by Dennis Dalman
by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
In November, Brady Andel lost his bid for election to the Sartell City Council, but as of Jan. 14 he will take a place on the council, anyway.
That’s because at a special Jan. 7 city-council meeting, members agreed to appoint Andel to fill a vacancy on the council rather than conduct another election. Andel received the third highest number of votes in the Nov. 6 election among the four candidates who were competing for two open seats. The two council seat winners were Tim Elness and Jeff Kolb. Besides Andel, Barika Davis also vied for a council seat.
In the election, Elness received 3,571 votes; Kolb 3,205; Andel 3,016 and Davis 1,804.
Sartell City Administrator Mary Degiovanni said Andel was contacted about the council’s decison and has agreed to accept the appointment to the council.
Also in the Nov. 6 election, then-council member Ryan Fitzthum was elected as the city’s new mayor, defeating mayoral contender David Peterson, also a council member at that time. Those two candidates decided to file for the position when Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll announced she would not seek re-election.
Because mayor-elect Fitzthum still had close to two years on his four-year council-member term, it was necessary to fill that vacancy with another person. The council, at its Jan. 7 meeting, decided Andel should be appointed because the council had previously filled vacancies that same way – appointed the next-highest vote-getter from the previous election.
Just before the special council meeting of Jan. 7, Mayor Fitzthum and council members Elness and Kolb took the oath of office so they could help conduct city business, including the appointment of Andel. All members, including Andel, will be formally sworn in during a ceremony at the Jan. 14 meeting.
The council is now comprised of the new mayor, Fitzthum; council member Mike Chisum (elected for a four-year term in 2016); and the three new ones – Andel, Elness, Kolb. Another previous member, Pat Lynch, chose not to file again for the Nov. 6 election.
Andel
Raised in Foley, Brady Andel, who has lived in Sartell for close to 18 years, is an agency owner for Armstrong Transportation Group, a transportation logistics company whose headquarters are in Charlotte, N.C. Andel earned a degree in business administration and management in 2001 from St. Cloud State University. For 10 years, Andel was an accounts manager for CH Robinson, another transportation logistics company for which Sartell’s new mayor, Ryan Fitzthum, also works as branch manager.
Brady Andel
