by Dennis Dalman
Sartell City Council member Ryan Fitzthum announced May 15 he will seek the position of mayor.
The current mayor, Sarah Jane Nicoll, announced recently she will not file for re-election. Another contender for the mayor’s position is David Peterson, also a member of the council.
Fitzthum is now serving his second year on the council. He is a graduate of Sartell High School, a parent, an employer and a firefighter. He is also now in his fifth year on the Sartell/Le Sauk Joint Planning Commission. Previously, he served six years on the Sartell Planning Commission. Now in his 10th year as a firefighter, he serves as a captain.
Among the committees he served on are the United Way Campaign Committee and the Sartell Schools Facilities Committee.
After Nicoll chose not to file for re-election, Fitzthum began to ponder a run, but he said it was a tough decision, partly because his wife gave birth to a third daughter last December, and the family leads such a busy life.
However, he decided to toss his hat in the ring after many Sartell residents urged him to run.
“At the end of the day,” Fitzthum said in his announcement, “we reflected back on why we and so many others have decided to call Sartell home. With those reasons in mind, the decision was simple. I needed to put all the effort possible into ensuring Sartell’s success and do the best I could do as mayor.”
Fitzthum is manager of the Sartell office of CH Robinson, a Fortune 200 company that provides third-party logistics and consulting services worldwide. The Sartell office employs 97 people.
Fitzthum said that as mayor he would remain committed to the success of the city and its sustainability and that his years of community service and public-service qualifications would be good attributes for mayor.
“The future council and mayor,” he said, “will be faced with making significant decisions which will impact current and future residents for decades to come.”
For that reason, Fitzthum said it is vital to engage all Sartell residents in the city-planning process.
Ryan Fitzthum
