Editor’s note: Four candidates are standing for election in November to one at-large seat on the Perry City Council. In order to provide our readers with first-hand knowledge of the candidates, their characters and their ideas, ThePerryNews.com presented them with this short series of questions:
1. Kindly outline for us in brief your educational and professional experience. Where did you attend high school and/or college? What sort of work do you do? In other words, what is your background, generally speaking?
2. What particular qualifications do you feel that you would bring to the job of a city councilor? What qualifications do you believe are generally desirable in a city councilor?
3. What has led you to seek elected office? Have you run for or held elected office before?
4. Are there any particular issues of interest to you or of importance to Perry that have led you to run for office? More generally, what issues do you feel Perry faces today that are of greatest importance? What direction would you like to see the council take? What direction, if any, do you feel the council should not have taken that it has taken?
5. What are you most passionate about when it comes to the public life of Perry? the commercial life of Perry? the social and cultural life of Perry? What is your vision for the town? Where would you like to see Perry be in five years? 10 years?
Candidates were encouraged to answer in their own manners. They were under no constraint to answer all the questions or to follow the order given. ThePerryNews.com did not wish to program their answers in advance but encouraged them to feel free.
ThePerryNews.com offers the candidates’ answers to readers directly and unfiltered.
Harlan DenBeste, 703 Eighth St, in Perry, 515-783-5162, harlandenbeste@aol.com
I was born and raised in Sibley, Iowa, and graduated from Sibley High School. After high school I received an AA degree from Northwestern Junior College in Orange City, Iowa.
Following a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, I returned to Iowa, where I earned my B.S. degree at Morningside College. My Master of Science degree was earned at the University of Nebraska. In addition, I took extra courses at George Washington University, the University of Maryland and the University of Iowa.
I am currently retired. Some of my professional experience is as follows:
• Chief Cytologist at the American Type Culture Collection in Washington, D.C.
• Guest Scientist at National Cancer Institute-NIH in Bethesda, Md.
• Vice President and Chief Operations Officer at Grand Island Biological Company (GIBCO) in Grand Island, N.Y.
• Site Manager at GIBCO and Invenex Pharmaceutical Company in Grand Island, NY
• Director of GIBCO/BioCult Ltd. in Glasgow, Scotland
• Director of GIBCO International in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
My community involvement has included the following:
• President of the Grand Island Board of Education in Grand Island, NY
• President of Rotary Club in Grand Island, NY
• President of Grand Island Chamber of Commerce in Grand Island, NY
• Co-Founder and Director of Grand Island Neighbors Foundation (a Local Assistance Service Organization)
• Director of the Grand Island Chapter of the American Red Cross
• Director of the Industrial Development Committee in Grand Island, NY
• District Conference Chairman for Rotary District 709
• Rotary District Area Representative for District 709
• President of Session at Island United Presbyterian Church in Grand Island, NY
• President of Lions Club in Rippey, Iowa
• Member of American Legion – Veteran of the Korean War
• Finance Chairman at Hope United Methodist Church in Bullhead City, Ariz.
• Staff Parish Committee member at United Methodist Church in Rippey, Iowa
• Finance Committee member at Perry United Methodist Church, Perry, Iowa
I am a rather new resident of Perry, having lived here for five years. I relocated here when I married Margaret Houseman, a native of Perry, in December 2012. My family consists of two daughters and three granddaughters. When I married Margaret, I added another daughter and a son, plus three granddaughters and a grandson. Additionally, we have four great grandsons.
Since living here in Perry, I have come to enjoy this city and can see its potential. As councilman at large, I feel that I can bring to the council some new ideas and projects that have worked in other cities where I’ve lived and worked that would be of significant value to the city of Perry and its residents.
I will promote our community and foster relationships that will increase the quality of life for our residents, and I will foster and cultivate economic development by working with local and area developers to bring high-quality jobs to Perry to build a better future for our community.
I believe all of these are significant and vitally important to make Perry greater.
Being a public servant will enable me to attempt to increase our commercial life, which seems to be somewhat lacking: stores closing, etc. I would like to see programs instituted that would encourage commercial development as well as corporate developments to not only allow residents greater choice but also to promote a greater employment base.
I believe these are very import aspects that need to be addressed for our development in the next few years. If we do not, in five to 10 years we will definitely become nothing more than a bedroom community for Des Moines. I certainly do not want this nor should any of us.
I will not hesitate to give my opinion and my suggestions. Plus, I assure you I will listen to all your concerns and suggestions as well. I would appreciate your vote and endorsement on Nov. 7.
