Three people are seeking the District 2 County Board seat, which includes Spring Lake, Credit River, Cedar Lake and New Market townships as well as the city of Elko New Market and two precincts in Savage. Incumbent Bob Vogel is not seeking re-election.

The District 2 primary will narrow the field of candidates in the race from three to two. The candidates are Chris Olson, a Prior Lake police detective; Anthony Albright, a pension-retirement advisor; and Tom Wolf, a stay-at-home dad and former financial advisor who has previously sought the office.

The city of Prior Lake recently made several voting location changes; see the map in the Sept. 6 Prior Lake American for precinct boundaries.

The general election is Nov. 4. For more information, visit www.cityofpriorlake.com or www.sos.state.mn.us and click on “voting and election information.”

The profiles below were written by Shannon Fiecke, correspondent: 

Tony Albright

Age: 46

Family: Wife Marianne, three children, ages 16, 12 and 11Albright

Home: Spring Lake Township

Occupation: Independent financial adviser for retirement planning

Education: Junior college at Golden Valley Lutheran, bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from Moorhead State University. Training in corporate fiduciary (AIFA accredited)

Career history: Worked the past 18 years in financial advising. Previously employed at research and development office for Gemini, a manufacturing company, in Cannon Falls

Community involvement: Volunteers in youth program for Friendship Church, board member for Tentmakers Youth Ministry, chairman of local Republican Senate District 35 party (has taken a leave of absence during his campaign)

Web site: www.tonyalbright.org

Tony Albright has worked with spreadsheets for years and now he’d like to bring that experience to the Scott County Board. Albright decided to run for county commissioner in District 2 when Bob Vogel opted against seeking a third term.  Albright said he believes in civic responsibility and thought now was a good time to step up to put action to his beliefs and use his professional experience to help Scott County.

“I love the community; it’s a phenomenal place to raise a family,” he said. “I want to (help) ensure that can continue for years to come.”

Albright considers himself a strong conservative, but he doesn’t think that being a good conservative means “cutting taxes to the bone.” Rather, he believes it’s about producing the “most effective, productive outcome with the money your entrusted.”

Albright, 46, has spent the last 18 years trying to do just that as a financial adviser.

He describes the County Board as the “tip on the arrow,” for the county that helps set its agenda and takes the first hit when times get tough. He sees hard choices ahead for the county with the downturn in the economy and a multi-million dollar forecasted county deficit. He said commissioners will have to determine what are the absolute obligations of the county to provide.

Albright believes the county’s focus should be on providing safe streets, “free and fair commerce” and good roads. With the state placing expensive responsibilities on the county, he believes the County Board will have to discuss whether something is a priority just because of decisions made in St. Paul. Albright wants more collaborative growth and to build an even closer relationship among local municipalities in areas like transportation planning. He’d also like to see the encouragement of business corridors, attracting companies by providing a good transportation system and promoting the attributes of Scott County, like its schools and work force.  Increasing business, he said, will also help alleviate traffic pressure by enabling more residents to work locally.

Although he’s not completely opposed to economic incentives for new businesses, he said he is leery of them. With the severity of crimes in the county worsening and not much growth in the number sheriff’s deputies in past years, Albright sees a need for enhanced staffing there. Albright thinks the county is behind the curve in terms of roads, and views the recently formed Highway 169 Corridor Task Force as an essential way to get things done in a collaborative way.

The county commissioner’s job, he said, is to help residents see the overall vision and mission of Scott County and to make sure every voice is heard. He appreciated the process used to upgrade the county’s comprehensive land-use plan, and believes it’s important to regularly tweak that based on how circumstances in the county change.

In regard to the recent staff salary upgrade, which brought pay rates up to the midpoint of area counties, Albright said he is OK with pay raises, so long as employees are fairly compensated and rewarded for the work they perform.

On the county’s recent purchase of Cedar Lake Farm and Day Resort, which required a 20-year loan, Albright said he shared Vogel’s concerns, and thought it may have been premature or unnecessary. And, he noted, that a large parcel of valuable property was taken off the tax rolls. If the county had taken a slower approach and thought through financial implications more, it may have come up with a better solution, he said. One such idea would be to have privately developed part of the land, with a park remaining on the rest. Albright said the county must find ways to embrace change that improves the community and encourages natives to stay here following high school, but also continue to uphold the area’s important legacies.

Chris Olson

Age: 45

Family: Wife, Beth; two children, ages 14 and 7

OlsonHome: Spring Lake Township

Occupation: Prior Lake police detective

Education: Associate degree in law enforcement from Normandale Community College, undergraduate degree in management from Cardinal Stritch University, master’s degree in public safety administration from the University of St. Thomas

Career history: Prior Lake police officer for 22 years, working in investigations since 1992. Past president of Tri-County Law Enforcement Association and past board member of Minnesota Sex Crimes Investigators Association

Public office: Past board member of Prior Lake-Spring Lake Watershed District

Community involvement: Youth soccer coach

Web site: www.electchrisolson.com 

As a 22-year veteran of the Prior Lake Police Department, Chris Olson says he knows a thing or two about local government.As such, the District 2 county commissioner candidate believes he has a good feeling for what government does well and what it doesn’t.

He thinks government by its nature is “rigid” and needs to be more flexible. Without a business competitor to increase efficiency, he believes the Scott County Board must be that pressure on behalf of taxpayers.

Right now, the county faces a multi-million-dollar deficit unless it makes substantial reductions to its budget or hikes taxes a lot. Olson believes the answer lies in finding creative solutions and reducing niceties.

“You have to find more productive ways to do things,” he said. “The revenue sources are not there.”

One way of lowering costs may be to work with other local governments to provide services, he said.

While governments typically operate within jurisdictional boundaries, Olson doesn’t think residents care whose name is on the truck that plows their street.

Government traditionally survives on a year-to-year budget, a spend-it-or-lose-it mentality, Olson said. He’d like to see greater flexibility in budgeting.

He’s also a fan of long-term focused planning. He points to the greater number of river bridges in Dakota County compared to Scott County as an example of a lack of vision in the past.

Residents can’t stop development whether they want to or not, but the county can get ahead of the game, Olson said.

Instead of developers dictating transportation decisions, Olson believes the county should make infrastructure plans now to shape future development. Olson was impressed with the level of professionalism and understandability in the update to the county’s long-term land-use plan, and he thinks the county should have a similar future-leaning financial plan.

One of his frustrations with government, Olson said, is inefficiencies and non-performers, both collectively and individually.

Olson declined to prematurely name where cuts should occur, saying such determinations must be based on what areas are most important to constituents.

The choices the County Board must make will “ruffle feathers,” he said, but, we “can’t have it all.” Olson noted that public safety is important to him and an area where he sees a need for additional staffing. He said the percentage of deputies hasn’t kept pace with population growth. However, he also sees room for improvement at the Sheriff’s Office, such as more of a focus on citizen policing.

Olson said he supports recent pay raises that brought the pay grades for county employees up to the level of their peers in other counties. However, he is concerned there may be instances where employees are overly compensated through the rating system in the pay-for-performance plan. He supports that initiative, but he thinks it deserves review to ensure it’s implemented correctly.

On the county’s purchase of Cedar Lake Farm and Day Resort for a future regional park, which required a loan, Olson didn’t say how he would have voted but said there were legitimate points raised on both sides.

On one hand, there were commissioners who thought it would be “stupid” to pass up such an opportunity, he said. The voice of opposition came from Commissioner Bob Vogel on a purchase that required a 20-year loan. Olson said that reasoning would be similar to a situation where his daughter would want to purchase a sale item that’s 80 percent off, but she doesn’t have a nickel in her pocket.

Olson describes himself a fiscal conservative, which to him means “you don’t spend money you don’t have,” unless you’re borrowing for something like a road project, where interest on borrowing is less than inflation on construction costs.

“The same philosophy that applies to my family applies to the county,” he said.

Tom Wolf

Age: 44

Family: Wife, Kellie; four children, ages 13, 12, 9 and 7Wolf

Home: Savage

Occupation: Stay-at-home dad, secretary/treasurer of the Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative board of directors

Education: Bachelor of science degree in management from Mankato State University

Career history: For 14 years, until 1989, worked at the Minnesota Harvest Apple Orchard where he performed and managed various duties. From 1989 to 1993, he was a purchasing and sales manager for Accudata, which sold and repaired computer equipment. He was a financial advisor with American Express Financial Advisors from 1993 to 2004.

Community involvement: Coaches various sports within Prior Lake Athletics for Youth, volunteer teacher with Junior Achievement, Knights of Columbus and Neighborhood Watch Group.

Web site: www.electtomwolf.org

After three hard-fought attempts to get on the Scott County Board, Tom Wolf is still determined. In fact, this time, he says with confidence, he will win.

In 2004, Wolf won a primary battle, but went on to lose the general election by 272 votes to incumbent Commissioner Bob Vogel of Elko New Market. With Vogel not seeking re-election, Wolf now faces two first-time candidates in the Sept. 9 primary for District 2.

His mantra last election is the same as it is now: “We have to hold the line on taxes.”

Wolf describes county spending as “out of control” in his literature and says residents are to the breaking point and can’t continue to pay the double-digit tax hikes of the past that outpaced taxpayers’ wage increases.

“People are hurting,” said Wolf, a former financial advisor who quit his job with American Express four years ago to stay at home with his four boys.

Wolf, 44, has always lived in or near Scott County, having grown up in Sand Creek Township and now residing with his family in Savage. In previous campaigns, Wolf railed against county spending, even describing his former opponent as liberal. Wolf said Vogel is the most conservative member of the board, but was still part of a board that approved large tax increases, which Wolf views as liberal. As an example, he said taxes on his home have more than doubled since 2003. He believes the county has over-assessed properties in the past, in part to drive up the tax base. The county, however, has long maintained that property values are assessed to be as accurate as possible and that it would be penalized by the state if found to deviate too high or too low from the value of sold properties.

Wolf said he proposed the creation of an occupancy fee four years ago to make new residents pay for the assessed value of their newly-constructed home on their first property tax statement, instead of the lower rate which is based on just the land value. Wolf said it’s imperative that the county determine its needs vs. wants (he would put police and good roads in the first category; parks in the second), try to reduce any redundancies and look at every possible area to make cuts.

He thinks employee salary increases, which were raised to be on target with those in other counties, were excessive. Wolf said he supports putting more money into roads, but disagrees with the new countywide $5 wheelage tax (which is paid along with the annual motor vehicle registration fee), which he considers another avenue of taxation that could be heavily raised in the future. If the county can’t afford to operate the parkland it purchases, it shouldn’t be buying the land, Wolf said. If the county can’t afford to operate them now, he doesn’t think it will necessarily be able to do so in the future, even with a bigger population.  Wolf said the county has enough parkland and doesn’t need anymore. He disagreed with the purchase of Cedar Lake Farm and Day resort, which required a loan. He said if the land had been privately developed, it would have generated a lot of property taxes.

He is supportive of the county’s latest comprehensive land-use plan, which designates which rural portions of the county will or won’t eventually urbanize, laying out new standards for interim development.  Wolf said the comp plan has something for everybody: Agricultural, urban and smaller rural lots.

“We’ve got to have a mix,” he said.

Wolf thinks local government officials have overly blamed their financial troubles on cuts in aid from the state. To keep taxes low, Wolf said the county must also take a look at if there are too many middle managers and also if it should be doing everything it is mandated to provide by the state and federal government. He said the choices facing the next County Board will not be easy.

“Whoever gets elected will be in a tough spot,” he said. “This guy might be walking into a minefield.”

Shannon Fiecke can be reached at (952) 345-6679 or sfiecke@swpub.com.  

For a Q&A with all three candidates, click here: http://www.plamerican.com/news/county-politics/primary-q-county-board-district-2-candidates-6576