🎧 LISTEN: Kiwanis Chili Feed

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/11/1701263164849.png" alt="Early Morning Sports with Rob Dreher" />
 <figcaption>Early Morning Sports with Rob Dreher</figcaption>
 </figure><div><iframe title="Early Morning Sports for October 28th, 2024" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=unu8v-171f978-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=auto&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>

🎧 LISTEN:  ⚾ Dodgers up two games in World Series; Chiefs 🏈 edge Raiders; San Francisco 🏈 gets by Dallas on SNF

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Voice of the Blue Dragons, Sean Boston, visited with sophomore wide receiver, Ja'Cory Thomas, for Episode 8 of the "Under the Helmet" segment, which aired earlier today on KHUT-FM and KWBW-AM/FM.

"Under the Helmet" is a weekly interview that airs during halftime of the HutchCC football game. The segment gives the fans a chance to learn more about each player both on and off the field.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725460457761.png" alt="Under the Helmet" />
 <figcaption>Under the Helmet</figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Voice of the Blue Dragons, Sean Boston, visited with sophomore wide receiver, Ja'Cory Thomas, for Episode 8 of the "Under the Helmet" segment, which aired earlier today on KHUT-FM and KWBW-AM/FM.<div><iframe title="HutchCC &quot;Under the Helmet&quot; - 10/26/24 - Ja'Cory Thomas" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=eaxmj-1719eea-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>"Under the Helmet" is a weekly interview that airs during halftime of the HutchCC football game. The segment gives the fans a chance to learn more about each player both on and off the field.&nbsp;&nbsp;

🎧 LISTEN: "Under the Helmet" with HutchCC WR Ja'Cory Thomas

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — No. 1 Hutchinson (7-0, 3-0) faces No. 13 Butler (3-3, 2-1) for the 101st time in series history Saturday.

The Dragons return to Gowans Stadium after back-to-back weeks on the road to face <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/00be49d3-6cea-4894-842a-095cc7d89e91">Independence</a> and <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5f49a96c-ba7c-4e47-a1ea-c2c98294633d">Coffeyville</a>. The Dragons outscored their Montgomery County opponents 88-24.

Sean Boston, Daren Dunn and Steve Carpenter prepare you for the noon kickoff.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1728769390111.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON, Kan. — No. 1 Hutchinson (7-0, 3-0) faces No. 13 Butler (3-3, 2-1) for the 101st time in series history Saturday.The Dragons return to Gowans Stadium after back-to-back weeks on the road to face <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/00be49d3-6cea-4894-842a-095cc7d89e91">Independence</a> and <a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/5f49a96c-ba7c-4e47-a1ea-c2c98294633d">Coffeyville</a>. The Dragons outscored their Montgomery County opponents 88-24.Sean Boston, Daren Dunn and Steve Carpenter prepare you for the noon kickoff.<div><iframe title="CTK SEG 1 vs. Butler" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=rz5rr-171ba35-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div><div><iframe title="CTK SEG 2 vs. Butler" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=cd6ss-171ba3f-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div><div><iframe title="CTK SEG 3 vs. Butler" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=hyu24-171ba4a-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>

🏈🎧 LISTEN: Countdown To Kickoff vs. No. 13 Butler

Country 102.9's&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/patjames/">Pat James</a>&nbsp;brings you some ideas on events to attend this Halloween weekend around the Hutchinson area. Click the play button to listen.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

<a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/8b349376-4066-494e-8ebf-9cac2d470987">CLICK HERE</a> to see a complete list of Halloween Events around Hutchinson <a href="https://hutchpost.com/category/podcasts" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to listen to more Hutch Post podcasts on demand! <a href="https://hutchpost.com/pages/community-calendar" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to submit an event for this podcast or to see area events listed on the Visit Hutch Event Calendar.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1701449832848.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Country 102.9's&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/patjames/">Pat James</a>&nbsp;brings you some ideas on events to attend this Halloween weekend around the Hutchinson area. Click the play button to listen.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<div><iframe title="🎧 LISTEN: 'Happening Around Hutch' this weekend (Oct. 24-25)" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=ipx9w-171b990-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div><a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/8b349376-4066-494e-8ebf-9cac2d470987">CLICK HERE</a> to see a complete list of Halloween Events around Hutchinson <a href="https://hutchpost.com/category/podcasts" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to listen to more Hutch Post podcasts on demand! <a href="https://hutchpost.com/pages/community-calendar" target="_blank">CLICK HERE</a>&nbsp;to submit an event for this podcast or to see area events listed on the Visit Hutch Event Calendar.&nbsp;&nbsp;

🎧 LISTEN: 'Happening Around Hutch' this Halloween weekend 

Nick Gosnell: In studio with us this morning is a Reno County Commission candidate Garth Strand. He is running as a Democrat on your ballots on November 5th and so, Garth, first of all just give folks a little bit of your background. Now most folks probably know who you are you've been in the county a long long time but just for those that may be unfamiliar.

Garth Strand: Good morning Nick. I have been in the county a long time about 45 years. I am an original small-town Kansas farm boy grew up on the edge of the Flint Hills on a very traditional small Kansas farm and after I graduated from K-State I found myself here in Hutchinson a place that I had only come to the State Fair before that time. I worked for a local company it was bank called Bankers Investment and they decided well they were actually purchased and moved to California and at that time I discovered credit unions and that is the rest of my story. I spent a 37 year career at what is now Heartland Credit Union the last 28 years as president and during that time achieved some remarkable growth something around 19 million in assets to about 300 million from one location to nine. I had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful people volunteers employees and I had a great career. Okay so you talked about growth and how can the Reno County Board of Commissioners foster growth in Reno County what do you think? That's that's one of my primary reasons for running I think we need to have a different kind of leadership for Reno County one that's more positive more forward-looking and creates a culture of more of a culture of yes we can. In my former career I implemented a thing called a no no's policy and that was just to distract our urge to immediately say no to someone who was simply seeking service or help and encourage us to look at all the options before we say no and what we've experienced here in Reno County lately is a lot of no's significantly concerning wind energy and solar energy which clearly are prospering industries around many parts of our country and I feel that we're missing out I won't say that totally yes is the right answer but I really I don't think leadership should lead with no it sends the wrong message to those entertaining coming here it cuts them off from further consideration and it certainly discourages them from even exploring here because I knew especially a new business a new industry coming to town has a lot of homework to do just to get to the point of officially filing and asking and if they if they see no's before they even arrive at the border of Reno County we will likely not see them.

Nick Gosnell: Now this is tangential to the County Commission race but I've got to ask it you're on the Planning Commission now and at least from my seat watching the County Commission meetings and trying to cover them for Hutch Post it seems to me that the County Commissioners are trying to make policy sitting in the County Commission meeting instead of saying to the Planning Commission make this policy especially when it regards wind and solar. If you switch seats and you end up on the County Commission as opposed to on the Planning Commission how do you address that?

Garth Strand: Well I have to be careful because I'm I'm speaking for myself and not as a person sitting on the Planning and Zoning Commission so we'll proceed that way. Your assumption seems clear. We got marching orders to approve a ban for solar I've been on the planning and zoning now for three years so I missed out on on the whole wind process but solar I did I did see that coming I've got to live through it and our marching orders were to approve the ban and planning and zoning we had regulations we spent almost a year working on those we thought they were good and and protected areas and people in the county that need protection and we were ready to go forward and then we were asked to approve a man and I will say as a matter of public record I I was the one that made the motion to not approve the ban and so that was sent back to the County Commission and they have had some discussion and now referred it back for to the planning and zoning for further consideration which I took that as a good sign at the end of the day the County Commission holds the final gavel so we'll see what happens.

Nick Gosnell: But doesn't it seem, forgive the follow-up, but doesn't it seem that this all could happen when you've actually got a proposal sitting in front of you under the conditional use permit process rather than making a bunch of regulations? I mean you have to write regulations but making a ban or not ban decision before you even have a proposal?

Garth Strand: That is the premise of our entire planning and zoning strategy it's all about land use and I made this argument while we were trying to decide on the ban and I said look in our own regulations we give these examples of things that can be considered for land use, adult entertainment, landfills, right down the list of many undesirable things but it's kind of like the no no's policy there are places in Reno County we have a landfill we need a landfill so there there are ways to get to yes usually and just saying we are going to ban something starts out with no and eliminates further consideration.

Nick Gosnell: Garth, the county budgets are somewhat difficult because a lot of what the county does is, for want of a better way of putting it, a branch office of the state government the county treasurer's work is is controlled by statute the county appraiser's work is controlled by statute much of the county clerk's work is controlled by statute all of which the County Commission doesn't get to control. That all comes down from the legislature, so to what degree can a county commissioner any of them actually make a difference in the county's priorities when it comes to spending in the areas that are possible?

