Voters appeared to be looking for a change. The top four candidates leading the race were newcomers, with Mike Gietzen, business sales manager for SRT, rounding out the leaders.

Blessum said the team with Fuller and Samuelson plans to get started on bringing that change.

“We were very clear in our campaign what we were running on. People are ready for the change. I think the results show that they are ready for a change,” Blessum said. “I hope that the rest of the council and the city staff leadership are ready to head in that direction, and I think the city manager is.”

The unofficial tally showed Blessum with 3,147 or 20.1% of the votes, Fuller with 2,695 or 17.2% of the vote and Samuelson with 2,254 or 14% of the vote. Gietzen finished with 2,130 votes or 13.6%.

Rob Fuller

In fifth place with 2,042 votes or 13%, incumbent Stephan Podrygula had emphasized the efforts the city has undertaken to provide quality services affordably and the accomplishments that have been made, while also stressing that the city can continue to improve. He is a psychologist in private practice who served on the council from 1998-2002, 2004-2008 and since 2016.

Incumbent Scott Burlingame, executive director for Independence, Inc., followed with 1,894 votes or 12%. He was elected to fill an unexpired term on the city council in November 2022. He had emphasized addressing childcare as a workforce issue and finding efficiencies to lower property taxes.

Leif Snyder received 1,432 votes or about 9%. He has worked in sales and coached youth hockey and campaigned for lower taxes and changes in the direction of the city’s economic development programs.

Blessum operates several family-owned small businesses in Minot. Fuller was a commercial banker for 17 years and currently owns and operates Spartan Firearms. Samuelson, a former Minot business owner, is a licensed Master Plumber.

Key components of their campaign called for lower taxes through responsible fiscal management and for a low regulatory environment to promote jobs. They also advocated for government transparency and an inclusive and equitable environment that won’t disproportionately burden certain groups of people.

Scott Samuelson

Fuller said he is ready to begin work on implementing the goals outlined in the campaign.

“Personally I am very excited. I think we have a lot of hard work to do to start changing the mindset in the city but we are looking forward to it,” Fuller said. “The first thing I want to see the city look at is cutting the budget. I want to see the city try to make it easier for developers to come to town and bring some growth to the city the organic way rather than inflate assessed values.

“The biggest thing is the property tax,” he added. “We want to start to address the property tax.”

Blessum agreed the first action will be to address the budget but other issues, such as the alcohol ordinance rewrite and economic development, also will be on their plates.

Fuller, Samuelson and Blessum have followed the council’s budget discussions and have taken the budget tours along with the seated council members in recent weeks.

“I am just looking forward to getting to work for the citizens of Minot and look at the budget issues and property tax – see if we can’t get it lowered,” Samuelson said, noting residents want to see that happen. “That’s the number one issue I heard about was the high property tax in Minot.”