Frietsch grew up in Bloomington-Normal, and attended Illinois State University for two  years before transferring to the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.  At the University of Illinois, Frietsch completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Engineering with an emphasis in Soil and Water Resource Engineering.   Frietsch began his career at Terracon, Inc. as an Agricultural Engineer out of their Quad Cities office in Illinois, now located in Bettendorf, Iowa.  He has also worked as a Project Engineer for Daily & Associates, Engineers, Inc., a full service consulting firm, in Peoria, Illinois and most recently as a Civil Engineer for the City of Bloomington, Illinois.  During his time with the City of Bloomington Frietsch became a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Illinois.  Frietsch has considerable engineering experience in the areas of Water and Wastewater Treatment, Water Distribution, Wastewater Collection, Streets and Storm Sewer, Surface Water Drainage, Intersection Design and Land Development.  He currently resides in Centralia with his wife and four children.