Meet the Commissioners: Vice-Chair Randy Stille (St. Anthony Village)

Randy Stille says people who live in St. Anthony Village are often surprised to learn that he’s the mayor. That doesn’t bother the long-time resident and former city council member, who believes in keeping a low profile and “doing what’s right, quietly.”

“I’ve taken the approach of governing by consistency … a quiet governance vs. a flamboyant approach,” says Stille, who spent a total of 18 years on the city council and five years on the planning commission before being elected mayor in 2019.

Stille, an MWMO commissioner since 2020, brings decades of experience with land use issues — first in his private career with Associated Bank in commercial real estate, then in his public service at the city, and now at the MWMO. He was elected vice-chair of the MWMO Board of Commissioners in March.

The MWMO and the City of St. Anthony Village have developed a special relationship over the years. To save money, the two organizations — both relatively small local government entities — share several staff positions. Human Resource Coordinator Jennifer Doyle, Accountant Ka Vue, and Finance Director Shelly Rueckert are jointly employed by both the MWMO and the city.

“The partnership we’ve had has just been awesome,” Stille says, adding that it’s beneficial to taxpayers and also creates more opportunities for the staff.

The MWMO and St. Anthony Village have also collaborated on two major projects. Both were groundbreaking projects and are or were considered state-of-the-art at the time they were built. The first project was the city’s stormwater reuse system, which captures runoff from a 15-acre area around the city hall, stores it in an underground tank, and uses it to irrigate a 20-acre civic campus and add aesthetic appeal via a fountain and pond.

The second was the underground stormwater research and treatment system, which captures runoff from a 600-acre area and cleans it using several treatment technologies before releasing it to the Mississippi River. The system (nicknamed “SART,” for St. Anthony Research and Treatment) is monitored so that researchers can compare the effectiveness of different treatment methods.

Stille — whose own backyard is filled with native prairie plants — says both MWMO projects have been a source of pride for the St. Anthony Village, a GreenStep City with a longstanding focus on sustainability.

“For us in St. Anthony to be an example for what cities can do when you decide to work with your watershed, we’re proud of that,” Stille says.

Stille and his wife, Donna, have lived in St. Anthony Village for more than 30 years. They have two children, both of whom graduated from St. Anthony Village High School.