Duluth City Council Welcomes New Members

The whole council is relatively new, with only 1 of the 9 members having been on board for longer than 2 years.

But this year, the city council has 4 brand new members, Gary Anderson, Noah Hobbs, Elissa Hansen, and Em Westerlund.

“They’re all very eager to get to work, they’re all hard working people, serious people, and they’re going to bring a lot to the council,” said Joel Sipress, the vice president of the city council. 

Sipress said he is confident that the new members will bring new ideas and perspectives to the table

New council member Gary Anderson comes from a political background

“I started in politics really by working for Minnesota united for our families,” Anderson said.

He helped fight for Marriage equality for same sex couples in Minnesota.

Anderson believes his background will be beneficial for him at his new position

“I think the job of a district councilor is to make sure I learn how to really represent the needs of the people in my district,” he said. 

Another New council member, Noah Hobbs, lives West of lake Avenue. He said he wanted to be on the city council so that the area he lived in could be represented.

“when we’re spending 50 million dollars over the next 2 years we should have at least 1 at large councilor live west of lake avenue,” said Hobbs. 

Many on the city council say they are looking forward to the work they will be putting in this year

02:55:07 with a brand new mayor and a brand new council, I think the we’ve got the opportunity to do great things for the city and people of Duluth.

The new city council is also under new leadership, Zack Filipovich, who is the youngest Council President in Duluth history.