[0:10] Hey, coming to you with another edition of Mayor About Town. I am Mayor Andrew Mullen and we have a great show today

[0:16] featuring the legacy mayors uh Wayne Fatten, Barry Pettit, Andrew Humphrey,

[0:22] and Ken Wilcox. Uh there are seven living mayors uh in the city of Weisetta

[0:27] and we have five of them here today. 25 mayors since the late 1920s. Um and so

[0:33] uh first I'd like to introduce uh Mayor Wayne Faden. He was elected in 1968

[0:39] serving through 1974. If you'd just like to, you know, sort of introduce yourself and give give a

[0:44] little background. Hi, I'm Wayne Feden, as the mayor said, and I'm happy to be here and I'm happy

[0:50] you got this group together, mayor. Uh, I was a three-term mayor, almost

[0:57] three terms, uh, back when Weisetta was small and much different than it is

[1:05] today and a lot less expensive back in those days. Um,

[1:11] I kind of backed into being a mayor. Uh, I was city manager before and I when I

[1:17] left the city management, I went into private business with no thought in mind of being mayor of Weisetta.

[1:25] But I had a call one day, one night from some local businessmen,

[1:32] former friends. No, I'm just kidding. Uh, who wanted to have lunch with me at Wise Country Club, which I did because I

[1:39] was curious what they wanted. not thinking that they wanted me to talk that they wanted to talk to me about

[1:45] being mayor. Well, that's what they wanted to talk to me about. And I left the way out of country club after a

[1:51] couple hour discussion uh agreeing to run for mayor. Uh I did and I did for

[1:57] three terms unopposed, which was comfortable. Um and uh and I had a wonderful time

[2:05] doing it. I had good friends on the city council. there was not a bad city councilman during the tenure that I was

[2:11] there. U and most of them were there for the same tenure that I was there. Um so

[2:19] it was it was a pleasure and I look back with fond memories about a number of

[2:25] things that took place and uh I I guess I'll have a chance to talk about those at a later time.

[2:31] You will? Yeah. Okay. Next up is Barry Pettit. He was elected in 1996 serving through 2004. Barry,

[2:38] you'd like to introduce yourself to reintroduce yourself? Well, I am Barry Pett.

[2:43] Uh, you know, I'm I'm looking at all these questions that we're going to be as Is this the camera up here? Asked to

[2:48] answer and so I'll be interested when they come around because I'm trying to figure something there. But, uh, I was

[2:55] on the council, planning commission council, did that kind of stuff. And then Gizwald, who preeded me, uh,

[3:02] decided not to run. And that's how I got involved, just coming off the council and doing that. Next, I'd like to introduce Andrew

[3:08] Humphrey. He was elected in 2004, serving through 2008. He is the only fatherson mayor combination in the

[3:16] history of Weisetta. So, Andrew, welcome. And maybe say a few words. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh it's really fun

[3:21] to be here. It's uh really a highlight. Um I was uh really honored to serve as

[3:28] mayor. I've served on the council before and planning commission before and got

[3:33] involved in it. My parents moved here when my mom was uh pregnant with me uh from San Francisco and they both got

[3:40] very involved in the community including uh my dad uh joining the council and and

[3:46] mayor and so it was really instilled in me when we moved back to Weisetta uh and

[3:53] there was the opportunity to get involved. It was kind of something that I' I'd grown up with and it was a real

[3:58] real priv privilege. Thanks, Andrew. Um, next I'd like to introduce uh Mr. Ken Wilcox, who was

[4:04] elected in 2008 for mayor, but had a tenure before that, uh, serving through

[4:10] 2020, and I had the privilege of serving alongside Ken for eight of my council years. Ken, if you'd like to just say a

[4:16] few introductory words. Well, thank you, Andrew. And, uh, it's great to be here. It is is kind of fun.

[4:21] Uh because the my time on the council before I was mayor, I was sitting like this with Andrew as the mayor. And so

[4:29] this is like old times, just in in close proximity, which is kind of fun. Um,

[4:35] yeah, I I had no uh particular ambition to be mayor, but when Andrew Humphrey uh

[4:41] had to leave because of his uh business requirements, uh I was sort of the next guy up and I

[4:48] said, "Well, okay." You know, and so I had to convince you. Well, we we talked we talked, but that's

[4:57] kind of how you you do But I mean, I don't know anyone here that's particularly had an ambition to be

[5:03] mayor. You just sort of it it evolves and and suddenly you are one, you know.

