Six people have interviewed and are being considered for the vacant Second Ward seat left by Todd Penske’s resignation.

Thursday, January 20, 2000

Six people have interviewed and are being considered for the vacant Second Ward seat left by Todd Penske’s resignation. A selection will be announced at Friday’s city government retreat.

Linnea Burtch

Linnea Burtch became interested in city government when she became the head of a residents’ group at Oak Park Mobile Homes, where the residents and park management have been tussling about several issues in past months.

"I got interested in it then," Burtch said, "and once I started going to council meetings I started to think maybe I could make a change."

Burtch, born and raised in Austin, is a former licensed practical nurse who had a long career in that field in the Faribault area. She is currently involved to greater and lesser extents with many volunteer groups in the area, and she and her husband are also foster parents for the Parenting Resource Center’s crisis assistance program.

For Burtch, there are a broad range of issues to be tackled if she was appointed to the Second Ward seat, but two she singled out were housing and employment issues.

Michael Allen

Michael Allen is a full-time Riverland Community College student studying for a career in civil law, a single parent and works on the stock line for Hormel Foods Corp. Originally hailing from California, he has lived in Austin for two years.

"I think Austin is one of the premier towns in Southern Minnesota," Allen said.

If appointed to the city council, Allen said he could bring a fresh, younger perspective to the seat.

"The younger generation I go to school with fills my ears daily," Allen said. "There are also a lot of single parents here. I think I can relate to most people, and more so to some people who don’t get represented."

While Allen said he didn’t feel there was any one hot issue facing Austin right away, there are several he said are key to the future of the city. These include affordable housing and insuring a college education for every high school graduate.

Roger Boughton

Roger Boughton is the retired vice president of academic affairs for Riverland Community College. He was one of the first to turn his application back in for the Second Ward seat, and has been meeting with city officials to get a feel for what the job might entail.

Boughton and his wife came to Austin meaning to stay no more than a few years – that was many years ago now.

Since then they made their life in Austin, and Boughton said he would like to repay Austin for some of those years.

When asked what he thinks are important issues facing Austin, Boughton is likely to turn the question back on its asker, but he has singled out diversity and how Austin handles it as a particularly key one.

"I think how this community responds to that in the next several years will turn out to be very important," Boughton said.

Garry Ellingson

Garry Ellingson is the former chief deputy for the Mower County Sheriff’s Department. As such, he handled a lot of the financial aspects of the department, as well as running the jail.

"I think I have a good background in the financial aspects of government that other candidates might not be able to offer," Ellingson said.

He was the first candidate to return his application for the seat.

He and his wife moved to Austin from Osage, Iowa, and have stayed here ever since.

Ellingson is eager to serve the community in a new role, and singled out as important issues the new racial diversity of Austin and the housing issues facing the city. He applied for the Second Ward seat when it initially opened due to Dick Chaffee’s election to the council member at-large position, but Todd Penske received the appointment.

Chuck Anderson

Chuck Anderson was born and raised in Austin, graduating from Pacelli High School. He has long worked for Hormel Foods Corp., where he is currently a product manager in the food service division.

Anderson was drawn to the idea of serving in city government after returning from a year-long assignment in China.

"I feel that I’ve always been pretty lucky, and I wanted to give something back to the community," Anderson said.

Anderson sees the diversity of Austin as an issue which needs to be addressed.

"I see that the city has changed a lot in certain ways – we have a lot more ethnic minorities, for one," he said. "There are a lot of issues involved in this diversity, from how to educate the children of these people to housing. We need to not be looking at the Austin that was, 30 years ago, but the Austin we have today."

Rich Osness

Rich Osness is president of Colorcraft Printing. He is a long-time Austin resident and has sought office as a Libertarian candidate in the past.

The Austin Daily Herald was unable to reach Osness for comment on his candidacy.