Thursday, November 1, 2012

Volume 97; Number 19

www.bladepublishing.net

A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560

75

Exercise your right, VOTE November 6th, 2012

Millions of Americans will take to the polls on Tuesday, November 6th to cast their ballot for the Presidential Candidate of their choice. After months of polital advertisements both in print and TV, signs, and radio, it is time for America to vote. No matter who your choice is, exercise your right, and VOTE. Rember, you have no right to gripe, if you dont. Locally there are many options voters will have this year. We have six candidates for Minnesota Legislature from the new District 9, Todd County Commissioners, Soil and Water Supervisors, and Federal Judges. We will also have the opportunity to vote for members of the Browerville School Board, as well as City Council and the Mayor of Browerville. So again, exercise your right as an American and VOTE!

Commissioner and Legislative candidates share their views at county political forum
By Rin Porter On Wednesday, Oct. 24, from 7 to 9 PM, seven county commissioner candidates and six candidates for the Minnesota Legislature from the new District 9 that includes Todd County gathered at the Browerville High School gym to share their views and respond to questions from voters. The event, called the Candidate Forum, was sponsored by the county newspapers (Browerville Blade, Long Prairie Leader, Staples World, Independent News Herald) and the Long Prairie and Staples Chambers of Commerce. About 120 people attended. Staples World publisher Brenda Halvorsen served as moderator. She introduced the candidates and read the questions to them. Liz Capistrant from the Staples Chamber of Commerce served as timer. Each candidate was given the same amount of time to answer the questions put to all candidates. Many of the answers they gave, have been edited to present the point the candidate was making but not every word of their answer, due to space limitations. COMMISSIONER CANDIDATES QUESTIONS Five questions were asked of commissioner candidates. We present the answers to four of the five here. We summarized one set of answers because all the candidates seemed to agree. (1) List the top three budget priorities for a balanced county budget. Gary Kneisl, Dist. 2: provide services to the public, keep county funds in a good healthy condition, and keep county employees happy. Dean Meiners, Dist. 2: promote building and development in the county, increase the tax base, use

Todd County Commissioner candidates are: Barb Becker, Mark Blessing, Gary Kneisl, Dean Meiners, Rodney Erickson, Gerry Ruda, and Randy Neumann. the county attorneys office more instead of using outside legal services, consider having a solid waste annual fee paid by residents. Rodney Erickson, Dist. 3: the health and safety of citizens, economic growth and opportunity in the county, the day-to-day operating efficiency of the county. Gerry Ruda, Dist. 3: fiscal responsibility, maintaining what we have our buildings and equipment, continuing to work toward a zero increase tax levy. Randy Neumann, Dist. 5: public works roads and bridges, public safety, and health and human services. Barb Becker, Dist. 1: (read statement from county website about the position of county administrator), give control of the budget back to the county commissioners and take it away from the county administrator, change the type of accounting used for creating and administering the budget. Mark Blessing, Dist. 1: find assistance for constituents who need our programs, maintain public safety, provide public infrastructure roads, bridges, bikeways, parks. (2) Explain how to continue to provide quality county services, without depleting the morale of county employees. Erickson: Operate more efficiently, work with department heads, listen to employees, listen to people who have good ideas, tell employees they are doing a good job. Ruda: Thank county employees for all theyve done to work through the many changes. Todd County is part of a movement to redesign Minnesota to reduce waste by eliminating certain stages of processing information. Provide employees with the best equipment we can afford. Neumann: I dont like the term customer. You arent our customers, you are our boss. Were not all on the same team now. It starts with leadership at the top, the five county commissioners. We need to stop the turmoil. The morale in our county is bad. I will work to boost morale. Becker: Some hiring practices have been making our departments smaller. Some departments are backing up other departments. We need to hire employees for what they are trained to do. Lets have happy employees. Blessing: The county has improved significantly in the quality of services to our constituents. We have consolidated some departments. We appreciate the comments of employees and their dedication. Kneisl: I agree with Blessing and Ruda. The county is involved in a lot of consolidation. Employees are very involved. There are little things we can do, like give them compliments. Meiners: Thats a pretty tough order, either raise the levy or ask the employees to take a pay freeze. (3) The position of county administrator: is this position necessary? Why is it important to the county? What power and authority should the county administrator have? If we had no county administrator, who would do the work of that position? Neumann: No, it is not necessary. I would terminate the position, and put someone under the Auditor/Treasurer. The county administrator has too much authority. The commissioners should give direction [to the county], not the county administrator. Becker: I agree with Mr. Neumann. The county administrator has too much power. I dont know if they gave him the power or he took it. I would like to see a Continued on page 20

Ron Kresha

Adrian Welle

Al Doty

Don Niles

Mark Anderson

Paul Gazelka

WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT

Tue. Oct. 30 Mostly Cloudy 47/33 Wed. Oct. 31 Partly Cloudy 46/29 Thur. Nov. 1 Partly Cloudy 45/27 Fri. Nov. 2 Partly Cloudy 44/29 Sat. Nov. 3 Mostly Cloudy 43/32 Sun. Nov. 4 Cloudy 42/29