Government : Meet the Candidate: Richard A. Primmer

Editor's Note: This week we are running stories about all the candidates for supervisor, auditor and sheriff who will be on the ballot in next Tuesday's primary election. This profile is from Republican supervisor candidate Richard Primmer.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell you about myself. Richard A. Primmer, a life long resident of Benton County, born and raised in Vinton. Graduated from Vinton Community Schools in 1969, attended UNI and received a degree in marketing from Kirkwood Community College. Married Pamela Travis in 1971, we have 3 grown children, Thomas and his wife Diane with son Sam of Ankeny, Iowa, James with his children Bastian, Katelyn and Myah of Urbana, Iowa and our daughter Julie and her husband Kevin Haefner with children George, Payton and Ella of Walker, Iowa.

I have been self employed for 43 years, the last 27 years in the interstate trucking business, B.J. Primmer Inc. Pamela (who is a retired school teacher) and I also own and operate P.A.M.S. Inc with 5 locations of mini storage, 2 apartment houses, 2 rental homes and 3 commercial locations. As you can see I stay busy, and pay a lot of property taxes most of which are here in Benton County.

Along with my 43 years of business experience, I served for 20 years on the Advisory Board at Hawkeye Community College, been on the Board of Trustees and currently serving on the Staff Parish Relations Committee for Wesley United Methodist Church in Vinton. I have been on the City of Vinton City Counsel, was a member of the City of Vinton Police Department, was the night manager for North Benton Ambulance Service for many years as an EMT-1 and was also a member of the Vinton Fire Department. As you can see I have a well rounded experience.

Why am I running for Supervisor for District 2, I feel that I bring with me my 43 years of business experience coupled with the different organizations and committees that I have been on. I have always been a positive "can do" type person, I have worked city budgets, worked with human resources in company and non profit organizations. I have strong customer relationship skills and get along well with people.

I do not have any "axes" to grind, and I do not have a personal agenda, I am not out to try and change something because I feel I have been cheated. But what I am after is prosperity!

Benton County is a wonderful place to live and work, we are in the northern half of the economic corridor, Black Hawk, Benton, Lynn and Johnson Counties. We need to sell ourselves to prospective businesses and industries, it is a known fact that every dollar that comes into a community turns at least 7 times. We need economic development. As a small manufacturer comes into a community they hire employees who in turn have money to buy or rent homes, money to shop in the retail shops on main street, money to pay utilities, money to pay for insurance from local agents, money to hire plumbers and electricians, money to pay carpenters to remodel or repair, money to send their children to school in our communities and money to pay property taxes, local and state sales tax, state and federal income tax. Since property taxes, local option sales taxes, state and federal funds are where we get our operating capital to run the county, I have yet to find something wrong with economic growth. We are falling behind our neighboring counties, yes this is a nice sleepy county, but we need to wake up and smell the growth around us and capitalize on development, sell ours selves on what a nice place Benton County is to live and work. Once we do that we will have the money for road improvements, more county operated agencies and more services to offer our county residents.

As voters we elect our officials to office, we do so on faith, trust and experience. We know the duties of each official, the term they serve and how they are compensated, (wages are posted in the paper every year) could you imagine the chaos it would create if we as voters would try to micro manage each and every elected official, their duties and set compensation by open ballets. That is why we have people that we know and trust elected to make those decisions for us, based on the responsibility, and experience for each office.

So if you would like to see Benton County shine like the jewel it is, I will do everything in my power to make that happen. Remember I am not trying to seek personal gain or satisfaction from this office; I am trying to make Benton County a leader in Eastern Iowa. I would appreciate your vote.

Thank you, Richard A. Primmer