Wife wants Minnesota county commissioner off board as his cognition declines

ST. CLOUD – The wife of a longtime Stearns County Board member is filing for guardianship over her husband because his recent cognitive decline is affecting his ability to act as an elected commissioner, she says.

On April 7, a Wright County judge granted Alice Lenzmeier of St. Cloud emergency guardianship over Leigh Lenzmeier, 77, who has been residing in an assisted living facility in Buffalo for about a year.

The temporary guardianship lasts 60 days. Meanwhile, an evidentiary hearing scheduled for next week is the first step in the process of obtaining a longer-term guardianship.

“This is all about preserving his dignity and respect — and getting him off that board," Alice Lenzmeier said Monday. “I don’t feel the need for the whole world to watch him go downhill. And he’s not doing the job. Let’s be honest with that.”

In a phone interview Monday, Leigh Lenzmeier acknowledged some health concerns but said he plans on serving the rest of his four-year term, which runs through 2026.

“I was having problems … regarding nutrition and it was really screwing me up. And now that I’m on a regular routine, things are quite a bit better,” he said. “The idea that this is the end of the line is an overstatement.”

The guardianship order states his “memory, executive functioning and ability to care for himself have been in decline over the past 15 years with rapid acceleration” in recent years.

The order cites a doctor’s report from December that states, “based on the results from testing, it is recommended that he step down from his position. Given his cognitive difficulties, his ability to learn and remember information, critically examine information, and reason through decisions is likely compromised.”

In her petition, Alice Lenzmeier wrote that her husband has been “irregularly participating in meetings and voting on significant and complex matters without the capacity to understand the work he is performing or that he may be manipulated to vote in ways that he does not understand.”

Had he been willing to resign, she would not have felt the need to file for emergency guardianship, Alice Lenzmeier said.

“I resent being pushed to this limit,” she said.

In addition to the regular commissioner meetings, which Leigh Lenzmeier has mostly been attending virtually, he is tasked with going to dozens more committee meetings each year.

County Administrator Mike Williams said Monday that he anticipates the board will discuss the guardianship at its next meeting next Tuesday.

“The board’s been very concerned with the situation and he’s been [in assisted living] for more than a year but there really hasn’t been any official information available to the board for it to really do anything,” he said.

The upcoming evidentiary hearing should provide insight into whether the guardianship will be permanent. If it is, “then clearly I think the county board would be interested in considering taking action or would feel compelled to take some action,” Williams said.

“I think people are wanting to do [for] Leigh as good as we can,” he added. “He’s had a long service and it’s a difficult situation for everybody.”

Leigh Lenzmeier has represented much of St. Cloud and part of Waite Park on the board for more than three decades.

David Schultz, a professor of political science and legal studies at Hamline University, said Monday that he thinks the county board would be able vote on a motion to remove Lenzmeier if they found he hasn’t met the residency requirement or attended required meetings for 90 days. But much of this is without precedent, he said.