Washington County Commissioner Gary Kriesel needn’t travel far to see one of his proudest achievements.

Lumberjack Landing Park, on the St. Croix River just north of downtown Stillwater, is a five-minute drive from Gary and Ann Kriesel’s home in Stillwater.

The purchase of the 15-acre park, which Kriesel helped orchestrate, basically doubled the size of the city’s waterfront, protecting the longest section of shoreland – 3,500 feet – under private ownership along the St. Croix River. “I’m grateful I got to play a part,” he said. “One of our highest goals has always been to protect the St. Croix River.”

Kriesel, 82, retires at the end of this month after 20 years on the county board. Prior to joining the board in 2004, he served two years on the Stillwater City Council.

Kriesel worked with state Sen. Karin Housley and city officials on the 2014 purchase of the property from Elayne Aiple. Washington County contributed $1.93 million from its Land and Water Legacy Fund, and the state added $1.25 million from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, which is administered by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.

Stillwater, which contributed $1.12 million, owns and maintains the land as a public park, and Washington County holds a conservation easement on the land, Kriesel said.

“We wouldn’t have the Aiple property if not for Gary pushing for it,” said Stillwater City Council member and longtime friend Mike Polehna. “Stillwater now owns almost the whole riverfront in the city; the Aiple property was basically the final piece. He got it done, and the best part about it is he got us the money to do it. It’s going to be so awesome.”

Polehna, who’s been on the council since 2004, said he was initially nervous about taking Kriesel’s spot on the council. “Those were some big shoes to fill because he’s so well-liked and so well-known around the community,” he said.

Kriesel built strong relationships with city and township officials throughout District 3, said County Administrator Kevin Corbid. District 3 includes Afton, Bayport, Baytown Township, Lake Elmo, Lake St. Croix Beach, Lakeland, Lakeland Shores, Oak Park Heights, St. Mary’s Point, Stillwater, Stillwater Township and West Lakeland Township.

“Those relationships really made county projects successful when we were working in those District 3 communities,” Corbid said. “He placed a huge emphasis on advocating for those communities within the district.”

Kriesel was always upfront about where he stood on an issue – something that made Corbid’s job easier, he said.

“He has a lot of integrity,” he said. “He didn’t hide how he felt about something or how he was going to vote on something, so that was helpful as an administrator. He was a strong advocate for us as service providers. He had a lot of self-deprecating humor that he used sometimes to disarm people. He built relationships with his peers that way – being willing to make fun of himself.”

Wayne Sandberg, the county’s director of public works, said he will miss Kriesel’s strong work ethic and sense of humor.

Whenever discussions arose about District 3, Kriesel would quip, “‘You mean the center of the universe?’” Sandberg said. “Gary truly believed that the St. Croix Valley represented just that. His passion for the community was evident, and for the staff, it became clear that whenever he mentioned an issue impacting the ‘center of the universe,’ it signified its utmost importance to him.”

‘Rough upbringing’

Kriesel, the youngest of three brothers, moved to Stillwater when he was 8. His parents, Melvin and Irene Kriesel, lost their farm in Somerset, Wis., in 1950, after their barn roof was destroyed by lightning, and loans for cows, hogs and chickens came due. The family moved in with a bachelor farmer neighbor for six months, then spent a year at the Central House Hotel in downtown Stillwater.

Melvin and Irene Kriesel pose with their three sons — Gary, Buzz and Nile — on Chestnut Street in Stillwater in a photo that was taken circa 1951. (Courtesy photo)

Gary, Nile and Melvin “Buzz” Kriesel had a “rough upbringing,” Gary Kriesel said. “We didn’t have any money. I was probably the worst dressed because the clothes got worn out by the time they were handed down to me.”

Still, the Kriesel brothers’ stories about climbing to the top of the Stillwater Lift Bridge, swimming across the St. Croix River, raiding parking meters to pay for groceries and afternoon matinees at the Majestic Theater, and setting pins at the Pla-Mor bowling alley for 9 cents a line are snapshots of the way things were in the old river city.

“Downtown was our back yard,” Gary Kriesel told the Pioneer Press in 2015. “You got to meet all the interesting characters. Stroll downtown on a Friday night, and the bars always had the doors open, and you could hear that din.”

Kriesel, who attended Stillwater High School, followed his brother, Nile, into the Navy, serving on the same ship.

“I joined the Navy, and I didn’t know how to swim worth a damn,” Kriesel said. “I had to jump off a diving platform in boot camp and swim up to the end of an Olympic-sized pool and back, and it was all I could do. To me, swimming is clubbing the water. The other guys could float. I didn’t float. I had rocks in me or something. Oh my God, it was horrible.”

