Grand Marais voters usher in young leaders

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."

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."

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.

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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