Star Tribune
East Bethel hires Anoka County Board Chair Matt Look as city administrator
The East Bethel City Council on Monday night hired Anoka County Commissioner and Board Chair Matt Look to be its new city administrator, ending weeks of speculation as to who would be selected to oversee operations in the far north metro suburb.
Mayor Kevin Lewis in October had identified a candidate to replace outgoing administrator Jack Davis, whose contract is not being renewed, without posting the job. But Lewis kept the name a secret, revealing to council members that Look was the lone candidate being considered just hours before Monday’s vote.
Look’s name did not appear on Monday’s agenda item stating Lewis would introduce the candidate to the council to interview, and that the council “may make a decision to hire or proceed in another direction.”
That had some residents claiming East Bethel violated state law, which states names of current and former applicants named as finalists for government jobs must be made public.
Nonetheless, the council approved a deal that will pay Look $146,621 annually.
“Congratulations Mr. Look. You will be the new city administrator of East Bethel, Minnesota,” Mayor Kevin Lewis said after council members interviewed Look during Monday’s meeting and voted 5-0 to offer him the job.
Look will work 60%-time over the next few months as he transitions into the job. It appeared Look will remain on the Anoka County Board through February to fulfill obligations to committees he serves on and continue to draw his $87,984 salary from the county.
“The past 13 years have been amazing, challenging, rewarding and successful,” Look said at Tuesday’s board meeting. “I have made the decision to move on to the role of administrator. It’s time for a fresh set of eyes and ideas to come from District 1,” the section of the county he represented.
State law requires either a special election or an appointment to replace Look. A special election would occur on a date to be determined by state law, a county spokesman said.
“We congratulate Commissioner Look on his new role,” the spokesman said. “We wish him well in his new career path.”
Look’s move to East Bethel comes weeks after County Administrator Rhonda Sivarajah announced she is retiring at the end of the year. An email to Look seeking additional comment was not retuned Tuesday.
Look began his political career in the early 2000s. He served four years on the Ramsey City Council before being elected to the Anoka County Board. He has represented the western part of Anoka County for the past 13 years and was voted as the new board chair this year. While on the board, Look has also served as chair of the Anoka County Regional Railroad Authority and Finance committee, as well as serving on public safety, transportation and several other committees.
During the 45-minute interview Monday, Look fielded questions from council members on how he would set budgets, manage employees, negotiate union contracts and respond to criticism from residents.
“For me it is a matter of setting the record straight,” Look said. “Whatever is not the truth needs to be met head on. It is important to have a positive message and remind the people of the good work and good projects that are underway.”
Look, a graduate of Bethel University, recently earned a master’s degree in public administration from Grand Canyon University, a program he said aptly prepared him to run a city. He also said his extensive work in corporate America and public service qualifies him for the job, even though he has never run a city in the past.
“I believe I possess the skills in finance and lobbying that directly relate to projects you might be working on or in the near future,” Look told the council.
Look said he had been asking himself “what does post-commissioner life look like” when he learned from a colleague that the East Bethel city administrator job would be coming available. He subsequently met with Lewis, who he had not previously met, which led to Monday’s night’s vote, Look said.
Look said East Bethel, a city of about 13,000 residents in Anoka County, is the perfect fit.
“It would afford me the opportunity to really develop in this position,” Look said. “I don’t pull the pin and roll the grenade. I want to make sure we get things done reasonably without creating enemies.”
Look said he won’t rule out running for public office in the future, saying ” I will leave the door open.”
Lewis said East Bethel will honor Davis for his 12 years with the city on Nov. 27.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and her daughter were among the throngs Friday as President Joe Biden delivered the apology that many Indigenous Americans thought would never come.
“I think he really said the things that people have been waiting to hear for generations, acknowledged just the horror and trauma of literally having our children stolen from our communities,” said Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. “It’s a powerful first step towards healing.”
Hundreds of boarding schools operated in the 19th and 20th centuries, separating Indigenous children from their families and forcing them to assimilate to European ways. Many children were abused, and at least 973 died, according to a report from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Other Minnesotans reacted similarly to Flanagan, saying they welcomed the apology but that additional action is needed to help Indigenous people move forward.
