Taylor (O’Bryan) Engelstad running for Clearwater County Office
My name is Taylor Engelstad & I am a hopeful candidate to fill the open seat of County Auditor/Treasurer in Clearwater County! My husband, myself, and our 2 kids live just south of Bagley. I teach Sunday School at Bethel Lutheran Church & my children are the 7th generation of our family to attend services there. I am currently employed by Clearwater County as a Deputy Assessor in the Assessor’s office.
Some of you might remember me as Taylor O’Bryan - I grew up in & have lived most of my life in Bagley. At 18, I moved to St. Cloud to attend SCSU and took a job at Granite City Food & Brewery. A roommate from the dorms introduced me to my now husband and I moved up to his hometown of Thief River Falls after college. We got married & welcomed our first child into the world in the city of TRF, but ultimately decided that we wanted to raise our family in rural Clearwater County. We moved "back to Bagley" in 2022 before our second child was born.
The first real job I ever had was working for my parents at DaRoo's Pizza of Bagley. I spent a lot of my childhood in that restaurant and have loved serving customers ever since. Working at a corporate restaurant while in college was an eye-opener for me, but a challenge I took in stride. I started out at Granite City Food & Brewery as a server and then a bartender at 19. I helped with new menu rollouts and traveled out of state to assist with "New Store Opens" & fill in at locations that were short-staffed. Eventually, I earned the titles of In-Store Trainer (training all new front-of-house staff) & Local Store Marketer (collaborating with local area businesses to bring more customers into the restaurant & reporting directly to corporate headquarters). Then, while living in TRF, I worked at the Black Cat Sports Bar and Grill - serving in the restaurant, bartending at weddings, and helping to train new service staff.
As many residents of Thief River do, I found myself working at DigiKey. I started in their Inbound Sales department in 2016 and was promoted to Assigned Sales after 6 months with the company. While in that role, I worked with customers spending multi-million dollars with DigiKey as their single point of contact. After 4 years of Assigned Sales, I moved up to the position of Supply Chain Analyst where I helped manage inventory for Assigned customers. When DigiKey took on the massive project of building a new 2.2 million sq ft Product Distribution Center, I was chosen by upper management to serve on a small team assisting my peers with the transition to the new facility.
I moved on from DigiKey when a position opened up with Pennington County. I worked there between the offices of the Recorder & Auditor/Treasurer until we packed up our life to move our family to the farm in Bagley. After our move, I worked for the Gerbracht family at Fireside Grill & Patio until the doors closed. In the fall of 2023, I earned a Class B CDL so that I could drive a school bus - I drove for both Steins Bus Service & the Bagley school district. Now, I am glad to be employed by Clearwater County where I’ve been working full-time since January 2025. I earned the Certified Minnesota Assessor license after just 1 year in the Deputy Assessor role. I am currently working towards the next level of licensing to become an Accredited Minnesota Assessor. I will have completed the Property Tax Calculation Certification by the end of this year. I enjoy the challenge of learning new things & will continue to do so if elected to the role of County Auditor/Treasurer.
I would be honored if you would vote for me in the general election on November 3rd, 2026. If you have questions about myself or my campaign, contact me via email at engelstad922@gmail.com or check out my Facebook page: facebook.com/electtaylorengelstad.