Continued: Spring Park's mayor ready to call it a career

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After 35 years as mayor of Spring Park, Jerry Rockvam is giving up the gavel.

The owner of Rockvam Boat Yards Inc. started his political career at age 25 as the youngest mayor in Minnesota. After that he repeatedly made headlines on Election Day: once for being defeated while running unopposed (a write- in candidate surprised him); once for winning by 13 votes; and two years ago for winning -- after a recount-- by just two ballots.

A politician even in high school, the former class president leaves office with a reputation as a tireless city leader who early in his career helped bring the glamorous Lord Fletcher's restaurant to the tiny Lake Minnetonka town. More recently, he presided over the controversial construction of high-rise housing downtown.

If he and the city councils he has worked with have a legacy, Rockvam said, it's "changing old for new."

He's particularly proud of leaving the city with a AAA credit rating and nearly $3 million in the bank. He is also happy to have helped close the city's municipal liquor store in the early 1960s and start the sale of private liquor licenses. Lord Fletcher's took out the first license in 1968, Rockvam said.

Although the new restaurant replaced tax-delinquent lots, some residents were not ready for the change.

That year he ran unopposed for mayor and decided not to campaign only to be shocked to find himself defeated by a write-in candidate.

"That was lesson number one in politics," Rockvam said. "I found out that is why you campaign. It was an unbelievable hit in the head when I got beat."

After serving a term on the city council, he ran for mayor again in 1972 and won.

After that, even though Spring Park's two-year term of office for mayor made it seem as if he was always campaigning, Rockvam communicated with voters before every election.

Those who worked with Rockvam at City Hall say he was never off duty as mayor.

"He was totally dedicated to the job of being mayor," said Sharon Corl, who worked with Rockvam for 14 years as Spring Park's deputy clerk. "For $150 a month, he attended countless meetings. ... He really cared about the city. He really did -- he took pride in it."

Rockvam often told stories about the city's early years and his institutional memory proved valuable, Corl said. "If an issue came up over a current governing ordinance he had the history of why that took place, which brought more insight into the issue at hand," she said.

Joanna Widmer, a 10-year veteran of the City Council, described Rockvam as a "24-hour watchdog."

"If there was a project you could always see him wandering around it and keeping an eye on things," she said.

He was always happy to speak with residents and with a business in town; "if people had a problem they knew where to find him," Widmer said.

When he has time to relax, Rockvam enjoys boating, riding his bike and walking at least two miles a day, said his brother, Tom Rockvam of Mound.

At 69, Rockvam said the time feels right to leave the job.

"I have tried for the last 10 or 15 years to go up to Lake Superior in September so I could learn to sail," he said. "This September I think I am going to do it."

Laurie Blake • 612-673-1711

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