Minnesota county commissioner resigns amid legal fight with wife over cognitive decline

Longtime Stearns County Board Member Leigh Lenzmeier is under his wife’s temporary emergency guardianship.

By Jenny Berg

The Stearns County Board includes longtime commissioner Leigh Lenzmeier, front left. (Stearns County)

ST. CLOUD – A longtime Stearns County commissioner is stepping down from his position amid a legal battle with his wife, who recently filed for emergency guardianship over him due to his cognitive decline.

Leigh Lenzmeier, 77, submitted a letter to the county on Wednesday stating he is retiring effective immediately. He served as commissioner for 34 years, making him the the longest-serving county commissioner in Stearns County and the second longest-serving in the state.

“The residents I have served, the board members I served with and the staff I worked with will always be the highlight of my life, and hopefully my legacy,” he wrote. “This was not an easy decision, or a quick one for me to make. But, I realize today, it is the right thing to do.”

As recent as last week, Lenzmeier had said he was determined to finish the rest of his four-year term, which runs through 2026. A Wright County judge granted his wife the emergency guardianship in early April as she argued his rapid cognitive decline was affecting his ability to act as an elected official.

“This is all about preserving his dignity and respect — and getting him off that board," Alice Lenzmeier said last week. “I don’t feel the need for the whole world to watch him go downhill.”

The order listed a diagnosis of major neurocognitive disorder, which is characterized by a “progressive and persistent deterioration of cognitive function” in which “affected patients often have memory loss and a partial or significant lack of insight into their deficits,” according to the National Library of Medicine.

Leigh Lenzmeier has been residing in an assisted-living facility in Buffalo, Minn., for about a year and attending meetings virtually. The guardianship order stated his “memory, executive functioning and ability to care for himself have been in decline over the past 15 years with rapid acceleration” in recent years.

The temporary guardianship lasts 60 days. At an evidentiary hearing Wednesday, which was closed to the public, a judge heard arguments on whether to make the guardianship permanent. Leigh Lenzmeier is contesting the permanent guardianship. The judge is expected to issue an order in the coming days.

The County Board had scheduled a special meeting for next week to discuss the guardianship. County Administrator Michael Williams said Wednesday that meeting will be canceled in light of Lenzmeier’s resignation. The board will likely set a special election in November to fill Lenzmeier’s seat.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Board Chair Jeff Bertram said he’s received more correspondence from constituents about this issue than anything else during his two-year tenure.

“It’s painful,” Bertram said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cried about this because it hurts me as a person. But, again, we have to separate the person from the process.”

Full Article & Source:
Minnesota county commissioner resigns amid legal fight with wife over cognitive decline

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Lenzmeier Guardianship Hearing Held Behind Closed Doors as Judge Denies Access

Wife wants Minnesota county commissioner off board as his cognition declines

Stearns County Commissioner retires after wife had called for board to resign him amid health issues

by Ashley Halbach KSTP

Stearns County Commissioner Leigh Lenzmeier has retired from his position, effective immediately, according to a letter sent to the board on Wednesday.

Last week, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reported that his wife, Alice Lenzmeier, was granted emergency guardianship over her husband earlier in April.

She told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that her husband has memory issues and mental decline. She had asked the board to resign him, but says they never responded to her request.

Reporter Joe Mazan tried to talk to Leigh, who lives at a senior living facility in Buffalo in the memory care unit, but management told him no, saying Leigh is a vulnerable adult.

Leigh’s letter of retirement says that he is proud of his 34 years of service as a commissioner, calling it, and all the people he served and worked with, a highlight of his life and “hopefully” legacy.

He went on to say the decision was not easy, but that he realized it was the right thing to do.

You can read the full letter below. 

4-23-25 Leigh Ltr of RetirementDownload

Full Article & Source:
Stearns County Commissioner retires after wife had called for board to resign him amid health issues

Lenzmeier Guardianship Hearing Held Behind Closed Doors as Judge Denies Access

by Jennifer Lewerenz

(KNSI) — On Wednesday morning, an evidentiary hearing was held to determine whether Alice Lenzmeier’s emergency guardianship over her husband should be made permanent. However, the judge overseeing the case denied public access.

The meeting was originally scheduled for Monday, April 21st, but was postponed to the 23rd after the attorney for Stearns County Commissioner Leigh Lenzmeier requested the hearing be closed, citing privacy concerns due to the sensitive nature of the evidence, including medical records. Lenzmeier’s attorney, Michael Pepin, added that his client feels some allegations against him are untrue and that, if made public, they would harm his ability to do his job as a commissioner and damage his reputation.

Attorney Paul Jeddeloh, who represents Alice, said they support having a closed meeting because some of the evidence to be discussed could be embarrassing.

Wright County Judge John Bowen had told the court that he was likely to grant the request and believed a finding of good cause existed to close the hearing, but he wanted more time to decide. Bowen issued an order Tuesday afternoon, stating his decision to close the proceeding is based on what is in Lenzmeier’s best interests.

