Four candidates run for two Washington County Board seats

Transit, economic development and budget management rank among the top issues in contested races for two Washington County Board seats.

In District 2, Jeremy Olson is challenging first-term incumbent Ted Bearth. In District 4, Karla Bigham and first-term incumbent Autumn Lehrke will compete.

This year, the five-member County Board oversees a $148.2 million operating budget and $22.4 million in capital expenditures. The 2014 budget has a property tax levy of $87.7 million, which pays for county law enforcement, roads, libraries, social services, health and environmental protection and more.

Bearth, of Oakdale, has 26 years of experience on the Oakdale City Council, including as mayor. He has chaired Oakdale Summerfest for many years. Olson, of Woodbury, has a background in accounting and finance. He currently works for a nonprofit education company in Oakdale.

Lehrke, of Cottage Grove, owns a property management company with her husband, Derrick, a Cottage Grove City Council member running for re-election this fall. They also opened Opinion Brewery in Newport this year. Bigham, of Cottage Grove, served on the City Council from 2005 to 2007 and in the Minnesota House from 2007 to 2011. She is employed at Northern Tier Retail LLC.

Campaigning in 2010 as a "fresh voice" in county government, Lehrke defeated longtime Commissioner Myra Peterson after a flurry of door knocking. Now, Lehrke wants a second term "because I'm in the middle of some great things and I want to wrap them up," she said at a recent candidate forum.

Bigham said she would bring "positive change" in District 2, and new emphasis on reaching out to constituents.

In this contentious race, differences in opinion start with the Red Rock Corridor, the emerging transit line that includes a passenger station in Newport that will open this fall.

Lehrke, who chairs the 11-person commission in charge of planning the route, said her leadership has moved the project forward at a lower cost. She also said she was instrumental in choosing the mode of transit, which will be Bus Rapid Transit. "BRT mimics light rail but is on wheels at a fraction of the cost," she said in a candidate statement.

"Before I was elected it was going to be decades and hundreds of millions [of dollars] for the same service we have now," Lehrke said at a recent candidate forum. Lehrke also said that through her leadership, all-day transit now is under discussion.

Bigham replied that it's the Metropolitan Council and Metro Transit — not the Red Rock group — that determine routes and schedules. She said that she supports Red Rock transit and had carried legislation to advance it while she was in the Legislature, but that the project has faltered for lack of leadership. "I will work collaboratively to increase current bus ridership and make sure the Red Rock Corridor is progressing," she said.

Bigham decided to run for the County Board after Lehrke, citing a potential conflict of interest, abstained from a critical vote last fall to fund the Newport transit station. Lehrke was in negotiations to buy a bar, the Red Rock Saloon, a block from the station. It was renamed Opinion Brewery.

"How is she going to represent us if she's not going to vote on this very important issue?" Bigham said after announcing her candidacy.

Lehrke responded at that time that "to say I can't represent my district is totally false" and said she would abstain from future votes only if a possible tax-increment finance district might be considered that would affect her new business.

Lehrke said last week that in a second term, she would concentrate on budget management, economic development and transportation. Because of her "strong management experience," she said, the board kept the property tax levy flat during the recession, and decreased it in 2012, while raising the budget for road improvements from $4 million to $7 million. She also pushed to restore funding for 4-H, the youth development program, which an earlier board had cut.

"In the few short years I have been a county commissioner, I mastered the learning curve immensely fast by going above and beyond in everything I do," Lehrke said. She described Bigham as a "career politician." Lehrke said her private-sector background and her experience as a business owner translate into a leaner county government.

Bigham, meanwhile, said she wants to further define the county's role in economic development, address infrastructure needs, and prepare for a growing and aging population over the next decade. She said endorsement of her candidacy by the mayors of Cottage Grove, Newport and St. Paul Park, and by the chairman of the Grey Cloud Island Township board, is evidence of how she has collaborated as a state representative to "work with all levels of government to solve issues important to residents."

If elected, Bigham promised to hold town hall meetings to hear from residents, elected officials and community organizations. She said she wants to convene a group of commissioners from various counties — many of them former legislators, she said — to work with the Legislature to find a solution to unfunded mandates.

Those mandates, from the state and federal governments, account for about 80 percent of spending in the Washington County budget.

Bigham also favors expanding the county's Housing and Redevelopment Authority into a Community Development Authority to give it more clout in matters of economic development.

In response to Lehrke's repeated mentions of "data-driven decisions" at a recent candidate forum, Bigham said: "My data is talking to the local elected officials who have to try and find partners for economic development. I know they want a partner to bring jobs and spur commerce here."

Lehrke, 33, said, "I'm the one that follows through" on policy matters. Bigham, 35, said, "I have a history of transparency and openness while being available in the community."

District 4 covers Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park, Denmark and Grey Cloud Island townships, one precinct in Woodbury and the tiny portion of Hastings that's in Washington County.

Bearth vs. Olson

Elected to the County Board in 2012, Bearth said voters should consider his career in public service, and his veteran community leadership, as reasons to return him to office. He won the seat two years ago, dislodging longtime incumbent Bill Pulkrabek after a campaign that stressed improved relations between county government and cities in matters of economic development.

After he was elected, Bearth helped draft an economic development strategy for the county to cooperate with cities, not compete. "It's not a very hard job when everybody puts their minds to it on a nonpartisan basis," he said in a recent forum.

Olson said he too favors a county role in economic development, but said county involvement should be managed with "close scrutiny" to see if it's working. "The county should not be investing heavily for the purpose of changing or influencing the behavior of businesses and people," he said.

Bearth said retaining jobs is more important than recruiting them. However, he said the recent arrival of the Valley Cartage company in Lake Elmo, bringing "61 high-paying jobs," resulted from strong cooperation between the county and the city on a tax abatement.

Olson hasn't held public office, but he said he's campaigning out of concern that Washington County remain prosperous in coming years and that tax dollars be managed efficiently.

"There is no question that as the county grows in population and business, it will necessitate more roads, additional infrastructure, public safety and community services," Olson said. "If the county overspends and overdevelops, it will be burdened with the ongoing support of all these items, necessitating additional costs for the taxpayer."

Olson said the County Board also needs to guard against the opposite scenario — failing to provide sufficient services to meet growth. He said that because of his background in fiscal analysis and modeling, he could analyze trends to find that balance.

Bearth said the county already is being managed well. His priority, if re-elected, would be to improve the pay structure for county employees to stop the exodus of trained workers to other government jobs. Working harder to retain employees would "quit throwing money out the window for retraining every time somebody leaves," he said in a recent forum.

Both candidates support public transit. Bearth said good transit planning can lead to new housing and jobs. Olson said transit should be subject to review to make sure growth happens as anticipated.

Bearth, 74, said being a county commissioner is a full-time job "to carry out all the responsibilities of this office." He said he serves on 19 committees and finds his experience invaluable in efficiently representing residents in Oakdale, Birchwood, Pine Springs, Willernie, Landfall, three precincts in Woodbury, one in Mahtomedi and one ward in the portion of White Bear Lake that's within Washington County borders.

Olson, 41, said he can make a difference with his diverse business background. The public's apathy toward government as a force for change can be reversed "and the best way to see this happen is to try new ideas and be open to new faces," he said.

Kevin Giles • 651-925-5037