votes (45 percent).

Hansen was a highly-recognizable candidate from his years playing football at NDSU and in the NFL, along with being very active in the community refereeing high school sporting events, serving as the Pelican River Watershed District Manager, the Lakeview Township Supervisor and an active member of the county’s Recreational Advisory committee.

He attended multiple Frazee City Council meetings down the stretch of his campaign to get a feel for the issues that are important in town and nearby townships.

The two other incumbents will both return to the board in 225. 

District 5 Commissioner Barry Nelson won handily over challenger Jack Heisler gaining 68 percent of the vote.

District 4 could have been flipped by the eight write-in votes as incumbent Richard Vareberg held his seat by six votes defeating Donald Skarie 1,755-1,749.

School board seats three

There was little competition for the three open seats and four-year terms on the Frazee-Vergas school board given there were only three candidates: incumbents Mike Frank, Tyler Trieglaff and newcomer Ashley Mohn.

Prior to the election, the seat Mohn will take was opened up by the resignation of Chair Kimberly Antonsen, who stepped down to take over the Early Childhood Family Education program at the elementary school.

Both Frank and Trieglaff will serve their second terms.

Mohn ran on 15 years of experience in education. She earned a graduate degree in social work from Augsburg, worked as a psychotherapist with a focus on pediatric patients. Given her experience, her thoughts on the most important issue at school center around “whole child health.”

She also stated she wants to lead the way in attracting more students to the district and the importance of creating a sense of belonging.

Editor’s note: The Forum will have features on both mayors and select winning candidates in upcoming issues.