Mayor, councilman take office
By Jerry W. Kram
There were some new faces for the last meeting of the Parshall City Council on July 2. The city’s new mayor, Kyle Christianson and new council member, Robert Morenski, took part in their first regular council meeting.
Christianson grew up in Parshall. His father, Al Christianson, is the city’s Public Works supervisor. He worked for the North Dakota Highway Department for 14 years and has worked for Whiting Oil for the last seven years. He also had his own contracting company when he worked for the Highway Department.
He said one of his strengths is how well he knows the community.
"I knew Richard (Bolkan) wanted to step down and I figured I wouldn’t do the city any harm," Christianson said. "I figured I could do the people a lot of good. I know a lot of the elderly people from living here my whole life. I have some high hopes and will do the best that I can."
Christianson said that with the changes occurring in the community, he thinks the city needs leadership that recognizes where the city has been and where it is going.
"I want to keep Parshall whole and keep the people that are from here," Christianson said. "We have a lot of new people coming in. It’s very important that we need to keep the roots of Parshall together."
Christianson said he sees economic development as the big challenge for the next few years. Parshall hasn’t seen the growth other oil patch communities have witnessed. Christianson said the town has a chance to build a more solid foundation and not suffer the out of control development that has disrupted other communities.
