Meet and greet

BELDEN – Voters recently received the chance to meet and greet the two candidates running for the District 2 seat on the Cedar County Board of Commissioners.

The Cedar County Farm Bureau sponsored an April 2 evening event at the Belden Library for Mike Meier, Laurel, and John Thelen, Randolph, who answered questions from 12 attendees and then took time to speak with people individually.

Both Republican candidates are running for the commissioner seat currently held by Craig Bartels, Belden, who initially filed for reelection, but then decided not to run and pulled his name out of the race.

Bartels is the only member of the three-person county board with an expiring term that will conclude at the end of 2024.

He is in the final year of his second four-year term as a commissioner.

The county’s second district includes the communities of Belden, Coleridge, Laurel, Magnet and Randolph.

The 51-year-old Meier owns Laurel Welding.

“Since I pay taxes, I want somebody that’s going to do the best they can with the dollars and not be wasteful with them,” Meier said. “I figured I’d just as well put my name in and go.”

Thelen, a 61-year-old full-time farmer, ran and lost against Bartels for the same commissioner seat in 2020.

“I wanted to run because I think I can do a good job,” Thelen said. “I’ve run businesses. I farm. I know the communities. I’ve lived here all my life.”

Meier calls himself a well-rounded candidate.

“I’ve got conservative values and common-sense thinking,” Meier said. “I’ve been through farming, truck driving, moved houses, so heavy equipment. . . . I do realize there’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve with some of the stuff and how it handles. I’m not afraid to dive in and do the studying that we need to do to make the decisions.”

Thelen described himself as “a common-sense problem solver.”

“I used to inspect power poles and run crews doing that,” Thelen said. “If you run into a problem, you fix it. Just like farming – if something breaks, you fix it. You figure out how to fix it and move on.”

Meier did not specify any particular topic he would want to tackle if he is elected to the county board.

“It would be up to the community members,” Meier said. “Their concerns are what I’m concerned with.”

Thelen said he would like to make commissioner meetings “more accessible to the general public,” suggesting they should be livestreamed online and moved from mornings to evenings so more people have the opportunity to attend them.

“Make it more accessible so more people can get involved with it,” Thelen said. “You’ve got to get the community involved to do a good job.”

Meier said if elected, he intends to do a good job and be efficient as a county commissioner.

“I’m not into the pet projects and wasteful spending,” Meier said.

Thelen encouraged voters to cast their ballots in the May 14 primary election.

“I hope we have a good turnout and I hope I win,” Thelen said.

Cedar County Farm Bureau President Dan Backer, Randolph, thought the meet-and-greet event went really well.

“It was really informational for everybody,” Backer said. “Our intent is when we do these (events) is … for people to meet these guys.”

Ballots will be mailed on April 24 to county voters and they must be returned by 8 p.m. May 14 to the county clerk’s office in Hartington for the primary election.