Bemidji City Council Member Gwenia Fiskevold Gould - Ward 1

12/28/2025

Great article from Lydia Pietruszewski.

“Let me be clear that we need and want all types of child care. We need family care providers, we need child care centers, we need culturally relevant child care options, we need family, friend and neighbor care — all of it.

It takes a village to raise a child — why on earth would we want to limit our options?”

Childcare is not only a public good, but critical to economic development. When a community cannot provide enough and affordable childcare, we lose out on a skilled workforce.

Our system is underfunded and collapsing because too many elected officials don’t believe child care is a public good.

09/09/2025

The Kitchigami Regional Library System provides a number of important community services. The Beltrami County Board has proposed cutting the library budget by 40% next year, which would devastate services and mean cutting library programs, hours, and staff at both the Bemidji and Blackduck locations. Please contact your county representative by 9/16/2025 or attend the next county board meeting on 9/16 at 5 PM at the County Administration Building and let them know how you feel about this!

09/04/2025

The Women Elected to Lead panel has been rescheduled to this Saturday, Sept. 6 from June 21.

Honored to service on this panel. I hope you will join us!

08/23/2025

Enjoying Bemidji Pride with Joe Gould - Beltrami County Commissioner Dist. 2! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

07/30/2025

NOTICE OF FINAL ROUND OF CURBSIDE TREE DEBRIS PICK-UP – BEGINNING AUGUST 11TH, 2025

The City of Bemidji Public Works Department are projected to complete the first round of curbside tree debris pick-up by August 10th. Beginning on Monday August 11th, curbside tree debris crews will begin the final round (2nd round overall) of tree pick-up starting in the northeast corner of the city limits and working in a clockwise direction around Lake Bemidji until the remainder of the city has been picked up. The Public Works Department will provide an updated map weekly to help convey the areas that have been completed. We are anticipating being completed with curbside tree pick-up by mid-September. If you have questions related to the final round of pick-up please contact Public Works at 218-333-1850.

As a reminder, curbside pick-up service is intended for tree debris only (branches and logs). No stumps, construction debris, and/or general garbage. If those items are found to be mixed in with the piles, they will be left behind.

07/19/2025

What a great day to enjoy the Watermark Art Festival. Big thanks to our city staff for all the work they put into to cleaning up Library Park!

07/04/2025

Wishing everyone a safe and restful Independence Day filled with loved ones. The fight to protect our freedoms is continous.

“If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”
-Toni Morrison

06/26/2025

Bemidji, we’re with you and we’re here for you!



While the storms are behind us, we know how many of you are still recovering. To help out, starting this Friday (6/27) at 11am in the North Lueken’s parking lot, we are offering free gallons of water and bananas to anyone who needs them!

In addition, we’ll be handing out 600 free meals! A brat, chips and a soda to anyone who wants a hot meal!

We are also taking donations for the Bemidji Community Food Shelf. Any non-perishable goods or monetary donations are welcome to help the Food Shelf support our community!

Come on down and let us help lighten the load!

06/26/2025

This mornings briefing is done. This is only a fraction of the team working this disaster. Thank you everyone for your cooperation. We have so many dedicated professionals assisting in this response.

More updates this afternoon!