Duluth mayor looks back on nearly decade in office

With just a few days left in office, Duluth Mayor Don Ness says he has largely addressed most of the issues he wanted to in his nearly decade-long stint as lead executive for Minnesota's port city.

Ness didn't seek a third term as mayor in November, and he'll leave office Jan. 4. The transition has been more than a year in the making, and he told WDIO-TV that the long process has allowed him to finish up projects that are important to him.

The mayor said his accomplishments include stopping the flow of untreated sewage into Lake Superior and funding mounting retiree health care costs.

Ness has also championed the outdoors in Duluth, and has overseen major business investments and growth in the aviation sector. Those investments wouldn't have been made, he said, if "they thought the city of Duluth was going to go bankrupt in the coming years."

Elected at 33 years old, Ness said he was "extremely nervous" when he took office. He said the city was in a "perpetual moment of crisis" at the time, with officials trying to make cuts and or find revenue to balance the budget.

The city also saw flooding in 2012. Ness said he's proud of the community's response, with neighbors helping each other.

"That was by far the biggest natural disaster in our city's history and was something that we couldn't prepare for and all of the sudden, here we are in the midst of it," Ness said. "I think it was really a true testament to character of this city and the people that choose to live here."

As Ness leaves office, he said there's still work to be done by city officials.

"The street infrastructure, the disagreement with the Fond du Lac Band over the downtown casino, there's a number of issues that it does feel discouraging that we weren't able to come to a resolution on," he said.

Ness isn't sure what the future holds for him, but he said that it likely won't include running for state or national office.