By Robert Williams

Editor

Vergas’ Mayor-Elect Dwight Lundgren brings decades of experience working for multiple cities in Minnesota and a desire to increase communication when he takes over the position in January.

“I get along with people; I’m pretty much an open book,” he said. “What you see is what you get. If I tell you something, that’s what I know. I’m not beating around the bush. If I don’t know the answer I will tell you and I’ll talk to somebody that does.”

Lundgren campaigned door-to-door and heard what residents had for top concerns and managed to defeat Mayor Julie Bruhn by a very slim margin of 10 votes 118-108 with five write-ins.

Getting on the ballot was something that was not part of his retirement plan.

Actually, it wasn’t even a thought in my head,” he said. “I retired from city work after 25 years altogether,” Lundgren said.

A visit from friend Marcia Huddleston gave the idea some spark.

“She and my wife were talking and I was just sitting there listening and then she asked me questions about the city,” Lundgren said.

Lundgren had answers given his lengthy history of working for municipalities

Lundgren’s answers to have you ever thought of running for mayor were no and maybe.

“I thought about it a while and filing was only a few days away so I threw in my two bucks and jumped in,” he said. “I went around and knocked on doors with a 4×4 flier and asked them to vote for me.”

Feedback from potential constituents was varied with a few key issues that were common, but not a surprise.

“Tons of them, the railroad, taxes and downtown,” Lundgren said. “Growth in the city is something that everyone wants but a lot of them aren’t sure what they want. The problem with Vergas: the area that is open for development is all hills and lakes. The stuff that is good for development is owned by farmers and they won’t part. That’s farmland; they’re making a living off that. I can see their point.”

Lundgren is preparing for the turnover coming in January and examining the workings of Vergas committees and processes.

“Right now, I’m putting together information about the town through the city office and city employees and seeing how everything works, but my biggest concern is communications, he said. “There is a lack of communication in all small towns and I’m hoping to bridge that.”

While there is always a desire to see more retail businesses in Vergas, Lundgren also likes the idea of finding a way to create an industrial park utilizing for County Roads 4 and 60 as connections to U.S. Highway 10. Open land near J&K Marine is one place he considers ideal for smaller industries to locate but its residential zoning status is in the way. 

Finding land and the first company to move to Vergas, along with timely management of the village’s infrastructure to meet increased demand are all difficult variables.

“Our wastewater system and expanding that to meet any additional usage – I think every small town has that same problem,” he said. “They build the system with 20 or 30 percent excess capacity. But in a town like Vergas, that probably filled up in 4-5 years with people moving in and building in the additions in town and everything.”

Lundgren was heavily involved in the first addition to Perham’s wastewater system during his time there, which has seen a second addition since then to cope with growth.

Lundgren also wants to open a dialogue with surrounding towns to work together for the common good. He has attended coalition meetings with members of those towns.

“Dent is looking at us as an example of what they can do to improve themselves; which is good,” said Lundgren. “Whatever we can do to help Dent or Frazee is great because we have a coalition of cities that are working together. We can do a whole lot more than what we can do by ourselves. That’s one of the tricks – you get each town to cooperate. Each one has something to offer that’s different from the others.”

Lundgren is a native of Frazee; he was a graduate of the Class of 1968. 

“When I was a kid I used to deliver milk on Saturdays to Vergas with Frazee Creamery,” he said.

Lundgren joined the Marine Corps for three years after high school spending 17 months in Vietnam.

“It was different; I usually don’t talk about it a whole lot,” he said. “I would do it again the same way. I wouldn’t change anything. It was an experience and I’m glad I did it.”

He married his first wife who was from Two Harbors and worked for the City of Two Harbors for four years. 

He quit that job to go to school to study accounting and auto mechanics and did not find either to be something he wanted to pursue. He divorced and moved back to the area and met his second wife Sue Ulschmid, a former secretary at the school and longtime employee of United Community Bank in Perham. Sue passed away in 2014. She and Lundgren were married 37 years.

Lundgren worked various jobs before taking a position with the City of Perham, where he worked for 20 years, retiring as the Public Works Director in 1997.

“I was still a youngster; retired at 56 or 57 the first time. My problem was I started doing stuff that cost money. Then I had to go back to work to make money to pay for that stuff,” Lundgren laughed.

He drove for Daggett Trucking, did construction and worked for Foltz Trucking in Detroit Lakes for another 15 years, retiring again after each job.

“Jack of all trades, master of none; that’s what my dad always said,” Lundgren said.

The end of his career driving for Foltz and Ol’ Man Winter were what caused Lundgren to finally consider retiring for real.

“I got stuck in Canada just before Thanksgiving, two weeks in a row, in blizzards,” he said. “When I got back to Foltz I took my keys, ‘there you go, Frank,’ and I went home.,”

In addition to Two Harbors and Perham, Lundgren also had a stint working for the City of Park Rapids.

“I did just about everything from being mayor to city manager,” he said.