[5:08] So anyway, it's good to be here. Thank you. Maybe I'll I'll stick stick with you, uh, Mayor Will Cox, you know,

[5:14] thinking back to your, you know, 12 years of service as mayor, what were some of the challenges that you faced

[5:19] during that tenure of 12 years? Well, unlike uh Wayne who had nothing

[5:25] but great council members working with him, we had occasional odd odd odd ones.

[5:31] So So those were the ch those were the challenges, you know, when you when you have to hire a psychiatrist to help work

[5:37] with the work with the council, you know, you record that was not me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no one here. No

[5:44] one here. In fact, the biggest challenge was uh for me which which really led to

[5:49] all kinds of things was the recession in 20089. Uh and that triggered an awful lot of

[5:56] things that we did with the council after that and those were the challenges. Yeah. Mayor Humphrey, how about during

[6:01] your term? What what were some of the big challenges that that you faced during your tenure? Um, I just want to

[6:07] comment on that last comment because Ken and I got together uh the first couple years he was mayor for coffee

[6:13] periodically and the standard uh line was he would say I'm still mad at you

[6:19] because I left and then the recession hit and he had to deal with it and did it masterfully. But uh um you know I

[6:26] think when when I came on um the the city was uh pretty

[6:34] divided. There was a strong anti-development group that I think was pretty suspicious of a lot of what

[6:42] government was doing and a lot of uh you know people that you know didn't want

[6:49] any growth to happen and that was that was a hard thing to navigate um and hard

[6:55] thing I think to um you know hopefully reestablish some trust um during that process.

[7:02] Yeah. Thank you. Uh, Mayor Pettit, so tell me about, you know, in your eight

[7:07] years and two terms, you know, what what were some of the biggest challenges that you and your council faced?

[7:15] I'm thinking the biggest the biggest thing that we the biggest challenge we had was uh the big woods deal and it was

[7:24] complicated and um emotional to be sure.

[7:29] Um, and I don't think it exactly went the way that I wish it would have, but

[7:34] um, but it was it was it was it was an interesting it was an interesting uh

[7:40] point in time and u and every once you know it is it's fascinating you you

[7:46] reflect back on things and I you're always under the the assumption if you said the right thing at the right moment

[7:53] could you have changed outcome? And I think one of the liabilities I've

[7:58] always had is I've never been quick on my feet. And I think it's probably the architecture deal because you sit down

[8:04] and you do stuff, you know, you get how do you do this? You don't have to come up with quick answers. Not like a great

[8:10] attorney where you better be fast because it's it really is so much of what you do. Uh and so I reflect on that

[8:16] a lot. I think God, you know, I know I could have changed the outcome with a couple different different ways of view.

[8:22] But so but that's that's for me. Yeah. Mayor Faden, uh you know, what what would you consider the greatest

[8:27] challenge that you faced uh with your council in your tenure? Well, it's I thought about this a lot

[8:34] because there were a couple of things, but one in particular was uh the highway

[8:39] department, the Minnesota Highway Department came in and wanted to bypass Highway 12 around Weisetta.

[8:46] Um, prior to that, all the traffic from from Minneapolis,

[8:51] uh, commuter traffic went down either Highway 12 through Wisetta or down Main Street, right?

[8:56] And that was a lot of traffic back in those days. And so, uh, the highway department came in, presented a plan to

[9:04] bypass around Weisetta, which became somewhat controversial primarily with the business community

[9:12] because there was concern on their part that if all the traffic was bypassed the

[9:18] town, they would not get the business they were getting from people stopping on their way home from work or going the

[9:25] way to work. Well, in in in hindsight now, uh it was the best thing that ever

[9:30] happened to the retail community because it got traffic off there and it it

[9:36] allowed for people to come into town to do the business that they wanted them to do. So, uh, we had a number of meetings

[9:44] on that with the Chamber of Commerce, with other groups here in in the the old

[9:50] city hall. And, and, uh, the end result was it worked out very well. We had to replace

[9:59] uh, five or six houses, one of which was my mother and dad's house. Uh, and it worked out fine for them

[10:05] because they were able to take the house they had and move it to a different location. And uh so there were some of

[10:12] those kind of issues involved with it, but it it turned out well. And Mayor Fton, you you actually born

[10:18] and your whole life have lived in Weisetta 91 years young. I was born in a house that no longer

[10:24] exists on Barry Avenue. Okay. And so yes, I've been here all my life. Uh I was gone twice, once in the

[10:31] military and and once a corporate moved to Denver. But other than that, I've lived here

[10:38] uh which is a long time and I've been very blessed. It's amazing. Maybe uh coming back to

[10:44] Mayor Humphrey here for a moment, you know, as you think back to your tenure, like what's your proudest accomplishment as as mayor um you know, during your

