Bearth Looks to Unseat Pulkrabek on County Board

Oakdale resident Ted Bearth has announced he’ll challenge this fall for the District 2 board seat, which the northwest corner of Woodbury along with Oakdale and Landfall.

Bearth was first elected to the Oakdale City Council in 1974, and has spent 26 years as either a city council member or mayor. He’s currently the co-chair of the annual Oakdale Summerfest.

Patch: What first sparked your interest in getting involved in the community and city politics?

Ted Bearth: Having kids that had gotten to the age of playing in athletics. Started coaching there and that led to discussion with the city about fields and that led to the creation of the Oakdale Athletic Association and more involvement with the city, and then ran for city council and was elected in ’74. It was ’65 when I started coaching, and ’71 when we got the athletic association up and running. In those days there weren’t many facilities, there weren’t the parks that we have and the ball fields. They weren’t really well groomed.

Patch: What was your occupation?

Bearth: I worked for American Can, which was in the Midway district of St. Paul. I started in the factory and moved up to the main office and for 34 years I was there.

Patch: How did you end up in Oakdale?

Bearth: I grew up on Rice Street and so did my wife, and when I got out of the service and kids started coming we had to find something and Oakdale was just opening up. It was affordable, so we decided to move out here and in those days that was like the end of the world. Everyone said you’re moving out where? How far? There were 3,000 people here when we came, and it’s made some good growth.

Patch: Do you still live in the same house?

Bearth: Yes, I’m not moving. I’ve got junk I haven’t seen in 40-50 years. I don’t want to see it now.

Patch: Other than the Oakdale Athletic Association and the city council, what are some of the other things that you’ve been involved with over the years?

Bearth: The school district. I was chair of the advisory committee for a number of years. Most recently I’ve been a member of the foundation board. In Washington County, I’ve been former chair of the Community Corrections Advisory Board for 10 years. Liaison to the fire departments back before we had our own. Then I was on the relief board for the fire departments for a long time. It’s been varied. Lions Club takes a lot of time.

Patch: How long have you been doing Summerfest?

Bearth: Forever.

Patch: 20 years, 30 years?

Bearth: Yes.

Patch: You obviously stayed involved long after your kids were grown. What has kept you so active in the community?

Bearth: I like people. The city’s really been good to me and my family. So I’ve always thought they’ve been good to me, I should do something in return, maybe help somebody else out. That’s been probably the underlying factor of why I’ve stayed active. That and I actually do like people. Whether they agree with me or not, I don’t mind.

Patch: Can I ask how old you are?

Bearth: 74. I’m still as active as ever and I plan to be for probably another 20. You’ve got to keep moving. My wife has done a great job raising the kids.

Patch: So no thought of slowing down?

Bearth: No. I used to think I’d want to retire and I keep flunking. Somebody would say, “Oh, why don’t you do that?” I’d say, “OK.” That’s how I got to be manager of Landfall for seven years. I was park manager at the city of Landfall. Park manager is in charge of the park maintenance and park rules, evicting people as necessary.

Patch: Do you think you picked up anything in Landfall that you would use being a county board member?

Bearth: The people just don’t have any money, so you have to be extremely patient and you just can’t dictate, you’ve got to work it out. I think that’s a good lesson. Some of us are a whole lot more affluent than others.

Patch: What are some areas of county government that particularly interest you?

Bearth: 4-H. They eliminated their budget and I think 4-H is really a worthwhile program. I don’t know the county budget well enough to say, “Well, there’s money here we could use,” but I would certainly take a look at that. All kinds of different people make up a society. Some you subsidize and hopefully they’re better for it. That’s one area I do want to take a look at and see. Overall the county is doing an excellent job.

Patch: You mentioned that you had been asked to run this fall. Have you been asked to run before, and why didn’t you before this?

Bearth: Yeah, I’ve been asked to run each time. It always came down to, “Well, do I really want to do that? Can they find somebody else?” and then they’d find somebody else and I’d say, “OK, I’ll help with whatever I can do.” And then this time it got to be where that hasn’t worked for two elections now. I am not a fan of our current commissioner. I don’t think he does the job, so it’s about time for me to put up or shut up. In hindsight I wish I would have done it 12 years ago.

Patch: What are your issues with the current commissioner?

Bearth: He doesn’t do the work—that’s the major problem with me. To be an elected official is a privilege. It should be treated as such, which means you do the work. I don’t care if you agree or not, but you do the work, and you can’t just pick and choose which meeting you’re going to go to or let all the other commissioners do all the committee work and collaboration with other organizations. You’ve got to do your share. And if you’re not doing it, you shouldn’t be there.

Patch: What do you think are the biggest issues that are facing the county, the biggest challenges?

Bearth: Maintaining the tax structure that they have. With the increase in population that always leads to more involvement with staff, more staff time. You don’t have the money, that’s probably the biggest thing, how do you coordinate what our needs are versus what our funds are? The days of taxing people are over.

Patch: When you say maintain the tax structure are you talking about property value declines?

Bearth: No, I’m talking about the amount of money that we ask the residents to pay. We’ve got to keep our budgets as slim as we can. Through Oakdale, I’ve learned a good lesson. We’ve done a good job. Again, it’s not one person, it’s a team effort. From what I read and what I hear, that’s basically what’s missing. It’s a four-member team instead of a five.

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