Jason Ellering Running for Sauk Rapids Mayor

SAUK RAPIDS (WJON News) -- Jason Ellering is one of two current city council members vying to become the next mayor of Sauk Rapids.

He's been a resident of the city for over 10 years and on the city council for eight years. He works at St. Cloud Refrigeration as a sales rep and project manager. He has four kids all in the Sauk Rapids-Rice school district.

He says he's running for mayor because he wants to continue the work of the council setting the city up with financial stability.

He says moving forward PFAS mitigation will be an ongoing issue, but he doesn't believe it will be too big of an impact on taxpayers.

We've done a really great job of setting up our enterprise funds to be able to tackle projects like this. Depending on if we have to drill new wells, or if we have to add on to our water treatment facility, or things of that nature, the city is ready to make whatever changes we need to to be able to provide clean water.

He says he supports the partnerships already formed with the school district and local associations for the work being planned in Mayhew Creek Park, and he's fully in favor of developing the park in two or three more phases. Ellering says he's also open to a partnership with the school district on a potential new multi-sport stadium.

I would very much be open to looking at a space where we can work together and potentially build a facility that would incorporate some of the needs and wants of the city and the school district, yeah very open to that.

Sauk Rapids currently has a moratorium on any new rental licenses. Ellering says the council and city staff are working on getting a handle on the number of rental licenses and the density in certain areas of town and he expects the moratorium to be lifted in the coming months.

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Ellering says he's an experienced leader with a record of standing up for what he believes in, and he says he wants what's best for the city.

Listen to the conversation below.

Nicholas Sauer is the other candidate running for mayor in Sauk Rapids. Current mayor Kurt Hunstiger is not running for re-election. Early voting is underway now with election day coming up on November 5th.