[10:51] time? Uh well, I think I I say this somewhat

[10:56] jokingly, but I mentioned earlier getting Ken to uh run uh really I think

[11:02] had a huge impact. I really mean that and in part I say that because the time

[11:08] uh when you started your term your 12 years was such not the not only the recession happened but it ties into what

[11:16] I guess is my proudest accomplishment which was to help shepherd in the

[11:21] approval of the Presbyterian Homes development which uh we approved it at

[11:26] 2:30 in the morning on in December of 2007. I mean, after like five or seven

[11:32] hours of debate and testimony on a 3-2 vote. Um, and I think like most

[11:38] things that many of us have been involved in. Um, I'm so glad that you're

[11:44] living there now, Wayne. That makes me happy. But, uh, it it's a big, uh,

[11:49] development and, uh, it, you know, ideally would have been a little less massive. Maybe there have been some

[11:56] design changes, but it has served such a purpose in and of itself, but it's also

[12:02] provided for so many things that have happened over the next 20 years. Um,

[12:09] most of which can got accomplished. But I remember a Lakeshore weekly news when

[12:15] I think we were on the council together. The reporter had attended a workshop and

[12:20] had drawn this complicated like knot this ball with just all these these

[12:27] interrelated challenges. um how to how to deal with the gas station uh that

[12:33] used to be on the corner of Superior, how to straighten out Superior, how to move the MUN, um how to replace, you

[12:40] know, the the old base center that needed replaced, how to then get parking on Mil Street, how to get a park, which

[12:48] was Ken's really uh thing that he pushed for from a very early uh stage, you

[12:54] know, onto uh you know, onto the lake. And then that set the you know the u

[13:00] vision for panway. So so much of what was accomplished

[13:06] that that was the predicate for it and um I feel you know I'm I'm glad to have

[13:11] been a part of that. You know I might I might add that that meeting when we approved press homes at

[13:17] 2:30 in the morning uh there were too many people who wanted to speak. So we couldn't have it here. We had it at the

[13:23] school over here. And so we were in the gymnasium, right? And the uh the press

[13:28] was all there, the local media were all there. And uh after the vote was taken and people were starting to to leave,

[13:34] they wanted interviews with with people. And and one of the people that was there

[13:40] in attendance was Peggy Douglas, who was the head of the was at a chamber at the time. And the reporter remember the

[13:45] reporter going up towards we'd like to get your comments on on the camera. Can you do you realize it's 2:30 in the

[13:51] morning? I look like the wrath of God. I am not I am not going to be in front of a camera.

[13:57] So anyway, that's a great story. Anyway, it was pretty funny. Maybe uh Mayor Pettit, you know, what

[14:04] what was your proudest acco accomplishment during during your tenure? We know actually we put the campus

[14:11] together up here and you know, it turned out pretty well. But I think you mean the city hall, the city hall library and so on and so

[14:18] forth. And I I think what was uh really pretty cool that we had the money saved.

[14:24] We were the last community in the state to do a tiff funding for the library literally on the last day of the year.

[14:31] And uh so financially it was a really a tidy package where everything was put together you know didn't have to

[14:36] interfere with you know additional taxes required and so forth. So uh I think it turned out to be a good a good series of

[14:44] buildings. But I think um the uh the idea of of saving for it and doing the

[14:51] right thing so that it didn't cost anymore. Well, and you also with your design

[14:56] background uh I think the design of these buildings fantastic. It's it was

[15:01] beautiful right away, but it's really stood they've stood the test of time, too. Well, and I will say we when we

[15:06] went off and and raised a little bit of extra money for it and went to uh Betty and Whitney McMillan, which was a pretty

[15:13] cool story, and they they came up with with some some resources to help us out. So, that

[15:18] and weren't they mostly centered on on finishing the library? A certain The library was was the big, you know,

[15:23] hook for them, which, you know, made a lot of sense. But it uh I think that library is probably the one of the finest in the entire system. just

[15:30] the the layout, the compactness, the the where it sits with the view over the lake. It's it's

[15:36] Well, it certainly is better than the parking lot this year. So, I'm I'm pretty proud of that. Oh, hats off to you, Barry. That that

[15:42] was really great. Well, this complex also fit in well with the fire station. Exactly. Way back when.

