Kurt Hunstiger Has Spent 30 Years Serving City of Sauk Rapids

SAUK RAPIDS (WJON News) -- Kurt Hunstiger has spent the past eight years as the mayor of Sauk Rapids and the last 30 years helping to shape the city spending time on the Planning Commission, Joint Planning Board, HRA, and City Council.

He's not seeking re-election this fall and he says one of the things he's most proud of is the city's financial situation, at one point it was $29 million in debt but now it is able to pay cash for much of its expenses.

He also points to the downtown redevelopment in the wake of the new Sauk Rapids bridge.

When we heard it was coming through it was somewhat controversial, it took us a long time to figure out where it was going to go, but when we did we pretty much destroyed downtown, so a big part of it was trying to work with the federal government and the state to keep the businesses here that had to move. It was the best thing we ever did if we had cleared out all the businesses what would it be?

Hunstiger says the city is getting aggressive in buying houses for future downtown development. He says he believes that's where they should invest their money.

Photo by WJON.com's Jim Maurice

He says the creation of The Clearing along the Mississippi River is something he'd like to be known for.

It's so nice to watch the families and friends, they walk here from the two local neighborhoods. They play in the water feature and on the playground. When the band starts they come over and stay.

Hunstiger says the best part of the job as mayor has been the teamwork with his fellow four council members and the city staff. He says he believes his biggest role has been to promote the city.

He says he's loved being mayor for the past eight years but he says the time has come to spend more time with his family. He retired from his full-time job four years ago and from other boards and commissions earlier this year.

He also expressed frustration with how polarized national and state politics have become. He says while the members of the city council didn't always agree on everything they've been able to have civil discussions.

Two current Sauk Rapids City Council members are running for the position of mayor they are Nicholas Sauer and Jason Ellering.

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WJON News is doing feature interviews with each of the long-time mayors in the area who are not seeking re-election this fall in the communities of Sauk Rapids, St. Joseph, Waite Park, and St. Cloud.