Two Harbors Mayor makes first statement after recall election

TWO HARBORS, MN. (KBJR) - Two Harbors Mayor Chris Swanson made his first public statement to KBJR/CBS3 following Tuesday’s recall election removing him from office.

The statement read:

“We love Two Harbors and the people who make up the community. We will continue our mission to positively impact this area and are grateful for all that we have learned and that has been accomplished over the past 5 and a half years.”

The Two Harbors community voted overwhelmingly to recall Mayor Chris Swanson Tuesday night, leaving the city to figure out what to do next.

There is no precedent for a recall in the small Northshore city, and it is very rare for Minnesota as a whole.

Organizers of the “Recall or Re-sign” group were very happy about Tuesday’s results.

Cynthia Kosiak, the attorney for the group, watched the results closely, “We’re feeling absolutley great,” Kosiak said, “I was looking at the numbers this morning.”

The group was responsible for getting the recall election on the ballot. It took 600 community members to sign a petition for it to move forward.

“They contacted me in, I want to say, February, about working on this,” Kosiak said.

Kosiak and the group have worked towards the election for several months. They feel their work paid off.

“I think the uncomfortable part was that people didn’t know for sure who was for the mayor and who was against the mayor,” she said.

86% of voters Tuesday voted to recall Swanson. The official canvass of results will be approved by the city council this Friday. Once approved, Swanson will be officially let go as mayor. The council’s president will then take over as interim mayor.

“The whole recall process was really invigorating for the community,” Kosiak said.

Kosiak worked with Uriah Hefter, who received the most votes Tuesday night in a primary vote for a Two Harbors City Council seat.

“We have a pretty significant group of supporters which is fantastic, that’s start number one,” Hefter said.

Hefter is hoping that transparency will return to the council chambers.

“The people of our city want to be involved, but the hoops that they have to jump through of late are extremely difficult and a little bit unfair,” he said.

The community has dealt with the controversy around Swanson for several months now...but Hefter says Tuesday’s result shows one thing.

“I think it speaks to the people of Two Harbors, their passion and their involvement with our local government,” Hefter said.

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