[15:49] And so it it turned out to be a very nice complex. Yeah. Mayor Feden, as as you look back, what

[15:55] what was your proudest accomplishment uh during your tenure as mayor? Well, I'll talk about one thing in

[16:02] particular that kind of fell into our lap, and that's the depot down in Weisetta. Uh, the Great Northern, at

[16:10] that time, the Great Northern Railroad decided they were going to abandon the depot and tear it down

[16:16] because they didn't need it anymore. Bill Olaflin who was the train m the station master for teen years retired

[16:23] and they had no reason to continue on with their their activities there. So

[16:29] when we heard about that we called in the great northern and had a very nice conversation with them and we w up

[16:36] buying the building for a dollar. A dollar. A dollar. Wow. And and a good deal

[16:41] and they were very very even today they were happy to for us to take it off their hands I think. Wow. And uh uh in addition to the to the

[16:51] depot, there was a a uh a train semaphore type of semaphore out by the

[16:58] railroad, which we said we'd like to take that also as a me memorial or a memory, if you will, of what happened

[17:04] here. And so that is now in the backyard of the of the uh depot. When we took over

[17:10] the depot, we weren't sure what we're going to do with it other than we wanted to preserve it because it's a beautiful building. It's part of Wisetta's history

[17:16] going back to the early 1900s and it's turned out to to be a very

[17:22] Wayne your your foresight on that I mean you know that's probably one of the most iconic structures when when there's any

[17:27] picture of Weisetta or anybody making reference to it there's always the depot and I didn't know that that it went back

[17:34] to your time here but boy you're that was very good decision we I was happy about that so as I say it

[17:41] fell into our lap but but it was a nice lap to have have in your lap if you will. Yeah. No, that's good. Um, turning it

[17:48] over to Mayor Wilcox, you know, as as you think back to your three terms, you know, what what was your proudest

[17:54] accomplishment during your tenure as mayor? The uh the recession in 200 2008 2009

[18:01] really kind of focused our attention. And so we we had a lot of empty storefronts in town. People were asking,

[18:07] "What on earth are you doing to our town? It's dying." Uh, and so what we had to do is try to

[18:13] breathe life back into Wisetta as best we could. And so, um, everything from

[18:20] press homes, pressuring homes here, uh, that was part of that because we had,

[18:25] uh, we had done a a retail study with the in partnership with the chamber of commerce that said we needed more retail

[18:32] in Weisetta to make Weisetta a destination point for shopping.

[18:37] And so, uh, Presbyterian Homes came along and said, "Well, we'll give you 130,000 square ft of new retail, ground

[18:45] floor retail, uh, and you you if you re, you know, approve our plan, it will

[18:52] include that and it just all came together." But that was exactly what we needed. So, that certainly helped the

[18:58] approval. But, so, um, that was a major accomplishment. Uh, building the new MUN

[19:05] was another major accomplishment. We we had we could do that fairly quickly and we thought that was important to show

[19:12] people that we weren't out of business, that we were still was doing our thing.

[19:17] And that never would have happened without your uh hard work uh and putting all of the details together, getting the

[19:24] the help that we needed to get do the planning. That was a magnificent job on your part. Um

[19:31] but anyway, so we got that and then uh the whole lakefront effort unfolded and

[19:38] uh you know item by item by item we finally got people back. Uh we changed

[19:43] the ordinances to allow some sidewalk uh restaurant the the patio out out on the

[19:50] sidewalk and that I think that's been fairly successful. that got more enthusiasm and more and more people and suddenly was became the

[19:56] the western restaurant hub, you know, of of the area. So, it all came together,

[20:02] but it was all these peacemeal kinds of of decisions. As as Andrew pointed out, one of the one of the interesting things

[20:09] was we had to straighten Superior Boulevard to accomplish some of this stuff like getting rid of the gas station. We had a problem because there

[20:17] was the creek, that little creek that runs down. Yeah. Gleason Lake Creek. Yeah, ran under Super Spir Boulevard in a a

[20:25] conduit of some sort. So, the DNR had ownership of the creek

[20:32] and wherever it went, which then included the part over Superior Boulevard that had the conduit

[20:38] underneath it that became DNR property. See, so we needed to get ownership of

[20:43] that little piece of nothing. I mean, right, in order to do what we want to do at Superior Boulevard. So, we went to

[20:50] the DNR and said, "Why don't you give it to us for a dollar, right?" And they said, "Well, that's interesting."

[20:56] However, they had had a big Christmas party uh the the year before that had

[21:02] not been budgeted by the DNR. And so, they had spent quite a lot of money on

[21:07] on the Christmas party. And the legislature was horrified and insisted that they pay for reimburse the state

[21:15] for the money that they had that they had paid out for their their Christmas party. This is going.

