David Chanski

BREEZY POINT — When Breezy Point began its search for a new city administrator, it didn’t have to look too far.

In fact, David Chanski was working just 20 miles away.

However, public service and local government has taken him across the country.

The Maple Grove native began his tenure as Breezy Point’s administrator three months ago. Before that, he served as the community development director for the city of Brainerd. But his career in local government includes jobs in Colorado, Wisconsin and Texas.

Now, he is doing what he has always wanted to do, where he and his family want to be.

“It has always kind of been the goal to be a city administrator,” Chanski said. “When we moved up to Brainerd, my wife and I were kind of thinking maybe we would be here for two to four years, then migrate back to the Cities – closer to family – but then we got here and decided we like being here and this is where we want to be long term.”

Chanski knew from a young age he wanted to serve others. In middle and high school, he served as a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol, which kick-started a passion for service. Coincidentally, the Civil Air Patrol also gave him his first taste of Breezy Point, as conventions took place at Breezy Point Resort.

However, it was not until college when he realized his passion was for local government.

“I have always had this desire for public service,” he said. “When I was at the University of Minnesota getting my degree in political science, I had this idea that I wanted to go into law – specifically constitutional law – but I started to do more research and decided it wasn’t really what I wanted to do. It was a little too in the weeds for me.

“What I enjoyed about political science wasn’t necessarily ideological politics stuff. I enjoyed researching structures, like how government worked, and that then kind of led me to public administration,” Chanski said.

With roughly 90…