By BRYCE MARTIN
Pioneer Editor | bmartin@countrymedia.net
It’s not often that an election in Bowman County is widely contested. That changed when 10 people stepped up and submitted their name onto the ballot for this year’s primary election.
But now the margin has been narrowed to six, with only three spots open — two candidates are running for re-election. So the commission will see at least one new face if the incumbents get to keep their chair.
With multiple issues facing the county, including higher taxes, lower revenues and decreased oil activity, to name a few, the race for county commissioner has been tight and watched by many.
Hear from the six candidates as The Pioneer held a round table discussion Oct. 8 with the six candidates, Chris Johnson, Jerry Jeffers, Pine Abrahamson, Rick Braaten, and Dave Anderson, offering talking points on many pivotal issues affecting the county.
Pioneer: The first series of questions relates to policy as one of the main roles of a county commissioner is to create and implement policy. What one part of county government would receive more attention if you were elected?
Bruce McLaughlin: I think you need to give your attention to all departments.
Jerry Jeffers: That’s an interesting question because I really think that — and I said this at the forum we had — that the county commissioners have done an excellent job. I think if there was anything that may need to be looked at is, as we develop policies for Bowman County, we probably need to go back and revisit them from time to time, see what is on the books and see if some of them need to be taken off. That’s what I would like to do. And get rid of things that aren’t pertinent anymore.
Pioneer: So you would like to go, item by item, and perhaps change existing policies?
Jeffers: There have been some standing policies that have been in force for 40 years that haven’t been looked at or haven’t been used and they have taken some of the dollars in the past, that could be spent somewhere else.
Pioneer: Such as?
Jeffers: There’s a fund that has been set aside for taking care of roads that the county takes care of, the side roads on the county roads. That hasn’t been used a lot. It’s been moved out of that and put back in and things like that.
Pine Abrahamson: A couple of years ago, we had sent questionnaires out to people that are in unorganized townships. We had asked if they wanted their road graded. We set up a policy because there was a lot of money being built up in the unorganized fund to grade roads. There aren’t a lot of roads that are county roads so we went into the farmyards, also, if they sent the questionnaire back stating that they would like to have it done. That’s where Jerry’s coming from.
Jeffers: And part of that is left to the discretionary of the road supervisor.
Rick Braaten: Supposedly we’re only supposed to use in each township that’s unorganized is the money that’s taxed for that township so you can’t combine it all. That’s what our state’s attorney told us several years ago. As far as we know, it’s still that way.
Jeffers: I know a few years back it was all lumped into one and they found out they couldn’t do that so they dispersed it and started over again.
Braaten: Like one township only has one mile, that’s all in that township and they get the same amount of money of townships that have 10 miles.
Chris Johnson: [To Braaten] So if it’s unused, it gets rolled in to the next year’s? Does it accumulate?
Braaten: No, it just keeps building.
Pioneer: [To Johnson] So we’ll go back to you with the original question: What one thing would receive more attention if you’re elected into office?
Johnson: For Bowman County, I think ag is still the backbone. Ag would have to be looked at first then move down the line. I think with oil coming down, I think police are going to deserve a lot of attention, support and help.
Pioneer: What specifically in ag?
Johnson: Roads. Infrastructure. It brings your crops and livestock to market. It’s the most important in ag.
Dave Anderson: I agree. You have to get it from the farm and into town.
Abrahamson: Now, we’ve got a process going on right now, where Slope County and Bowman County have shared roads. It’s been that way for years. It’s over a handshake. There’s no document out there. It’s part of our job to go in and meet with Slope County and we’re going to have to get it ironed out and down on paper for the new people that come in when we’re not here anymore.
Pioneer: Do you think there are a lot of things in the county that are just based on a handshake?
Abrahamson: In the 12 years I’ve been here, yes.
Pioneer: Is that a good thing?
Abrahamson: In the day that they started that, it was plumb fine, they remembered. Today, it seems like things get slipped.
Johnson: So it sounds to me that organization is going to be key. We’re in the day and age that it has to be on paper.
