I am a lifelong resident of Woodland Township, where I live with my wife Felicia. I spent the last 28 years as a deputy sheriff with the Wright County Sheriff’s Office – the majority of that time working as a patrol deputy in District 5.
Being a county commissioner is my first venture into politics. The reason I ran for commissioner was partly because Charlie Borrell announced he was retiring and I thought it would be an opportunity to serve the public in a different way than I had in a long time. I have a lot of strong connections with people in my district – farmers, business owners and township, city and county officials. I believe I’m a good fit for the county board because I’m familiar with the concerns and problems Wright County residents face and I’ve always been geared to be a problem solver.
I feel comfortable working in a conference room, in somebody’s kitchen or sitting on a bale of hay because that’s what I’ve had to do in my work life leading up to this. I’ve been thrown into a lot of different atmospheres and environments and I’ve been able to handle all of them without feeling out of place.
As a commissioner, you need to be able to listen to all sides of an argument or an issue and I’ve been doing that for years. I think I’ve developed a skill set that can’t be taught. I can be dropped into many situations as a county commissioner and feel comfortable in any of them. Law enforcement doesn’t prepare you for a lot of other careers, but being a county commissioner is one of them because there are a lot of similarities in the decision-making process and skills you need to excel at.
I know the people of my district extremely well because I’ve been one of them my entire life. I will work hard to represent them and be their voice at the county board level and do my best the live up to the confidence they put in me by electing me as their county commissioner.