Tolkkinen: At age 5, he wanted to be New York Mills mayor; he was just sworn in

NEW YORK MILLS, Minn. - Kindergarten students want to be all sorts of things when they grow up.

Firefighters, astronauts, lifeguards, you name it.

When Latham Hetland was in kindergarten, he knew he wanted to be mayor of New York Mills, and dang if he didn’t just achieve his dream this week, at age 29, with his parents and a sibling and an in-law there to watch as he was sworn in and city staff began congratulating him and calling him “Mayor Hetland.”

“He’s always been able to figure out what he wants to do and then he just does it,” said his mother, Wendy Hetland, whose great-great-uncle built the store that became the New York Mills Cultural Center where the internationally known Great-American Think-Off takes place.

Hetland says his dream to serve began when he was just 5 years old.

That year, as she did every year, kindergarten teacher Barb Tumberg talked to her class about U.S. presidents. She brought official-looking grown-up clothes for the kids to wear — a blazer, white shirt and tie for the boys and a red sweater and blazer for the girls. The kids swam in the oversized clothes, adorably, and delivered a speech at a podium adorned with the presidential seal.

“The kids just thought it was very fun that they could pretend to be president,” she said.

Latham took it more seriously than most kids. As far back as he can remember, he wanted to become the mayor of New York Mills. As soon as he was old enough, he ran for student council, and during his senior year, served as student body president and the president of the local National Honor Society. He studied business at Minnesota State University Moorhead, landed a spot on the New York Mills City Council, and completed his master’s degree in business administration at Moorhead.

He’s a loan officer at the local bank, and during lulls, he’s known to just walk around the city. Looking at things. Thinking of what could be. The downtown could be revitalized, maybe with a mixed-use building of residential, office and retail. The city needs a new water treatment plant. It needs to renovate the swimming pool, which gets so much use in the summer, but it’ll be expensive. People don’t want to pay more taxes, so he tries to think of other ways to finance these projects.

Last fall, he asked then-mayor Marsha Maki whether she planned to run again. Maki had, actually, thought about going for a third term, but she also wanted to give a young up-and-coming public servant a chance to shine. So she decided to step away from the prestige — and there is prestige in being mayor, no matter what size city you serve — which had never interested her, anyway. They agreed that she would run for City Council. Latham ran, unopposed, for mayor.

“I believed he would be a great mayor. He’s excited and has the enthusiasm, and now I thought would be a great time,” Maki said. “He’d been on council along enough that he’s seen how the process all works.”

She’ll be there to help mentor him, and in the future, if he seeks higher office, she wouldn’t rule out running for mayor again.

New York Mills, population 1,230, has an outsized reputation. Not only does its annual philosophy competition reel in competitors and observers from around the country, but it boasts the world’s largest Ronald McDonald House benefit ride and is home to Lund Boats.

And as much as you hear about rural towns dying, New York Mills is thriving. Latham isn’t the only Gen Zer getting involved. The Lions Club is thriving, with a 27-year-old president, Latham said. Some of the guys his age invested in a downtown brewpub. There’s a new, much-needed 60-unit apartment building.

When Latham was 10, a vehicle hit the four-wheeler he was riding on. He was hospitalized with a brain injury, and he has not forgotten how the community rallied around his family, holding a benefit fundraiser and providing many meals.

“If anybody falls down, there’s 100 people that’ll help them get up right away,” he said. “And that’s just something that has made me so affectionate towards our community.”

Something is working in New York Mills. Maybe it’s the solid base of manufacturing. Or the cultural center that regularly showcases artists and events. Maybe it’s that a kindergarten teacher went out of her way to show kids the possibilities. Or maybe it’s a mayor generous enough to step aside for young talent.

Most likely it’s all of these things.

At his first council meeting, Mayor Hetland inherited the slate of ongoing business from Maki. There was talk of a new siren for the park. The issue of developers sitting on land that the city would like to see turned into homes. The likelihood of a new family resource center in one of the public buildings.

He handled it like an old pro.

In a way, he was.

As his old kindergarten teacher quoted on his Facebook page, “Everything you need to know, you learned in kindergarten.”