Knudsen wants to see progress continue
— Alan Dale
for the Laurel Advocate
LAUREL — Keith Knudsen decided, why not?
Long-time Laurel City Council member Keith Knudsen has decided to run for the position of mayor to fill the void being left by current Mayor Mark Patefield.
“I still have two years left on my term with the city council, but I decided to put my name in when our current mayor decided not to run again,” Knudsen said.
Knudsen said he thinks Laurel is headed down the right path and wants to continue to help the community succeed.
“ We have quite a few projects going on in Laurel over the next couple of years and I thought I could continue with the service and with my experience with the council, it made sense to put my name in and see if anyone else runs.”
So far, no one else has filed to run against him for mayor. The filing deadline is March 2.
Knudsen is the president of Security Bank in Laurel as well, so he is well connected to the community.
He also believes that changing from the council to mayor will up the ante in what is expected of him.
“As president of the council if the mayor couldn’t be at a meeting, I would run those meetings,” Knudsen said. “The biggest thing is that the mayor has some additional administrative responsibilities like oversight of the city administrator and city police. There are some supervision things that come with the mayor position.”
Knudsen grew up in Laurel, graduated from Laurel-Concord High School and ultimately graduated from Wayne State College, while starting to work for Security Bank his senior year.
It would be an understatement to say he takes pride in seeing it be successful.
“It has had a good track record with businesses, housing and economic development and I would like to see it remain successful,” Knudsen said. “I would like to see the city go on with the plans they have in place. One example is the downtown revitalization project which is starting now. That will start next spring as far as redoing Main Street.”
He also is proud to have been a part of the celebration for the city’s 125th anniversary and the building of the industrial park.
“The people are great, a good business community – main street is full – a good school system and it’s a good place to live,” he said. “I remember having a group of friends that you could be involved in everything growing up.”
Knudsen and his wife, Karen, love to travel when the opportunities present themselves. Spending time with their kids and grandkids is also priority, a top priority, he said.
