County commission candidates debate

There are three candidates for Crawford County Commission District 2. Just by chance, they all happen to be Democrats, which means that the winner of the primary on Aug. 7 will be the de facto next commissioner.

Wednesday, the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce and The Morning Sun hosted a forum for the three candidates to express their views before the election. The candidates include Linda Grilz, former commissioner Tom Moody, and challenger Tim Gintner.

Each was given an opening statement, three prepared questions, and a series of audience-submitted questions.

All three candidates spoke of their love and history living in the county in their opening statements. They each briefly went over their backgrounds and gave brief overviews of their campaigns, as well. Moody spoke about his love of Crawford County, Gintner said that the roads in the county are in poor shape and need to be fixed, while Grilz said that she describes herself as responsible, accountable and honest.

During the prepared questions, Gintner said that the most pressing issue in the county is jobs, mentioning several businesses that have left the county.

“First of all, Crawford County is in a very flat economy,” he said. “To turn this economy around, I’ll do whatever it takes to bring new businesses and to keep our old businesses here. We can no longer lose businesses in Crawford County. Businesses create jobs, and jobs are what it will take to make our economy grow.”

Grilz also said that the most pressing issue is economic development, which she said leads back to a number of things, including jobs.

“We have a high unemployment, we have the poor health of our residents in Southeast Kansas, and we have unfunded mandates by the state,” she said. “Gone are the days of good blue-collar jobs that Tim mentioned. It took a long time to get where we are. We need to think of creating ways to bring economic development to our region.”

Moody said that the most pressing issue is the county budget. He said that the county is always faced with doing more with less funding.

“We need to move forward confidently and be ready to adjust accordingly,” he said. “We have to provide road maintenance as a public service to the citizens of the county. We also have to support our county law enforcement and make sure they have the roads necessary to protect citizens. I also see it necessary to address economic development.”

When asked about an opportunity facing the county, Grilz talked about partnerships with other entities and organizations that have been missing in the past, while Moody spoke of the citizens of the county as the strength, saying they are ready to work. Gintner said he doesn’t see any promising opportunities for the county with state and federal funds being cut.

Moody, Grilz and Gintner said that the county needs to work more with other organizations and be a leader in economic development.

The first question from the audience asked about roads and road conditions throughout the county. Gintner was first and said that he wanted to see existing roads get done right before paving new roads.

“All roads in Crawford County need attention. They are in the worst shape they’ve been in the last 20 years,” Gintner said. “The biggest part of our roads is to connect small towns to [U.S.] 69 Highway should be top priorities. For people in these small towns to get back to the city of Pittsburg where they’re working must have decent roads to drive on.”

He further said that he does not like seeing patchwork being done on certain roads and said it has made some roads more dangerous.

Grilz said that she is not a fan of patchwork and did not approve of that. She also said that she has not completed a new road in her district and that to put in a road right, the road must be redone from the bottom up. She also continued her support of paving a road to the Bone Creek Reservoir.

“I’ve taken criticism over doing 680th, the road to Bone Creek. I will contend that is an economic development investment,” she said. “Not only that, 680th is a very good connecter on the north end of the county. It connects U.S. 69 to Highway 7. Ultimately, that road needs to be completed all the way to Highway 7.”

Moody said that he would take a look at major roads first, then focus on roads frequently traveled by school buses. He also cited an engineering study that said the Bone Creek road would cost close to $1 million to be done right, and that type of money would be hard to spend when roads closer to town need attention.

“There’s a list of primary roads in the second district. There used to be, I don’t know if they still have it,” Moody said. “These are the highly traveled roads that I would look at first. But you also have to look at all the roads that the school buses travel. When you talk about them roads, you are talking about kids. They’re on those roads twice a day to school.”

Candidates were asked about purchasing products and services from local vendors. Gintner said local businesses should be given priorities in the bid process, and that he’s wondered about certain decisions in the county commission meetings he has sat through. Grilz said that it is always difficult for an entity to go outside of its borders to get bids, but that sometimes the local businesses aren’t the lowest price, and she doesn’t want to waste taxpayers’ money. Moody said that he would always lean toward the local company if it was within a few hundred dollars. He also said that if he couldn’t buy within the county, he would “make damn sure we wouldn’t leave the state to get it.”

All candidates agreed to publish the monthly county expenditures and county job openings.

During the closing statements, Grilz went first and touted the county’s work on completing Sewer District No. 3 in Franklin and putting away funds to replace county heavy equipment.

“I’ve made decisions based on the best interests of this community and this county not because it’s popular, not because it’s what everyone thinks you should do,” she said. “It has to be what’s good for the county in the long run.”

Moody reiterated his 13 years of experience in the position and described his accomplishments as commissioner.

“We built a new jail that actually brought money into the county by hosting out-of-county prisoners,” Moody said. “We built a new ambulance building. We built several bridges, we did numerous roads. I believe we took the county in a positive direction.”

Gintner attacked Grilz in his closing statement for her support of paving the Bone Creek road. He also said the 69-7 road, once called the Walnut to Englevale Road, would be too costly to fix up properly.

“I don’t believe that fishermen in this county will not be willing to travel down a dirt road to get to a fishing hole,” Gintner said. “I have fished, I have hunted all my life, and nobody can stop me from going down a dirt road if I think I can catch a big fish.”

Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.