Pioneer: Are county land use regulations and permitting processes doing enough to assure the public interest? Do you think there’s enough regulation?
Braaten: That kind of goes back to the policy part. From what I know, it’s pretty sufficient.
McLaughlin: I think we have adequate zoning and permitting regulations.
Jeffers: I’ve been on the zoning commission for quite a few years and I’ve been there for two updates of our policies. Every time, you run into something new. We try to get it into zoning ordinances. I think that a lot of activities that are behind us and coming forward are pretty well covered. That’s not to say that there won’t need to be another change before too long. When you get a new industry, there may have to be something changed. But the zoning board does do due diligence for things like that. Then it goes to the commissioners so they know what’s in it.
Abrahamson: Three years ago, we were one of the first counties to rewrite our policy and since then, I would say, most of the counties on the western side of North Dakota have adopted most of everything we’ve got. I do think our policies are awful good.
Johnson: [To Abrahamson] So are these policies reviewed or renewed on a yearly basis?
Abrahamson: Once they get adopted, they stay that way. If something needs to be changed then the zoning board will look at it and they’ll make the changes.
Pioneer: [To Johnson] Is that something you would want to do is go back and review all the policies?
Johnson: As much as everything is changing, you should definitely be proactive on any kind of policy, even if it’s a yearly review. Three years is a long time to see something sit.
Anderson: [To Jeffers] What kind of changes were made when you updated the zoning policies?
Jeffers: Setbacks, feed lots, there was a section added about man camps. There was a section added about industrial parks, placing and spacing; some additions, just recently, to wind generation.
Pioneer: The next few questions have to deal with county taxes and spending.
Bowman County recently passed a mill levy increase for the upcoming year. Commissioners stated the reasons being fewer sources of revenue and lower property valuations among other things. Do you plan to promote any changes to existing taxes? If so, why and how?
Anderson: After this increase, no. I think we’ll see how this goes over and what type of revenue is accumulated and look at the coming year’s budget.
Johnson: I was opposed to tax increase. I would never look at tax increases. I think we need to look at our inflated budget because of oil and stuff; we were spending more because we had more. Nothing’s beyond scrutinizing. You have to scrutinize the budget you have before you raise taxes. Why would we even think about doing that right now? We need to cut some things out of the budget. I don’t think anybody’s above that.
Jeffers: The state that provides some of the funding for the counties is set up to have some mandates for the counties in order to get anything. It seems as though that raises every year. So the county is almost forced to increase some of their mill levies to get some money. I will say that I’m very proud of all of the entities that they have to fund in the county. Most every one of the entities are nowhere even close to what they could have (in regards to mill levies)…
Pioneer: Commissioner Bill Bowman said he could find ways to cut back before raising taxes. When you talk about that they’re kind of at the minimums and with inflated budgets, well he voted against the budget, he didn’t want to pass off the raise but apparently he had an idea where some things could be cut. Do you think cuts should be considered before even thinking of raising taxes?
McLaughlin: That’s an easy statement to say when leaving office. From what I’ve been told, most cut budgets by five percent or more. We need to realize for many years that our taxes were kept lower from coal and oil taxes. So you need to either raise taxes or cut services.
Anderson: Mandates kind of dictate what you’re going to need. You’ve got to look at your expenditure budget, what everything’s going to cost.
Jeffers: It’s not a popularity contest when you have to raise taxes. I don’t care if you raise them 1 percent or 20 percent.
Braaten: Part of the reason they go up, in my opinion, is that they were too low to begin with. You get only get so low on your mills.
Jeffers: I think Chris is right, there probably needs to be cleaning up of some agencies. Most are going to be told, no, they can’t have that. I don’t like an increase more than anybody else.
Pioneer: This next series of questions relates to budgeting as the second most important role of a commissioner is to construct, approve and implement a budget. Should any part of the county budget be shielded from cuts? And if so, which area?
