Linn supervisor candidate Gull wants to challenge status quo

CEDAR RAPIDS - If elected to Linn County's Board of Supervisors, District 3 candidate Tim Gull plans to have the public vote on major changes for the county board.

Gull, 53, said in a Friday news release he has been pushing in recent months to collect signatures to force a public vote on reducing the number of county supervisors from five to three.

Gull said this reduction would save the county hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the release, he estimated that taxpayers currently spend $2.7 million - $135,000 in annual salary and benefits for five supervisors over the course of their four-year terms - on their supervisors.

'This is an obscene amount of money for what once was, and should be, part time work,” he said in the release.

Gull, who has owned Metro Transmission and Auto Repair for close to 25 years, is a graduate from the University of Northern Iowa and served 21 years in the U.S. Army, and Army National Guard.

Gull also said in the release he wants to see the Tower Terrace Road project reach completion, which he said could create upward of 1,000 jobs in retail, hotels and restaurants.

Gull is vying for the Republican nomination against Delma Clarke and Edwin Valladares in the June 7 primary. The Republican nominee will go on to face Incumbent Supervisor and Democrat Ben Rogers.