Councilor Swanson to resign

Cloquet city councilor Chris Swanson announced Tuesday that he will step down as the Ward 3 representative effective Aug. 17.

Swanson and his family are moving to a home a few blocks outside of Ward 3, so he will no longer fulfill the qualifications to represent his current constituents.

"I've taken great pleasure, and it's been really fascinating and interesting. We have a lot of great folks who work for the city. I know we still have some problems, as we've heard from the residents here today," he said, referring to residents of Kelly Avenue. "I continue to believe that a strong city and strong residents can help make our town a better place to live. I'm hopeful positive changes can continue."

Even though Swanson is stepping down almost three months before the general election, city administrator Tim Peterson said it seems too late to take his name off the ballot. Swanson was the only person who filed for the Ward 3 seat, which he won in the 2020 election, after being appointed in 2019.

"This fall it will be one of the strangest campaigns ever, the 'please don't vote for me' campaign," Swanson said with a smile.

City administrator Tim Peterson and Swanson both expressed hopes that someone in Ward 3 would mount a strong write-in campaign and win the seat in the November election.

Peterson praised Swanson for his time on the council. The high school government and history teacher was appointed to the Ward 3 seat in July 2019 and won the seat for the remaining three years of Koski's term in a special election that November.

"The approach that you brought to being a city councilor is pretty much everything we could ask, your ability to ask questions and evaluate projects we have going on," Peterson said.

There is no registration requirement for anyone interested in running a write-in campaign for the Ward 3 council seat, Peterson said.

"Anyone who wants to run, head out and start campaigning," Peterson said.

If Swanson wins the seat, Peterson said the council would have to appoint an interim council until a special election was held. That election could be in November 2022, with the next general election, he said, to avoid the cost of a special election for just one seat.

Swanson will continue as Ward 3 councilor for both August council meetings, and his seat will likely remain vacant until after the November election when the council could appoint the winner to assume office early, Peterson said.

Ironically, Swanson was first appointed to the Ward 3 seat when previous councilor Dakota Koski moved out of Ward 3 after serving only a year of his term. And Koski wasn't the first. Former at-large councilor Adam Bailey resigned from his council seat in 2018 after serving two years when he moved outside the Cloquet city limits.