Life is a journey; mine began on a train in South America.

Most people can’t definitively remember when their life journey began. Their first steps, first words and even memories of their first communion are left to Kodak and Apple to remember. I can remember and still celebrate the start of my adult journey. It was July 26th 1980. I was 17 and boarding a train in Montevideo, Uruguay, headed to Las Piedras. I sat down next to the most beautiful girl with long flowing hair. We had a little wine and a little song on that train with our Uruguayan brothers and sisters. Unbeknownst to me, that thousands of miles from my home in South Milwaukee and Greendale, and a continent away, I was sitting next to my future wife from White Bear Lake MN. And so I began the journey. It is as if it were only yesterday, that the train left the station.

That Uruguayan train has taken me on an incredible journey. A 28-year marriage to my wife, 4 children, numerous grand adventures with our family to Europe and South America. As a family we have literally gone from the threshold of the Oval Office and lunches with Senators and Representatives down to horseback riding in the quiet glory of the Pampas of Uruguay, and along the way, I got to visit my grandparent’s villages in Poland. As a family we have traveled through childbirth, breast cancer, an auto immune disease, deaths of loved ones, too many election races and of course the never ending fight for the new Stillwater bridge.

Today, I am announcing that I am going to get off the train at the upcoming station in Stillwater. I do not intend to run for a third term as Mayor of Stillwater. Ten years is enough. It is time to turn the position over to the next generation. As a city we have accomplished a lot in ten years. We completed the decades long flood protection for the city and started rebuilding Lowell Park. We ensured the creation of the Brown’s Creek bicycle trail and bridge, which will transform downtown. We secured a new armory and fire station and in the future better working conditions for the Police Department. During tough economic times, we worked together with our employees to maintain a very flat budget for the last 9 years. Lastly we literally passed an act of congress and ended the 60-year battle over the new Stillwater Bridge. I was able to attend at least 20 Eagle Scout Courts of Honors and witness the next generation of leaders.

To the citizens of Stillwater, I need to thank you for all your support over the years. Through this office, I was able to meet a lot of interesting residents. To the employees of the city, thanks for all of your hard work and effort. Sure we had battles over wages, but in the end I never met a more dedicated, competent group of people. You were constantly trying to reinvent yourselves to find more efficient ways to deliver services to the residents.

I need to thank my wife and family who ate many, many meals alone, while I dashed off to yet another “damn meeting”. Of all the things that I accomplished for the city, it’s the simple things that I didn’t accomplish in my personal life that bothers me most. Looking back at my growing children, I wish I had skipped a few meetings to play on the floor with my infant son or have yet another tea party with my young girls. Unfortunately, that train has left and I will never be able to exchange the meetings and calls for another day with my young children.

To my wife Mary, I’m a little older than I was in Uruguay. I’m a little greyer and a little more tired. I still love a little wine, a little song and, of course, that cute girl with the long flowing hair from White Bear Lake.

Thank you all for allowing me to serve the City of Stillwater.

Ken Harycki

Mayor of Stillwater