Garth Strand: Well, clearly we have to follow statute so there's a couple angles on that. Number one, we need to work closely with not only our local legislators, but the entire legislature. Counties are a significant form of local government and we just need to make sure that we are in Topeka watching what's going on and getting done what what we need to get done at the local level. I've always thought it very strange and hard to imagine being a county administrator when I have department heads that I don't hire and I don't really think that's the best approach going forward. Perhaps at some time in history that was fine. I think that needs to be considered for change it would be big, it would take many years to get over that hurdle, but I do think we should start to restart the conversation. I know it's it's been talked about before. The other thing that comes to mind in that same realm was townships, I think we need to take a close look at the function of townships what's expected how they're performing and is that the best use of funds for for our local government?

Nick Gosnell: Well, and another area that the county's been looking at he has been fire districts because fire districts are their own taxing entities as well there was at least a proposal to make the county basically one fire district for the purposes of consolidating some of the funds and some of the resources and so on now you'd still have the same number of fire trucks and firefighters or awfully close to that I suppose because you've got a huge county and you got to cover it all, but reducing down to one fire district was at least on the table at one point or another I guess, is that something that may be reasonable to do if you can figure out how to get this the the subtext taken care of kind of in the same vein that you just talked about townships?

Garth Strand: Yes it obviously seems reasonable to me, excepting the fact that it's a large task and there's a lot of people to convince and a major shift in county governments across the state. In my mind it is something that County Commission should be spending more time on instead of drilling down into day to day expenditures those are always important, but when you have a professional full-time administrator you have to trust that person, verify the work but spend your time I call it being up in the crow's nest, so to speak, so you can see what as far as you can see into the future what's coming at us and try to get a head start on on challenges and eliminate problems before they even get a chance to be problems.

Nick Gosnell: Garth Strand is running for County Commission, how can folks find out more about your campaign?

Garth Strand: I have a Facebook page. I did not set up a website this year.&nbsp; My phone number is public information and I would love to talk to anybody about issues. That's why I'm running is to represent us all, that was my history I represented a group of members that grew to about 20,000 and there are ways to find value for everyone in an organization or in a county. It's not easy but we all have to come to the table and listen with open minds, not have a predetermined outcome.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1693414188298.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Nick Gosnell: In studio with us this morning is a Reno County Commission candidate Garth Strand. He is running as a Democrat on your ballots on November 5th and so, Garth, first of all just give folks a little bit of your background. Now most folks probably know who you are you've been in the county a long long time but just for those that may be unfamiliar. Garth Strand: Good morning Nick. I have been in the county a long time about 45 years. I am an original small-town Kansas farm boy grew up on the edge of the Flint Hills on a very traditional small Kansas farm and after I graduated from K-State I found myself here in Hutchinson a place that I had only come to the State Fair before that time. I worked for a local company it was bank called Bankers Investment and they decided well they were actually purchased and moved to California and at that time I discovered credit unions and that is the rest of my story. I spent a 37 year career at what is now Heartland Credit Union the last 28 years as president and during that time achieved some remarkable growth something around 19 million in assets to about 300 million from one location to nine. I had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful people volunteers employees and I had a great career. Okay so you talked about growth and how can the Reno County Board of Commissioners foster growth in Reno County what do you think? That's that's one of my primary reasons for running I think we need to have a different kind of leadership for Reno County one that's more positive more forward-looking and creates a culture of more of a culture of yes we can. In my former career I implemented a thing called a no no's policy and that was just to distract our urge to immediately say no to someone who was simply seeking service or help and encourage us to look at all the options before we say no and what we've experienced here in Reno County lately is a lot of no's significantly concerning wind energy and solar energy which clearly are prospering industries around many parts of our country and I feel that we're missing out I won't say that totally yes is the right answer but I really I don't think leadership should lead with no it sends the wrong message to those entertaining coming here it cuts them off from further consideration and it certainly discourages them from even exploring here because I knew especially a new business a new industry coming to town has a lot of homework to do just to get to the point of officially filing and asking and if they if they see no's before they even arrive at the border of Reno County we will likely not see them. Nick Gosnell: Now this is tangential to the County Commission race but I've got to ask it you're on the Planning Commission now and at least from my seat watching the County Commission meetings and trying to cover them for Hutch Post it seems to me that the County Commissioners are trying to make policy sitting in the County Commission meeting instead of saying to the Planning Commission make this policy especially when it regards wind and solar. If you switch seats and you end up on the County Commission as opposed to on the Planning Commission how do you address that? Garth Strand: Well I have to be careful because I'm I'm speaking for myself and not as a person sitting on the Planning and Zoning Commission so we'll proceed that way. Your assumption seems clear. We got marching orders to approve a ban for solar I've been on the planning and zoning now for three years so I missed out on on the whole wind process but solar I did I did see that coming I've got to live through it and our marching orders were to approve the ban and planning and zoning we had regulations we spent almost a year working on those we thought they were good and and protected areas and people in the county that need protection and we were ready to go forward and then we were asked to approve a man and I will say as a matter of public record I I was the one that made the motion to not approve the ban and so that was sent back to the County Commission and they have had some discussion and now referred it back for to the planning and zoning for further consideration which I took that as a good sign at the end of the day the County Commission holds the final gavel so we'll see what happens. Nick Gosnell: But doesn't it seem, forgive the follow-up, but doesn't it seem that this all could happen when you've actually got a proposal sitting in front of you under the conditional use permit process rather than making a bunch of regulations? I mean you have to write regulations but making a ban or not ban decision before you even have a proposal? Garth Strand: That is the premise of our entire planning and zoning strategy it's all about land use and I made this argument while we were trying to decide on the ban and I said look in our own regulations we give these examples of things that can be considered for land use, adult entertainment, landfills, right down the list of many undesirable things but it's kind of like the no no's policy there are places in Reno County we have a landfill we need a landfill so there there are ways to get to yes usually and just saying we are going to ban something starts out with no and eliminates further consideration.Nick Gosnell: Garth, the county budgets are somewhat difficult because a lot of what the county does is, for want of a better way of putting it, a branch office of the state government the county treasurer's work is is controlled by statute the county appraiser's work is controlled by statute much of the county clerk's work is controlled by statute all of which the County Commission doesn't get to control. That all comes down from the legislature, so to what degree can a county commissioner any of them actually make a difference in the county's priorities when it comes to spending in the areas that are possible?Garth Strand: Well, clearly we have to follow statute so there's a couple angles on that. Number one, we need to work closely with not only our local legislators, but the entire legislature. Counties are a significant form of local government and we just need to make sure that we are in Topeka watching what's going on and getting done what what we need to get done at the local level. I've always thought it very strange and hard to imagine being a county administrator when I have department heads that I don't hire and I don't really think that's the best approach going forward. Perhaps at some time in history that was fine. I think that needs to be considered for change it would be big, it would take many years to get over that hurdle, but I do think we should start to restart the conversation. I know it's it's been talked about before. The other thing that comes to mind in that same realm was townships, I think we need to take a close look at the function of townships what's expected how they're performing and is that the best use of funds for for our local government? Nick Gosnell: Well, and another area that the county's been looking at he has been fire districts because fire districts are their own taxing entities as well there was at least a proposal to make the county basically one fire district for the purposes of consolidating some of the funds and some of the resources and so on now you'd still have the same number of fire trucks and firefighters or awfully close to that I suppose because you've got a huge county and you got to cover it all, but reducing down to one fire district was at least on the table at one point or another I guess, is that something that may be reasonable to do if you can figure out how to get this the the subtext taken care of kind of in the same vein that you just talked about townships?Garth Strand: Yes it obviously seems reasonable to me, excepting the fact that it's a large task and there's a lot of people to convince and a major shift in county governments across the state. In my mind it is something that County Commission should be spending more time on instead of drilling down into day to day expenditures those are always important, but when you have a professional full-time administrator you have to trust that person, verify the work but spend your time I call it being up in the crow's nest, so to speak, so you can see what as far as you can see into the future what's coming at us and try to get a head start on on challenges and eliminate problems before they even get a chance to be problems. Nick Gosnell: Garth Strand is running for County Commission, how can folks find out more about your campaign?Garth Strand: I have a Facebook page. I did not set up a website this year.&nbsp; My phone number is public information and I would love to talk to anybody about issues. That's why I'm running is to represent us all, that was my history I represented a group of members that grew to about 20,000 and there are ways to find value for everyone in an organization or in a county. It's not easy but we all have to come to the table and listen with open minds, not have a predetermined outcome.The audio interview is below.<div><iframe title="Garth Strand" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=e63yd-171b45e-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>

🎧 Transcript: Garth Strand, Reno County Commission District 3

Nick Gosnell: With us this morning is another candidate for Reno County Commission. Ron Vincent is running as a Republican. He'll be on the ballot for a portion of the county. Again, that is coming up on November the 5th. Good morning, sir.

