When Jan Baustian is sworn into office tonight (Thursday) as Hardwick’s newest mayor, she will be stepping back into a position she first served in almost 30 years ago.
This time, however, Baustian said her role would be one of nurturing instead of trailblazing.
“The council, bless their hearts, are a bunch of young people that don’t have much (mayoral) experience,” Baustian, 72, said.
Previous mayor John Javner resigned as leader of the town of less than 200 people last month. He had one year left of his two-year term.
In 1983 Baustian was the first female councilor elected to the Hardwick City Council. Four years later she became the city’s first woman mayor.
She said paying $2 for her name to be on the election ballot 30 years ago was not a common occurrence.
“It was the first time we had names on the ballot,” Baustian said.
Tradition had only write-in candidates who reluctantly accepted the position. Once in office, they were also reluctant to conduct business in front of the public.
Baustian ran into that reluctance firsthand in the late 1970s when attended a meeting with another Hardwick resident and again in the early 1980s when she tried attending a council meeting by herself.
“They asked us what are we were doing there,” she recalled.
When Baustian explained she wanted to listen in on official meeting business, the meeting stopped.
“We all sat there for 15 minutes. Nothing was said at all,” Baustian said. “I told them, ‘I guess one way to find out what’s going on I’d better run for council.’”
Encouraged by her late brother, Charlie Braa, who was the county auditor, Baustian ran for office and won.
She served eight years on the Hardwick City Council beginning in 1983, four as a councilor and four as mayor. She stepped down in 1990 and has served once as a fill-in councilor when asked since that time.
Current council members asked last month if Baustian could fill in as mayor for the coming year.
“I don’t want to say ‘yes’ and do half a job,” she said.
Thinking she could be an asset to current council members, Baustian accepted.
“There are some things that need to be addressed,” she said.
Baustian admitted she has a lot to learn as she transitions back to the position decades after she left.
“There is so much more to (being mayor) now,” Baustian said. “It was a lot less formal back then.”
For help with following state and federal rules, she will look to seasoned city clerk Tammy Johnson, who served in the same capacity when Baustian was first mayor. She will also look to the League of Minnesota Cities, an organization charged with assisting members with education, training, advocacy, policy development and risk management.
Besides the more formal duties, her time as mayor will also be different this time around.
The Hardwick native has since retired from working as a nurse at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, and her two children, Don and Tony, are now grown. Her husband, Howard, died in 1998 from cancer. Her stint as mayor will also be short term.
“I am hoping someone on the council will take a serious look at it,” she said. “I am here to help them.”