Louis J. Zumbach, Linn County Board of Supervisors, District 3

The Gazette sent a questionnaire to candidates who are on the Nov. 3, 2020, ballot for boards of supervisors in Linn and Johnson counties. The responses are unedited, unless to correct spelling or punctuation. 

The Linn County Board of Supervisors District 3 seat is up for election on the three-member board. District 3 covers Marion and most of rural Linn County.

Louis J. Zumbach faces Democrat John Stuelke in the election. Click here to read Stuelke's response.

To see other candidates' responses for county, state and federal races, visit our Election 2020 Candidates page. 

Why are you running for office? What have you done to prepare for this position? How will you approach learning about issues and making decisions on issues that you don't have extensive experience with?

After surviving two terms in the legislature, I realized that many of the issues that I cared about were ones that were most affected by local government, not the state legislature. Additionally, I believe that our Supervisors aren't doing a good job of listening to County residents on important issues like mental health, road maintenance and structure of government issues, among other issues. I'd like to bring a voice back to our county residents.

What has prepared me for this position is my 30+ years of running a successful farming operation. I have experience with managing resources and business expenses, managing individuals and managing a payroll. I've been involved with the Linn County Fair, Linn County Extension and Linn County Planning & Zoning as well as being elected assistant majority leader during my time as a legislator.

For issues I don't have experience with, I will seek out professionals that can help educate me on the issue. In my position as State Rep., I've called numerous superintendents on education issues and Sheriff Gardner on public safety issues.

What are the three largest issues facing the county? What will you do to address them?

Our Supervisors seem to have stopped listening to their constituents. By lowering Supervisor salaries, improving constituent representation and keeping the county out of the development business, we can better respect the wishes of our constituents.

We need to make sure Linn County is a place where people want to live by making sure our property taxes reflect the services people in the county actually want/need. The county should provide economic development assistance for our smaller cities to help them attract new businesses/residents and also keep the people that are already there. We also need to properly fund mental health and rural road improvements.

Finally, I feel a large problem is the state shifting responsibilities back to the counties. I fought for Linn County when I fought against repealing the property tax backfill. I also supported raising the sales tax a penny and having the state fund adult and children's mental health with a portion of the proceeds.

What do you identify as your budget priorities? What do you see as the least important funding priorities?

As mentioned in the previous question, we need to make sure Linn County is a place where people want to live and raise their families. Therefore, my budget priorities are based upon properly funding mental health, improving our rural roads and investing in our small towns through economic development and improving quality of life.

I don't know that there is a single least important funding priority because everything is important to someone. However, I do believe that it should not be a priority for the county to be competing with the private sector by entering into the development business.

What can the county do to expand the reach and availability of mental health services to residents?

To expand the reach and availability of mental health services to Linn County residents, I feel the county must work harder to make sure that the state is a partner in funding mental health services. I think our mental health region has done a good job of making services more widely available, but we have to continue to make sure the state is a partner in paying for those services. The county taxpayer cannot continue to entirely fund our mental health system. I am proud of the work I did as a legislator to champion a new funding (adding one penny to the state sales tax) stream for not only mental health but education, conservation, and several other areas.

What, if anything, would you do to improve the way the county works with other governmental bodies in the county?

As a Supervisor I will make it a point to meet regularly with city officials to ensure that the county listens to concerns. It should be unthinkable that any of our cities don't have a good relationship with the county. Our taxpayers deserve supervisors that will work to make sure that county government gets along with all other governmental entities. Government is no place for petty squabbles between politicians, especially when it means that work that needs to be done, isn't being done. County taxpayers deserve supervisors who will work with them to ensure all of our cities are strong and vibrant places to live, work and raise a family.

What is your response to recent protests calling for racial justice? What changes to law enforcement policy or budgeting do you support?

As a legislator, I supported Bill 2647 that bans the use of chokeholds and requires training on de-escalation techniques and bias training. Regarding local changes to law enforcement policy or budgeting, I would work closely with Sheriff Gardner to make sure the Linn County Sheriff's Office had the resources they needed to successfully fulfill their mission.