Lynn Eaton

The Bemidji City Council is looking to fill a vacancy on the council for Ward 5 after longtime councilwoman Nancy Erickson announced her resignation last September.

So far, four people have filed as candidates to fill that seat. We’ve heard from Bill Batchelder, Micaiah Graham, and Don Heinonen, and now, we check in with Lynn Eaton.

Eaton worked for the Minnesota Department of Transportation as an engineer from 1984 until 2014. While with MnDOT, he was responsible for an operating budget of $20 million and a construction budget of $35 million while also managing a staff of 200 employees in 15 locations.

Since retiring from MnDOT, Eaton served as vice president of engineering with Karvakko from 2014 until 2017 and is currently a part-time civil engineer with Widseth.

“Nancy Erickson did her homework and she was a finance person, and I kind of pride myself on an ability to dig into the numbers and go to the source and make sense of things,” says Eaton. “When she stepped away, that left that group of people, decision makers, with a void of some sort, so I know that’s one niche I can probably fill.”

“Working collaboratively with people, that’s what I’ve done with people my entire career, and that’s what’s necessary. There’s so much far-left, far-right stuff going on and no one’s talking to each other and you’ve got to come together and resolve these issues, whatever issues they are, and move this community forward,” added Eaton.

No new candidate shave filed for the vacancy since the four we have talked to submitted their paperwork last Monday.

By — Lakeland News