by Dennis Dalman
Sartell now has a new Fire Chief, Brent Ambuehl, and a new Director of Public Works, Bartt Gevens.
Both men started their jobs on June 2. They will be officially sworn in at the June 23 Sartell City Council meeting.
Gevens
A Sartell resident, Gevens served previously as recreation-services manager for the city of Becker and since 2024 has served on the Sartell Parks Commission.
For many months, Sartell City Administrator Anna Gruber served as interim public-works director. Before that, Lisa Vollbrecht held that position. She was hired in February 2024 and then resigned about six month later. Before Vollbrecht, John Kothenbeutel was the city’s public-works director for 30 years.
“Bartt Gevens is committed to continuing the proud tradition of delivering high-quality Public Works services to Sartell,” said the city’s Public Engagement Director Nikki Sweeter in a message to the media. “His focus is to build on the dedication and hard work of those who have served before him, and he looks forward to serving the community with excellence and innovation.”
Sweeter said Gevens intends to focus on high-quality service delivery that puts residents’ needs and concerns uppermost in his mind, thus enhancing the quality of life for all people living in Sartell.
Outside of work, Gevens enjoys spending time with his family and supporting them in all their activities. He’s also an avid outdoorsman and at one time was an equipment manager of the St. Cloud State University’s Huskies football team.
As Public Works director, Gevens will perform complex professional work supervising and coordinating the overall daily operations of the Public Works Department. Those tasks include overseeing the construction, maintenance and repair of the city’s infrastructure, including its streets, storm-and-sanitary sewer systems, water and wastewater systems, parks and municipal grounds, among many other duties.
Ambuehl
Before his new job, Brent Ambuehl was the assistant fire chief for the Little Falls Fire Department and also worked in the medical sector for the military Camp Ripley by Little Falls. He has had 20 years of experience as a firefighter for that city.
He will take the Sartell job formerly held by Peter Kedrowski who resigned last year to become the deputy fire chief for the St. Cloud Fire Department. After Kedrowski resigned, firefighter Lucas Dingmann served as the interim fire chief.
In addition to his firefighting and Camp Ripley work, Ambuehl also served in the Minnesota Army National Guard for 22 years before retiring from active duty four years ago. In the Guard, he was a medical warehouse-operations manager coordinating and managing medical equipment set-ups for deployments and stateside operations.
Ambuehl graduated from the U.S. Army Medical Material Agency’s Medical Logistics Management Internship program. In 2014-15 he was deployed as the senior noncommissioned officer and senior enlisted advisor for a medical company station on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Ambuehl attended Central Lakes College from 1997 to 1999 where he earned an associate’s degree in diesel mechanics technology.
Brent Ambuehl is the new chief of the Sartell Fire Department.
Bartt Geven is Sartell’s newly hired director of Public Works.
