Tribal Attorney Elected to City Council

Published

Legislative Staff Attorney Hanna Valento was elected to the Forest Lake City Council on November 3.

Hanna was one of four candidates running for two open seats, and she came in second with 25.89 percent of the vote. She said her top priority is to increase communication with community members and empower the younger generations to become involved in local government. She also said she wants to see the city grow and produce more jobs and revenue.

"Though I haven’t lived in Forest Lake my whole life (I grew up in Hugo — the city south of Forest Lake), Forest Lake has always felt like my community because I went to the Forest Lake area public schools, volunteered in Forest Lake, and continue to attend the Career Day that the high school puts on for the students," said Hanna. "I enjoy being involved in my community and love seeing it improve! I also decided to run because I felt like the skills I have gained from working for the Band could be beneficial to the local government."

Hanna’s main focus as Legislative Staff Attorney has been to format all the Mille Lacs Band statutes and put them into one document.

"In that process, we were finding old ordinances that weren’t codified into Band statute, so I was updating old statutes and sending the appropriate documents to the Solicitor General so he could codify those updates, ensuring everything was accurate," said Hanna. "All in all, we are trying to make sure everything is updated so Band members and employees have the most current statutes."

See the article by Secretary-Treasurer Sheldon Boyd at the top of this page for more information on statute updates.