FAIRFIELD, IOWA -- Voters in Jefferson County will choose between three candidates for two open spots on the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors.
Stephen Burgmeier and Lee Dimmitt currently sit on the board and are running for re-election, while former state senator Becky Schmitz is looking to be elected to her first term.
KTVO spoke with all three candidates at a public forum Tuesday night in Fairfield and asked each of the candidates the same two questions.
(Q): Why are you running for the Board of Supervisors and what experience will you bring to the position?
Lee Dimmitt: First off, I really enjoy it, probably more than almost anything I've ever done as far as that part is concerned. I like interacting with the people, sometimes it's a very frustrating job because you can't accomplish all the things you want to accomplish and [one] of the biggest learning curves that I had was when people would come into the office that I couldn't snap my fingers and make it work, but I wouldn't trade it, and I hope that the folks will allow me to continue to do it.
Becky Schmitz: I have lived in the community for 34 years, worked in the community, been active in a lot of organizations and feel that I bring a lot of leadership qualities. I was in the state senate and can bring some of that knowledge and experience to it. Couple of the areas that I'm really concerned about are the mental health services, because of my expertise and knowledge in the field of mental health, there's big changes coming about with the mental health redesign from the state legislature and I think we need someone with that kind of expertise to help with that. I've also had experience in economic development at the state level and would like to see more information going out about programs, a lot more active role in pursuing economic development in the county as a whole.
Stephen Burgmeier: I'm running for supervisor because I still think that I'm effective. I'm the only candidate with real-life rural issues and experience because I live in the county. So that's really important to me, the constituency that we represent is one-quarter rural and three-quarters city and so I think that rural perspective on the board is important.
(Q): What is the most pressing issue facing Jefferson County right now?
Lee Dimmitt: The talk about economic development, we do have to grow, but we have to grow in a responsible manner, in such a way that we don't impact our agricultural base. If you, I'm sure you've been to Des Moines, but if you go to Des Moines and Clive and West Des Moines, you don't know when you've driven out of one and into the other if it wasn't for a sign that says 'you're now entering Clive'. We don't want that here, or I don't want that here. I don't want to see urban sprawl take over our cornfields and our hayfields. So that's what I mean when I say we have to do it in a responsible manner.
Becky Schmitz: The economic job development is a huge factor in all of it because that's where you get a lot of your tax base, both from the workers in the community, plus the businesses. As I said tonight at the forum, that kind of ties everything together because you also need to have the educational support for the skilled workforce that will attract the businesses and county government's important in preserving quality of life, also so people want to move back to the area and then it's also important to have those public/private partnerships to really utilize all the resources of the county to support that economic development.
Stephen Burgmeier: How we look at extending the life of the roads we have, we know that some of them need to be fixed, but how we extend the life because there's not enough money to redo the roads even every 25 years, we have too many roads, so there's not enough funding to do that so we have to extend the life of those roads.
The two candidates elected on November 6 will serve a four-year term on the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors.