District 1 supervisor forum includes two former officeholders

CEDAR RAPIDS - Three candidates vying to replace retiring Linn County Supervisor Lu Barron in supervisor District 1 made their case last night at a public debate attended by about 40 people and sponsored by the League of Women Voters Linn County.

Democrat Jim Houser, 60, a sheet-metal worker and Realtor, said he has a proven track record from 19 years as a former Linn County supervisor.

Republican Dennis Petersen, 57, a Realtor, said his advantage is that he's never held elected office. That gives him fresh eyes and a fresh vision, he said.

Tom Podzimek, 57, who is running as an independent, said his two terms as a Cedar Rapids City Council member have prepared him for the supervisor post. He said he is the only one of the candidates who must meet a payroll, which he does at his small construction company.

Near the end of the 90-minute event, one questioner asked each candidate to talk about anything they chose.

Houser said one his biggest accomplishments in his 19 years as supervisor was the modernization of the Linn County law enforcement radio system, allowing departments in the county, in Johnson County and the Iowa State Patrol to communicate easily with one another.

Petersen said he will sponsor a privately funded college scholarship program, which will start with 10, $1,000 scholarships.

Podzimek said he was surprised no one had asked about the county's trails system, which he said is the kind of quality-of-life investment that the county needs to continue to make if it intends to 'stop the bleeding” and keep and attract young people.

In addition to a focus on quality of life, Podzimek said his priorities included pursuing policies of sustainability that will benefit the coming generations, as well as economic development.

He also said Linn County can do the most for development right now by using its bonding capacity to take on debt to 'jump-start” flood protection in Cedar Rapids. Getting the work started will create jobs while the county waits until state, federal and local dollars come in to pay off the debt, he said.

Petersen said he would be a good steward of the county's funds, and he would look for new ways to identify and cut waste.

He and Houser said a priority would be to see what they could do to keep the county's Options sheltered workshop and adult day-care program in place in the face of budget cuts and changes sought by the federal and state government. Petersen said he would look to corporations and businesses to help with funding, and Houser said corporations long have provided services to the program, but they can't do it all.

Podzimek said the federal government should not be dictating what Linn County does with Options, and suggested the county consider litigation up to the U.S. Supreme Court to make the point that states and localities should make decisions about local health programs. Houser said it's not as simple as the federal government dictating to the states, because Iowa is putting its own pressure on Options to change, he said.

Petersen said he wants to find budget efficiencies, and Podzimek said the county could do so by better cooperating with the cities and school districts on tasks such as mowing.

District 1 is in Cedar Rapids and is composed of a large piece of Cedar Rapids' west side and some portions of the east side.

Podzimek said a cost of living in the country in Linn County is that some roads are not a priority and snow removal takes longer on them. Petersen said he grew up on a farm, and he said most in the country know to have a snow blade on a pickup or a neighbor to help dig them out.

Houser said the county has a good snow removal policy, which can send plows out in one part of the county with heavy snow and keep them in the garage where it isn't snowing much.

Houser and Petersen said five full-time supervisors is a good idea. Podzimek said Linn supervisors should be like Cedar Rapids council members - part-time elected officials paid about one-fifth as much as a Linn supervisor's annual salary of $98,885. As part-timers, the supervisors should hire a full-time professional county manager, he said. He said the arrangement, which started for the city of Cedar Rapids in 2006, has worked well for the city.