Jeffers: We’ve talked earlier about infrastructure. Certainly the road and bridge fund has to be protected if we’re going to keep the county mobile. That’s a big priority. No. 2 in my mind would be social services. We have gotten ourselves, due to federal and state actions, in a situation where social services is a very big entity and we’ll have to protect.
Braaten: The state is still talking about taking that over.
Abrahamson: Which would be a horrible thing. The state takes it over and they move it to seven regional areas so the services will stop here and get transferred up to Dickinson, Bismarck, Grand Forks, Fargo, Minot. That will be horrible for this county.
Pioneer: Is there anyway that the commission can put together a contingency plan if that does happen?
Abrahamson: We won’t have much choice in the matter.
Johnson: We’ve got one of the best social services in the state, I believe. And police is going to be a big one. I think with everything down right now, I think you’re going to see some crime rates go up. If you don’t keep the police strong here, we’re going to be in trouble.
Braaten: The roads are important. You’ve got to have at least 10 mills on for that. And we’ve never been over 10 mills for road and bridge. It’s been a minimum all along. The fund is really large and the local taxpayers pay very little of it.
Pioneer: What about the converse. Would you be for raising taxes if it meant we could keep our existing services?
Abrahamson: If you can name one business that things do not go up in, I’d love to hear it. You’re a farmer. Things go up. You work on the wind towers; your parts go up. You work at the paper; your costs will go up. Our job is to keep it as low as we can.
Pioneer: If there were new resources for funding made available, what one area of county services do you feel most needs additional resources?
Jeffers: I think you could ask that question in a lot of surrounding counties and the answer would come quickly. But if you had a need revenue source, it would probably behoove us to split it amongst all entities rather than pick out any one. I don’t see any one thing that’s lagging that should have a pile of money thrown at it.
Anderson: [To Braaten] When was the last time (county employees) have had a wage increase?
Abrahamson: For the 2016 budget they had a raise, and in 2015, I think.
Jeffers: They’re technically getting another one for next year, aren’t they? Technically because you’re paying more for their insurance.
McLaughlin: At the present time I feel if we had new resources available, I would say lower taxes some and put some away for the future.
Pioneer: According to data from the North Dakota Association of Counties, the Bowman County Commission is one of the highest paid in the state. Would you be willing to take a pay cut and/or reduce or eliminate commissioner benefits to avoid raising the mill levy?
Johnson: Absolutely.
McLaughlin: Well the department heads we told to cut budgets, so maybe the commissioners should too. I also think that the commissioners should only get paid for the meetings that they attend.
Braaten: You’re looking at me. [Laughs] I would go along with it if it was the wish of the whole commission. I don’t think we’re overpaid.
Anderson: I don’t know what the salary is or what the benefits are.
Braaten: There’s a lot more that goes into that job than people realize.
Johnson: I think anytime you’re going into public service, you shouldn’t be doing it for the pay or benefits. We’re going to serve the people.
Jeffers: I guess if it come down to having to ask our patrons to pay a bunch more taxes, I think it would certainly be proper to take a cut if you could.
Pioneer: This next question relates to management as county commissioners are also responsible for the county’s workforce. When managing public agencies, is it better to have more employees at a modest wage or few employees at a wage high enough to attract quality applicants?
Johnson: I think anytime you can pay a little more and have quality employees educated in that field, that’s the way you go. If that’s not available, then you might have to hire two, three people for one position. But you try to fill that position with one really qualified person.
Braaten: The employees we have now are very good at what they do, especially the department heads. Most of them have a lot of experience and that makes a difference.
Jeffers: Some of these positions are kind of put in place due to timeliness, if we’re talking roads. Sometimes they have to have people that can do that now. If you cut down the number of employees, maybe they won’t get it done timely.
Pioneer: Would citizens get more effective services at a better rate if more functions of the county were outsourced to private providers?
Abrahamson: In some cases I believe, yes. In some, no.
Pioneer: [To Abrahamson] Does the county utilize a lot of that?
Abrahamson: The county does use a lot of outsourcing.
Braaten: For hauling gravel and blading roads. Even mowing ditches we’ve hired people to do that.
