Bemidji’s Ron Johnson Looks Back at 24 Years on City Council

The Bemidji City Council will have a new look in January as for the first time since 2001, it will no loner include longtime Council Member Ron Johnson.

After serving six consecutive four-year terms representing Ward 3, Bemidji’s redistricting moved Johnson into Ward 1, where he was not elected. Ahead of his final meeting as a councilman on Monday, Johnson looked back on some of the biggest things that have happened in Bemidji during his 24 years in the position.

“Probably the biggest thing that I liked was [the Sanford] Center,” said Johnson. “A lot of people still don’t like it, but it’s done wonders for developing that whole south shore, and buying the south shore was another big decision – 139 acres? And probably the most disappointing was, I was on the losing side of tearing down the old high school. I’m born and raised in Bemidji and I went to that high school and we had a reuse plan that I thought was going to work just fine for apartments. The council did not support it.”

Throughout the ups and downs of the past two-and-a-half decades, Johnson has seen Bemidji go through a lot. During his time on the council, he has seen the city grow from a population of 12,000 people to nearly 16,000. Now, he’s starting to make plans for the future without the council in them.

“It’s been so long that I haven’t been on the council that I’m probably going to have to enjoy it,” he said. “I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll be able to watch a Monday Night Football game from start to finish. I haven’t seen one since I got on the council ’cause we always meet Monday nights.”

Johnson added, “I want to thank especially the residents of Ward 3 because they elected me six times to six four-year terms, and if it wouldn’t have been that I got redistricted, I don’t doubt that I’d be on another four. So thanks to them especially because they’re the people I talked with and had phone calls with and did everything. When you’re a councilman, you serve the entire city, of course, but you represent a certain segment, and mine was Ward 3. And I’m very proud to have represented them for about a quarter of a century, you know?”

Johnson not only represented Bemidji on the City Council, but he was also able to work on the state level. In his 24 years in office, Johnson was also the only person in Bemidji history to be elected as President of the League of Minnesota Cities and President of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities.