Local Business Owner Calls For Apology From Stearns County Commissioner

(KNSI) – The owner of Sunny Mary Meadow flower farm in St. Wendel Township has written a letter of complaint about the conduct of Stearns County Commissioner Joe Perske.

The letter was received by the county earlier this week. Perske has continued to speak up against a Planned Unit Development at the u-pick facility that would allow it to expand with a meeting center for corporate and nonprofit clients. The proposal also included language that would technically allow music to be played either in person or through speakers seven days a week from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., with as many as 15 dates a year where that could be expanded to 10:00 p.m.

The flower farm owners claim that Perske’s language has been defamatory, but more importantly, they say it encourages neighbors of the farm to continue what the farm considers a harassment campaign against the facility. County Administrator Mike Williams says he has made sure the letter has been circulated to the board and others who need to be aware of the situation. “The board has seen the complaint. Of course, the attorney’s office has seen it, and then we submit it to the Minnesota Counties Insurance Trust, who is our liability insurer.”

The letter demands a public apology from Perske, among other things, but at this point, Williams does not believe it is set to become a lawsuit. He stresses, “No, I would not consider this any kind of a legal motion or the beginning of a lawsuit, or anything like that, at least not at this point.”

Perske also maintains that Leigh Lenzmeier, who cast the tiebreaking vote to avoid a public hearing on the issue at a Board of Commissioners meeting in early 2025, should never have been able to weigh in on the issue. Lenzmeier retired in late April after it became public knowledge that his wife was seeking guardianship and was asking that Lenzmeier be removed from the job. Lenzmeier had been remotely attending meetings for roughly 10 months at the time of the Sunny Mary Meadow vote, while living in a memory care facility in Buffalo in Wright County.

___