After serving as Goodhue’s mayor for the past 10 months, Ernest Valenzuela has submitted his resignation. The council voted to draft a resolution appointing Chris Schmit, acting mayor to carry out the remainder of Valenzuela’s term, leaving a vacant council seat. Immediately following the resolution motion, Joe Benda also resigned from the council, creating a second open seat.
Hailing from Brookings, South Dakota, Valenzuela graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in Animal Science. He came to the Goodhue area to work on Kohlnhofer’s hog farm, a job he enjoyed for 15 years. He later worked with hogs for Brandon Schafer and for a short time, worked on a farm in Ohio before moving back to Goodhue and opening a home daycare.
Valenzuela coached junior high boys’ basketball, then 8th grade girls’ basketball, having as many as four traveling teams at one time. He found mentoring the young people as rewarding as winning a game. He has four daughters and a son and is married to Meghan, a nurse at Mayo Clinic in Red Wing.
“We moved back to Goodhue for a reason,” Ernie says of his desire to serve the community. Losing the police force was an “aha moment” that made him realize he wasn’t aware of the issues that existed in the city. Valenzuela praises the work of former mayor, Terry Buck, for seeing the city through the transition from a city police force to contracting with Goodhue County. He felt her accomplishments went largely unnoticed saying, “[Buck] did a lot of legwork to get the community where it is today.”
Hoping to build on that good foundation, Valenzuela “Recognizes the value of what we have at city hall. We can’t have a good council without a good administrator, a good clerk, et cetera.” Emphasizing that everyone has a job to do, he credits city administrator, Lisa Redepenning for day-to-day operations.
Redepenning has lived in the area since 1998 and she and her husband have worked for several cities. Lisa has been the Bellechester city clerk for ten years and the Goodhue city administrator for the past 15 months. Previous to being hired as Goodhue’s first official city administrator, she was asked to help with end-of-year duties, closing out all of 2023 in just four days. From January to July 2024 she served in various capacities including filling in as clerk and treasurer.
Lisa says she is “Very task driven”, a good quality for someone responsible for day-to-day duties that include updating the city website, fielding resident’s questions and concerns, researching past meeting minutes to clarify statutes and ordinances, and bringing proposals to the council to be approved or denied. As city administrator, she is trusted to do the homework, evaluate the benefit of a project, work with financial issues and set the regular meeting agenda.
Redepenning read Mayor Valenzuela’s letter of resignation at the October 23 council meeting in which he stated in part, “I would like to thank every single council member, every single office employee, and public works employees. Also [thankyou] to the community of Goodhue…..Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.” Valenzuela sited personal reasons and “great hesitation” but asked that his resignation be effective immediately.
Following Valenzuela’s resignation, the council, Redepenning and city attorney, Robert Vose (via Zoom) discussed the proper procedure for accepting the resignation and appointing an acting mayor. Councilman Chris Schmit, who conducts council meetings in the mayor’s absence, agreed to fill the position for the remainder of the elected term which ends next year.
Immediately following this reorganization, an emotional Joe Benda spoke on his own behalf, “It is with deep regret that I am tendering my resignation from the Goodhue City Council effective December 31, 2025. Unfortunately, I am not able to fulfill the final year of my commitment to the council”. Citing health reasons for his resignation he stated, “It truly is with deep regret that I will not be able to continue working towards achieving a healthy city with great processes and procedures in place”. He credited good leadership, legal direction and the dedication of many for lifting Goodhue to greater standards. “I believe that I have assisted in accomplishing good things during my three-year tenure as a councilman…I won’t be sitting on the council come January 1, 2026, but I will continue to support Lisa, Bob and the council in the community that I love.”
The resolution to appoint Schmit as mayor and the handling of the vacant council seats will be addressed at the November meeting. Due to the holidays in November and December, there will be only one meeting held in each of these months. The meetings on November 12th and December 10th will be converted from work sessions to regular meetings. Work Sessions will resume their normal schedule in 2026.
Residents are encouraged to stay informed on what is happening in the city of Goodhue. Lots of information can be found on the city’s website www.cityofgoodhue.gov. All public meetings are livestreamed on YouTube and available for viewing any time after by following the link on the website. Updates are also posted on their Facebook page and a newsletter is sent with the monthly utility bills and archived on the website. Copies of meeting minutes are available in the entryway of city hall or by calling and asking for them to be mailed to you.
City Hall is open M-F from 7 am – 4 pm. Phone 651-923-4310 or email cityclerk@cityofgoodhue.gov.
As he steps down from the mayoral position, Valenzuela said, “I want to recognize past mayors who made a big impact”. He, Councilman Benda, Administrator Redepenning, and the other representatives are united in a common goal of remembering who they represent and what is in the best interest of the city.
