WHO AM I?
When my wife and I moved to Minnesota eight years ago, we were searching for a community where we could build our family. I grew up in a small town in Central Florida with about 1,300 people. I walked to school, participated in Cub Scouts, played Little League, and spent my summers fishing for catfish off the dock at Veterans Park. So, when work brought us to Minnesota, we set out to find a small rural community reminiscent of the one I grew up in. When we discovered the old Haften farm for sale on a gravel road, we knew this was the place to start our family and become part of the community.
Within our first few weeks here, I made it a priority to get to know our neighbors, believing strongly in building close ties since neither of us had family nearby. I remember introducing myself to Tom Grygelko soon after we moved in. When I mentioned we had moved from Seattle, he smiled and asked if I was one of those West Coast liberals. I laughed and assured him I was one of those gun-carrying liberals who believe in small government. He chuckled and said, "You must be a unicorn." He wasn’t far off.
We’ve found family and friends in our neighbors, supporting one another when it was most needed. One neighbor helped dig me out of a snowbank when we were on our way to a birthing class. Another cleared a seven-foot snowdrift for us during our first winter when I didn’t quite get the snow fence placement right, so my seven-month-pregnant wife could get out of the house. That same neighbor later built the wrap-around porch addition to our 130-year-old farmhouse. Another neighbor helped me sweat a tricky pipe that I couldn’t quite get to stop leaking or assisted with reroofing part of my barn. Lending a helping hand is only part of what makes our neighbors who they are—it’s more than just being neighborly. Our daughter has gotten to know the neighbors who built a home a few years ago, and we’ve become good friends, even sharing a lemonade stand. My wife and I have also become close friends with them, and we spend some weekend mornings connecting over "tator talks" at Brothers Eatery with our neighbor across the street.
We feel truly blessed to be living in this community, and whenever we can, we try to give back. Whether it’s sharing canned salsa from our garden, Christmas jam from our berry bushes, helping clear a flooded basement at 11 p.m. during a downpour, snow plowing for a neighbor who’s away, using my photography skills at their concert, or looking into what seems like an unfair assessment for a neighbor on a future city road who’s being assessed as if they have direct access. We love that we live in a place with wide-open spaces, but even more so, we appreciate being surrounded by people we care about—and who care about us.
A bit more about me: I served in the Coast Guard in the late '80s and early '90s. I was an engineer, motor lifeboat search and rescue crewman, took care of a lighthouse, and even worked on the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It was a great experience for a young man who was still trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. I’m sure the present council won’t be surprised to learn that even then, I was someone who challenged the status quo. I remember one time I spent 10 days on extra duty for breaking into a storage locker to give the crew their gear back after the sergeant-at-arms confiscated it while they were in the showers. He was following the letter of the law, but just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Five days into my ten days of extra duty, the XO asked me if, given the chance, I would do the same thing over again. I told him, “Hell yes.” He then told me to clean up my gear and take the next few days off because he knew that even though I broke the rules, I was in the right. I believe you should be willing to face the consequences for doing the right thing. The hard part is finding someone willing to upset the apple cart to make things right.
After my service, I went to university and earned a degree in Modern Middle Eastern History, intending to work in international affairs after serving during the first Gulf War. If you’ve ever read my posts on the Middle East, now you know where that knowledge and passion started. Before going on to get my master’s, I took a year off for family matters and worked for a network security consulting firm, launching a career that has spanned working for PwC, Microsoft, Starbucks, and finally, Target. I have managed governance and security roles for nearly 30 years, during which time I’ve led teams, governed processes, and developed improved business practices and procedures at each of these companies. I hope to use that experience here in the city to find ways to improve how our city works for the people of Greenfield.