Johnson: I think in critical areas where you can’t hire a contractor, especially when oil field’s busy or whatever; I don’t think you can rely on them.
Anderson: They’re working on a deadline as well as anybody.
Pioneer: Do you think it’s important for the county to stay local when looking for outside contractors or other services when possible?
Anderson: I think so. Local resident, taxpaying, plus they probably have people hired in the county that also pay taxes.
Pioneer: Would it be the same answer if a local entity had a higher price than someone outside the county?
Abrahamson: That happens quite a bit when you have a road bid. Your local people might be within hundreds of dollars, but on that instance, if the guy from Bismarck comes in, you have to take his bid. Most generally we don’t have contractors come in from out of the area as contract work.
Jeffers: As a private citizen, I can hire anybody from anywhere I want to, but when you’re dealing with public monies, you have to be looking for the lowest bid and that doesn’t always happen to be the local guy.
Pioneer: The final series of questions are just in general. Weather modification is a large component to this county’s farmers and ranchers. It will be up to the voters to decide if weather modification continues in Bowman County, but I’d like to get your feelings on the weather modification program?
Abrahamson: They get a mill to do their job, too. Either to suppress hail or increase rain. I think they screwed up years ago when they called it rain enhancement. I don’t know if they do a good job of enhancing the rain. They’re talking 2 to 4 percent, that’s hard to measure. As far as hail suppression, I think they’ve done a decent job of it when they can do it.
Anderson: I agree. Our farm has always been in favor of it.
Braaten: If you go by the statistics and data that they show, it works. As far as hail suppression, I think it probably works. The rain enhancement part, I don’t know if I’m sold on that part of it. But I don’t know what it would be like to be without it.
Johnson: Does it keep pushing the weather farther and farther? I’ve never had hail damage on my vehicle, so I guess I’m happy with that, but as far as it’s making it drier, I don’t think the statistics show that.
Jeffers: In 40 years since I started farming, I can site many, many times that we would have hailed out without the airplanes. From that standpoint, I’m in favor of them.
McLaughlin: I think they do a good job on hail, but I also think if they could go farther west, like they used to, it would be better. I remember older people talking about not being able to buy hail insurance. I also remember older people talking about how dry it was in the dirty 30s and they were not using weather modification then.
Pioneer: And the last question: Per guidelines set forth by the North Dakota Open Records Act, it is considered unethical for commissioners to meet, with a quorum, outside of a public meeting and discuss county business. However, certain current county commissioners have been seen meeting together in public locations. Whether they are discussing business or not, do you feel this is an ethical violation of public transparency?
Johnson: I think you toe a fine line there being a county commissioner. If they are having closed meetings, that’s definitely unethical. You’ve got to stick by the rules. Public meetings, there’s no question there.
Jeffers: If you’re looking for it, you can probably see two of us together often. Are they discussing county business? They’re well aware of this thing; they don’t do anything to change policy if they talk amongst themselves.
Pioneer: What the state’s Open Records Act says is that you are to discuss all matters during a public meeting, that’s the time and place to discuss it.
Anderson: Any decisions or discussions should be held at your meeting. Open door meetings. We’ve got to remember to bring up the subject but leave it at that. It’s to be decided as a board.
Braaten: It’s a small community and sometimes you’re going to be at the same place, if you’re not discussing business and making decisions, I guess I don’t see anything wrong with it.
Pioneer: Do you there’s a perception, however, that you are? People don’t know what you are discussing.
Braaten: [Laughs] Well, then, I don’t know.
Jeffers: I may be naïve but I don’t think there are people in Bowman County looking for that. If there was a super infraction that got done somehow, I think people would bring us to task anyway. I look at the good of people.
McLaughlin: It is not a good idea to discuss county business with a quorum outside a scheduled meeting.
Abrahamson: Every Tuesday we go out to dinner when we have our commission meetings. The five of us are sitting there, without the auditor. You talk about ball games, your families, whatever. And every once in a while something will be brought up, but that goes back to the office, not here. I think it’s just something you have to be very careful of.