Anton Treuer, a professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University, wrote in a newsletter that the apology was “a welcome first step on the journey to healing.”
“There is no way to truly right historical injustices for the children buried at Carlisle, Haskell, and other schools, but these words set a new tone for the country and will help heal the anguish so many Natives have carried for so long,” Treuer wrote. “It gives me hope that we can come together to reconcile and heal our troubled nation.”
Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, the first Indigenous woman to serve in the state Senate, called Biden’s apology encouraging.
“This recognition of past wrongdoings is an important step towards healing relationships between the United States and the sovereign nations affected by these past systems,” Kunesh said in a statement. “This dark period of American history must be remembered and taught.”
“I have done everything in my power to remedy this situation, and it continues to get more and more violent by the day,” Moturi wrote. “There have been numerous times when I’ve seen Sawchak outside and contacted law enforcement, and there was no response. I am not confident in the pursuit of Sawchak given that Sawchak attacked me, MPD officers had John detained, and despite an HRO and multiple warrants — they still let him go.”
On Friday, five City Council members sent a letter to Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara expressing their “utter horror at MPD’s failure to protect a Minneapolis resident from a clear, persistent and amply reported threat posed by his neighbor.”
Council Members Andrea Jenkins, Elliott Payne, Aisha Chughtai, Jason Chavez and Robin Wonsley went on to allege that police had failed to submit reports to the County Attorney’s Office despite threats being made with weapons, and at times while Sawchak screamed racial slurs. Sawchak is white and Moturi is Black.
The council members also contend in their letter that the MPD told the County Attorney’s Office that police did not intend to execute the warrant for “reasons of officer safety.”
At a Friday afternoon news conference at MPD’s Fifth Precinct, O’Hara said police had been working to arrest Sawchak since at least April, but “no Minneapolis police officers have had in-person contact with that suspect since the victim in this case has been calling us.” The chief pointed out that Sawchak is mentally ill, has guns and refuses to cooperate “in the dozens of times that police officers have responded to the residence.”
O’Hara put aside the option to carry out “a high-risk warrant based on these factors [and] the likelihood of an armed, violent confrontation where we may have to use deadly force with the suspect.” The preference, he said, was to arrest Sawchak outside his home, but “in this case, this suspect is a recluse and does not come out of the house.”
ROCHESTER – The Federal Transit Administration has green-lighted an $85 million grant supporting the development of the city’s planned Link Bus Rapid Transit system.
The FTA formally announced the grant on Friday during a ceremonial check presentation outside of the Mayo Civic Center, one of the seven stops planned for the bus line. The federal grant will cover about 60% of the project’s estimated $143.4 million price tag, with the remaining funds coming from Destination Medical Center, the largest public-private development project in state history.
Set to go live in 2026, the 2.8-mile Link system will connect downtown Rochester, including Mayo Clinic’s campuses, with a proposed “transit village” that will include parking, hundreds of housing units and a public plaza. The bus line will be the first of its kind outside the Twin Cities — with service running every five minutes during peak hours.
“That means you may not even need to look at a schedule,” said Veronica Vanterpool, deputy administrator for the FTA. “You can just show up at your transit stop and expect the next bus to come in a short time. That is a game changer and a life-transformational experience in transit for those people who are using it and relying on it.”
The planned Second Street corridor is already one of the busiest roads in Rochester, carrying more than 21,800 vehicles a day, and city planners have talked for years about ways to reduce traffic congestion in the city’s downtown. Local officials estimate that the transit line, which will rely on a fleet of all-electric buses, will handle 11,000 riders on its first day of operation and save eight city blocks of parking.
Speaking to a crowd of about 100 people gathered on Friday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said the project shows Rochester is thinking strategically about how it handles growth.
“If you just plan the business expansion, and you don’t have the workforce, you don’t have the child care, the housing or the transit, it’s not going to work very well as a lot of communities across the nation have found,” Klobuchar said.
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