A wave of youth washed into Grand Marais City Hall in last week's elections.

In what the 31-year-old mayor-elect has called the "youngest City Council" in the history of the North Shore town, three new public officials age 35 or younger will be sworn into office in January.

While they all have similar goals for the tourist community, they aren't coming in as a team: Each of the three young men decided to run on his own for seats that came open, they said. Each feels a need to help find ways to retain young families. All agree that jobs and housing are hot topics in the city.

"All three of us independently came to the conclusion that we wanted to be involved," Mayor-elect Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux said. "That's what really excites me about it."

DeCoux, originally from Medford, Minn., is a husband and a father to a 4½-year-old son. He and his wife own a bed-and-breakfast. He decided to run for mayor, he said, because he'd like to help establish policies that encourage business growth and help solve the shortage of affordable housing in the area.

"The property values are really high and the majority of the jobs are in the service industry," he said. "You have people working three, four jobs just so they can pay their rent."

DeCoux

Council Member-elect Dave Mills, 33, would like to foster an environment of entrepreneurship, he said. "So much of our economy is based on tourism."

Originally from Grand Rapids, Minn., Mills moved to Grand Marais in 2005 after a forest ranger job brought him to the area. A one-time bartender and server in town, he also worked seasonal jobs, including as a chimney sweep. Now he and his wife have two children, a greenhouse and chickens. He works as a carpenter. He decided to run for office because "I wanted to be more involved in our community."

Both he and Council Member-elect Anton Moody, 35, pointed out that housing is tight because more than 90 percent of the land in Cook County is publicly held. That requires developing clear policies for how the available land can be used, Moody said. Once that happens, he said, he hopes more people will feel confident in staking their futures on plans that may involve building businesses.

Moody, a carpenter who is married with two children, grew up in Farmington, Minn. He once worked seasonal jobs and struggled with affordable housing and living wages, he said.

"There's certainly a romanticism with the area," he said, but added: "It's not an easy place to live."

The city's two remaining council seats were not up for election this year, but one of the members will be leaving after winning a County Board seat, so a third new council member will be appointed.

Current Mayor Larry Carlson did not file for re-election, but he was the beneficiary of a vibrant write-in campaign that accounted for more than 35 percent of the mayoral votes.

"There was a group of people that were concerned about that younger faction coming into government," explained Carlson, 72. "You have that faction of people that have been here a long time, if not born here, and then you have these new people that are coming in. … The city government now is going to be composed of the new people."

Carlson said that DeCoux wrote a nice blog statement after the election and seems to be a "class act."

Moody said the three newly elected officials don't agree on everything and plan to listen to residents. "We represent everybody," he said. "We don't just represent the 30-year-olds. We represent my 80-year-old neighbor, too."

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