[21:21] So, but they could not sell any buildings that they had or parkland. So,

[21:26] that kind of limited them to what? So, anyway, we show up and say, "We'd like

[21:31] to buy this uh little, you know, patch of of land for a buck." Huh. So they

[21:38] dispatch some kind of real estate guy into Wisetta and he does a survey along Lake Street of what the cost per square

[21:45] foot of prime retail uh in retail was. And of course it was a staggering

[21:50] figure. I can't remember what it was 300 $400,000 for this little strip that we wanted. So we were working with Jen

[21:58] Olsen who was their state senator at the time and she was horrified. So she went to the governor and said these are your

[22:04] people. This was uh can't remember plenty right it was plenty it was governor plenty

[22:11] said this is why is that these are your people you know what are you doing so

[22:16] anyway we had a kind of a lengthy battle with the DNR uh but the governor did

[22:21] intercede and so we got it for a dollar and then we could in fact go ahead with straight new superior and so on anyway

[22:28] little that's a great story sideshow well it's also interesting Wayne do you

[22:33] you know your story about what Lake Street used to be uh you know before the

[22:39] bypass where it was four lanes, no stop signs and the that curve of Superior was

[22:45] was built that way to make sure there was no slowdown of the traffic.

[22:51] I remember it was when as a kid biking wise you had to take your life in your own hands.

[22:56] That creek by the way just as aside when I grew up it was a creek. You could see it. It wasn't underground

[23:03] like it is now. And because I grew up on the other side of folks down in Circle

[23:08] A. It was right in our front yard. And it was a place for about six of our

[23:14] neighboring kids and myself to go down there and play. And in the spring of the year, spear fish,

[23:19] right? We'd be in jail today if we did that. But there were a lot of fish in that. Well, you know, that that came up during

[23:25] the discussions with with Presbyterian Homes because some people, you know, the people who didn't want change. There

[23:31] were some people who wanted it to revert to the swamp that had had been wet. They call it the wetland,

[23:37] right? But I remember uh Dan Fasinon got up at some point during the uh the the

[23:43] open hearing and he said, "Look, anybody who refers to that wetland as uh Walden

[23:49] Pond has has something else coming to him because that was nothing but a feted

[23:56] mosquitoinfested uh uh old tire, you know, swamp. That's

[24:02] where we went," he said. That's where we went to hack Karp.

[24:07] So anyway, when we were at lunch, uh, Mayor Wilcox, you were telling the story about when

[24:12] when it was rebuilt into Press Homes and the layers of concrete. Uh, can you talk about that a little bit?

[24:18] Well, the whole Prespian Homes property, as as Wayne well knows, is was built on this wet land, right? And so

[24:26] yeah, now the the the shopping center itself was on piling, so that stayed the same, but the parking lot uh every year

[24:34] sunk a little bit into the into the swamp. And so every year they would add

[24:40] more asphalt on top to get it back up to the right level. So when they went to

[24:45] build this uh Presbyterian homes project over here, they cut through the asphalt.

[24:50] It was 8 ft deep. 8 ft of asphalt. layered up from all the years of adding

[24:56] asphalt. It was just amazing. And then Wayne, you were talking about when it was first built, which was, you

[25:02] know, honor around your your tenure. Oh, it was a it was a huge problem with

[25:08] built the building of that was causing a lot of problems for the city. Um, but it

[25:13] was built and then after it was built, as you say, it was kept sinking. And the parking lot kept sinking to the point

[25:20] where the building inspector had a duckboat under the shopping center and he would go down there once a year to

[25:26] inspect the building from underneath in his duck boat because it was all water down there.

[25:31] I love it. Building inspector. That's that's ingenuity. You know, he put a duck boat down there to do

[25:37] Oh, that's great. Um maybe over to you, Barry. You know, you went through quite

[25:43] a few, you know, sort of complex decisions. one being uh the big woods and how did you approach decision-m when

[25:49] the stakes were high? You know, kind of leading leading your council and leading leading the community when when the

[25:55] stakes were high, how did you approach it? You know, I I looked at this question and I thought, boy, I hope I didn't get

[26:01] asked this one because I'm not sure I got a good, you know, it was really a group of pretty independent thinkers. So

[26:07] the idea that you were going to steer anybody in a direction they didn't want to get steered into um

[26:14] I don't think I was good enough to do that. So it was it was really uh you know pretty thoughtful I think the way

[26:20] everyone went through it and um at some point you said what's the vote? It was kind of that simple. You know,

[26:27] Mayor Humphrey, you know, you you had a you mentioned earlier the sort of development, anti-development, and kind

[26:33] of navigating through those two sides. You know, as mayor, you have to be or you try to be Switzerland and facilitate

[26:39] through it. So, how how did you approach all those complex decisions that you had to deal with?