Nick Gosnell: All right. Ron, give folks a little bit of your background, but much like your opponent, you've been in the county a long, long time, so a lot of folks probably know you already, but just for those that don't.

Ron Vincent: I was born here and I've never moved away. Spent my whole life here. Raised our children here. I've been in Reno County ever since I can remember.

Nick Gosnell: All right. So, what we, what you, what you've done for the, as your career is have a business that helps with getting wells taken care of, and so there's a piece of what the county does that, or I guess I should say the state does, and the county did some, that is something you are a whole lot more knowledgeable about than I am, and that's the the sanitation code and the way that that works when you dig wells and do work and all those kinds of things. And, and so from the county, from the County Commission seat, that got changed here, oh, was it earlier this year or late last year? And just talk a little bit about what the, what your background will lend to being able to pay attention to that side of policy that maybe a lot of county commissioners don't know about.

Ron Vincent: Well, that policy, you know, got changed. We were, the state has what they call Bulletin 4-2, which, which regulates all these water wells and wastewater systems. And then Reno County elaborated from there, which basically made it quite a bit more restrictive, in fact double separation distance, lots of things that, you know, that was making everything cost a lot more. So on that aspect, you know, we tried to tune that down to where it was, you know, it was affordable, but yet safe. It's still safe. KDHE ain't gonna let you do anything, it's not gonna let you do anything that, you know, it's not gonna affect the environment. That part's already taken care of.

Nick Gosnell: Sure. And that's one of the situations I touched on this a little bit earlier this morning, but the, a lot of what the county does is be, for want of a better way of putting it, and I say this often, a branch office of the state government. By that I mean most of the county elected officials other than the county commission. In other words, the ones like the county treasurer and the county clerk and the county sheriff and so on, they're chiefly governed by state statute more so than even something that the county commission does. So often their, their stuff is just things that you have to say, okay, yeah, I understand that, that you don't have a choice in doing what you, what you're doing right now. One good example that was before the county commission here recently was a county treasurer, Calvert, came in and wanted to add an employee to her office because it was taking every time, taking forever for people to get their tags. Well, Daniel Friesen, who is stepping aside and it's his seat that we're talking about, basically said, why are we still doing tags the way we've done tags forever? And though that's a great question to ask, that's not, the county commission doesn't get to decide that. The state legislature gets to decide that. So when you come up against those situations where you say, this isn't, this isn't quite the way things maybe ought to be done, how as a county commission can you, can you give voice to figuring out how to make processes at this level better when it, when it's statute-based and you don't get to make the individual decision?

Ron Vincent: That's really hard. You know, like I said, that the state does control that and, you know, I think the people down there do the best they can with what they got. We can, we can always try and push for that, but it's, now like on property taxes, you know, we could, you know, if we don't like what it's costing to pay for property tax, we'd always lower the mill levy and make our taxes less. The TAG department, you know, you hear that, you know, that it's state-run, and the state, I've noticed the state and the government are very good about starting programs, setting policy, and then they're, you know, then they're outfunding it. They're not funding it anymore. So, you know, that needs worked on and find out a way to, you know, to try to get them to fund more of it, being said, you know, they're the ones that are regulating it.

Nick Gosnell: Fair enough. Ron's running for County Commission for the seat now held by Daniel Friesen, but he's chosen to step aside, and so Ron is running as a Republican on the ballot in the November 5th election for the northeastern portion of Reno County, and Ron, you talked about potentially cutting the mill levy if that's what the County Commission wants to do to continue to give property tax relief to taxpayers, but if you're going to do that, then you got to cut the budget, and are there any particular areas that you say to yourself, these are the areas I think we maybe need to take a closer look at if I make it on the Commission?

Ron Vincent: I would say one part that I would take a closer look at it is us funding money to the nonprofits. The nonprofits come in every year wanting some money. Basically, I feel that's taking everybody's tax money and donating it to nonprofits of, say, my choice or the Commission's choice. I'd be more careful about that. I would, on this economic development, I believe we need to define what we need to spend the money on on the economic development. I didn't know economic development could get so broad. So basically, watch what we spend. We have needs, we need to fund them, we need to look at our wants really hard.

Nick Gosnell: Economic development, it's hard to know where that line really lies because you can say, just like you can say most anything has to do with taxes, you can say most anything has to do with economic development because you you're trying to bring infrastructure to places so that you can have industrial activity. But then you have to bring people in to work that industry, and then you have to then be able to take care of all those pieces. So when you talk about what economic development is, where do you want those lines drawn? Are we talking about water lines and tax abatements, or are we talking about incentives to get people to move here? Or what's the framework that makes sense there?

Ron Vincent: Well, tax abatements would be a good start because it's actually not giving cash money to someone to start a business. I'd rather do that than the cash. And if the business comes and you let free enterprise take care of itself, I believe the people will follow. That the housing will, the people that are in the developing and house building business will get on the bandwagon, and it will take care of itself if we become quite a bit more friendlier with these people that are, you know, to get them to come in.

Nick Gosnell: Now, one of the tough issues is you can bring jobs to a community, but just because the jobs are in a community doesn't necessarily mean that the people are going to live in that political jurisdiction. I'll give you just an example, my own life. My wife and I live on the other side of the county line, so I'm not a Reno County taxpayer, but I work in Reno County. How do you get those people, when you bring jobs in, like the new electrical plant that they're getting ready to start, or any of these other places that are this economic activity, how do you get that to translate into residents that are taxpayers here, as opposed to people that can drive in 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, because it's not like it used to be. You don't have the horse and buggy, you don't have to live 10 miles away anymore.

Ron Vincent: Well, get the jobs, you know, that pay good, that people want. You know, they want to come here and build a home. You know, there's a lot of people from Reno County go work in McPherson County. I mean, that just goes on and on. But, you know, bring the business and companies here that can support these people, and give them, you know, the pay that they think they deserve, and, you know, I believe that, and a place to build a home, or buy a home that they desire.

Nick Gosnell: All right, and how difficult is it for the County Commission when most of the revenue you guys get is from property tax? There's a little bit of sales tax in there, but it's mostly property taxes, and everybody gets frustrated with the property tax valuations going up. But again, like we talked about with the Treasurer's Office earlier, the Appraiser's Office is controlled a whole lot by statute. They've got to value things according to what the statute says. So, how can the County Commission help to affect that? Maybe even other than just cutting the budget, is there anything else policy-wise that the County Commission can do to say, hey, we don't want to make this worse on people than it has to be?

Ron Vincent: I don't think there's much that the County Commissioner can really do about that. I believe that would be the representatives and senators to do that. I, you know, I don't know the whole structure of the state on these mandates, but obviously geographically it's different. You know, I would hope that we're not compared to, you know, Wyandotte, Johnson County, or that we're not compared to Kiowa County. But if the state is more generalized in things, it needs to be more geographical and a little truer value, I think. But again, the Commission can say, well, you know, the valuation's gone up. You know, revenue neutral will make you stay at the same taxes you're paying, not make you pay more taxes. We can always work with the mill levy.

