By Robert Williams

Editor

Erik Anderson was elected Frazee’s new mayor to replace Mike Sharp this coming January and will operate with the same city council after James Rader and Andrea Froeber were reelected to their two respective council seats on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Anderson received 314 votes to Shon Bachleitner’s 168, garnering nearly 65 percent of the vote in Frazee. Election night was spent with family and friends staying up until the results were reported.

“I wasn’t shocked; I knew I had a lot of supporters in town, but Shon put his best foot forward and he applied,” said Anderson. “I can’t fault him for that. He wants to improve the city, as well, and I’m hoping I can lean on him. You don’t have to be mayor to do some of the things he was talking about.”

Much like James Stenger’s victory as mayor of Vergas, Anderson brings a youthful movement to city hall and he is hoping to expand upon that during his time in office.

“I think it’s really important to any city to bring in the next generation,” said Anderson. “If we’re going to continue to grow and be successful I think you need to get the next generation involved early and that definitely has been missing the last five to 10 years. It’s definitely a focus area – getting more engagement and more involvement from the 40, 30, 20-year-old crowd. Fresh ideas, fresh perspectives, it’s the next generation coming up so we should have them involved in some of the decision making.”

The races between the two towns were quite different with Frazee voters having a choice between two candidates and Stenger facing off against what ended up being 15 write-ins.

“When the people have a choice, I think that’s really important, especially in small towns where it’s sometimes hard to get engagement and you’ve got one option and you take it or leave it,” said Anderson. “It was good to have a competitor in the race and I hope I can take Shon up on things he wanted to do for the city.”

Anderson is also looking forward to working with an experienced city council.

“I’ve worked with them for the past two years when Drew Daggett and Mark Kemper were elected and previous to that, as well,” said Anderson. “We’re all familiar with each other. I know that this council will get things done. I’m excited about that. I think the City of Frazee chose well for this election for the council members.”

Two existing projects are key to the success of Frazee in the near future and Anderson has been a part of both: Wannigan Regional Park and the Turnkey Solutions & Development apartment complex led by Vice President Jason Francis.

“I hope to hit the ground running; I really want to see that turnkey apartment project come together,” Anderson said.

He has already been involved in the project via the planning and zoning committee.

“I really want to drive that forward and keep our foot on the gas with that,” he said. “We’re really lucky Jason wants to do business in town. He sees a good investment opportunity and I hope more developers will see that, as well. We need housing and I hope those apartments fill up quickly and I’d be alright with him building another one or somebody else stepping up and trying somewhere else.”

Anderson believes the biggest driver in Frazee is Wannigan Regional Park. 

“The tourism generated by the park is huge; 37,000 visitors annually—that’s a huge shot in the arm for the existing businesses downtown and it’s also a great reason for new businesses to move,” he said. 

Anderson is a 2005 Frazee graduate and earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of North Dakota. 

Currently, he is a General Manager at Daggett Truck Line, the Frazee Community Development Corporation (FCDC) Treasurer, Chair of the Parks & Rec committee and a Planning and Zoning committee member.

He discussed moving back to his hometown at the October Candidate Forum when he relocated in 2020 with his wife and seven children.

“From the time I moved back I’ve been heavily involved in the community,” said Anderson. “I’m passionate about Frazee. I’m really excited to see additional improvements. We’ve got some great momentum built up and I think I can do some real things to be an awesome mayor.”

The new mayor also wants to see more community contributions to benefit Frazee.

“If we had some more engagement from the community in a lot of the things that are happening we would see huge improvements in town,” he said.

Anderson spoke about expanding the housing footprint in Frazee to aid in easing the tax burden on existing homeowners and how it’s another big opportunity for local businesses.

“Those businesses need local residents, as well,” he said. “If we can increase our population and add residents to support the business through the winter – that’s huge.”

Anderson cited the housing crisis in Frazee as the most pressing issue, also noting the median household income in Frazee is $47,000.

Frazee’s mayors typically serve a four-year term. Sharp replaced Mark Flemmer after he resigned 22 months into his term of office.

Council seats the same

Rader, Frazee’s current Vice Mayor, cruised to reelection hitting nearly 40 percent of the vote with 314 to lead all candidates. 

Froeber’s 178 were just 20 votes more than Tyler “Mouse” King (158), who led all challengers to the two incumbents, despite running a quiet campaign and not appearing at the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum in mid-October. 

Froeber has been a big proponent for ordinance enforcement since joining the council in 2022 and began serving in 2023.

Peggy Moltzan (113 votes) and Ryan Majerus (70) rounded out the field.

Frazee Mayor

(Name, Votes, Percentage)

Erik Anderson 314 64.74 percent

Shon Bachleitner 168 34.64 percent

WRITE-IN 3 0.62 percent

Frazee City Council

James W. Rader 326 38.35 percent

Andrea Froeber 178 20.94 percent

Tyler “Mouse” King 158 18.59 percent

Peggy Moltzan 112 13.18 percent

Ryan Majerus 70 8.24 percent

WRITE-IN 6 0.71 percent