Kent Koch holds down three jobs. By day, the 23-year-old is a part-time student at St. Cloud College, in Minnesota, from where he will graduate this spring. Following classes he reports to baseball practice, where he’s the team co-captain and starting second baseman. Last year he batted .333 and helped carry the Huskies to within one game of the Division II College World Series.
Then each Tuesday, Koch drives to his tiny hometown of Loretto, Minnesota (pop. 613), west of Minneapolis, to report for his third job. On Tuesdays, as mayor, he joins the city council meetings.
Koch doesn’t consider himself political. He didn’t campaign as a member of any party. But he has a deep love of his community, and when the sitting mayor announced his retirement and no one stepped forward to replace him, Koch decided to run. He had already worked for the parks department, and his family had long been associated with the town fire department, where his father had served as chief.
“I lived here my whole life,” Koch told the St. Cloud Times, “and I’ve been going to city council meetings for years.”
The issues Loretto faces aren’t simple ones. Like many small-town administrators, Koch is dealing with a tight budget and difficult community decisions. First up are whether to partner with the Twin Cities for sewage and tap water services, and how to find funds to re-open a local compost dump.
Koch spent the weeks preceding his January 11, 2011 inauguration seeking advice from St. Cloud economics and political science professors, and from past Loretto mayors.
His baseball teammates are certain he’ll prove successful. They’ve already nicknamed him, “Mayor.”
*Photo courtesy St. Cloud State University
