by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
At his last city-council meeting, member Steve Hennes was praised warmly by his fellow council members for his many years of service to help make Sartell a successful, thriving city.
The Dec. 13 meeting was the last of Hennes’s meetings as he prepares to launch his retirement in the new year.
The other council member who recently resigned is Amy Braig-Lindstrom, who had to leave her council position when her family bought a new home in St. Joseph.
“Thanks for your time here – your time and your talents,” said Sartell Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll, who also said, “I’ve greatly enjoyed working and serving with you for the past six years. . . . Many generations will be impacted by decisions you have made.”
Council member Pat Lynch also thanked Hennes, noting he never let his policy differences with other council members turn into personal animosities.
Lynch and current council member David Peterson were elected in the same election as Hennes was first elected, in 2006. Peterson and new council member Ryan Fitzthum also thanked Hennes for his service.
Born and raised in Little Falls, Hennes served a tour of duty in Vietnam. Later, he worked for many years as the director of the Whitney Senior Center in St. Cloud. He, his wife Wendy and their children moved to Sartell in 1974. After being thanked, Hennes addressed his fellow council members. In 1974, there were only about 1,200 people living in Sartell whose population now hovers around 17,000. One of the first things Hennes helped do when he moved to Sartell was to start the local Jaycees organization, one of whose mottos, Hennes said, he has long believed in – that service to humanity is the best work anybody can do in life.
Two years after he was first elected, Hennes noted, the national recession hit hard, putting many people, including the City of Sartell, in “survival mode.” And yet, despite those hard times, the city continued to grow then as it does now, he added.
Hennes said he is proud of Sartell for its many parks and trails, its unique new downtown area known as Town Square in south Sartell, its community center now under construction, and the 300 newly-added acres of parkland during the past decade: Sauk River Regional Park and Pinecone Central Park.
Hennes was always a strong supporter and advocate for parks, trails, green spaces and lots of trees.
He also strongly supported building a community center using local regional sales-tax revenue. He, along with council members Nicoll and Lynch, voted to place the community center in south Sartell without a branch library. That decision caused a controversy that has lasted for nearly two years among some Sartell residents who voiced strong disagreements with those three council members.
In the past 10 years, Hennes said he is also pleased with other strengths of the city: a new water plant built, Roberts Road extension, roundabouts, new businesses, multi-family developments (including those that allow older residents to move from their homes to smaller, easier-to-manage living units), strong public works, and excellent police and fire departments.
“I’m very proud to live in Sartell,” he said, “and I know Mike (Chisum) and Ryan (Fitzthum), newly-elected council members, will be great additions to the council.”
Hennes, who retired from his Whitney Center job years ago, said he is willing and eager to help out with upcoming Sartell projects, especially with any new amenities that may be added to the Town Square “downtown” area of Sartell.