[26:44] Well, I'm not sure if um you know, if if the way I approach it was the best way.

[26:51] Um, it might have been uh I think it could have been more efficient. You know, I think at that 2:30 meeting uh

[26:58] that was in part because I thought it was important to let everyone speak and

[27:06] um and I think that had some value, but it it probably slowed the process down.

[27:11] And similarly your to your point uh the council uh I there were probably times

[27:17] where I could have um gotten everyone together and just say you know okay let's let's do this and I I was hesitant

[27:24] to do that. Um I think it had some benefits of I think there was some good

[27:29] spree decor and people felt uh included in the decision-m but as I say I don't

[27:35] think it was necessarily efficient. Well, I I have to tell you, remind you of a great story. Uh when I when I first

[27:40] got elected in the fall of 2008, I took you out for breakfast at the old pancake house at uh at the Bay Center. And I

[27:47] said, you know, kind of young and, you know, coming into this with not a lot of experience, you know, what what's your

[27:52] advice on on how to be a good council member? And without even skipping a beat, he looked me right in the eye. He said, "Drink." And I said I said,

[28:00] "What?" I was like kind of put on edge. I said, "Drink." And he said, "Yeah, well, probably not what you're thinking." He said uh you know there's a

[28:06] very unique tradition in Weisetta which is the council gathers after each meeting at the Wisetta Bar and Grill and

[28:12] the public are welcome and you need to fight like heck when you're in that room for what you think is right but then you

[28:17] need to make peace with your neighbor at at the at the meeting afterwards. And then there was a second part to your

[28:22] story. He said and and you know you're kind of an assertive guy Andrew. I said remember if you try to do things alone

[28:28] you'll drink alone and you'll become an alcoholic. So you need to work with two other members, sometimes three other

[28:34] members of your council to get anything done. So, so don't drink alone. It takes three or four to have a party. And I

[28:39] thought that was just such a great analogy. You may not remember that, but boy, that was burned in my brain. And boy, did I think about that during my

[28:45] entire time on council about those words and and going to the MUN afterwards and fellowship and and and all of that.

[28:52] Oh, that's that's nice to hear. I remember part of that. But as a lot of people know, that tradition was started

[28:59] by my father when he was mayor and it was because he had a very um divisive

[29:04] council member and it was causing all these tension. You have open.

[29:10] So he wanted to get everyone to be able to come down as you say after, you know,

[29:16] just divisive votes and be able to be together. and he got the Bob Miller, the

[29:21] city attorney, to research it. And uh I don't know if this is still on the bottom of every agenda, but saying

[29:28] members of the city council, you know, will gather at the mun after each meeting for a purely social occasion,

[29:34] the public's welcome. And that was the way to to continually invite people. And

[29:40] we would we would do that. And there would sometimes be members of the public who would bring up chairs. So it was

[29:45] great. But I think it had a it had a big impact. Well, that was part of the argument, you know, at the time to keep

[29:50] the MUN back in 2008 was, you know, this restaurant had been owned by the town since 1947, and I didn't know that your

[29:57] dad had started that tradition, but it makes perfect sense, the gentleman that he was and how he approached the world.

[30:03] That makes perfect sense to me, and it's still a tradition today in 2025. Let me uh just add another story about

[30:10] uh Mayor Humphrey here. Um it was a vignette back uh I can't remember what

[30:15] what year in his tenure but uh anyway it was April 1st and at the end of the end

[30:21] of the council meeting he said I have one one more announcement to make and uh

[30:26] everybody was ready to leave and so that's kind of snapped us all back and he said um I'm reporting that um that

[30:34] the mayor of Minnotonka and I have been in negotiations for quite some time and

[30:41] we have reached an agreement in principle to merge the two cities. At

[30:46] which point, you could see the staff members with the blood just kind of drained drained from their faces and and

[30:52] the council was just horrified looking at him and he kind of beamed out at the at the audiences at April Fool.

[30:58] Oh, I love it. That's fantastic. It did take a little while and there were people who were so mad they stopped

[31:05] watching and they started writing me and they never heard they didn't get the

[31:10] April part. How could you do this? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was amazing. So So Mayor Fatten, when when you were

[31:15] here and went through some of these complex decision-making, you know, what was your approach to leading your council in the community when when the

[31:22] stakes were high and and and emotions were high? Well, we we fortunately I was never

[31:30] involved with a meeting where we had uh tensions high.