Nick Gosnell: Fair enough. Ron Vincent is with us. He is running as a Republican for County Commission, and he'll be on the ballot for the northeastern portion of the county on November 5th.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1693414188298.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Nick Gosnell: With us this morning is another candidate for Reno County Commission. Ron Vincent is running as a Republican. He'll be on the ballot for a portion of the county. Again, that is coming up on November the 5th. Good morning, sir. Ron Vincent: Good morning. Nick Gosnell: All right. Ron, give folks a little bit of your background, but much like your opponent, you've been in the county a long, long time, so a lot of folks probably know you already, but just for those that don't. Ron Vincent: I was born here and I've never moved away. Spent my whole life here. Raised our children here. I've been in Reno County ever since I can remember. Nick Gosnell: All right. So, what we, what you, what you've done for the, as your career is have a business that helps with getting wells taken care of, and so there's a piece of what the county does that, or I guess I should say the state does, and the county did some, that is something you are a whole lot more knowledgeable about than I am, and that's the the sanitation code and the way that that works when you dig wells and do work and all those kinds of things. And, and so from the county, from the County Commission seat, that got changed here, oh, was it earlier this year or late last year? And just talk a little bit about what the, what your background will lend to being able to pay attention to that side of policy that maybe a lot of county commissioners don't know about. Ron Vincent: Well, that policy, you know, got changed. We were, the state has what they call Bulletin 4-2, which, which regulates all these water wells and wastewater systems. And then Reno County elaborated from there, which basically made it quite a bit more restrictive, in fact double separation distance, lots of things that, you know, that was making everything cost a lot more. So on that aspect, you know, we tried to tune that down to where it was, you know, it was affordable, but yet safe. It's still safe. KDHE ain't gonna let you do anything, it's not gonna let you do anything that, you know, it's not gonna affect the environment. That part's already taken care of.Nick Gosnell: Sure. And that's one of the situations I touched on this a little bit earlier this morning, but the, a lot of what the county does is be, for want of a better way of putting it, and I say this often, a branch office of the state government. By that I mean most of the county elected officials other than the county commission. In other words, the ones like the county treasurer and the county clerk and the county sheriff and so on, they're chiefly governed by state statute more so than even something that the county commission does. So often their, their stuff is just things that you have to say, okay, yeah, I understand that, that you don't have a choice in doing what you, what you're doing right now. One good example that was before the county commission here recently was a county treasurer, Calvert, came in and wanted to add an employee to her office because it was taking every time, taking forever for people to get their tags. Well, Daniel Friesen, who is stepping aside and it's his seat that we're talking about, basically said, why are we still doing tags the way we've done tags forever? And though that's a great question to ask, that's not, the county commission doesn't get to decide that. The state legislature gets to decide that. So when you come up against those situations where you say, this isn't, this isn't quite the way things maybe ought to be done, how as a county commission can you, can you give voice to figuring out how to make processes at this level better when it, when it's statute-based and you don't get to make the individual decision? Ron Vincent: That's really hard. You know, like I said, that the state does control that and, you know, I think the people down there do the best they can with what they got. We can, we can always try and push for that, but it's, now like on property taxes, you know, we could, you know, if we don't like what it's costing to pay for property tax, we'd always lower the mill levy and make our taxes less. The TAG department, you know, you hear that, you know, that it's state-run, and the state, I've noticed the state and the government are very good about starting programs, setting policy, and then they're, you know, then they're outfunding it. They're not funding it anymore. So, you know, that needs worked on and find out a way to, you know, to try to get them to fund more of it, being said, you know, they're the ones that are regulating it. Nick Gosnell: Fair enough. Ron's running for County Commission for the seat now held by Daniel Friesen, but he's chosen to step aside, and so Ron is running as a Republican on the ballot in the November 5th election for the northeastern portion of Reno County, and Ron, you talked about potentially cutting the mill levy if that's what the County Commission wants to do to continue to give property tax relief to taxpayers, but if you're going to do that, then you got to cut the budget, and are there any particular areas that you say to yourself, these are the areas I think we maybe need to take a closer look at if I make it on the Commission? Ron Vincent: I would say one part that I would take a closer look at it is us funding money to the nonprofits. The nonprofits come in every year wanting some money. Basically, I feel that's taking everybody's tax money and donating it to nonprofits of, say, my choice or the Commission's choice. I'd be more careful about that. I would, on this economic development, I believe we need to define what we need to spend the money on on the economic development. I didn't know economic development could get so broad. So basically, watch what we spend. We have needs, we need to fund them, we need to look at our wants really hard. Nick Gosnell: Economic development, it's hard to know where that line really lies because you can say, just like you can say most anything has to do with taxes, you can say most anything has to do with economic development because you you're trying to bring infrastructure to places so that you can have industrial activity. But then you have to bring people in to work that industry, and then you have to then be able to take care of all those pieces. So when you talk about what economic development is, where do you want those lines drawn? Are we talking about water lines and tax abatements, or are we talking about incentives to get people to move here? Or what's the framework that makes sense there? Ron Vincent: Well, tax abatements would be a good start because it's actually not giving cash money to someone to start a business. I'd rather do that than the cash. And if the business comes and you let free enterprise take care of itself, I believe the people will follow. That the housing will, the people that are in the developing and house building business will get on the bandwagon, and it will take care of itself if we become quite a bit more friendlier with these people that are, you know, to get them to come in. Nick Gosnell: Now, one of the tough issues is you can bring jobs to a community, but just because the jobs are in a community doesn't necessarily mean that the people are going to live in that political jurisdiction. I'll give you just an example, my own life. My wife and I live on the other side of the county line, so I'm not a Reno County taxpayer, but I work in Reno County. How do you get those people, when you bring jobs in, like the new electrical plant that they're getting ready to start, or any of these other places that are this economic activity, how do you get that to translate into residents that are taxpayers here, as opposed to people that can drive in 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour, because it's not like it used to be. You don't have the horse and buggy, you don't have to live 10 miles away anymore. Ron Vincent: Well, get the jobs, you know, that pay good, that people want. You know, they want to come here and build a home. You know, there's a lot of people from Reno County go work in McPherson County. I mean, that just goes on and on. But, you know, bring the business and companies here that can support these people, and give them, you know, the pay that they think they deserve, and, you know, I believe that, and a place to build a home, or buy a home that they desire.Nick Gosnell: All right, and how difficult is it for the County Commission when most of the revenue you guys get is from property tax? There's a little bit of sales tax in there, but it's mostly property taxes, and everybody gets frustrated with the property tax valuations going up. But again, like we talked about with the Treasurer's Office earlier, the Appraiser's Office is controlled a whole lot by statute. They've got to value things according to what the statute says. So, how can the County Commission help to affect that? Maybe even other than just cutting the budget, is there anything else policy-wise that the County Commission can do to say, hey, we don't want to make this worse on people than it has to be? Ron Vincent: I don't think there's much that the County Commissioner can really do about that. I believe that would be the representatives and senators to do that. I, you know, I don't know the whole structure of the state on these mandates, but obviously geographically it's different. You know, I would hope that we're not compared to, you know, Wyandotte, Johnson County, or that we're not compared to Kiowa County. But if the state is more generalized in things, it needs to be more geographical and a little truer value, I think. But again, the Commission can say, well, you know, the valuation's gone up. You know, revenue neutral will make you stay at the same taxes you're paying, not make you pay more taxes. We can always work with the mill levy. Nick Gosnell: Fair enough. Ron Vincent is with us. He is running as a Republican for County Commission, and he'll be on the ballot for the northeastern portion of the county on November 5th.The audio interview is below.<div><iframe title="Ron Vincent" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=befgp-171b4d6-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>

🎧 Transcript: Ron Vincent, County Commission District 3

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 <figcaption>Early Morning Sports with Rob Dreher for October 25th, 2024.</figcaption>
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🎧 LISTEN:  World Series starts tonight; Hutch High 🏈 travels to Maize South; Buhler 🏈 hosts McPherson

Nick Gosnell: With us this morning is Mike Murphy. He is running as a Republican for Kansas Senate District 34. And I'm going to do the best I can, Mike, to not ask you the exact same questions that I asked you prior to the primary, but that may be a challenge. So we'll see how it goes. I guess, let's just start, let's just dive right in. Let's just start with taxes and spending, because people talk about taxes all the time, but you don't hear talk about spending near as often. Now, I've heard it from you, and I want to give you an opportunity to do that.

Mike Murphy: Oh, okay. Well, thanks for the opportunity, and appreciate you having me in. Yeah, it's kind of like the weather. People talk about it, but nobody does anything about it, right? This is the same thing. People, they want their stuff, they want their services, they want this, they want that. And then they complain when they get the tax bill. Well, the bottom line is, is taxes are too high and spending is too high. And we're just going to have to find some ways. It's going to be tough, because every time you, you know, you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul. When you start taking money from Paul, he's going to start squawking. And that's what we end up with. You know, there are those third rail subjects, you know, whether we're talking health care, child care, things like that, that lots of times, but we're taking hard-earned money from people to pay for a lot of these things. And when government does things, they waste a lot, because they've got no vested interest in that money. So I think we need to, excuse me, we need to figure out a way to get to a point to where we can start cutting some things. There's no way we can cut taxes unless we cut spending.

Nick Gosnell: Well, and it seems a little counterintuitive, unless you've been in Topeka and kind of understand how things work. But having to have a person to oversee the people that do the actual work, which is what happens in government, because you've got to have not only the people that do the actual work, but then you've got to have the oversight people to make sure that the people doing the actual work are working, because that's the people that then talk to people that run for the legislature and those sorts of things. Well, that's an additional person, isn't it? Now, to call it waste might be overstating it a bit, but when you have a private business that has the workers do the work, and then they get the rewards, there tends to be less people than when you have a government entity do it, because then you've got to have those oversight people, and then you have to have the people that are doing all of the individual functions of different pieces of a program and so on. So like I said, not necessarily that it's waste, but it's definitely not as efficient as when it's done by the private sector, is it?

