News : Candidate Forum Dist. 1 Supervisor Candidates - Lillibridge, Tippett, VanRee

There are three candidates running for Benton County Sheriff. Below are the statements made by our candidates. Questions were asked by the public. If the name was clear on the audio recording of those who directed a question to the candidates the name is included. If it was not the question is just listed.

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The candidate forum was held at the Farmers Mercantile on Saturday morning. Every candidate that is being challenged showed up to the forum. The room was filled with residents who came and were ready with questions.

Trish Lough was the moderator and did an excellent job of corralling all of the questions, and keeping the forum on track and moving along. Great job Trish!

Each candidate began with a three minute intro.

Kellie Van Ree (husband Todd, daughter Lexi) began the event with her opening remarks. A 2001 Vinton-Shellsburg graduate, she got a degree in nursing and went on to get her Long Term Care Administrator's License. She felt that a lot of her experiences and work in this are will help her in the government role. She spent her three minutes explaining all the things she's done in this field.

Next up was Lance Lillibridge. Lillibridge and his wife Heidi, moved to Benton County in 1998. Since then the two ran a successful trucking business for 18 years. The two created a housing development north of Vinton called, "Northfield Ranch." The couple raised their two children on the farm.

He has also served on the Iowa Corn Board. They help to find solutions for farmer not only in Iowa but across the nation. He has worked with several organizations and some have been worldwide/ He has also worked with NASA to benefit the farming industry. In this work he has helped to plan budgets as large as $22 million.

Ron Tippett is also running for the Supervisor seat. He is the current Benton County Sheriff and will be retiring after 38 years in law enforcement in Benton County. He said that he is choosing to move forward with positive things in the county. He said he is hearing three things in the campaign.

1) We need to cut spending and to quit spending so much.

2) No corporate wind, no corporate solar. We are only one of two counties in the state that have something on the books now, the other Madison.

3) He is a strong supporter of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Amendment. (Speech, search and seizure, and the right to bear arms)

Questions began from the community members that were present.

Ann Jorgenson, asked how we could increase the tax base in Benton County.

VanRee - said that she is also against wind and solar and said that the land use committee would need to change ordinances. She suggested that maybe the county could work with HUD and other resources.

Lillibridge - He again reminded the voters that he had increased the tax base with the housing development. He reminded the attendees that we need to be careful how we use the land. He too is not a fan of wind and solar investment in the county. He believes that there has been a lot of issues with these projects. He thinks there is a great opportunity for small business growth.

Tippett - He asked would we rather have a factory that employees 100 employees or have several smaller businesses bringing employees. He sees the benefit of several small businesses keeping the money in the county. He believes that there will be a gas station on Highway 30 but asked, "who will win it? Benton or Tama County?" He reiterated that the community needs to work together.

Drew Sallee asked if they would abstain from voting for a wage increase for themselves if elected, all three said yes they would.

Lillibridge made the case for having five supervisors again, bringing more experiences to the table. He agreed that he would not vote for a pay increase for himself. Tippett and VanRee also agreed with this idea as well.

Jill Marlow asked specifically how the candidates would keep the budget under control.

VanRee - She said that she would look at the costs vs. the benefits for what we are spending. She believes that there is opportunity to go through each department and ask what could be cut. She said that she sat down with the county Auditor to better understand the budget and at several line items and feels that she can help in that area.

Lillibridge - agrees with VanRee. He brought up the roads, and how the rock that is put on the roads end up in the ditches, and believes that this might be a way to help save money. He said that when he was in the Corn Growers, they looked at ever line item in the budget and asked, "What is our return on the investment? How is this going to help us?" I want to know exactly how this is going to help people in Benton County?

Tippett - "In the 2024-25 budget for the Sheriff's office I took the bottom line down. That's something that we're missing. We have an Auditor and she knows how everything works." He believes that the responsibility falls on the Supervisors to see if they can bring some taxes down. Once the numbers are in line, then give each department a number to stay below. He believes that there will be cuts and sees no other choice.

Wayne Seila - What is your position on the pay raises and the milliion dollar land acquisition by the Department of Conservation.

VanRee - We need to look at vacation incentives, other incentives rather than pay raises. What do we need to do to retain workers. She believes that the million dollars is a pass through because of grants that have come in.

