Dallas County Supervisor Brad Golightly of rural Perry, in his fourth term representing the residents of district one, will not face opposition from any fellow Republicans in June, but two Democrats are seeking the nomination to run against him in November: Breanna Morman of Dawson and Ryan Morrison of Urbandale.
Golightly said the highlight of his current term has been “getting the law enforcement center off the ground and getting that project going. That was a long-term effort that finally succeeded in getting approval.”
Golightly farms his family’s land and also has about 20 years of experience in banking and financial services behind him. Of his accomplishments over 16 years as a supervisor, the Van Meter High School and Iowa State University graduate emphasizes the closer control and management of the county’s $26 million annual budget.
“Since I’ve been there,” he said, “we’ve done a lot with the operations management area in terms of budget things and really trying to do a better job of keeping track and managing the budget and really gaining trust with all the other department heads and elected officials in terms of it being a team effort in managing that budget.”
Trust, teamwork and maintaining good relations among the disparate parts of the Dallas County government are high priorities with Golightly.
“There’s always issues,” he said. “Since I’ve been there, there’s been some pretty contentious times and relationships between some departments, and I think we’ve got people now who respect each other fully, and there’s not as much internal bickering, if you will, and that makes things work better.”
Going forward, Golightly said the county’s most pressing issue is the need for more space.
“The space thing is a continuous issue,” he said. “There’s always a project there. One of the next bigger things that we’re going to be dealing with is rearranging the courthouse again for the judges wanting more space and using some of the old jail space for alleviating some of that. Intermediately, we’ve got the treasurer’s space issues to try to figure out. It’s going to be like stepping stones, I think, to get to where we want to be. And that won’t be until we have do have access to the old jail building. We’ll just be figuring all that out and working with everybody to see it through.”
Looking to challenge Golightly in the November general election is four-term Dawson Mayor Breanna Morman, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the district one seat on the Dallas County Board of Supervisors.
Born in Sac City, Morman was raised in Dawson. She earned a bachelor of science degree in child, adult and family services from Iowa State University and currently works full-time as the jail diversion and service coordinator for Heart of Iowa Community Services and as a part-time certified pharmacy technician at the Perry Hy-Vee.
Morman is also the current president of Humane Society of Perry, a volunteer position she assumed about six months ago.
Regarding her bid for a supervisor’s seat, Morman said, “I hope to accomplish increasing the Board of Supervisors from three to five members. This is what I have come across when looking into many of the counties our size and surrounding us. It is something that has come up frequently in my conversations with the residents of Dallas County, and I see it as a way to better meet the needs of the residents. Currently, there is a petition circulating regarding the increase in Supervisors, and I think it is the job of the Board to listen to what the Dallas County residents are asking for.”
Morman also said she would “decrease the current salaries of the three-member board in order to add two more members. I would like to see a 15 to 20 percent decrease in salary for the Board of Supervisors.”
A second Democrat in the running for the June nomination is Ryan Morrison of Urbandale. Morrison was born and raised in Dexter in a house his family has owned for four generations. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business and an associate degree in financial services from AIB and has worked with his wife in the residential real estate market.
More recently, Morrison became the owner and operator of the Country Kitchen restaurant in Stuart. At the same time, he established a commercial real estate company to use for buying the restaurant.
Morrison said he has a longstanding interest in local government and politics and started attending the Board of Supervisor meetings about 18 months ago.
“I wanted to know how our county works,” he said. “What I found, though, was that it doesn’t work, not with our current supervisors at the wheel. The county residents I’ve talked to over the last few months, while considering a run, are asking for better representation across the county. Most of the more rural counties around us have gone to a five-member board, yet the Dallas County Board refuses to consider this despite the petition circulating the county that is gaining momentum and signatures. At the very least, it should be put before the voters to decide.”
Morrison said the state of the county’s roads is an issue many voters mention as a special concern.
“Many rural residents are fed up with the road maintenance or the lack thereof,” he said. “We spend thousands of dollars on having the newest, latest equipment but not on experienced operators to run them. To make it worse, the current board doesn’t spend time in the office or time reaching out to the county residents they represent. For the kind of money this board has voted to pay themselves, they should be readily available to the public. It’s time for a change, this county is only going to become more complex as it grows, and the supervisors should be engaging those whose opinions differ from theirs and not retreating from them.”
The deadline for filing nomination papers was last Wednesday at the Dallas County Auditor’s office. Nominees for the Republican and Democratic primary elections needed at least 100 signatures to qualify for a spot on the Dallas County ballot. Libertarian candidates needed 35 signatures.
