by Kevin Lilly
In addition to some of the more publicized races, voters will choose a coroner and three county council members in Tuesday’s election.
Republicans Ralph Anderson, Chod Gibson and Jeff LeDonne and Democrats Julian Pugh and Gordon Southern are competing for the council seats.
Anderson is seeking his second term and plans to continue the trend established by the council the last four years. He said the council instituted a five-year comprehensive road improvement and maintenance program, brought salaries of department heads up to par with the rest of the state and lowered property tax.
Anderson said the county had more than $2 million in new investment and its tax base grew by 5.31 percent in 2007.
“If you have that growth, that decreases property tax,” Anderson said.
For 2009, the council submitted a budget that was $500,000 less than the 2008 budget.
“And that’s with county growth,” he said. “So, if your county’s growth is 3 percent and you’ve lowered the budget, you’ve more than accomplished what you’re after.”
Southern focused on forming partnerships in animal adoption and buying fuel and salt to reduce costs and making county business more efficient.
“Mostly what I have in mind is developing partnerships because with partnerships, if we work together, we may be able to lower costs,” he said. “Otherwise we may have to cut services.”
He would also like to see elected officials keep the public as informed as possible.
“We’ve got the duty to tell them what the issues are and what the options are and when we decide, why we decided that way,” Southern said.
One idea is to change meeting times to the evenings and rotate locations to different towns such as Royal Center, Walton and Galveston.
“In this day and age, you need to bring the people with you, and you do that by communicating with them,” Southern said.
Gibson, an incumbent, has focused her campaign on improving current infrastructure and maintaining a high level of public safety. She would do that by providing the necessary funding and encouraging department heads to continue seeking grants as the county deals with the threat of tax revenues drying up.
Jeff LeDonne is seeking political office for the first time. He is a farmer from the Walton area who has had a vested interest in Cass County his entire life. In the past, he had thought about running but decided this was his year.
“It just seemed like the right time,” LeDonne said.
His approach to the job would be wait-and-see.
“I think you have to see what’s going on first, because you really don’t know until you’re in there,” LeDonne said.
Once in office, though, he feels he would be able to make positive changes.
Pugh claims that council needs to do its homework on the tough issues and not freeze up when tax revenue drops.
“It is now necessary to reach out to the community and partner with others who are also interested in getting things done,” he said. “I want to be part of a working majority for change.”
He used the animal shelter as an example.
“Progress on this issue will not happen without new leadership on the county council,” he said. “I think meeting with the Humane Society, A Cause for Paws and other interested community members will result in a partnership that cannot fail. People have ideas and resources that need to be brought out. A successful business relies on new ideas and innovations all the time — why not county government?”
Also on Tuesday, voters will select a new county coroner. Republican George Franklin Jr. is taking on Democrat Marvin E. Griest in a contest to replace Republican Gene Powlen as county coroner.
Franklin brings to the table nearly 20 years of police work, while Griest is a current deputy coroner and a veteran funeral director.
Powlen is running unopposed for one of two openings on the board of commissioners.
Kevin Lilly can be reached at (574) 732-5117, or via e-mail at kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com