According to court records, Commissioner Lenzmeier’s wife was given emergency guardianship of her husband on April 7th. Filings show Lenzmeier has been living in a memory care unit at Havenwood of Buffalo since April 29th, 2024. Before that, he had spent a couple of weeks at another supervised care facility, Park View Senior Health & Living in Buffalo. Lenzmeier was taken to the emergency room after falling and being unable to get back up on March 31st, 2024. He was found by one of his children. Lenzmeier stayed at the hospital until April 8th and was discharged on the condition that he be placed at an assisted living facility.

Alice told the court he had been suffering from declining mental ability for well over a decade, with a “rapid acceleration” over the past three or four years. She cited a report written after a neuropsychology exam in fall 2024, saying Lenzmeier “demonstrated rapid forgetting” and could not appreciate how disruptive his condition is on his quality of life. The report went on to say that Lenzmeier needs to be in a regulated care setting, cannot drive, and recommended that he step down from his role on the Stearns County Board of Commissioners.

Lenzmeier has stated he believes he can still serve as a commissioner and disputes some of the claims about his mental capacity.

Requests to attend the hearing, which was held via Zoom, and included local media outlets and Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall, were all denied. Kendall stated in her request that she should be included because she advises the Board of Commissioners. The media had petitioned the court for attendance because Lenzmeier is a public official, and it is in the public’s best interests. Records surrounding his health are also public; he previously discussed his situation in the media.

A special Stearns County Board of Commissioners meeting has been called for Monday, April 28th, to discuss and consider action regarding Lenzmeier’s situation.

Full Article & Source:
Lenzmeier Guardianship Hearing Held Behind Closed Doors as Judge Denies Access

See Also:
Wife wants Minnesota county commissioner off board as his cognition declines

A legal nightmare took away my grandfather’s rights. Our judges and lawmakers must support elder law reform

by Chris Rosselot

Photos of Chris Rosselot’s grandfather and family members are shown on the dining room table in the North Side. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Pittsburgh City Paper)

None of us had any idea what to expect when we entered the courtroom for my grandfather’s competency hearing, least of all him. 

At 81, he was ordered to leave the home he had chosen with his daughter and forced to return to a wife he intended to divorce, with no rights.

Before our family nightmare in 2006, I had little idea of the power judges wield over the fate of elderly Pennsylvanians. With the stroke of a pen, my grandfather was deemed incapable of making his own decisions and taken from his family. 

Reform could keep other families from knowing our pain, but that hinges on the legislature enacting necessary court reforms and the election of judges who ensure the guardianship process is fair and focus on what’s best for older Pennsylvanians and their families. With 39 candidates running for nine open seats on the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, this is an issue that candidates and voters should carefully consider both before and after the election. 

My maternal grandfather, Steve Gornick, was an intelligent, independent man with a deep love for his family. Taught to read by his mother at a very young age, he quickly outgrew his one-room schoolhouse in Penn Township in Butler County, where the teacher had him assist the older students with reading and mathematics. 

He left the family farm at age 14 to work in a foundry in Butler and escape an abusive father. He joined the army during World War II after his mother changed his age on enlistment documents. 

After the war, he settled in Erie, started a family with my grandmother Ruth and began his career as an electrical and mechanical engineer for General Electric and later Electric Materials. Using his intellectual capacity and grit, he helped discover mathematical theorems that advanced his field. And when Ruth passed away in 1976, he rose to a new challenge, raising their two daughters alone.

Elaine Rosselot (left) and Alethea Cassidy (right)
 with their father, Steve Gornick. (Courtesy photo)

Growing up, Grandpa Steve was a huge part of our lives. We visited him and his second wife every Christmas, and he often traveled to see us. No matter where we were living, he made it to school functions — graduation ceremonies, baseball and hockey games. He especially loved visiting our family when we lived in Colorado, taking advantage of the outdoor activities like cross country skiing, hunting, golfing and hiking.

In 2003, my parents moved from Denver to Pittsburgh to be closer to home. Grandpa was almost 80 then, and during the last couple of visits, we’d noticed his memory slipping a bit.

Two years later, his wife contacted my parents to coordinate an open-ended stay for Grandpa Steve. She presented it as an opportunity for her to get some time to herself. During this visit, grandpa brought up constant arguments he and his wife had regarding his will — and his desire to make his daughters his primary beneficiaries. 

As grandpa’s visit went on, he became more resolute about leaving his wife, transferring funds from a joint account and consulting with an attorney in Pittsburgh to discuss marital separation. When his wife became aware of this, the legal nightmare began.

Guardianship hearing: ‘He’s yours’

On Dec. 15, 2005, Grandpa Steve’s wife filed a petition with the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County to declare my grandpa incapacitated and to appoint her as guardian. She requested additional immediate relief, including the transfer of custody of grandpa to her and the return of the joint account funds previously removed.  (Click to Continue Reading)

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A legal nightmare took away my grandfather’s rights. Our judges and lawmakers must support elder law reform