Jefferson County supervisor candidates speak about top priorities

FAIRFIELD — The race for Jefferson County Supervisor is between an incumbent who has held the seat for four years, and a challenger seeking to get back on the board after just a two-year absence.

Daryn Hamilton is a Democrat who was elected to the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors in 2018, defeating Republican incumbent Dick Reed. Lee Dimmitt is his Republican challenger. Dimmitt was a member of the board of supervisors for 12 years until stepping down at the end of 2020, when he planned to move to Texas to be closer to his son. When his son decided to move back to Iowa, Dimmitt felt that he had unfinished business to attend to, and decided earlier this year to seek another term on the board of supervisors.

Former bank building

One of the most prominent issues that has surfaced in the campaign is the county’s purchase of the former First National Bank building at 1900 W. Burlington Ave. Using money it received from the American Rescue Plan Act, the county paid $348,000 for the building earlier this summer.

The three current supervisors of Hamilton, Dee Sandquist and Susie Drish all supported the purchase. Hamilton said the supervisors bought the building because the county lacks office space, and it can move one or possibly two county departments there. He likes the idea of having county departments in county-owned buildings.

Hamilton said the board has been discussing moving Jefferson County Public Health there, because the public health department is currently in the building that also houses the Fairfield Fire Department. Hamilton said the county could also move its mental health department to the former bank building, too.

Hamilton said the county would need to remodel the portion of the building where the bank tellers worked, but the rest of the offices could remain as they are. He said the county also needs space to store records from the courthouse, and the former bank building could be used for that, too.

Dimmitt said he disagreed with the board’s decision to purchase the former bank building. He said that if he were elected to the board, he would propose putting it back on the market. He said there are other ways for the county to address its need for office space and file storage other than spending more than $300,000 on a building that will need to be remodeled. He said files from the clerk of court can be moved off site, and the county can pursue moving other offices to make more space, such as moving the judge’s offices, and using the space at the former Fairfield Clinic building on Maple Street.

Dimmitt said he felt the board did not sufficiently involve the public in its decision to purchase the former bank building.

“I think we miss out so much when we don’t encourage public participation,” he said.

Top priorities

Dimmitt said one of the reasons he wants to return to the board is that he’d like to make progress on a few issues that were left unresolved when he stepped off the board. One of those is the amount of money the county pays the state to house suspects accused of state crimes. He said Jefferson County is owed nearly $1 million for jail room and board for these inmates. Dimmitt said he’s spoken to Iowa Sen. Adrian Dickey, Iowa Rep. Jeff Shipley, and other members of the Iowa Senate and House, hoping to get them to see how costly this is for the county.

“We’re paying $10,000 a month to house juveniles in Montrose,” he said. “They have allegedly committed state crimes, so why does the state not pay for their room and board? I feel that the state should pony up half the cost. Right now, we have to pay all their health and food bills.”

If the county received that money from the state for jail room and board, Dimmitt said the county could afford a third sheriff’s deputy at night.

“We don’t have a highway patrol officer overnight like we did 10-15 years ago,” he said. “It puts county residents at risk.”

Dimmitt said another idea he wants to implement if elected is to revise the formula for how the state awards road use tax funds. He’d like to change the formula so that the first $99 million in road use tax funds is divided equally among the 99 counties. He said this would allow smaller counties the chance to upgrade their infrastructure without raising taxes.

“We have more county roads in Jefferson County than they have in Polk County,” he said. “But they have all the state representatives and senators.”

Dimmitt said he wants to see a county-run ambulance service as well. He said he was not able to accomplish that goal as a member of the ambulance board, but he believes the board of supervisors have the votes to move it forward.

“All the counties around us have a county-run or hospital-based ambulance service,” Dimmitt said. “We’re the only one who has a private ambulance service.”

Hamilton said that, apart from the proposed remodeling of the former First National Bank building for county offices, he mostly wants the county to stay the course. He said he works well with the other two supervisors, Susie Drish and Dee Sandquist, and looks forward to working with them for another four years.

Hamilton wants the county to build on its recent successful programs, such as improvements in the road department.

“I think the road department is doing a really good job,” he said. “With our new engineer [DeWayne Heinz], we’re starting to see some benefits of the programs he’s put in for. Roads are a big thing for me, because they’re how our people get their goods to market.”

Hamilton said one of the issues that has come before the board in recent years is the 28E agreement with the city of Fairfield over cost-sharing for 911 dispatch. The Fairfield City Council has proposed revising the agreement because it feels the city is paying a disproportionate share of the expenses, since it’s responsible for covering the dispatchers’ salaries.

Hamilton said the county responded to the city’s request by proposing that the county take over dispatch so that the dispatchers would become county employees. Hamilton said the majority of 911 calls are within the city of Fairfield, and he does not feel the city is paying an unfair share. He said the matter seems to be at a standstill, since the city has not made a counter-offer since the county offered to take over dispatch.

Hamilton mentioned that, regarding the proposed carbon capture pipeline that would run through Jefferson County, he and the other supervisors sent a letter to the Iowa Utilities Board saying they were against the use of eminent domain for any non-public project, including this one.

“While we understand that our role is limited, we’ve done at least the first step in saying we support the people who don’t want the carbon pipeline to come through,” he said.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com