Lake Country Faces: Mayor role may be a first step for Breezy Point woman

BREEZY POINT — Three new people joined the Breezy Point City Council in January. Among them was Mayor Angel Zierden.

She is new to the council after running for mayor unopposed in November and is more than ready to sit in the council’s center chair.

Zierden was born in Phoenix before moving to Anchorage, Alaska, as a child. In high school, she moved to Deerwood, establishing herself in the area.

Her younger years saw plenty of adversity, which may have shaped her into a hard worker.

“In order to see where someone is going in life, you have to see where they've come from,” she said. “We moved to Alaska with my biological father, but we had to escape from him — me, my sister and my brother — and we lived in a women’s shelter and went into hiding for about six months after that. That’s when my mom met my stepdad, who adopted me at 7.

“The first seven years of my life were pretty tough, coming from an abusive household … I was the first person in my family to ever go to college, and I put myself through college. I had a daughter in college and still graduated,” Zierden said.

She and her husband, Teddy — who serves on Breezy Point’s planning and zoning committee — have three children. Work, kids and politics keep her busy, but on top of all that, she also runs marathons.

She works in real estate and manages 20 rental properties, and also has done some investing.

Before having children, Zierden was the CEO and founder of a medical device accelerator company, and she drafted three bills for the Minnesota Legislature pertaining to pediatric medical device tax credits, as well as granting tax credits to companies that make medical devices for children.

Running for mayor was something Zierden considered for a long time, and she felt 2022 was the right time to do it. Though she is eager and excited to do her part for the city of Breezy Point, she has grander plans for her future.

“My background is in state politics,” Zierden said. “I drafted my three bills in Minnesota … I’ve worked on quite a few campaigns. I always knew that I would run for office, and I will continue to run for office, even at a higher level than mayor … I have every intention of running for governor one day.”

Though she has greater political aspirations, there is still plenty Zierden would like to see accomplished in her time as mayor, including working on a connecting trail linking Breezy Point to the Paul Bunyan Trail.

“I think that is something that can get done,” she said. “I want to see the ordinances redone. It’s the foundation of the city — the book that needs to be followed — and our ordinances are outdated, and we are unable to do our jobs the way we need to.”

She also wants to see how taxes can be lowered at the local level.

Zierden is adamant about improving communication and transparency with the community and hopes residents and business owners will bring their concerns to her and the council, even if it is something that cannot be easily fixed at the local level.

“I don't care if you're a business owner or resident or you own a rental. There's accountability for everybody in the city, and it is the job of the mayor to not take sides,” Zierden said. “I think that if they trust you in that, then when the decisions come up, they're going to be a little bit more receptive to not getting their way … I will always take their call. I will always answer their emails or their text messages.”

That said, she hopes her constituents will understand that sometimes, the council and city staff will not only need to know what the issue is, but also how it can be solved.

“If you don't like what's going on right now, or you want to see change, you need to bring the solution. We can't just have people coming and telling you everything that is wrong … We need more solutions to the problems and that's what I really hope people are able to bring,” she said.

Dan Determan, sports writer/staff writer, may be reached at 218-855-5879 or dan.determan@pineandlakes.com . Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@PEJ_Dan .