The competitive race for a County Commission seat to represent District 4 also includes two Lawrence residents vying for the spot.
In a previous story, The Eudora Times featured Eudora residents Democrat Mike Kelso and Republican Tim Bruce who are running for District 4 county commissioner.
Lawrence residents Libertarian Steve Jacob and Democrat Gene Dorsey are also running for the spot.
The district includes parts of southeast and eastern Lawrence, Eudora, Eudora Township and part of Wakarusa Township.
The primary election that includes Kelso and Dorsey will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 6 although advance voting starts July 17.
The general election is Nov. 5. In-person advance voting starts Oct. 16.
Below, Jacob and Dorsey outline why they are running for the commission.
Steve Jacob – Libertarian, District 4
Q. Why do you want to run for the County Commission?
Just like my questionnaire answer two years ago, the county is addicted to spending and taxes, and that needs to stop. They are bankrupting Lawrence and Eudora. Schools are closing here in my district because families can’t afford to live here anymore.
What do you see as the main issues in the county?
Taxes, for sure, I will, on my first days, have a vote to eliminate the food sales tax for the county. That will be one of my first things I do, and I will listen to the anti-solar and wind farm people, but in general, I’m supportive of land rights.
What prior experience do you have that will serve you in this role?
Running for county commission two years ago, I learned a lot of what the taxpayers want, and they want lower taxes. The budgets are out of control and hurting families that are struggling.
Why should people elect you to serve as a commissioner?
I care about people. I’ve seen the damage done to the middle class and lower since COVID with inflation and taxation.
Is there anything else you add that I didn’t ask?
I have lived in this district since 2001, and I love Lawrence, and I know Eudora is a great town as well. I am looking forward to talking to everybody and to hopefully represent them.
Gene Dorsey – Democrat, District 4
Q. Why do you want to run for the County Commission?
That’s a complicated question. I started going to County Commission meetings back in 2016 and I’ve been interested in the commission since then. In 2019, I was involved in the initial public conversation about setting up the crisis center and so forth. I had a son who had mental illness who passed away about 18 months ago, so that got me a little more interested because, under the state constitution, the county is responsible for taking care of those less fortunate.
I’m on the Bert Nash board of directors and, in 2022 and 2023, we had a difficulty in dealing with the county and opening the treatment and recovery center. That got me even more concerned, and then when we passed the law expanding to three to five commissioners, I set out trying to find some good candidates to run for the two open positions.
I would say two people were instrumental in talking me into running and that was Nancy Thellman, the former county commissioner, and Cindy Yulich, who was on a board of directors that I served on in Lawrence. They said, “We think you have the qualities needed to be a good commissioner.” So I decided to run.
What do you see as the main issues in the county?
There’s several. The first and foremost I hear about when I’m out and talking to people is the increase in property taxes. Everybody likes to see their property valuation go up. Not everybody likes to see the county and the city spend every penny that they can pick out from the new valuation. So there’s a lot of concern about property taxes, especially with older people who are living on fixed incomes, and to them a 10% increase on property tax is significant to their budget. Another one that’s been in the news a lot lately is renewable energy projects. And if you want to know my opinion on those I could go into that, but that’s certainly an issue.
I think those are the two biggest things that I hear. I personally think the county can save money in certain areas, and I have a lot of experience in budgeting and financial analysis. So I would plan to bring those tools with me to my service on the board.
What prior experience do you have that will serve you in this role?
I worked 23 years for Mobil Corporation, and then they sold the Division [that] I was controller of to BASF Corporation, and they sold the employees along with the assets because they felt employees were part of the assets. So then I worked for BASF for another 13 years, but my background with Mobil was in the finance area.
I started work at the Kansas City credit card center, then I became a corporate auditor, and then various controller and financial analysis positions. Job titles were manager of planning and financial analysis. I was the controller for a joint venture company in Saudi Arabia for five and a half years, had $1.7. billion in assets, and the last full year I was there, we made $500 million in profit. So I have those types of experiences, which I don’t think currently anybody on the county commission has those experiences.
Why should people elect you to serve as a commissioner?
I think because of my background, my long-term interest in the county and I know people in Eudora have concerns because I live in Lawrence, but I’ve reached out to a lot of people in Eudora. I attend their Main Street Markets. I went to the CPA Picnic this year, I’ve been to City Commission meetings, I’ve been to the Eudora Township meetings. I’ve reached out to whoever I can get a hold of and I’m quite willing to talk to anybody, and I would plan to represent all of the people living in the district equally.
Is there anything else you add that I didn’t ask?
Well, we touched on energy projects, and I just say, we’re all supposed to be abiding by plan 2040, and the plan states all development proposals must comply with the comprehensive plan. If a proposal doesn’t comply, then the applicant should make a plan amendment, and since that plan does not address utility scale renewable energy, any conditional use permits for either solar or wind are premature.
I think the current commission didn’t quite follow those procedures when they approved the solar project in North Lawrence. Now we have a situation where Grant Township and others are suing the County Commission over that decision. So then you run into the point where you have certain groups of taxpayers paying twice for legal counsel: once for Douglas County and once for Grant Township, as they argue with each other. So I don’t think spending lots of money on attorney fees is a way to solve problems.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].
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