The Nelsons (from right): son Ryan Jr., councilman Ryan, wife Suzy, and daughter Regan and her fiance Daniel Straus.

Moorhead City Council

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Getting to Know the Council: This is the fourth in a series of Extra profiles of members of the Moorhead City Council.
Public service has been part of Ryan Nelson’s life since he was 16 years old, mowing grass in Moorhead parks during summer breaks from Moorhead High School. He spent the next 20-odd years in law enforcement. But it was only after he left the Moorhead Police Department for a job as Minnesota State University Moorhead’s director of public safety that he was in a position to sit on the other side of the table – from working for the city to governing it as a member of the city council.
Nelson was elected to represent Ward I, encompassing the entire north side of Moorhead, in November 2022. In almost a year and one-half on the Moorhead City Council, he has relied on his decades as a police officer to shape his concerns for the city he calls home.
“It’s no secret that one of my interests is public safety,” the 47-year-old law enforcement veteran points out. “These are unprecedented times in terms of recruitment and retention of first responders … not only here in Moorhead, but all across Minnesota and the nation. Police departments – departments like our own, where I served for 17 years – are operating in crisis mode in terms of hiring and keeping the people they need.
“I don’t have the answer. I don’t know that anyone does right now. But the council needs to collaborate in taking a very serious look at that. If we don’t maintain public safety, we won’t continue to have people and businesses moving here.”
The environment was different when Nelson, who graduated from Moorhead High in 1995, completed the law enforcement program at Alexandria Technical College in 1997. He worked as a corrections officer in Cass County for a year, then joined the Dilworth Police Department in 1998 under Chief Dave Miller. “Because I grew up in Moorhead, I always wanted to get on with the Moorhead Police Department,” he acknowledges. Chief Grant Weyland hired him in September 2001, just days after the events of 9/11.
“There was a big wave of support for first responders because of that tragedy,” Nelson points out. “It was a different time.”
He served as a patrol officer until 2005, when he was promoted to the detective bureau. There he investigated deaths and homicides. Among his more infamous cases was the apprehension of Vincent Paul Degidio, who kidnapped a woman and attempted to rob an auto parts shop on Highway 10 – a headline-grabbing case that ended up as an episode of ABC’s true crime show “In an Instant.” Another was the murder of NDSU freshman Tommy Bearson, a puzzle that’s still open 10 years later.
But in 2018, he traded the emergencies and tragedies witnessed as a police office to lead MSUM’s public safety department. He traded his badge and uniform for a polo shirt emblazoned with the college’s emblem and a different kind of mission: Maintaining public safety, as well, but without the adrenaline rushes officers may face every day.
After more than 20 years in law enforcement, Nelson says he appreciates the campus environment and its people. “It’s rewarding to provide a safe place where these young people and our employees can achieve their goals,” he says. “We’re really oriented to customer service. Basically we serve the students in any way we can … everything from investigating any suspicious individuals or activities to noise complaints in the residence halls or helping a student who’s locked their keys in their car.”
His staff of six full-time campus security officers, three or four student patrol officers and one operations coordinator, he says, does a good job of preventing problems. “We stay visible,” he says.
Nelson’s wife Suzy has been a special education teacher at MHS for 24 years. They have two children. Daughter Regan studies digital media management at MSUM. Son Ryan Jr. is a sophomore at Park Christian School. He has no intention of following in his father’s footsteps, Dad says: “At this point, he wants to be a professional golfer.”
When Nelson threw his hat in the ring in 2022, he was competing for the seat that had opened up when council member Shelly Dahlquist chose not to run for a second term. He faced Sihan Amedy in what he calls a respectful, cordial race. “It was pleasant to be part of such a clean campaign,” he notes.
Since taking his seat at the beginning of 2023, the councilman reports spending much of his first year as a council member learning more about the workings of the city, its employees and the governing process. “We’re fortunate to have a lot of experts on staff who work hard to keep things running smoothly,” he notes. “I’m enjoying learning from them and from people who bring their concerns to us.”
He describes himself as “a pretty quiet person” who prefers to listen before speaking. “I’m someone who’s going to listen,” he says. But he more often finds himself more often asking those he represents about their questions and concerns than being on the receiving end. “Every now and then someone approaches me about an issue, but it really doesn’t happen a lot. I get more emails than phone calls,” he reports.
“I think the residents voted for someone they trust to do what’s right to keep our city a good, safe place to live and work,” Nelson says. “Now it’s up to me to do it.”