Lillibridge - He said that he is very familiar with salaries and using a third party to analyze the departments to see if we are in line with other counties. He too believes that there are other things that can be done to compensate workers. As far as the land acquisitions, he's not in favor of this. He said he's seen where counties and the state obtains land preventing it from being taken into production. He'd rather see the money go into maintaining what we have.

Tippett - He explained that compensation is a complicated thing in government. He said that unfortunately he's learned too much about the current workforce that is coming on and things that work for them. They want time off, the ability to work from home, and flexible schedules. He said, "The courthouse doesn't have a flexible schedule. They are open during business hours." He went on to explain that he has maybe one or two positions in his department that possibly be a work-from-home scenario. Everything else is shift-based. His insurance is based on a 40-hour work week. It's a juggling act throughout the entire county.

Jill Marlow - Now that the law on Compensation Boards has changed would you like to change that and take on the responsibility or keep things as they are?

VanRee - She believes that the benefit of the Compensation Board is that the decision can't go below what is set. Marlow corrected and explained that they can't go above that. VanRee explained that if it's lowered it's lowered across the board by the same amount. She believes there are benefits. She cited that all of the candidates said that they don't want raises and that would affect the deputies. She said if someone were elected where this is their primary paycheck, they might need to consider it.

Lillibridge - He went back to the idea that we need to have a third party analyze this. He's open to either option and would like to study it. He thinks that outside input would be beneficial.

Tippett - "A couple of years ago the Governor signed a "Back the Blue" law which made it clear where money could go and how much the raise could be. He's also dealt with union negotiations. In all of these you look at populations the same size and make a determination. He believes that either a 3 or 5 board of Supervisors, could make those decisions by looking at other counties to see what has been done.

Question: Quality of life, what do you believe needs to be touched on?

VanRee - She believes that this should be a collaborative effort. She said she lives in Vinton and knows that there are several areas that her daughter benefits from. But she feels like working together would be the best idea to find solutions.

Lillibridge - He thinks that there are several places that the community can pull together and use fundraisers to make improvements in recreation areas rather than use the taxpayers.

Tippett - "We have a lot of great things in Benton County. We have a great Conservation Board, and we have a lot of really nice pieces of land." He believes the county has around 30 pieces of property. One drawback he said was that there are only two above-ground pools in the county. One in Vinton, and one in Belle Plaine, kind of a drawback but only two in the county. There is the splashpad in Vinton. He said that every city has at least one park in it, and most have libraries. "We have a lot going for us." He said that the idea of fundraisers is a great way to lessen the taxpayer burden.

Steve Spiedel - Lewis Bottom Access Rd. ( the road from Oak Grove to Center Point) he said that the community has been waiting for 5 years to resurface this road, why?

VanRee - She explained that the county engineer has laid out a plan for roads over the next 4 or 5 years in the county and she feels that we should follow that plan. She's unsure if that road is on the list.

Lillibridge - Said that work has happened on this road. He wondered if dust control treatment might also be a possibility, but he is unsure of the cost. He is also concerned about the bridges need to be kept up but if there is money in the budget for this project, it should be taken care of.

Tippett - There has been a lot of work done around the county. On that road, we've done work, but he too is unsure of why it's not done. He said another gentleman in the audience would like to see a road south of Vinton created to take pressure off of 13th St. in Vinton.

He said several years ago the county went through a "fund balance spendown" for the mental health region. The state said "you have to spend that money down." He said he has a problem doing that. If he has money left "I'm going to put it in the bank for a rainy day." Maybe we have other projects that might come up. If we have the money and it's earmarked for the project it should be done.

The final question - What are your budget priorities?

VanRee - Her priority would be recruitment and retention of staff. I think the more that we can be creative in that, the less we can spend. She feels it would save money to train and keep the workers we have.

Lillibridge - Secondary roads and bridges would be his priority. As farming equipment gets larger, the roads need to be able to handle that. He cited several uncontrolled intersections. He feels this is probably a priority.

Morale is also something that needs attention and will help with cost. Content workers have good leaders, they will bring better results. He's had experience retaining and making his business a place to be. If we have bad policy it's hard to have good workers wanting to stay.

Tippett - "I believe we need to look at programs individually and see if we can combine some things. We need good law enforcement and good roads. Both are expensive. We have to stay competitive in law enforcement. We are competing with Linn, Blackhawk and Johnson County. Can we compete? We can't, but we can get close. It all comes down to if we can come together as a group and make everything work."