Ressler retains role as BP mayor; two newcomers join council

Blooming Prairie Mayor Mike Ressler kept his seat in Tuesday’s election, defeating challenger Heath Lembke by nearly 50%, 649 votes to 234.

Bill Newman lost his bid for reelection to the city council; Paul Tollefson and Charlie Heimerman earned seats by collecting 29% and 26% of the votes, respectively. Newman, who has been on the council for more than 27 years, picked up 13.8%.

Thomas Wanous (18.6%) and Trevor Kruckeberg (11.7%) were the other candidates for council.

· In the other local race, Monica Anderson and Haley Tollefson joined incumbents Rod Krell and Crystal Studer on the school board.