Maple Grove council member steps down after resident opposition, Court of Appeals ruling

A Maple Grove City Council member is stepping down following more than a year of public pressure to resign.

This week, longtime Council Member LeAnn Sargent notified the city of her retirement, effective April 30, citing health reasons.

Sargent, 64, was sentenced last year to a gross misdemeanor for exploiting her dying father, cheating him out of $100,000. But the state Court of Appeals ruled that the sentence was unjustifiably lenient. She will be resentenced May 14, probably with the original felony plea agreement crafted by the Hennepin County attorney's office.

A felony conviction automatically disqualifies her from public office. In Minnesota, there's a process for anyone from legislators to the governor to be recalled or removed from office, but state statute doesn't allow the recall of local city officials. Instead, most cities, like Maple Grove, can approve a censure — which isn't a legal charge, but shows public disapproval — when a council member is criminally charged with a misdemeanor.

That's what the Maple Grove City Council did in an April 2013 censure, calling Sargent's actions inappropriate and asking her to resign. Sargent, who has been on the council since 1991, apologized for the embarrassment to the city, but said she would finish her term, ending Dec. 31, 2016.

"One side of the case was only told," she said then. "It would be easy to run away, and I know I have an uphill climb to receive your renewed confidence, but my heart is with the city of Maple Grove."

Since then, some residents have protested her continuing role on the council, attending council meetings and organizing on social media.

District Court Judge Luis Bartolomei had sentenced Sargent for a gross misdemeanor, telling her it was in part so she could remain on the council. Sargent had argued that she deserved the lighter sentence because she took responsibility for the crime, had no criminal record and was in poor health. She was ordered to pay restitution and served two months in the workhouse followed by two months on home monitoring.

But the county attorney's office filed an appeal, arguing that the sentence didn't meet state sentencing guidelines because the amount of money she stole was 100 times more than the statutory limit for a gross misdemeanor crime. It was a rare step for the county to take, arguing that its own district judge's punishment was too lenient. A Court of Appeals ruling in February agreed.

After a council meeting this week, Sargent submitted her retirement letter, saying that it had been her honor to represent the city for 24 years. "We have accomplished much over the years," she wrote.

In May, the city will post the open position, which pays $13,000 a year. The city plans to appoint someone to fill the rest of Sargent's term by June.

"When she was a City Council member," Council Member Karen Jaeger said Friday, "she did her job and did it well."

Kelly Smith • 612-673-4141