By Robert Williams

Editor

James Stenger moved back to Vergas, volunteered on multiple city committees, got elected to the city council and last Tuesday became the village’s mayor in an uncontested race.

Stenger received 156 votes (90.70 percent) for mayor against 16 write-in votes. Stenger will replace Julie Bruhn, who took over mayoral duties in July of 2025 from then-mayor Dwight Lundgren—who stepped down for health reasons. Bruhn was also the Vergas mayor from 2021-24.

“I’m excited,” Stenger said. “I’ve had some chances and already done it as acting mayor, so that kind of gave me a taste of it with some things. It’ll be interesting and I’m very excited to dive into it.”

Stenger was elected to city council in 2025 and over the two years he has seen opportunities for increased communication and efficiency.

“Over the last few years, I’ve really learned that we need to pull back the community a little bit,” Stenger said. “I feel that we need to be able to talk to people about problems and we need to be able to go to the person and have a conversation with them and understand the issue instead of throwing the rule book at people and understanding what the issues are and then actually following through with stuff.”

Government action, big or small, can be a slow process, something that Stenger has seen enough of in just two years.

“That has been one of the biggest frustrations,” he said. “We still talk about stuff at city council meetings that we talked about at our first meeting that I’ve been a part of. I do not want to have these conversations anymore. I don’t even care at this point; we just need to move on. Can we just have a different conversation? Kind of buttoning up some of that stuff and being able to have some of those little harder conversations that I think people have just put off for so long. I just feel this could be solved so much easier if we just actually had some of those hard conversations.”

Stenger cited the recent discussions on if the ski team could store their dock at Long Lake Park—a decision that took months and frustrated council members, the city attorney and the ski team representatives.

“We should not have been dealing with that for three months,” he said. 

Ironically, the first place discussed on where to store the dock ended up being the place the dock is being stored. 

With two new faces in Alex Ohman and Paul Haarstick joining the council, Stenger is hoping to pick up the pace of local government.

“I think that’s going to be a huge switch for the town already,” Stenger said. “We have a very young council right now. We will have a very different view of it and I think it’s kind of an interesting take on it where this really is a future of Vergas situation. We have rolled back a long way to bring the next group of people up and I’m hoping that brings more people in and we have actual races where we have multiple people that are passionate about it and want to be a part of that. I think that’s what we need. We need some big turnover to really change it up.”

Speaking to Stenger for only a few minutes makes it obvious how much he cares about Vergas and his story about growing up here, leaving and moving back all orbit those feelings. Add to that a boisterous personality and a lot of confidence and Vergas has a new leader with a new perspective.

“I’m not afraid to ruffle some feathers; I’m passionate about things and I try to know what I’m talking about before I speak and I feel like I’ve done a good job of justifying that in my decisions and views on things,” he said. 

Stenger was featured in the Forum in December of 2024 upon being elected to the city council at the age of 36.

He grew up on Long Lake and attended Perham High School, graduating in 2006. He left town to work in Fergus Falls and Fargo before returning in 2022.

“I wanted to be closer to my family and I had the opportunity to buy my grandparent’s house here in Vergas,” Stenger said.

Stenger’s face was more popular than his name at the time of the city council election due to bartending at Billy’s Corner Bar & Grill.

Stenger jumped right into joining the Event Center Advisory Board, Community Club, the Parks Board and was one of the founding members of the Vergas Arts Club. He has also been the acting mayor in Bruhn’s absence and serves with her on the Budget committee.

Currently, he serves on the Liquor Store/Municipal Building/License board and personnel committee.

He immersed himself in Vergas government because when he moved back it was not a flight of fancy. It was a permanent plan.

“I’m not moving; this is where I’m going to be,” he said. “I despise moving and backing so I’m going to stay in my house for the rest of my life so I might as well make some decisions around here.”

Stenger has not worked directly with either of the two new council members but is familiar with both men.

“I’ve seen Alex’s work with the planning commission and Paul works with the liquor store and does our website and a bunch of our tech stuff and I’ve known Paul a long time because we grew up in Vergas,” said Stenger. 

Ohman and Haarstick received 142 and 122 votes, respectively, for the two open council seats. The duo will replace outgoing former mayors on the council Dean Haarstick and Paul Pinke.  The two share similar paths of employment. Paul is the Director of Operations at First Lutheran Church in Detroit Lakes and Alex is the Pastor at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pelican Rapids.

Bruce Albright is the lone returning member to the board with Stenger replacing Bruhn, which will leave Stenger’s former seat vacant.

According to the League of Minnesota Cities, upon notification of vacancy, the remaining council members must pass a resolution to declare the seat vacant.

Once declared, the council must consider interested and qualified residents and appoint an eligible person to fill the vacancy. 

Cities may advertise the opening, require an application, or request letters of interest. However, appointments may also be made informally based on individuals the council already knows to be interested in the position. If the council (or a quorum or committee of the council) conducts the interviews, the open meeting law applies.

Most vacancies are filled by appointment until the next regular city election. A special election is required if the city has an ordinance mandating it, or if more than two years remain in the term and the vacancy occurs before the filing period opened for the next council election begins.

Vergas Mayor

(Candidate, Votes, Percent)

James Stenger 156 90.70 percent

WRITE-IN 16 9.30 percent

Vergas City Council 

Alex Ohman 142 49.31 percent

Paul Haarstick 122 42.36 percent

WRITE-IN 24 8.33 percent

Otter Tail County

County Commissioner District 2   

Wayne D. Johnson 2,966 52.18 percent

Jeff Gontarek 2,710 47.68 percent

WRITE-IN 8 0.14 percent

County Commissioner District 4   

Jim Stewart 3,405 62.68 percent

Stephen Springer 2,008 36.97 percent

WRITE-IN 19 0.35 percent

County Sheriff   

Reed Reinbold 16,408 61.03 percent

Terry Frost 10,413 38.73 percent

WRITE-IN 65 0.24 percent

County Attorney

Michelle Eldien 23,395 99.45 percent

WRITE-IN 130 0.55 percent

Soil and Water Supervisor District 2 (East)   

Ed Delaney 5,926 53.56 percent

Alisyn Keil 5,110 46.19 percent

WRITE-IN 28 0.25 percent

Soil and Water Supervisor District 3 (East)   

Lyle E. Dittmann 10,466 99.57 percent

WRITE-IN 45 0.43 percent

Soil and Water Supervisor District 1 (West)   

David L. Johnson 13,085 99.55 percent

WRITE-IN 59 0.45 percent

Soil and Water Supervisor District 2 (West)   

Richard E. Drevlow 13,092 99.67 percent

WRITE-IN 43 0.33 percent