[31:35] Um we had three people that came to every council meeting and sat in the front row. The geese who are long gone

[31:42] and Mrs. Straa and they were there before the council got there every council

[31:48] meeting sat in the front row and they kept us calm and collected. I'm being a

[31:53] little suspicious. Uh, the gays live down on Shady Lane on on the lake and

[31:58] their house, as a matter of fact, is on the national registry now. Uh, and as far as I know, their daughter

[32:04] still lives there unless she's No, she's around. I saw her about a month or so ago. She I wasn't sure if she's alive.

[32:10] Yeah. Mary Ellen. Mary Ellen. Yeah, that's right. Uh, so we didn't have any tension, high

[32:15] tension type situations. Uh, we were very open about talking

[32:20] about things. We didn't have any secrets. uh uh the highway as an example, we had some informal uh open

[32:31] houses to discuss it and let people know what was involved. Uh but that was kind

[32:37] of our modus operandi. Also, we tried to keep our meeting short

[32:43] so we could do informally the mun. Okay. and we went down there in every

[32:48] night after a council meeting. And uh I think the latest that we had a council meeting was maybe 11:00. That was that

[32:55] would be the exception. Uh so fortunately for me, I guess we had

[33:00] no big controversies and uh and unlike the big woods or

[33:06] whatever and uh so I I had it easy. Okay. Mayor Wilcox, I mean, you certainly had

[33:13] your fair share of interesting challenges and different perspectives. Um, you know, how how did you approach I

[33:20] mean, I was by your side during many of them and uh I I certainly uh had great admiration for your calmness and your

[33:28] your uh equal treatment of everybody. But, you know, how did how did you how did you come up with that? How did you

[33:33] how did you pull that off? Well, I think your biggest job is uh listening. And uh the more you listen I think and

[33:40] the less you talk the better off you are. Uh and the other part of the job is being a cheerleader for your city I

[33:46] think. Um and so as Andrew said if people if people think that they have

[33:53] been heard whether or not you side with them and their point of view is really

[33:59] not as important to the fact that they they were listened to. they they you you you paid attention to their point and

[34:06] you took it into consideration when you made your decision. So, um and in the end, it's a much more

[34:11] harmonious kind of result, I think. So, I mean, I tried to do that. Well, so this has been a a great

[34:17] conversation this afternoon. I'm going to turn to sort of the last question, but it's probably the most important one. So, you know, if you need a couple

[34:24] attempts at this one, we'll we'll give it to you. But, uh I'll start with you, Mayor Fen. You know, what would you like

[34:30] to be remembered for during your time as mayor? you know, what would you want the community or the history books to

[34:35] reflect uh on your tenure?

[34:43] I guess I I that I I did a good job. Number one, as the mayor says, we were

[34:50] very open about things and listened a lot and I wanted to be sure that we did listen and and picked up on on whatever

[34:59] the people wanted. Uh um

[35:05] I didn't go into the job looking to be a popular type person or or that kind of

[35:11] thing. I just went into the job wanting to do the the right job and do the right thing and uh and uh I think I did that.

[35:19] Thank you, Mayor. Uh Mayor May mayor Pettit, you know, you know, what would you like your legacy to be during your

[35:26] your long tenure as mayor here? You know, I I I spend I'm not sure I I

[35:32] be honest, but I I was thinking about this under one of these other questions about, you know, the community and what

[35:39] I recall and and and Wayne, it's got to be the same with you. Boy, just a number of people that, you know, were the old

[35:46] folks that were there at the meetings and remember John Barry Hill? Oh, yeah. You know, he and every time he every

[35:52] time he'd introduce himself, it would start out with I was an Eagle Scout in 19 whatever. Exactly. And then

[35:58] his uniform once. Oh yeah. And it was the characters, you know, that and it's and and you know, Peggy

[36:04] Douglas, good friend of ours. And so you just you see all these people disappear and it's really the most

[36:10] remarkable thing for me because it was a town where you walk down the street and you know, you knew almost everybody

[36:17] and they knew you. Exactly. And it was uh and the MUN thing was, you know, an important deal. I

[36:23] mean, we had we had fun. you know, the deal was how soon can we get this over so we can, you know, and we were the last ones out

[36:29] of there. And uh and so it's for me it's stuff like that, you know, and no one's

[36:34] going to remember me for thinking about people that have been gone, but it's it's sort of the when I think about the

[36:41] the the the history for me it was that and I and again just all the people

[36:46] drifting away, you know, like you know, you get that person of the year thing and you go down the list and there's

[36:52] only about eight of us that are even, you know, still kicking anymore, you know, and and uh uh but that was it was

[36:59] such critical core part of the town way back when, you know, that really made it special. And I think back to your point,

[37:06] the reason it was less cont, it was so cohesive, I think the town was in general, very much so.