Mike Murphy: Right. When you add layers, I like to look at it just like our homes, like our families. We can mow our own grass, or we can hire it done. It costs more to hire it done. Now, it's nice to go play while your lawn's being cut, and any number of other things. I'm a weird guy. I still change the oil in my car and stuff like that at home. Most people don't do that, but the bottom line is there's things that government could do, like you said, without some of those layers, and the other thing that I like to compare with a family is you can't just come in next month and say, I need more money. My expenses have gone up. I want to go on vacation. I want things like that. Mr. Boss, I need more money. Well, that's what government does. Government just says, okay, they just take it. They just say, well, here we go. We need more money. We just take it. We're going to have to change the way we think. I don't know any other way to put it.

Nick Gosnell: Well, and part of the issue is that in Topeka, people are concerned with making sure that their district gets a piece of this pie often, as much as they are concerned with the fact that the pie just keeps getting more stuffed with stuff from the people to the government. They don't think that, or at least I would say a majority probably don't think the way that you've just articulated.

Mike Murphy: No, I agree. I agree. And then the other thing too is you've got these things we call lobbyists. Some lobbyists are wonderful. I mean, they really are. They're very good. Some of them are not so much. And we get in a situation where then, of course, where they're wanting to add their piece of pie in. And there's been some adjustments to some of that. I know they're looking at where they're doing like the omnibus and stuff like that because historically there's a lot of stuff been thrown in there at the end that never really went through the process. And so we need to do a better job of watching those sorts of things.

Nick Gosnell: It's a lot bigger district than it was four years ago because they redrew the lines. So now it's Reno, Kingman, and I think Barber counties. So all the way down to the state line for you. Has that changed at all what you see the district wanting? Because you've talked to folks all around.

Mike Murphy: Maybe a little bit. In reality, of course, what happened was is Reno County lost, well, Hutch proper lost some numbers over that 10-year period. And so they had to pick it up. And in reality, there was only the rest of Kingman County that was added. And then all of Barber County was about another 5,000 people or so. So it's not a lot of people. It's a lot of land. But they're good people. I'll tell you what, that's salt of the earth when you get out of town. And a lot of people don't see Hutch as a big city. But when you live out in the country, 10 miles from the nearest town, Hutch is a big city. So your outlook on life is a little different.

Nick Gosnell: Now, how much of what the state does budget-wise, we always talk about it, and we talked about it at length before the break. But how much of it can really be changed right now? Because you said in your interview with me back in August, there are large chunks of the state budget that are, I don't want to say they're set, but they're more or less things that are those third rail topics you talked about before.

Mike Murphy: Yeah, well, we've got about 15% of the budget we can legitimately work with because the rest of it is education and Medicaid. So there's ways to cut some of those things. I think the schools and all like that could be trimmed a little bit because, and I know that sounds horrible, they'll scream at me for that. But the bottom line is that there's a lot of money being thrown at problems. And I think when we've looked at some of the post-audit reports, that there's money that's being spent that has no effect. And we need to be looking at that. There's also, whenever time you look at government programs like Medicaid, Medicare, there's always fraud and abuse. And so I think it's incumbent on us to look at those things and try to, because I mean, that's our taxpayers' money and we need to be good stewards.

Nick Gosnell: Now, I'm going to get burned at home when I get home for saying what I'm about to say, Mike, but there are 200 and some odd school districts in the state of Kansas and there are about 100 counties, 105. It seems like to me you might be able to do with fewer districts if you could figure out how to draw the maps so kids aren't on the bus all day. But that's just looking at it from the outside.

Mike Murphy: Well, you know, and I look at it and I'm thinking, I know this isn't realistic in today's world, but the old one-room schoolhouses served us well. And we, yeah, we were not able to have the bands and the sports and everything like that, but those kids were educated and that's what we really are doing.

Nick Gosnell: So let's talk about Medicaid for a second, because if it's already 23% of the budget and Medicaid expansion, which has been up there for years and years and hasn't gone through for, let's call it, nine or ten years since the last time in 2014 when it was vetoed by Governor Brownback, how much bigger part of the budget would it become if that actually happened? Has anybody given you any numbers on that?

Mike Murphy: It's hard to, you know, it's hard to say. It would certainly be more money. I don't know. When you start trying to get that information, you get all sorts of different answers. And so I don't really know. All I know is that when you add that, most states, I think, they're 160% above the projection. So whatever it is they say is going to be added, it's going to be more. So it's a real problem. And once again, I think I said at the forum the other night, Medicaid was designed to really help the intellectually and the physically disabled. That was really its general purpose. We've expanded it already to encompass a whole lot more, and those people have been left behind. And I think we should back up a little bit before we start looking at adding more. I think we should back up and help the ones it was really designed for.

Nick Gosnell: Well, and not every doctor or medical provider takes that either.

Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;So let's talk about, like, if there was, have you ever been at the concession stand at a high school football game, Mike?

Nick Gosnell: When you go in the middle of the first quarter, and the game's going on, and there are five people at the concession stand, pretty easy to go get your hot dog. When you go at halftime, especially if you go after the band quits playing, you're going to wait, you won't get back to your seat until the middle of third quarter.

Nick Gosnell: Is that where we would be if we actually expanded Medicaid?

Mike Murphy: That's a part of it. And also, sometimes these hospitals and such say, well, we really need this. But the bottom line is that Medicaid pays about 30 percent of what private insurance does. And if a lot of people go on that are eligible for, like, Obamacare or whatever like that, you actually are forced onto Medicaid if you are eligible for Medicaid. And so you're going to have people that have maybe been going to the doctor, and the doctor and hospital being reimbursed 100 percent, now they're going to get 30. I think trying to put the numbers together is really difficult to say, well, we're going to get that.&nbsp; And once again, we're playing with taxpayer dollars. I've got a little, have you seen Thomas Massey's little badge that he wears, the debt badge?

Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;No, I have not.

Mike Murphy:&nbsp;It's pretty cool. I've got one actually now. I should have brought it so you could see it. It's got the running total of the national debt, which is now, is actually I read last night in the last three weeks has gone up $400 billion. So we are on track of spending around a trillion dollars in deficit spending every 100 days. So to say we're going to get all this federal dollars and everything for something, it's a shell game.

Nick Gosnell: Again, we're talking to Mike Murphy. He's running for District 34 in the Kansas Senate. So where can folks find out more about your campaign?

Mike Murphy: IlikeMike4Kansas, the number four. <a href="http://Ilikemike4ks.com">Ilikemike4ks.com</a> and look for your vote. I like Mike on November 5th or before. Vote early, vote often.

