Late father was longtime mayor, city councilman

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The name Hermanson has long been associated with the position of Henning Mayor. 

Jim Hermanson was a long-time member of the Henning City Council and assumed the role of mayor in 2007, until his passing in 2017. Prior to serving as mayor, Jim was elected to the Henning City Council for the first time in 1976. 

Jim’s oldest son Jesse Hermanson continued in his father’s footsteps, of sorts, and was elected to the Henning City Council for the first time in 2022. When the current mayor, Robert Johnson, decided not to seek a second term in office, Jesse decided there was no better time than the present to throw his name into the hat for Henning Mayor.

“The decision was made rather quickly to be honest. I learned late in the day on the deadline to file for the position that Mayor Robert Johnson had chosen not to seek re-election. As of that time there had been no filings for mayor and I felt I was a good candidate and that someone should run for the position. There ended up being two of us at the end of the day and I appreciate the votes I received in November,” said Jesse Hermanson. “More generally, I view this as one of the best ways I can serve my community and I care deeply about this town having grown up here and lived over half of my life here. I think my educational and work background provide a good base for being a successful mayor.”

After serving for the past two years on the Henning City Council, Hermanson was elected as the Henning Mayor in November 2024 after receiving 262 votes, or 61.2 percent of the votes for the position. 

Hermanson said he is looking forward to the challenges of city government and building on some of the accomplishments the city council made over the past two years in his new role as mayor. 

“I’m glad to be involved in the city government and look forward to the changes and challenges that this new role will bring after two years on the council,” said Hermanson, “I think we did some good things over the last two years and I plan to build on those accomplishments and also to focus on some other lingering issues that we didn’t get a chance to address in the past two years.”

A 2001 Henning High School graduate, Hermanson attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. and graduated in May 2005 with a degree in both accounting and business. He eventually was hired to work at a small accounting firm in Fargo, N.D. and worked there for six years, before he was hired as a bank examiner for the OCC in 2011. He became commissioned with NBE in 2017 where he continues to examine national banks and savings associations approximately every 18 months to evaluate their banking regulations and internal policies and procedures. 

With a strong financial background, Hermanson is hoping to help the city navigate some financial challenges on the horizon in terms of its rising debt and large projects that need to be completed. 

“First and foremost are financial challenges. We have significant debt and some large projects on the horizon,” said Hermanson of some of the most pressing issues facing the city. “The financial realities of inflation have impacted the city as well as the loss of some significant utility customers. We have been working to find attractive financing through the PFA and other sources to fund the large projects and are laddering out the bond payments to match the useful life of the underlying projects.  We have had success in various departments with obtaining grant funding and I will ensure we are being as competitive and thorough as possible in applying for future grants.”

The new mayor also said the city has also had staffing issues with things like the ambulance service. He said the city took steps late last year in an attempt to recruit new members and a new EMT training course will be held in Henning in a few weeks. He also hopes to address the friction between the various factions of the emergency personnel in the city and is hopeful that any friction can be solved over time. 

Another major issue facing a number of cities across the state is aging infrastructure. Hermanson specifically pointed to the city maintenance garage, which he said was in poor condition and will eventually need to be replaced, in addition to a number of city streets that are due for upgrades. 

“We are mindful of the large increases in our local tax assessment over the past two years, so we are working to balance our overall spending while also attending to these deferred projects as they become absolutely necessary,” said Hermanson.

While he is focusing on the future that doesn’t mean Hermanson hasn’t lost sight of the fact he is stepping into the same shoes his father filled for so many years. For example, Hermanson said he remembers as a child that his dad would be at the Henning City Council meeting the first Tuesday of every month and even occasionally attended meetings growing up. 

There was also the promise that Hermanson said he remembers his dad making to his mother Diane that never seemed to quite be followed through upon. 

“My dad was a busy man growing up and I also remember every four years he would tell my mom that this was his last term and he wouldn’t run again,” said Hermanson of his dad. “Between his enjoyment of serving on the council and perhaps a lack of other willing citizens, he never kept that promise.  I have no designs myself on putting in 40 plus years so I encourage others to get involved and run for these positions when they are open.”

When asked if becoming mayor had a bit of extra importance to him personally given the contributions his dad made to the Henning city government through the years, the younger Hermanson said there is a bit of extra importance to stepping into the role of mayor given his family’s past in Henning.

“Yes, it does have extra importance.  I found in the early months of my time on the city council that I would think of him on the short drive downtown for the meetings.  That wore off a little with time, but I do occasionally think about him and what he would think of me continuing in his footsteps,” said Hermanson. “I have also received many kind words from people after the election and several mention my dad when they do so.  More than anything I just want to help as much as I can while I remain in this role to move the town forward and that will inevitably mean continuing much of the work that he contributed to.”

Hermanson was officially sworn into office as Henning Mayor last Monday night as he will begin a two year term as mayor. In subsequent action, he resigned his position from the city council that was filled later in the meeting.