Falcon Heights mayor looks back on tenure

It was 1998, early in Sue Gehrz' tenure as Falcon Heights mayor, when the University of Minnesota decided to build a women's soccer stadium practically next to some residents' property lines.

Neighbors were outraged after the city learned about the plan. Gehrz, a counselling psychologist by training, believed a conversation with the university president would quickly lead to compromise. Not so.

"It was trial by fire," recalled Gehrz. "I never liked confrontation. But like it or not, it was my role to do everything I could do (to stop the stadium plan.) Having lived through that, and having a positive outcome, certainly toughened me for anything I would face in the future."

At the end of this month, Gehrz is stepping down after 18 years in Falcon Heights city hall -- six years as a city council member and 12 years as mayor. The public is invited to a reception for her at city hall Friday afternoon.

Ironically, Gehrz now cites Falcon Heights' working relationship with the University of Minnesota -- which happens to own about half of the land in the city -- as an important accomplishment during her tenure. She now serves on a university task force that is creating a master plan for the Twin Cities campuses.

Over the years, Gehrz says she's grappled with residents' concerns over everything from crime to trash removal to renegade raccoons. She says she's learned that, regardless of the issue, most Falcon Heights residents who contact city hall can get some relief -- even if it's not the precise solution they had hoped for or on their preferred timeline.

"You can't solve every problem: There are things you have no control over," she said. "But nine times out of ten, we can figure out a way to resolve it."

She currently is a part-time consultant, doing research and planning for nonprofit organizations and school districts.

Her professional background, she said, meshed well with her job as mayor, in particular because being a mayor "requires a lot of listening" -- to both constituents and other government leaders -- and then synthesizing the information presented, she said.

Gehrz, who earned $5,400 a year as the city's top elected official, says she's devoted about 25 hours a week to the job and to serving on metro-wide commissions related to city needs. Among the accomplishments she's most proud of:

• Giving a facelift on the four city parks.

• Redeveloping a former dilapidated strip mall on the corner of Snelling Ave. and Larpenteur Ave., which now is home to nearly 200 units of housing for seniors and other residents.

• Updating the city's infrastructure, such as streets and sewers.

As for the future, Gehrz says she'll be looking for another job that could employ her skills.

In the meantime, she'll spend more time with her husband, Bob, who heads the astronomy department at the University of Minnesota. The couple have two children: son Alex, 31, who is a rock musician in Seattle and daughter Andrea, 30, who is a sign language interpreter in Portland, Oregon. "We'll be getting our first grandchild by the end of the month," said Gehrz, who will be shifting gears from city budgets to baby bottles in the near future.