With no incumbent, MSU-area voters to pick City Council newcomer

Oct. 6—MANKATO — Don Friend and Kevin Mettler are longtime Mankato residents who say they've often thought about running for a position in local government.

With their children now in adulthood, both felt like 2022 was the right time to act. The decision might have been made easier by redistricting following the 2020 census. Friend, a geography professor at Minnesota State University, and Mettler, who oversees court programs for the state of Minnesota, found themselves living in the new Ward 3.

The ward is the most compact of the five in Mankato, filled with MSU residence halls, apartment buildings, townhouses and some single-family homes in the area in and around the campus. And it's a ward without an incumbent.

"My motivation to run is to give back to the community that's been so good to me," said Friend, who came to Mankato 25 years ago from the western United States.

"I believe there are citizens out there who don't have a voice and need someone to speak for them," said Mettler, who was born and raised in the Mankato-North Mankato area.

Current council members are running for re-election in the other three races on the municipal portion of the ballot — mayor and council seats representing Wards 1 and 5. But for voters living between Stadium Road and Glenwood Avenue, it's time to get to know a pair of newcomers looking to represent them at City Hall.

Mettler is a 1985 graduate of Loyola High School. After two years at Iowa's Waldorf College, he returned to Mankato to earn a bachelor's degree in corrections at MSU. He worked in probation-related jobs for Blue Earth County for many years before taking over administration of the drug court, veterans court and family dependency court for the Fifth Judicial District.

The drug court and the veterans court provide an alternative path to traditional criminal-justice punishments for people with addictions and mental health challenges, providing them with assistance and educational opportunities aimed at keeping them in the community rather than the correctional system. The family dependency court provides similar services for parents whose drug or alcohol use has put their children in danger, resulting in them losing custody or being under threat of losing custody.

Mettler has previously served as a football coach at Loyola and in youth ministry at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in North Mankato. He and his wife Patricia, who live on the 200 block of Pohl Road, have three adult daughters and a grandson.

Retired from the coaching and youth ministry roles, Mettler said he now has the time to follow through on a longtime interest in seeking public office.

"I believe and always have believed that if you talk about issues, have problems with issues, you should run and be part of the solution," he said.

Friend graduated from high school and earned his bachelor's degree in California before picking up advanced degrees in Colorado and Arizona. A search for a college teaching job brought him to south-central Minnesota.

"In the academic world, you have to go where the job is. (MSU) offered me a job and I am so glad that we landed in Mankato, Minnesota, I can't tell you. Just a wonderful community. Just a fabulous place to raise our kids."

He and his wife Lisa, who live on Ridgely Road in the Highland Park neighborhood, have three children, all of whom graduated from Mankato public schools, and now have a grandchild in Mankato.

They are co-owners of Tandem Bagels, which Lisa helps manage with the other co-owners.

He volunteered with local sports associations as his kids were growing up but a lot of his focus was on his career. He's internationally recognized in his field, including being named a Jefferson Science Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences.

Friend said his academic focus meshes well with a leadership role in municipal government. Geography aims to understand the people and the environment in a place.

"And that's what a city is," he said. "It's people and the land — people and the environment."

Friend

In his 26th year of teaching at MSU, Friend believes his relationships with students and staff leave him well-positioned to represent the residents of Ward 3, which includes thousands of MSU students.

"I think I understand their interests well because I've been a part of that community for many years," he said.

Along with effectively representing constituents, Friend said his primary goal if elected is to serve as a steward of the community's environment. That includes natural resources in a time of climate change but also economic resources, financial resources and physical resources like roads, sewers and other infrastructure.

"So my overarching goal is to steward those things well," he said. "I think the challenges facing us right now are both environmental and social change. Planet change is upon us."

Friend has no major criticisms of the city's leaders.

"The professional city staff from the management on down have done a great job," he said, noting Mankato's AA bonding rating and well-maintained infrastructure.

But elected officials have an obligation to identify and plan for future challenges, not just respond to crises as they arrive, according to Friend. That's one of the areas where he thinks he can contribute, both in preparing for the ever-changing demographics in Mankato and for an evolving economy.

"How do we keep our community vibrant and responsive to all?"

Mankato's municipal government is doing a good job of managing natural resources, said Friend, pointing to efforts to protect water resources, supporting green engineering and enacting other environmental initiatives.

"I think we could do more," he said.

On taxes and spending, he said his philosophy is that public servants need to be vigilant and responsible stewards of the dollars taxpayers provide.

"To paraphrase Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was paraphrasing a Supreme Court justice, 'Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.' So the question is, 'How much civilization do you want?' What brings a solid, safe, comfortable community? It's taking the resources you have and applying them responsibly."

During a quarter-century of teaching at a state-funded university, he said he's always considered himself a public servant.

"I take that really seriously. My job is to share knowledge with others — unvarnished, good and bad," Friend said. "... Being able to continue doing that on the City Council would be an honor."

Mettler

There's a segment of the local population that Mettler works with in his day job that often doesn't get heard at local government meetings, and he promises to give those folks a voice.

"I primarily spent the past 20-25 years working with people with drug addiction, housing issues, employment issues, mental health issues who are a big part of our society," Mettler said. "We can't just sweep them under the carpet."

But he pledges to actively seek out others in Ward 3 who don't typically share their concerns or opinions with city government. While Mettler said he's been satisfied with the responsiveness of his ward representatives over the years, he's talked to others who don't share that opinion.

His goal is to persuade people across the ward that it's worth their time to reach out with opinions and concerns. He said he will do it by being quick to listen and quick to respond with action or answers.

"You make yourself available and you follow through with what you say you're going to do," Mettler said, adding that it's a policy he applies with his court clients. "That's one of the things I've really prided myself on throughout the years. My phone is always on — to my wife's unhappiness ... ."

Mettler, like Friend, is highly complimentary of the current city leadership. That doesn't mean, however, that the city isn't facing serious challenges.

"Infrastructure issues that need to be addressed. There's housing issues for the underserved. There's huge issues with opioid addiction and overdoses that I believe the city needs to take a stand on."

Recalling a Blue Earth County commissioner who made sure to meet at least once a year with the employees of every county department, Mettler said he would try to do the same with city employees if he's elected — both to hear their opinions and to better understand the jobs they do.

"As a council member you serve the community but you also serve the employees under you," he said. "I think employees need to be heard."

Mettler said he would be asking employees to explain and justify the tax dollars they seek at budget time, as well: "Working in government my entire life, if you're going to ask for funding you have to show how it's going to be used and that it's being used appropriately."

Finally, Mettler said he would bring a commitment to teamwork to the council. It's something he said comes naturally after a lifetime of playing sports, coaching sports and collaborating on committees and other groups through his court programs and in his church ministry.

"I'm a big believer in committees — in teams — because they work. I believe it's the only way you can get things done and it's been a huge part of my adult life."