BRAINERD – Residents of Crow Wing’s 5th District will have a new representative on the District Council with the new year.

Crow Wing County Commissioner Doug Houge lost his bid for re-election in the primary on Tuesday, August 13, reducing the number of candidates for the office to two. Johnna Johnson and Jamie Lee will run in the general election in November.

Houge has represented the district as acting commissioner since 2007.

“I am very proud of the work we have done. As long as I believe we have left the district in a better condition than when I was first elected, I have no problem with it,” Houge said Wednesday afternoon.

The primary was close between the three candidates, with Johnson and Lee separated by 10 votes after all votes were counted. Houge was 45 votes behind Johnson. Johnson gained triple-digit votes in the city of Crosby and Deerwood Township, making him the only candidate to do so well in any of the district’s precincts. Tuesday’s votes came from 21 precincts in the 5th District.

Lee was the one who received the most votes that night. Ten votes separated Lee and Johnson.

Johnson said there was a tumultuous excitement on Wednesday as well-wishers watched the primary results. She suggested this primary could be a first step in preparing for another run in four years. Whatever the case, Johnson said she is determined to keep going.

“I have great enthusiasm and passion for working in the district administration and I know that I am exactly where I belong,” Johnson said.

The spark for running was ignited years ago when Johnson was executive director of the Cuyuna Lakes Chamber and lobbied the state legislature to support mountain bike trails.

“Frankly, I think Doug has been very responsive to people and he’s very well-liked,” Johnson said. “My conversations with Doug over the last two terms were that I wasn’t going to run against him and he was looking at retirement in the future. I think he had a few things he wanted to finish and be involved in, but I knew now was my time to run.”

Lee said he decided to run for more accountability, fiscal responsibility and transparency. He thanked Houge for his years of work, saying it was very tiring being there for 17 years and while they had different opinions, Lee appreciated the time Houge put in.

“District 5 is ready for a change,” Lee said. “Mr. Houge has done a great job for quite a while, but over the last few years it hasn’t been what the district is looking for, and that’s why I decided to run, that’s why I got the great feedback I got, and that’s why I believe the primary went the way it went.”

Houge said he believes things would have turned out differently in a general election with higher voter turnout. Voter turnout in Crow Wing County was 12%, which is lower than the last primary election. In 2022, turnout was 17.4% and in 2020, it was 21.49%.

But that’s the way things go, Houge said, and the voters have spoken.

“It’s been very rewarding,” Houge said of serving on the board as a county commissioner, adding that they’ve really built a team and become friends over the years. “I’m very proud of the work we’ve done, so I have no regrets. The county is in a good position, in good shape. It’s going to stay that way. I have no doubt about that.”

Johnson says the problem of 14 empty, boarded-up or condemned storefronts on Main Street in Crosby in the early 2000s has been replaced by a thriving economy in the Cuyuna Lakes area. The problem for the community and businesses now is a lack of housing. One business asked if they could pay rent for a year so they could have a place to live if they found the right applicant. Others commute from far away.

“It’s just not sustainable to continue to grow our businesses and our school districts if we don’t focus on housing,” Johnson said, adding that funds are available from Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation. She said the county could make greater use of those funds to fund infrastructure, utilities and construction projects.

“I hope to act as an intermediary between the developer, the landowner and some of these grants and available funds,” Johnson said.

She said the county has been doing a good job of making county council meetings publicly available on YouTube for years. She said the available IRRR funds could help the county generate revenue for infrastructure, such as providing water and sewer to Deerwood, where it is needed for development.

“I think they’re very responsible with the resources they have and they hold themselves to very high standards,” Johnson said of the county currently. “I just want to generate additional revenue from unique sources.”

With only a few months left in his term until the end of the year, Houge said he wants to focus on a few projects, namely the parks he has enhanced for the community with Milford Mine Memorial Park and the most recent addition, Little Emily Lake Park, and he wants to look at ways to improve South Long Lake Park.

Houge said he enjoyed working on those park projects the most during his last term. He wants to finish some of the additions to Milford Mine Park before he ends, noting he still has work to do. Houge was preparing to attend a Riverton City Council meeting Wednesday night.

As for the board, Houge said they have developed a solid board that works together to make good decisions. As a group, he said, they have been creative and not afraid to try new things and make organizational changes for better customer service.

Houge said he was very proud of the team they had built and that they would continue to do well.

“So we’re in good shape,” Houge said. “After 18 years, I think the voters just said it’s time for a change and we’ll see how that works out.”

Houge expressed the hope that the board position would remain non-partisan.

“From day one, I never viewed the job of commissioner as political. It’s non-partisan. I always viewed it as if we were running a big company. And when you do that, you listen to people and you support decision-making in that way. So that helped me.”

Houge said he did his research before meetings, talked to people and was fairly quiet at board meetings because he did his homework. He hopes party politics won’t factor into the commissioner’s role in the future.

Lee said residents he has spoken with do not feel they are being heard as representatives of the 5th District and that messages are not being answered. Lee said he wants to run for more accountability, fiscal responsibility and more transparency. He wants committee meetings to be recorded and televised on YouTube and the district’s website. He said he believes the district can improve the way money is spent and accounted for, adding he does not believe the recent remodeling of offices is necessary, the money could be spent more wisely and vacant space in the district buildings could be better utilized.

“I’m going to be much more vocal than our current commissioner,” Lee said. “I want to make sure that everyone on the board understands what’s important to District 5, why it’s important to District 5, and why it’s important to the entire county, that we might look at the issues a little differently than they have in the past.”

Lee said he would share that information with the district, possibly through social media, meetings and a podcast to give listeners an update on what’s happening and his thoughts on it.

Lee said he wants everyone to know that his phone is answered and he is available and responsive.

Voters will have the opportunity to decide who between Johnson and Lee gets the commissioner’s seat in the Nov. 5 general election. Both Lee and Johnson said they are willing to participate in a community debate to help voters make an informed decision.

District 5 represents the central and northeastern parts of the county, including the Cuyuna Range and the cities of Crosby, Ironton, Deerwood, Emily and Fifty Lakes, Riverton and surrounding communities.

Doug Houge: 619 votes – 31.63%

Johnna Johnson: 664 votes – 33.93%

Jamie Lee: 674 votes — 34.44%

• 6,710 voters in total,
  • 1,656 votes were cast by postal vote (24.7% of all voters).
  • 5,054 were present in person at 44 polling stations.
• 12.02% voter turnout (6,710 voters/55,808 eligible voters),
• Before yesterday’s primary election, 46,405 voters were registered.
• 125 new voters were registered in the primary elections.
• 356 poll workers conducted the election at designated polling stations in the communities of Crow Wing County.

Source: Crow Wing County

Renee Richardson, editor in chief, can be reached at 218-855-5852 or [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchBizBuzz.