Stearns County profiles

Commissioner District 3
QUESTIONS POSED TO CANDIDATES
(1) Why are you interested in serving as a county commissioner?

(2) What are the most important issues facing Stearns County?

(3) What will you advocate on the county board to make Stearns County a better place to live?

(4) What distinguishes you from your opponent?

Roger Nelson Roger Nelson, 53, who lives near Avon, is an architectural designer who runs his own drafting and design company at home. He served for two years on the Stearns County Planning Board (2002-2003). (1) The county has already allowed too much agriculture land to be developed. I support a countywide moratorium of new housing until zoning laws can be rewritten to severely restrict growth outside of the city (jurisdiction) lines in District 3. I would promote biofuel industry to create jobs and increase tax base (cooperative, farmer-owned new ethanol, bio-diesel plant with matching grants, location Albany or Freeport). I would promote increase in acreage of family farm and matching grants for young farmers getting started in agriculture. (2) Save our farmlands! Preservation of agricultural lands and putting density of population in the right areas: (a) District 1; (b) eastern half of District 2; (c) northern portions of District 4. Being a player in helping our country get off dependency on foreign oil. Turning over right-to-farm privileges to the next generation. (3) Promote open spaces with low maintenance such as prairie restoration lands. Endorsing CREP program and extension of contracts (12-15 years) and payment rates per acre. Encourage citizen to sell and preserve land by selling lands to DNR. Example: Francis and Karen Schellinger of Avon Hills, 102 acres for future generations; my hat is off! Beautiful! May your neighbors hook on! Restored to prairie own 2.4 acres (13 years) 1993 nice. (4) Incumbent is pro-developer and open to "farmers adding homes to ag lands." (Example: Cluster development on Deerwood Court, five miles north of Albany on Co. Rd. 10 and three miles southwest of Holdingford. 320 acres, now owned by developer, isolated from city jurisdiction line.) Turning planning board into political football and causing them to distinguish prime or marginal ag lands. Not concerned about rural density issues and harassment of farming operations and blurring distinction of rural and city lands. I would be pro-agricultural candidate who wants to promote developer activities and density within city jurisdiction (city limit lines, orderly development). I want to eliminate any more cluster developments in rural areas. I promote annexation of lands to city expansion, none of agricultural quality, "form follows function." I believe in the Native American saying: "I will leave the land better then when I set my moccasin upon it." I would support county-wide moratorium on new housing until zoning laws can be rewritten to severely restrict growth out of cities. Return to top

Vince Schaefer Vince Schaefer, 69, served on the city council in Rockville for 12 years and as mayor for 10 years before being elected to the county commissioners in 2003. (1) Unfinished businessŠhaving pushed for the reviewal of the Stearns County Comprehensive Plan now in process, I would like to continue serving on this committee to solve the complex land issues in the transitional Third District. I am also deeply involved in the curtailment of the meth problem, even on a national level through our state and national county organizations (i.e. Stearns-Benton Meth Coalition, Minnesota Counties Association, and the National Association of Counties Education Program) focusing on the complex community issues in the most productive and efficient way possible! (2) Methamphetamine and land use. Meth: This issue is greatly affecting Stearns County's budget because a percentage of every tax dollar is spent in some form on issues involving meth, whether law enforcement, lab clean up, corrections, medical concerns, social services, or foster care. It is a community problem, not just a law enforcement problem. Law enforcement, education, and prevention must be used as a three-prong approach to attack this epidemic! Land use: We need to work on the land-use problem to find a fair and equitable solution by balancing the needs of agriculture and housing industries with environmental issues. (3) As a part of the comprehensive plan reviewal on the question - "How do you rate your quality of life in Stearns County?" - 89 percent said it was excellent or good, but we should: continue with more intergovernmental cooperation programs to save duplications of services and money; find ways to cut money and provide services needed for the current jail system; address the skyrocketing prices of meth-related problems through continued education; and streamline the process of protecting lakeshore and other environmentally-sensitive areas through monitoring by environmental services and other agencies. (4) My 26 plus years of experience working with township, city, county, and federal government officials, and the fact I was born and raised and have spent my entire life in the Third District. I am well aware of the problems in this district and Stearns County. I have always considered myself a big-picture person and have approached problems with the perspective of looking at not just the present, but future issues. Return to top