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On election day 1994, reality had set in that I would be Hermantown's next mayor. It was a tough 4-way race, then down to two of us after the primary. We were not the only race in town, but there was a lot of focus on ours. After all, I was running against one of the people who made Hermantown a city in 1976. I was 33 years old, a self-employed husband and father of two, and had served one term on the city council. It was a clean race, and it turned out that I had known my friend and opponent since I was a kid. We won by 55-45 percent. Now, the pressure was on.
One of the first calls I received the next day was from longtime DFL State Senator Florian Chmielewski. He was a Conservative Democrat, and I was a Conservative Republican. We had met once before when I traveled to St. Paul with then-Mayor Wally Loberg. He had closely followed the Hermantown mayor's race as the city was in his District. He wanted to meet with me. So we lined up a time for early December at Starvin Marvin's, a little restaurant near our home in the Adolph area of Hermantown. It took a half hour before we could sit down. Between the two of us, we knew everyone in the place!
He asked me to highlight the city's needs. We talked about the severe sewer conditions in the SE corner, limited capacity in the Miller Trunk force main, a moratorium on water usage because of low pressure, and our lack of facilities for our police and volunteer fire department. Also, our state funding formula, which favored mostly older and established cities in our county, must be addressed.
Over the next two hours, with many interruptions, we laid out, on a napkin, the order in which we would attack. He said he had spoken to Rep. Murphy, and she was on board with whatever we came up with and later worked alongside us. Being the Chair of the powerful Transportation Committee, Florian was confident he could help us make this happen. Over the next few years, with the support of our residents, our City Council, Commissions, staff, and consultants, we were able to pass legislation to build the sewer interceptor line, place booster pumps and tanks for increased water pressure, design and build the Police/Fire Station. We increased state aid by $200K/year. Those infrastructure improvements and funding fueled the needs of a growing City. The city is where it is today because of the work done in the 1990's.
I am thankful to my friend, State Senator Florian Chmielewski, who was a nonpartisan public servant who reached out to our growing city.
Florian and I became good friends after our political careers were over. He and his daughter Patty even came to play at our annual Urshan Retirement Group Client Appreciation BBQ. People just loved him.
We often reminisced about those committee hearings and strategy sessions we attended together. He even came over one day to our house, and when I told him my wife Cindy played the accordion as a kid, he asked her to go get it and then play it over and over again! He then autographed her sheet music in her case and encouraged her to leave it out and play it. He was not only one of the Kings of the State Senate, but he was also the Polka King! What a friend.
Gosh, how I wish I could find that napkin. Rest in peace, my friend, and thank you.
– Note: Dan Urshan is a former Hermantown mayor
