Our View: We endorse these 5 for Olmsted County Board – Post Bulletin

We speculate with some confidence that the roughly 46,000 Olmsted County residents who dwell outdoors of Rochester know their Olmsted County Commissioner higher than the 117,000 Rochester residents who doubtless know their councilman higher.

In the spirit of an early 2000’s Minnesota Twins advertising program, we urge Olmsted County residents to “get to know them” earlier than casting a vote for your subsequent county commissioner.

Our editorial staff has already performed this and we’re providing these endorsements in 5 races for the Olmsted County Board.

In this competitors, Loring Stead faces Laurel Podulke-Smith. They are vying to interchange Stephanie Podulke, who’s retiring after having been on the board since 2011. The borough encompasses a lot of downtown Rochester.

Podulke-Smith, a JM graduate and daughter of the retiring Podulke, has a grasp’s diploma in organizational management and cites her 20 years of expertise in training, healthcare and small enterprise as coaching for the district govt.

The close to-lifelong Kutzky Park resident selected her phrases fastidiously through the League of Women Voters’ candidate discussion board. She comes throughout as somebody who would not essentially need to touch upon a problem till she’s performed her homework, however she additionally appeared very involved concerning the nicely-being of others.

Stead, who spent 35 years as a doctor at Olmsted Medical Center, is an unrelenting optimist who exuded power and enthusiasm as he repeated truisms like “no money, no mission.” He clearly loves Rochester and Olmsted County, and his in depth expertise on native activity forces and committees would serve the county nicely.

There’s no such factor as a nasty alternative on this race, however the Post Bulletin helps Podulke-Smith. She is already constructing on the community of contacts and experiences she inherited from her mother and father, each of whom served on the board.

She advised the discussion board viewers that she has spent the previous a number of years making ready to run for this workplace and we now have little doubt that she is intimately acquainted with the wants and alternatives in District 1.

Commissioner Ken Brown resigns after 20 years as District 2 consultant. His departure opens the door for residents of this northwest Rochester district to decide on between former Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem and Gabe Perkins.

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Perkins is a jack of all trades whose resume consists of stints with the American Cancer Society, expertise as a employees assistant to the United States Senate and 13 years with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, his present employer.

Senjem served on Rochester City Council for 10 years earlier than working for 20 years within the state legislature, the place he established a repute as a social bridge builder, environmental advocate and psychological well being advocate.

Senjem would do a great job as commissioner, however we would like a rising commissioner. While we thank Senjem for his many years of public service, the Post Bulletin helps Gabe Perkins.

In her debate/discussion board on the Rochester Public Library, Perkins spoke chatty and intelligently about local weather change, improvement rules, little one care, racism, and the county’s capital wants if and when the Legislature succeeds in delivering a capital funding package deal — one thing Senjem and the Legislature could not have completed develop into.

Perkins’ in depth management expertise would make it simple for him to imagine the duties of a commissioner, and his upbringing in Chatfield, the son of former Mayor Marget Perkins, provides him an edge in understanding the wants of small-city residents in Olmsted County.

Representing a district encompassing most of east Rochester, the race pits reigning Gregg Wright towards challenger Karl Johnson.

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In such a race, we ask these questions: Did Wright do something to justify removing from workplace? Is Johnson an equal different?

The reply to each of these questions is not any, so the editorial board of the Post Bulletin endorses Gregg Wright for one other time period.

Johnson, who turned a carer at a younger age after his father was recognized with MS, is aware of firsthand the assorted challenges confronted by folks with disabilities. He additionally has expertise in hospitality and wholesale groceries, and on the League of Women Voter Forum he cited his “people skills, customer service, recruiting and training talent, working through tender processes…fleet management, property management, working with unions.” and non-union labor teams.”

But Wright brings much more to the desk. During the discussion board, Wright was an encyclopedia of knowledge and concepts when requested about points corresponding to group service, inexperienced power, soil and water conservation, and creating alternatives for the county’s BIPOC inhabitants.

Johnson, alternatively, usually gave a one-sentence reply after which mentioned, “And I’ll leave it at that.” To his credit score, he did not attempt to cover his gaps in information, however the gaps have been simply too giant and too quite a few.

Wright is an skilled, ahead-considering district board member on the high of his recreation. We depart it at that.

Matt Flynn is stepping down after 25 years because the consultant of District 4, which incorporates the cities of Dover, Eyota and Stewartville, a part of Chatfield and about two-thirds of the county’s rural space. Kindra Ramaker is up towards Brian Mueller within the race to succeed him.

A local of Spring Valley, Ramaker was raised in a household that raised their very own meals on a interest farm. She then labored on the Mayo Clinic for 20 years, gaining expertise in human sources, accounting, finance and provide chain administration.

Mueller has been a supervisor in Rochester Township for 18 years and runs what he describes as a “one-man heavy equipment repair service.”

Mueller is your go-to supply if the dust street resulting in your farm wants re-leveling or plowing, or if you wish to know the way a lot it’s going to price to interchange a culvert or resurface three miles of asphalt.

However, the Post Bulletin helps Kindra Ramaker.

The opening statements by every candidate of their League of Women voters’ discussion board spoke volumes.

“People misunderstand the county commissioner’s position,” Ramaker mentioned. “County government is about more than roads and development and land use. If you don’t have an overview of all the other areas that are going on in the county and you’re not willing to be innovative and forward-thinking… our county isn’t going to thrive.”

Mueller did not precisely refute a lot, saying in his personal opening assertion, “I may not be entirely versed with what’s coming out of here.”

This prediction got here true. Mueller was unfamiliar with inexpensive housing, social providers and lengthy-time period care, whereas Ramaker demonstrated in depth information of just about each matter the presenters raised.

Of the 2 candidates, Ramaker is much better ready to start out for Olmsted County.

This district consists of Byron and a part of Northwest Rochester, and candidates Catherine Davis and Michelle Rossman are vying to interchange Jim Bier, who’s stepping down after 20 years on the board.

We count on this to be an in depth race. Neither lady has beforehand held elected workplace, and each have expertise and expertise that might serve the county nicely.

Davis, a local of Mankato who has lived in Olmsted County for 30 years, has in depth expertise on boards, committees and organizations together with Leadership Greater Rochester, Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, United Way, Rochester Civic Theater and Rochester Public Foundation Library. She holds a bachelor’s diploma in music training and a grasp’s diploma in organizational administration and enterprise administration.

Her opponent, Michelle Rossman, is decidedly rural. She has a BA in Animal Science from Penn State University and a Masters in Meat Science from Colorado State, and she or he is a co-proprietor of Rossman Farms.

The Post Bulletin helps Rossman.

While the Mayo Clinic is our space’s largest employer, agriculture performs a big function within the native financial system. The county wants a commissioner or two with first-hand information of canopy crops, erosion, buffer strips, manure administration, new pasture permits, natural farming, land analysis, and dozens of different points that farmers take care of regularly.

We ought to notice that Davis owns land in one other county, and she or he has some credibility on agricultural points. But Rossman affords extra. “My whole life has been a learning journey as a steward of the natural resources available to me as a farmer,” she mentioned. “My husband and I are currently instilling the same values ​​and learning from our sons who are the fourth generation on our farm.”

Rossman can also be a tax conservative who desires to see strong knowledge earlier than spending taxpayer {dollars} on issues like a social employee on the library or applications for the homeless that are not working towards a protracted-time period repair.

There’s all the time room on the district board for somebody who desires to measure twice and lower as soon as.