Small town news

I love old vaudeville jokes, and tell them endlessly, like the one about the small town where the population always stays the same because "every time a woman gets pregnant, a man leaves town."

I know you're out there; I can hear you breathing!

Anyway, it was almost like that in the teeny tiny town of Ruso, North Dakota, where the town almost lost their incorporation this year.  In that state, a town needs a town council of at least three people, and Bruce Lorenz, who was the mayor of Ruso for more than 30 years, passed away in the summer, leaving two citizens (Terry and Laurinda Roloson) alive.

Ruso's population swelled to 141 in 1910, but the last business in operation there was a grain elevator which has been out of business since 1956.

In this town, if you're alive, you're automatically on the town council. Pretty cool deal. And Laurinda says they want to keep the town going for Bruce's sake, so they convened a meeting of everyone who lives there in a booth at Denny's and figured out the plan.

Laurinda Roloson will be the town auditor, meaning that she will be dealing with disbursing the $154.95 the town receives from the state every year. (That's Ruso's share of coal conversion and severance taxes, highway tax, oil and gasoline tax and state aid. Ruso has no property tax.)

"We use the money for snow removal. We don't get plowed out by anybody," said Laurinda.

And, there was a position for Laurinda's husband Terry! He is going to continue to serve as council member. And it turns out that Greg and Michelle Schmaltz, who have had a post office box in the town while building a house, count as residents as well! Newcomer Greg was appointed mayor!



The Schmaltzes currently reside in Velva (population 1,234), but who wants to live in a city teeming with people like that? Hizzoner Mayor Schmaltz says that by the end of this month, with the septic tank and sewer work all done on their house, and the dish antenna mounted, he and Michelle will be fulltime Rusoneans, thereby doubling the town's head count to four.

"Other people have expressed interest in moving out there. We don't want things to slow down," remarked Schmaltz, seeming unworried about his town becoming the victim of urban sprawl. "I'm about preserving what little is left of Ruso. I'm proud of being out there."

"Everybody gives me a hard time about becoming mayor," laughed Schmaltz. "I'm not even sure what to say. We'll just go ahead and take it one step at a time and take it from there. I don't claim any politician status."

Where have we heard that before?