FAMILIAR TURF — Ellendale native Tiffany (Moon) Krueger is the new city clerk in Ellendale. (Star Eagle photo by Jim Lutgens)
By JIM LUTGENS
Publisher
It seems like a perfect fit.
Tiffany Krueger grew up and lived in Ellendale and had performed city clerk duties for three communities when the Ellendale City Clerk position opened up.
Still, she had to think about it.
“I was a little hesitant, actually,” said Krueger.
Why?
“Well, there’s a lot of drama that goes into local politics,” she said. “I live here, I grew up here, so everyone knows me. I’ve never worked for a town that I’ve lived in. Sometimes people forget you’re not an elected official. You clock out. It’s difficult to draw that line between community and family. But I thought of all the good I could do for the city.”
So Krueger applied for the job and was hired, attending her first city council meeting July 11.
She does seem like a great fit. A 1998 graduate of NRHEG High School as Tiffany Moon, she earned a degree in business administration and management from Southwest State University, working for six years as city clerk at Hayward. During that time she was contacted by Hartland and Freeborn and at one point worked for all three communities.
“I learned a lot,” she said.
Krueger’s mom is Brenda Dokken and her step dad is Randy Dokken. Herb Moon, 40, and Joe Moon, 37, are her brothers, and her grandfather Gilmore Nelson is 92.
Krueger and her husband Josh, also an NRHEG graduate, have one son, Owen, 12.
Since Josh still holds the school record in the shot put and Tiffany is a former school record holder in the same event, it was only fair to ask, does Owen like track and field?
“He wants to try and break his dad’s shot put record,” said Krueger. “But he loves baseball.”
And so far, Krueger loves her new job.
“It’s a great council, and there are great employees here, along with the volunteer fire department and the many organizations that work with the city,” she said.
The biggest challenge facing Ellendale is the same as any small town, according to Krueger: money.
“It’s always money in government,” she said. “We try to save the people money and give them more.”
The Krueger family lives in the house where she grew up, though she says it’s a lot smaller than she remembers. They’re buying it from her mother.
“We should say she’s giving it to me and see what my brothers would say,” joked Krueger.
In all seriousness, though, Krueger is so far pleased with her decision.
“It’s going real well,” she said. “The council has been very supportive. It’s probably the most hands-on council I’ve seen, which is great. I don’t think the people of Ellendale realize how lucky they are to have that.”
It looks like they’re also lucky to have Krueger.