Nick Gosnell: I think we'll try to do it once and leave it at that.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1693414188298.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Nick Gosnell: With us this morning is Mike Murphy. He is running as a Republican for Kansas Senate District 34. And I'm going to do the best I can, Mike, to not ask you the exact same questions that I asked you prior to the primary, but that may be a challenge. So we'll see how it goes. I guess, let's just start, let's just dive right in. Let's just start with taxes and spending, because people talk about taxes all the time, but you don't hear talk about spending near as often. Now, I've heard it from you, and I want to give you an opportunity to do that. Mike Murphy: Oh, okay. Well, thanks for the opportunity, and appreciate you having me in. Yeah, it's kind of like the weather. People talk about it, but nobody does anything about it, right? This is the same thing. People, they want their stuff, they want their services, they want this, they want that. And then they complain when they get the tax bill. Well, the bottom line is, is taxes are too high and spending is too high. And we're just going to have to find some ways. It's going to be tough, because every time you, you know, you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on the support of Paul. When you start taking money from Paul, he's going to start squawking. And that's what we end up with. You know, there are those third rail subjects, you know, whether we're talking health care, child care, things like that, that lots of times, but we're taking hard-earned money from people to pay for a lot of these things. And when government does things, they waste a lot, because they've got no vested interest in that money. So I think we need to, excuse me, we need to figure out a way to get to a point to where we can start cutting some things. There's no way we can cut taxes unless we cut spending. Nick Gosnell: Well, and it seems a little counterintuitive, unless you've been in Topeka and kind of understand how things work. But having to have a person to oversee the people that do the actual work, which is what happens in government, because you've got to have not only the people that do the actual work, but then you've got to have the oversight people to make sure that the people doing the actual work are working, because that's the people that then talk to people that run for the legislature and those sorts of things. Well, that's an additional person, isn't it? Now, to call it waste might be overstating it a bit, but when you have a private business that has the workers do the work, and then they get the rewards, there tends to be less people than when you have a government entity do it, because then you've got to have those oversight people, and then you have to have the people that are doing all of the individual functions of different pieces of a program and so on. So like I said, not necessarily that it's waste, but it's definitely not as efficient as when it's done by the private sector, is it? Mike Murphy: Right. When you add layers, I like to look at it just like our homes, like our families. We can mow our own grass, or we can hire it done. It costs more to hire it done. Now, it's nice to go play while your lawn's being cut, and any number of other things. I'm a weird guy. I still change the oil in my car and stuff like that at home. Most people don't do that, but the bottom line is there's things that government could do, like you said, without some of those layers, and the other thing that I like to compare with a family is you can't just come in next month and say, I need more money. My expenses have gone up. I want to go on vacation. I want things like that. Mr. Boss, I need more money. Well, that's what government does. Government just says, okay, they just take it. They just say, well, here we go. We need more money. We just take it. We're going to have to change the way we think. I don't know any other way to put it.Nick Gosnell: Well, and part of the issue is that in Topeka, people are concerned with making sure that their district gets a piece of this pie often, as much as they are concerned with the fact that the pie just keeps getting more stuffed with stuff from the people to the government. They don't think that, or at least I would say a majority probably don't think the way that you've just articulated. Mike Murphy: No, I agree. I agree. And then the other thing too is you've got these things we call lobbyists. Some lobbyists are wonderful. I mean, they really are. They're very good. Some of them are not so much. And we get in a situation where then, of course, where they're wanting to add their piece of pie in. And there's been some adjustments to some of that. I know they're looking at where they're doing like the omnibus and stuff like that because historically there's a lot of stuff been thrown in there at the end that never really went through the process. And so we need to do a better job of watching those sorts of things. Nick Gosnell: It's a lot bigger district than it was four years ago because they redrew the lines. So now it's Reno, Kingman, and I think Barber counties. So all the way down to the state line for you. Has that changed at all what you see the district wanting? Because you've talked to folks all around.Mike Murphy: Maybe a little bit. In reality, of course, what happened was is Reno County lost, well, Hutch proper lost some numbers over that 10-year period. And so they had to pick it up. And in reality, there was only the rest of Kingman County that was added. And then all of Barber County was about another 5,000 people or so. So it's not a lot of people. It's a lot of land. But they're good people. I'll tell you what, that's salt of the earth when you get out of town. And a lot of people don't see Hutch as a big city. But when you live out in the country, 10 miles from the nearest town, Hutch is a big city. So your outlook on life is a little different. Nick Gosnell: Now, how much of what the state does budget-wise, we always talk about it, and we talked about it at length before the break. But how much of it can really be changed right now? Because you said in your interview with me back in August, there are large chunks of the state budget that are, I don't want to say they're set, but they're more or less things that are those third rail topics you talked about before.Mike Murphy: Yeah, well, we've got about 15% of the budget we can legitimately work with because the rest of it is education and Medicaid. So there's ways to cut some of those things. I think the schools and all like that could be trimmed a little bit because, and I know that sounds horrible, they'll scream at me for that. But the bottom line is that there's a lot of money being thrown at problems. And I think when we've looked at some of the post-audit reports, that there's money that's being spent that has no effect. And we need to be looking at that. There's also, whenever time you look at government programs like Medicaid, Medicare, there's always fraud and abuse. And so I think it's incumbent on us to look at those things and try to, because I mean, that's our taxpayers' money and we need to be good stewards. Nick Gosnell: Now, I'm going to get burned at home when I get home for saying what I'm about to say, Mike, but there are 200 and some odd school districts in the state of Kansas and there are about 100 counties, 105. It seems like to me you might be able to do with fewer districts if you could figure out how to draw the maps so kids aren't on the bus all day. But that's just looking at it from the outside.Mike Murphy: Well, you know, and I look at it and I'm thinking, I know this isn't realistic in today's world, but the old one-room schoolhouses served us well. And we, yeah, we were not able to have the bands and the sports and everything like that, but those kids were educated and that's what we really are doing. Nick Gosnell: So let's talk about Medicaid for a second, because if it's already 23% of the budget and Medicaid expansion, which has been up there for years and years and hasn't gone through for, let's call it, nine or ten years since the last time in 2014 when it was vetoed by Governor Brownback, how much bigger part of the budget would it become if that actually happened? Has anybody given you any numbers on that? Mike Murphy: It's hard to, you know, it's hard to say. It would certainly be more money. I don't know. When you start trying to get that information, you get all sorts of different answers. And so I don't really know. All I know is that when you add that, most states, I think, they're 160% above the projection. So whatever it is they say is going to be added, it's going to be more. So it's a real problem. And once again, I think I said at the forum the other night, Medicaid was designed to really help the intellectually and the physically disabled. That was really its general purpose. We've expanded it already to encompass a whole lot more, and those people have been left behind. And I think we should back up a little bit before we start looking at adding more. I think we should back up and help the ones it was really designed for. Nick Gosnell: Well, and not every doctor or medical provider takes that either. Mike Murphy: That's correct. Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;So let's talk about, like, if there was, have you ever been at the concession stand at a high school football game, Mike? Mike Murphy: Oh yeah. Nick Gosnell: When you go in the middle of the first quarter, and the game's going on, and there are five people at the concession stand, pretty easy to go get your hot dog. When you go at halftime, especially if you go after the band quits playing, you're going to wait, you won't get back to your seat until the middle of third quarter. Mike Murphy: Yeah, you're right. Nick Gosnell: Is that where we would be if we actually expanded Medicaid? Mike Murphy: That's a part of it. And also, sometimes these hospitals and such say, well, we really need this. But the bottom line is that Medicaid pays about 30 percent of what private insurance does. And if a lot of people go on that are eligible for, like, Obamacare or whatever like that, you actually are forced onto Medicaid if you are eligible for Medicaid. And so you're going to have people that have maybe been going to the doctor, and the doctor and hospital being reimbursed 100 percent, now they're going to get 30. I think trying to put the numbers together is really difficult to say, well, we're going to get that.&nbsp; And once again, we're playing with taxpayer dollars. I've got a little, have you seen Thomas Massey's little badge that he wears, the debt badge? Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;No, I have not. Mike Murphy:&nbsp;It's pretty cool. I've got one actually now. I should have brought it so you could see it. It's got the running total of the national debt, which is now, is actually I read last night in the last three weeks has gone up $400 billion. So we are on track of spending around a trillion dollars in deficit spending every 100 days. So to say we're going to get all this federal dollars and everything for something, it's a shell game. Nick Gosnell: Again, we're talking to Mike Murphy. He's running for District 34 in the Kansas Senate. So where can folks find out more about your campaign? Mike Murphy: IlikeMike4Kansas, the number four. <a href="http://Ilikemike4ks.com">Ilikemike4ks.com</a> and look for your vote. I like Mike on November 5th or before. Vote early, vote often. Nick Gosnell: I think we'll try to do it once and leave it at that.Mike Murphy: Do it once. Okay.The audio interview is below.<div><iframe title="Mike Murphy" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=3ixme-171b27a-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>

🎧 Transcript: Mike Murphy, Senate District 34

Nick Gosnell: In studio with us this morning is Shanna Henry. She is running as a Democrat for the Kansas Senate seat in District 34. Good morning, Shanna.

Shanna Henry: Good morning, thank you for having me on.

Nick Gosnell: Sure, and you ran back in 2020, but for those folks that may not recall, what's your reason for running for the state Senate?

Shanna Henry: There are several reasons, but I would say that the three main reasons are I'm still fighting for appropriate funding for public education continuously. Also, Medicaid expansion, which we are losing money to the tune of $7.3 billion so far paid in our taxpayer money that goes out to other states that did expand Medicaid that does not come back to our state. And also, I'm very worried about the agricultural community. I grew up on a farm in McPherson County, and farmers are struggling right now. And there are a lot of issues that we have to deal with, with that agriculture in our farming industry.

Nick Gosnell: All right, well, I want to point back to Medicaid expansion, because that's maybe the biggest difference that I saw at the candidate forum the other night between the Democratic candidates for the different seats and the Republican candidates. Explain why you think that's important.

Shanna Henry: It is important because there are so many people anymore that cannot afford health insurance, and they may not be offered health insurance by their employer. A lot of people that work hourly wages do not get any health insurance coverage. So they are left on their own to figure out how to pay for their medical bills. And costs are rising continuously, as we all know. And because Medicaid expansion has not happened, we are losing that $7.3 billion a year that we've already paid into with our federal taxpayer dollars that go to the other states that have expanded Medicaid. We are one of only 10 states out of 50 that have not expanded Medicaid. The other 40 states have. And it's a tragedy because a lot of people are suffering and can't afford to pay their bills and lose their homes and lose their jobs, because they don't have the medical care they need.

