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The Nisswa City Council held a special meeting Wednesday morning to address the conduct of Mayor Jennifer Carnahan, with one city council member calling for her resignation.
The city’s four council members spoke critically of Carnahan in the wake of allegations that a Nisswa restaurant employee overheard her publicly disparaging a city council member. Carnahan later went on to allege that the woman assaulted her.
The conflict started when the woman wrote to Carnahan to say she overheard the mayor and her group of friends loudly discussing council member Jesse Zahn at the Nisswa restaurant.
Carnahan told police the woman assaulted her by using her forearm to push into Carnahan while they were both at a civic event last month. Prosecutors twice declined to press charges.
Carnahan didn’t attend Wednesday’s meeting. In a statement, she said she chose not to attend “because it appeared clear from the start that it was just going to be political theater.”
During the meeting, Zahn said the city has become roiled by politics since Carnahan became mayor. He said the council should request that she consider resigning immediately, which she has refused.
Council member Bruce London noted that in the past year, Nisswa has lost its city administrator, city clerk and two interim city administrators.
“During the past year, we have had a great deal of drama and conflict. We need to resolve it,” London said. “We need to move forward into the new year and put an end to this toxic environment.”
A few members of the public also spoke, including former Mayor Fred Heidmann, who said the conflict should have been handled behind closed doors. But council members noted that Carnahan posted about it on social media.
Carnahan, the former Minnesota GOP chair, was no stranger to conflict during her tenure at the state party, from which she was ousted. She was elected Nisswa mayor in 2024, and ran unsuccessfully for former state Sen. Justin Eichorn’s seat earlier this year.
Council members asked the city attorney about their options, including censuring Carnahan or passing a vote of no confidence. They will consider the issue again at the next regular meeting on Dec. 16.
In her statement, Carnahan wrote, "I was elected by the voters of Nisswa, not by this council. I will not resign, I will not be bullied, and I will not stop doing the job voters sent me here to do. Any censure will be exactly what it is: a political stunt with no impact on my commitment to serve."
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