5 candidates vying for 2 Johnson County supervisor seats

IOWA CITY — Five candidates are running for two seats on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.

Supervisor Jon Green and newcomer V Fixmer-Oraiz are the two Democrats in the race. Also on the ballot are Republicans Jammie Bradshaw and Phil Hemingway and no-party candidate Eric Heick.

The two candidates elected in November will serve a four-year term on the five-member board. Supervisors will be paid $89,129 in fiscal 2023.

Early voting begins Oct. 19. which is also the first day absentee ballots can be mailed. The election is Nov. 8.

Jammie Bradshaw

Bradshaw, 36, of Lone Tree, said running for elected office felt like the “natural next step” because she wanted to continue to serve her community after a decade of serving in the military.

Bradshaw, a drone technician for an Iowa City company in Iowa City, said she has three main priorities: listening to the people; lowering taxes and eliminating government waste; and serving the public.

Bradshaw said she wants to ensure all county residents have a chance to have their voices heard. Sometimes, she said, the rural cities in the county feel like they are left out.

“Having a supervisor from the rural part of Johnson County would provide that aspect of representation and bring that perspective to the discussion table,” Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said she strongly supports local businesses and community service and, if elected, will vote “no” on pay raises.

V Fixmer-Oraiz

Fixmer-Oraiz, 44, of Iowa City, has always been interested in public policy and serving the community and felt like now was the right moment to run for elected office.

Fixmer-Oraiz, founder and CEO of Astig Planning, a community and environmental planning firm in Iowa City, said three most important issues facing the county are affordable housing, inclusive economic development and climate change sustainability and resilience.

Fixmer-Oraiz said it will be important to think long-term, adding the pandemic “exposed gaps in many of the social safety nets we count on in times of need.”

“When we look at our county through the lens of those who are most vulnerable, we can easily identify the resources, relationships and commitments needed to move forward in a way that builds safer, more sustainable communities for everyone,” Fixmer-Oraiz said.

Jon Green

Green, 39, was elected a Johnson County supervisor in a June 2021 special election and is seeking his first full term on the five-member board.

Green, who was born in Wyoming, has lived most of his life in Lone Tree, where he was mayor in 2018-19. He has work experience in journalism, public relations and information technology.

He sees the county’s three most important issues as carbon pipelines, affordable housing and sustainable energy.

Green said it is “well past time” for the county to leverage resources to bring more equitable housing to the market for residents.

If re-elected, Green wants to continue focusing on the county projects funded by federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars and getting the funds disbursed over the coming years.

“Part of the reason I ran for supervisor was to be able to impact the decisions taken today that will impact us in decades to come,” Green said.

Eric Heick

Eric Heick, 23, is running for a seat on the board as a no-party candidate. He lives in eastern Johnson County in West Branch.

Heick graduated in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in agronomy and seed science from Iowa State University, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is a research associate with Syngenta, an agriculture company working to improve food security.

He sees the three most important issues facing the county as meeting the needs of both urban and rural residents, supporting small businesses, and meeting accessibility.

Heick said the county board need to have representation from both rural and urban residents. That way “supervisors can speak from personal experience, as well as building upon the connections they already have with their neighbors,” he said.

For long-term planning, Heick said it will be important to seek input from residents, as well as consider the needs of farmers and road usage.

Phil Hemingway

Phil Hemingway, 62, of rural Johnson County, has lived most of his life in the county. He’s worked in agriculture or in the trades and now owns and operates Phil's Repair, an auto shop in Iowa City.

Hemingway was an Iowa City Community school board member from 2015 to 2019. This is his fifth time to seek a seat on the Board of Supervisors.

The three most important issues facing the county, he said, are the high cost of living, rural residents feeling unrepresented, and preserving agricultural land. He said it will be important in long-term planning to “preserve rural Johnson County for future generations.”

He said he’s always thought the county board would benefit from having rural representation and someone who is a “watchdog of fiscal spending.”

“I look to bring a voice to the entire community — urban and rural, having lived and worked in both,” Hemingway said.

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