Nick Gosnell: So Medicaid expansion is something that has been an issue at the Statehouse now for at least 10 years, because I think it was 2014 the last time that the legislature actually passed a Medicaid expansion bill. And then Governor Brownback vetoed that bill because it wasn't passed with a veto-proof majority. And since then, it has had trouble even getting to the floor of either the House or Senate. They tried to change bills on the floor to allow it to happen a couple of times, but it didn't really go fully through the committee process and get all the way back around to the floor. Barring a really surprising election result on November the 5th, if you were to win this race, Shanna, you would most likely still be in the minority in the Senate. So how would you propose to make sure that leadership doesn't just say, no, this isn't going to happen, no matter how much you want it to?

Shanna Henry: Well, I actually differ with you on a couple of things. We may be in the majority in the Senate. We have some wonderful candidates running all over the state, and that is our hope and our plan, is to be in the majority so that we can finally get this to fruition. This has been an issue for way too long, and we've wasted so much money that we've lost from our state. It does not come back to us, and it's a tragedy. And you talk to anyone, I know several people that don't have health insurance. When I go to forums and meetings, I will ask for a show of hands of anyone that's struggled because they do not have health insurance. And many times, over half the crowd in attendance does not have any kind of form of health insurance.

Nick Gosnell: All right. So you were talking about education funding earlier. What's the piece of education funding that you say, you know, maybe we need to either shift dollars or increase dollars? Is there something specific that you're thinking about when you bring that up?

Shanna Henry: I actually think we're pretty balanced with our funding on public education right now. I think we're doing a good job. One of the main things that I do not want to see happen, though, is for vouchers to be allowed for parents that want to take their children out of the public school system and put them into a private school or a religious school and be able to get a tax credit for paying a voucher or a tax credit for making a donation to their church or in order to send their kids to a private school. To me, we should not be using public taxpayer dollars to pay for private education. That should be up to the families involved. If they want to take their children out of the public school system and put them into a private school, they should pay for that out of their own pocket. That should not be taxpayer money that goes for a private school tuition voucher. I feel very strongly about this. I am the product of a public education system in McPherson, Kansas, where I grew up. I'm a fourth-generation Kansan farm kid. So I'm a fourth-generation Kansan, having grown up on a farm and worked for my dad, went to a two-room country schoolhouse when I was a kid, first through fourth grade in one room and fifth through eighth grade in the other room. And I attended public schools my entire through my high school senior year in McPherson High School. And I am the product of a wonderful public education system. And we need that to be available to all students and all families, all families that may not have the financial means to send their kid to a private school. And we also make sure the public education system cares for those that are handicapped, for those that maybe have learning disabilities. The public education system has to educate all of our children. And it's one of the most equal and fair programs that we have. And it's a wonderful institution in our United States.

Nick Gosnell: Shanna, I touched on this with your opponents earlier this morning, but the amount of ground that now is part of the Senate District is a lot more than it was the last time they were drawn 10 years ago. And that touches on something that obviously, it's kind of part of the system. When you have population-based representation, as people move to the cities, then the legislative strength goes to those same cities. But talk about how someone from this part of the state can and should advocate for the rural life.

Shanna Henry: Thank you for that question. This is probably my third most important issue, top three issues in my campaign. And I feel like I'm the perfect mix of rural and city. I grew up on a farm, as I mentioned earlier, fourth generation farm kid from McPherson County, going to country schools. But I've lived in cities, some of the biggest in the world. I have seen all variations of public school systems and medical care. And it's tough. Our rural areas are really struggling right now. Our farmers, I empathize with them so much. And I worry dramatically about their well-being. We have an upward rate of suicide among farmers in our rural communities. And just to give you an example, my district, when I ran for this Senate District 34, just back in 2020, the district was comprised of the southern part of Reno County, including South Hutch, and just the northern half of Kingman County, where I live. And that was it. Now, as you mentioned earlier, it's expanded. It includes all of Reno County, all of Kingman County, and all of Barber County, all the way down to the Oklahoma border. This is a huge geographical district now. And we have lots of different types of folks that we need to represent. But I have a strong urge to represent the rural farmers, the hardworking farmers of Kansas. And that's such an important part of our economic history in Kansas as well, is our farming community.

Nick Gosnell: Maybe the biggest issue that, at least, maybe I'm wrong that it's not bipartisan, but I think it is bipartisan. At least it has seemed that way. Because every governor, whether Republican or Democrat, has done something about this, and they need the legislature's help to continue to do work, is water. And that's where the agriculture rubber meets the road. If you don't have water with which to grow crops, you don't have an agriculture industry. And if you don't have water that people can drink, you don't have people at that place. They will literally leave just because of the water issues. I mean, there's a reason why northern Africa doesn't have population. It's because of the Sahara Desert and not having water. Well, we're not in that situation in Kansas yet, but the Ogallala Aquifer is still in places getting lower, in places it's doing okay. We're seeing less and less rainfall than what we've seen in recent years. We've gotten a little bit this year, but as an example, Reno and Sedgwick County, and I think Kingman County might also still be in extreme drought. So when you think about water issues, what are you going to be able to bring to the table as far as saying, these are the things we can do to conserve and to deal with these long-term changes that are going to be around long after either you or I are here in Kansas anymore?

Shanna Henry: This is one of the biggest issues that we do face in this year of 2024. It is very alarming to me. A lot of it has to do with the burning of fossil fuels over the past hundreds or tens of years. And we are polluting our environment. There is global warming. It is a real thing. There is climate change. That is all very real. And we are feeling it now in Kansas without a doubt. Water is a huge issue. Our equest beds are being depleted, which is where I grew up on the farm in McPherson County. The Ogallala is being depleted. There's already a shift toward more dry land crops. We are not the kind of state that should be irrigating this much, especially in western Kansas. We just don't have the amount of rainfall to have these crops that need a lot of moisture and rain and water. We cannot deplete our water system. We may need to put some mandatory restrictions in for places like Wichita who take from Cheney Reservoir. I live about six miles south of Cheney Reservoir, and I've seen how low it is. It's scary low. I've never seen it this low. And there may need to be some mandatory restrictions put in because people are still watering their lawns like crazy in Wichita. And even though there are restrictions, but they're not mandatory and they're not being enforced. So we really need to get serious about this or we're not going to have enough drinking water even, let alone enough to irrigate our crops. So definitely there's been a shift. There's more dry land farming, which is a good thing. We want our farmers to stay in business and employed. It's a huge part of our economy in the state.

Nick Gosnell: Tell folks how they can find out more about your campaign.