But joining the Navy was a “game changer” for Kriesel, he said. “Buzz and Nile were such role models for me with that — what I was lacking when they left was the discipline. The Navy gave me the skills and discipline and foundation for learning responsibility, as well as accepting authority.”

After “three years, 10 months and 14 days” in the Navy, he was honorably discharged and returned to Stillwater. “I was an artist for six months,” he quips. “I drew unemployment.”

Kriesel got a job with Ayers Plumbing and Heating in Stillwater for a couple of years and then got a job on the gas crew at Northern States Power, which later became Xcel Energy. He worked there for 33 years, retiring from Xcel in 1999 as a senior area specialist.

He and his wife, Ann, live in Stillwater and have three children, Chris, Amy and Kari, and seven grandchildren.

Kriesel started writing a weekly column for the Stillwater Gazette after he retired from Xcel. “It was mostly human-interest stories, but I also got into the political aspect of the new St. Croix River Crossing,” he said.

He decided to follow his brother Nile into politics. Nile Kriesel was Stillwater city administrator and then served two years on the county board.

From left: Brothers Buzz, Nile and Gary Kriesel, with the Stillwater lift bridge in the background, on November 19, 2014. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

Gary Kriesel served two years on the Stillwater City Council, and then ran for county board after his brother decided not to run for re-election. “He ran and then didn’t have the interest to continue on,” Gary Kriesel said. “He decided he liked the staff side more than the elected side.”

Kriesel jokes that he got elected to the county board on name recognition. “They thought they were voting for my smarter brother, Nile,” he said.

‘All about the partnerships’

Kriesel says that when he got the packet for his first county board meeting, he was shocked by how thick it was.

Retiring Washington County Commissioner Gary Kriesel (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“I called Nile, and I said, ‘My God, this is like trying to read ‘Gone With the Wind,’’” he said. “He said, ‘Gary, you don’t have to know all the elements involved. All you have to do is know who the heck you contact.’ That was good advice. County government has, like, 200 moving parts, and it’s impossible to know them all. That’s why you have professional staff. All you have to do is know who to get a hold of.”

Kriesel’s replacement on the board is Stillwater resident Bethany Cox, director of development at the Wild Rivers Conservancy.

When asked whether he had any advice for incoming commissioners, Kriesel said: “Don’t micromanage. You have to recognize that staff works for the board. They don’t work for you individually. They don’t get directions from you. They get direction from the entire board.”

Being a team player also is key, he said. “It’s not about who gets the credit,” he said. “It’s about a team effort. On an initiative, you might be the minority on it, voting against it, but once the vote is taken, it’s the will of the board that’s important.”

Finally: “You’ve got to enjoy people, and you’ve got to enjoy the job,” he said. “If you don’t have both of those, you have no business serving.”

Kriesel, who was re-elected in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020, is believed to be the second-longest-serving commissioner in Washington County; Commissioner Dennis Hegberg served from 1989 to 2012.

“It’s pretty incredible that he stayed on the county board for so long,” Nile Kriesel said. “I lasted two years. After two years, I said, ‘Whoa, this is too demanding.’ There are 18 to 20 different committees or commissions that you serve on, and you’re going from one meeting to another, including all the board meetings and the workshops and everything like that.”

Nile Kriesel said his brother’s common sense helped him be so successful. “He could look at an issue and just dissect it and, you know, get to the core of the problem or the issue,” he said.

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Said Gary Kriesel: “It’s all about the partnerships you build and the friends you accumulate along the way. That’s why I’ve been re-elected so many times. It’s about being honest with people and being transparent. You can’t always give them what they want, but you can make them feel good that they were treated fairly and listened to.”

Among Kriesel’s proudest achievements: advocating for the new St. Croix River bridge in Oak Park Heights; helping bring about the new Manning Avenue/Minnesota Highway 36 interchange, including the 58th Street extension; and championing the Brown’s Creek State Trail, he said.

But Kriesel said the best part of his job has been meeting people like Alice Kane, who recently celebrated her 35th work anniversary at McDonald’s in Stillwater.

“Make sure that you tell everyone that my favorite constituent has been Alice Kane,” he said. “Alice has Down syndrome, and she is an inspiration to everybody. She goes to work every day, and every day she posts an uplifting message. I love her. She’s part of what makes Stillwater so great. We really are the center of the universe, you know.”

Gary Kriesel reception

A reception to honor retiring Washington County Commissioner Gary Kriesel will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Washington County Government Center in Stillwater.