MSU IT head named to Mankato Council

Mark Fischenich, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
·2 min read

Aug. 9—MANKATO — Bryan Schneider, the longtime director of technology services at Minnesota State University, has been selected to serve on the Mankato City Council through the end of the year.

On Monday night, the council unanimously selected Schneider to be the Ward 3 representative on the seven-member council starting Aug. 22. He will be finishing the final four and a half months of the term of former Council member Mark Frost, who moved out of the city at the end of June and was no longer eligible to serve.

Under the Mankato City Charter, council vacancies of less than 365 days are filled by appointment, with a full term decided by voters in the next general election — Nov. 8 in this instance. If Frost had resigned with more than a year left in his term, a special election would have been called.

"I understand it's short-term," Schneider said. "But I'm very excited and looking forward to it."

Schneider was one of two Ward 3 residents to submit a letter of interest in response to a call from the council for applicants to replace Frost. Leigh Pomeroy was the other, but Pomeroy all but withdrew from consideration when he learned that Schneider was seeking the seat.

"I'd vote for him in a minute," Pomeroy said during informal interviews at a work session last week.

Schneider said he's intrigued enough by municipal government that he has routinely looked at council agendas, meeting packets, budgets and public-access television broadcasts of meetings since moving to Mankato 32 years ago.

"I've always been interested in the workings of the city," he said.

Schneider won't be able to seek the four-year term to be decided by voters on Nov. 8. The candidate filing period for that election closed on May 31, before Frost revealed his plans to resign. Beyond that, redistricting following the 2020 census shifted ward lines and put Schneider's Ledlie Lane home into Ward 5 for future elections, including the upcoming general election.

In his interview before the council, Schneider was highly complimentary of how the city is run, praising the responsiveness he has encountered on everything from fix-it calls to the 311 municipal tip line to policy suggestions shared with city leaders. He said he has a particular interest in pushing for affordable housing and making Mankato more attractive when recruiting people of diverse backgrounds to move to the community.