One of our three County Commissioner spots has been a roller coaster the last couple of years. Last year this commissioner ran for and won a state house seat. The replacement process is to have the party delegates (258) elect someone to finish the term. So the commissioner position was filled last year. A couple of months ago the guy that went to the house was selected by the governor the replace the Lt. Governor that resigned to make more money for his retirement (new job pays about 4 times more). A couple of weeks ago our newest commissioner was selected by the party delegates to fill the house seat. In a little over two weeks the delegates will select the new commissioner to fill the last year of the term.
So I've put my name in the hat. I think I have a chance. So far there are four candidates but it's not closed until Thursday at 5 PM. I'm not famous but I think I can present good experience and education. I've been on the planning commission for three years and never missed a meeting, currently chairman. I'm a veteran and belong to a church but not a very long list of church service (scouts a bit). I've been self employed for the last 20 years, made a living but not some super business owner. My roots go back to all my great grand parents which were pioneers or immigrants to the county. I even have the old pioneer dialect, all I have to do is start talking and it's obvious where I'm from (this could be a disadvantage as the dialect is dying out from kids learning to talk from the TV). I'm also worried about my age (61). I'm about he same age as the other commissioners but the last two guys have been twenty to thirty years younger and it's the same delegate group doing this election. Finally, I'm concerned about being a surveyor. Should I mention that, unfortunately surveyors don't have a good reputation for doing public good around here. You only get 5 minutes of speech at the meeting so I need to choose the words carefully. I can mail out some propaganda so there would be room there to tell all if you think they will read it.
One of my primary reasons for wanting this office is to restore the county surveyor position in the county. It was combined with the recorder 25 years ago. There are no county records for ever except for filed surveys since about 1988. Man its a chaotic zoo in survey land but I've already found out there is no interest or need seen for a county surveyor. There hasn't been one for so long that most folks can't imagine why you would need one. All the urban counties in Utah have good county surveyor offices and most of the rural counties have what we have, no money and chaos. So I suppose I probably shouldn't make this the center of my campaign or even mention it (sad). The county surveyor position could be combined with a commissioner seat. So they'd get a 2 for 1 if the guy had a LS and a 3 for 1 if he was also an engineer. One thing I've figured out is you need a seat at the table to get some things done. My county is large in land area, about half state and federal. Population is only about 28,000.
Anybody else on the board ran for or hold public offices? Have any recommendations?
