Carlson wins North Mankato mayor; Oachs and Peterson win council seats

Nov. 9—NORTH MANKATO — A decision by the North Mankato mayor to run for county commissioner resulted in four candidates vying for the open seat with Scott Carlson emerging as the winner of the two-year term Tuesday. Carlson won with 3,056 votes, or 50 percent.

Kenneth DeWitte had 475 votes, or 7.87% of the vote; Ben Kaus had 2,245 votes, or 37.21% of the vote; and Warren Anderson had 231 votes, or 3.83% of the vote.

Longtime Mayor Mark Dehen decided to run for a Nicollet County commissioner seat, running against Tom Hagen of North Mankato.

Carlson is a teacher with Mankato Area Public Schools who ran because he said he wanted to help continue making good decisions.

Kaus is president of Vetter Stone and Alabama Stone. He said he said he ran to help lead long-term planning and process.

DeWitte was a North Mankato city councilor for four years until he lost his reelection bid in 2010. He has worked as a line technician at Crown Cork & Seal. He said he ran in hopes of creating more transparency with the council.

Anderson is a retiree who spent many years working in Mankato retail. He said he ran to potentially help with the city's financial situation.

Council seats

Incumbents Sandra Oachs and Matt Peterson won the two at-large seats on the council and will serve four-year terms. Oachs won with 2,696 votes, or about 29% of the vote, and Peterson won with 2,499 votes, or 26.87%, with all eight precincts reporting.

Incumbent Diane Norland had 2,461 votes, or 26.46% of the vote, and Craig Amundson had 1,592 votes, or 17.12% of the vote.

Oachs is the owner of Spinners Bar & Grill in North Mankato and was running for her second term.

Peterson, a longtime north Mankato resident who is the vice president at Heyn Brothers Roofing, ran for council in 2014.

Norland has been on the council for four terms.

Amundson, a lifelong resident of North Mankato, has made previous runs for the council.