by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
City staff and police received high praise from the Sartell City Council at its Feb. 27 meeting for their handling of State Rep. Tom Emmer’s recent town-hall appearance at city hall.
On that evening, the Republican hosted a town-hall meeting, and several hundred people showed up, many of them upset or concerned by the policies of the President Trump administration. There was room in the council chambers of city hall for only about 150 of the people who came to have a question-answer session with Emmer.
There were no incidents of nastiness or violence at the meeting such as those that have occurred at other town-hall meetings throughout the nation recently. People stayed calm and considerate of one another.
Council members Ryan Fitzthum and Mike Chisum, along with Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll, praised the city workers for doing excellent pre-planning for the event, for maintaining a police presence just in case and for everyone keeping level heads.
“I’m really proud of the staff for a job well done,” Nicoll said.