[37:11] And so those are the kind of things I I will say one thing though, and I just got to say, it's kind of funny story.

[37:16] Every time we started the meeting, I got into watching Seinfeld reruns and they ended at 7 o'clock every night.

[37:24] And on Tuesday night, ended at 7:00. I wouldn't get down until 5 after 7:00 and that's when the meeting would start.

[37:31] You had to get that rerun in. And I will say one thing, every house we've lived in has been torn down. Oh wow.

[37:36] And I and the last one up in um uh up in uh Highlands,

[37:42] right? It actually got picked up and moved. Oh wow. And there was a a deal on one of the the local

[37:47] Is there a historic plaque the mayor lived? There was a deal on one of the local news channels says a m ex- mayor's

[37:54] house gets moved out of y zetta. No kidding. And got set out in a farm field somewhere and I don't think it ever got

[37:59] reused, but it was some idea. But anyway, that that's not a great answer to the question, but it's all I got.

[38:05] I really like your answer. Um, Mayor Humphrey, as as you think about your tenure here, what what would you want to

[38:10] be remembered for? you know, I don't really have any thing I'd like to be remembered for other than

[38:17] um you know that people can I think like with all of us uh believe that uh I was

[38:24] um you know I worked hard at the job. I did my best and I love the city. And building on what Barry uh said, this is

[38:32] a unique city and even some of the stories we've told about some of the

[38:38] divisiveness at times, that's because there's so much passion and you know, you look at the high electoral turnout

[38:45] rate every year. This is an engaged community that cares deeply about this

[38:50] place and it was real privilege to serve. That's amazing. Mayor Wilcox, as you

[38:56] know, we close it out here. How do you define legacy as you think about the mayor?

[39:02] Well, you know, I think it's like all of us who we we uh try to do our best, you know, and uh each of our each of our

[39:09] tenures had different challenges and we dealt with them as best we could and uh

[39:14] hopefully they were on balance successful results. Um, like Barry, as

[39:20] Barry was saying, I mean, I to me the benefit of being mayor was the just the breadth of people that you met that you

[39:26] otherwise wouldn't have met and interacted with. And it just it was an incredibly enriching experience just to

[39:33] know the people, get to know the people in town more because as Barry said, there are some real characters

[39:40] here. Yeah, they're still great fun. So, um, you know, I I legacy. We met the met

[39:48] the enemy and he was ours and we did the best we could and it is what it is. Yeah. Well, I want to thank each of you

[39:55] for taking the time this afternoon to to share your 57 years of leadership

[40:01] history here in Wisetta. Was sad that we were weren't able to have uh Mayor Gizvald and Mayor Mutan with us today,

[40:08] but they're here in spirit. And uh you know, I'm I'm just grateful just hearing the wisdom at this table. And boy, the

[40:15] footsteps here are are hard for someone like me to follow. And I'm just grateful for well, I know I can count on each of

[40:21] you when I run into a trouble and probably already have for a few times, but but I'm just grateful for your service. And I know the community is and

[40:27] all the people that you served with and hope that tradition holds up. I mean, I agree with you, Andrew. so lucky that we

[40:33] have an engaged electorate that that cares and you know they show up and and they want to make a difference and they

[40:39] want us to make the best decision we can. So grateful for that. Let me just add that um we've all been

[40:46] talking about what we did and how we approached it but you were a major part of a lot of this you know over the last

[40:52] 12 plus years. So, uh, just the fact that Andrew didn't say much here is does

[41:00] is not a reflection. Uh, I mean, he has been in the trenches doing wonderful things for this city for a long, long

[41:05] time. And so, I thank you and I know you're going to do great on the years ahead as well just because you did such

[41:11] a fabulous job to this point. So, I appreciate one of the beauties of being the host of the show is I can uh

[41:17] ask the questions and not have to give the answers. And I I actually of the many things I do as mayor, this is one

[41:23] of my favorite things because I don't I don't have to come up with the answers uh on my little TV show. So, gentlemen,

[41:29] uh thanks for being here today and for sharing your great stories and what a great history lesson for our community.

[41:35] And remember, leadership doesn't stop at the mayor's chair. We have lots of ways for our citizens to be involved here at

[41:42] the city, boards and commissions, and that usually comes up in the fall into next year. and hope that many of you

[41:48] watching may consider uh volunteering. And uh with that, I'm just going to say

[41:53] uh remember to support local and uh it strengthens Weisetta and I hope to see you about town. Thanks again.

[42:13] [Music]