Shanna Henry: You may go to Shanna, the number four. This is my email address. Shanna4Kansas@gmail.com. You can also go to shannahenry.com. And I would encourage you to send me an email. I would be happy to respond to your questions. That would be the most direct way to reach me. And I appreciate all your support of people that have helped me in the past. I look forward to representing Senate District 34. And I hope that you will elect me to be your new senator.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1693414188298.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Nick Gosnell: In studio with us this morning is Shanna Henry. She is running as a Democrat for the Kansas Senate seat in District 34. Good morning, Shanna. Shanna Henry: Good morning, thank you for having me on. Nick Gosnell: Sure, and you ran back in 2020, but for those folks that may not recall, what's your reason for running for the state Senate? Shanna Henry: There are several reasons, but I would say that the three main reasons are I'm still fighting for appropriate funding for public education continuously. Also, Medicaid expansion, which we are losing money to the tune of $7.3 billion so far paid in our taxpayer money that goes out to other states that did expand Medicaid that does not come back to our state. And also, I'm very worried about the agricultural community. I grew up on a farm in McPherson County, and farmers are struggling right now. And there are a lot of issues that we have to deal with, with that agriculture in our farming industry. Nick Gosnell: All right, well, I want to point back to Medicaid expansion, because that's maybe the biggest difference that I saw at the candidate forum the other night between the Democratic candidates for the different seats and the Republican candidates. Explain why you think that's important. Shanna Henry: It is important because there are so many people anymore that cannot afford health insurance, and they may not be offered health insurance by their employer. A lot of people that work hourly wages do not get any health insurance coverage. So they are left on their own to figure out how to pay for their medical bills. And costs are rising continuously, as we all know. And because Medicaid expansion has not happened, we are losing that $7.3 billion a year that we've already paid into with our federal taxpayer dollars that go to the other states that have expanded Medicaid. We are one of only 10 states out of 50 that have not expanded Medicaid. The other 40 states have. And it's a tragedy because a lot of people are suffering and can't afford to pay their bills and lose their homes and lose their jobs, because they don't have the medical care they need. Nick Gosnell: So Medicaid expansion is something that has been an issue at the Statehouse now for at least 10 years, because I think it was 2014 the last time that the legislature actually passed a Medicaid expansion bill. And then Governor Brownback vetoed that bill because it wasn't passed with a veto-proof majority. And since then, it has had trouble even getting to the floor of either the House or Senate. They tried to change bills on the floor to allow it to happen a couple of times, but it didn't really go fully through the committee process and get all the way back around to the floor. Barring a really surprising election result on November the 5th, if you were to win this race, Shanna, you would most likely still be in the minority in the Senate. So how would you propose to make sure that leadership doesn't just say, no, this isn't going to happen, no matter how much you want it to? Shanna Henry: Well, I actually differ with you on a couple of things. We may be in the majority in the Senate. We have some wonderful candidates running all over the state, and that is our hope and our plan, is to be in the majority so that we can finally get this to fruition. This has been an issue for way too long, and we've wasted so much money that we've lost from our state. It does not come back to us, and it's a tragedy. And you talk to anyone, I know several people that don't have health insurance. When I go to forums and meetings, I will ask for a show of hands of anyone that's struggled because they do not have health insurance. And many times, over half the crowd in attendance does not have any kind of form of health insurance. Nick Gosnell: All right. So you were talking about education funding earlier. What's the piece of education funding that you say, you know, maybe we need to either shift dollars or increase dollars? Is there something specific that you're thinking about when you bring that up? Shanna Henry: I actually think we're pretty balanced with our funding on public education right now. I think we're doing a good job. One of the main things that I do not want to see happen, though, is for vouchers to be allowed for parents that want to take their children out of the public school system and put them into a private school or a religious school and be able to get a tax credit for paying a voucher or a tax credit for making a donation to their church or in order to send their kids to a private school. To me, we should not be using public taxpayer dollars to pay for private education. That should be up to the families involved. If they want to take their children out of the public school system and put them into a private school, they should pay for that out of their own pocket. That should not be taxpayer money that goes for a private school tuition voucher. I feel very strongly about this. I am the product of a public education system in McPherson, Kansas, where I grew up. I'm a fourth-generation Kansan farm kid. So I'm a fourth-generation Kansan, having grown up on a farm and worked for my dad, went to a two-room country schoolhouse when I was a kid, first through fourth grade in one room and fifth through eighth grade in the other room. And I attended public schools my entire through my high school senior year in McPherson High School. And I am the product of a wonderful public education system. And we need that to be available to all students and all families, all families that may not have the financial means to send their kid to a private school. And we also make sure the public education system cares for those that are handicapped, for those that maybe have learning disabilities. The public education system has to educate all of our children. And it's one of the most equal and fair programs that we have. And it's a wonderful institution in our United States. Nick Gosnell: Shanna, I touched on this with your opponents earlier this morning, but the amount of ground that now is part of the Senate District is a lot more than it was the last time they were drawn 10 years ago. And that touches on something that obviously, it's kind of part of the system. When you have population-based representation, as people move to the cities, then the legislative strength goes to those same cities. But talk about how someone from this part of the state can and should advocate for the rural life.Shanna Henry: Thank you for that question. This is probably my third most important issue, top three issues in my campaign. And I feel like I'm the perfect mix of rural and city. I grew up on a farm, as I mentioned earlier, fourth generation farm kid from McPherson County, going to country schools. But I've lived in cities, some of the biggest in the world. I have seen all variations of public school systems and medical care. And it's tough. Our rural areas are really struggling right now. Our farmers, I empathize with them so much. And I worry dramatically about their well-being. We have an upward rate of suicide among farmers in our rural communities. And just to give you an example, my district, when I ran for this Senate District 34, just back in 2020, the district was comprised of the southern part of Reno County, including South Hutch, and just the northern half of Kingman County, where I live. And that was it. Now, as you mentioned earlier, it's expanded. It includes all of Reno County, all of Kingman County, and all of Barber County, all the way down to the Oklahoma border. This is a huge geographical district now. And we have lots of different types of folks that we need to represent. But I have a strong urge to represent the rural farmers, the hardworking farmers of Kansas. And that's such an important part of our economic history in Kansas as well, is our farming community. Nick Gosnell: Maybe the biggest issue that, at least, maybe I'm wrong that it's not bipartisan, but I think it is bipartisan. At least it has seemed that way. Because every governor, whether Republican or Democrat, has done something about this, and they need the legislature's help to continue to do work, is water. And that's where the agriculture rubber meets the road. If you don't have water with which to grow crops, you don't have an agriculture industry. And if you don't have water that people can drink, you don't have people at that place. They will literally leave just because of the water issues. I mean, there's a reason why northern Africa doesn't have population. It's because of the Sahara Desert and not having water. Well, we're not in that situation in Kansas yet, but the Ogallala Aquifer is still in places getting lower, in places it's doing okay. We're seeing less and less rainfall than what we've seen in recent years. We've gotten a little bit this year, but as an example, Reno and Sedgwick County, and I think Kingman County might also still be in extreme drought. So when you think about water issues, what are you going to be able to bring to the table as far as saying, these are the things we can do to conserve and to deal with these long-term changes that are going to be around long after either you or I are here in Kansas anymore? Shanna Henry: This is one of the biggest issues that we do face in this year of 2024. It is very alarming to me. A lot of it has to do with the burning of fossil fuels over the past hundreds or tens of years. And we are polluting our environment. There is global warming. It is a real thing. There is climate change. That is all very real. And we are feeling it now in Kansas without a doubt. Water is a huge issue. Our equest beds are being depleted, which is where I grew up on the farm in McPherson County. The Ogallala is being depleted. There's already a shift toward more dry land crops. We are not the kind of state that should be irrigating this much, especially in western Kansas. We just don't have the amount of rainfall to have these crops that need a lot of moisture and rain and water. We cannot deplete our water system. We may need to put some mandatory restrictions in for places like Wichita who take from Cheney Reservoir. I live about six miles south of Cheney Reservoir, and I've seen how low it is. It's scary low. I've never seen it this low. And there may need to be some mandatory restrictions put in because people are still watering their lawns like crazy in Wichita. And even though there are restrictions, but they're not mandatory and they're not being enforced. So we really need to get serious about this or we're not going to have enough drinking water even, let alone enough to irrigate our crops. So definitely there's been a shift. There's more dry land farming, which is a good thing. We want our farmers to stay in business and employed. It's a huge part of our economy in the state. Nick Gosnell: Tell folks how they can find out more about your campaign. Shanna Henry: You may go to Shanna, the number four. This is my email address. Shanna4Kansas@gmail.com. You can also go to shannahenry.com. And I would encourage you to send me an email. I would be happy to respond to your questions. That would be the most direct way to reach me. And I appreciate all your support of people that have helped me in the past. I look forward to representing Senate District 34. And I hope that you will elect me to be your new senator.The audio interview is below.<div><iframe title="Shanna Henry" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=n7rn3-171b280-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>

🎧 Transcript: Shanna Henry, Kansas Senate 34

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 <figcaption>Early Morning Sports with Rob Dreher</figcaption>
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🎧 LISTEN:  Blue Dragon 🏐 drop four set match to Butler; KU 🏐 wins over Iowa State

🎧 LISTEN: Reno County Museum

🎧 LISTEN: Lindsey Hatfield

🎧 LISTEN: Richard Winger

🎧 LISTEN: October 23, 2024 News

🎧 LISTEN: State golf results, NBA history made

🎧 LISTEN: Parson & Pope w/Larry Burks of ICT NAACP

Nick Gosnell: Lindsey Hatfield, she is running as a Democrat for the County Commission District 4 seat, which is the seat that includes most of the city of Hutchinson. And good morning, Lindsey.

Lindsey Hatfield: Good morning, Nick. Thanks for having me.

Nick Gosnell: You bet. So first of all, for those folks that don't know you, who is Lindsey Hatfield? And why did you decide to run?

Lindsey Hatfield: I am a Reno County native. I was born and raised here, went to Bueller High School, graduated. Actually, I met my husband, I say this a lot, but I met him at the Hutchinson Mall about 20 years ago when the mall was a booming place to work. And he and I, excuse me, we moved away when I graduated and went to college. And then in 2018, after we had been married for some time and had a couple of kids, we decided to come back to Reno County to raise our kids and put down roots here because I loved growing up here. And I knew that this would be an amazing place to raise our family and my whole, the rest of my family, my mom and sisters are here. So that's why we came back. And since coming back, I've opened a small business. I own Salt City Scoops, which is a little food trailer that we run mostly in the spring and summertime. We sell ice cream cookie sandwiches. And I also work from home full time in property management. So I do have that full-time job. And then we do that Salt City Scoops on the side. And I'm PTO vice president. I got involved in my kids' school. They go to Allen STEM Magnet School. And we've just been really enjoying a calmer, wonderful way of life for our kids in Hutchinson because I loved growing up here.

Nick Gosnell: All right. So how does running for county commission help support that way of life?

Lindsey Hatfield: Well, the running for it does not support a calmer. It's a lot of work right now. But I knew when we moved back, I wanted to get involved. Part of my, I had some frustration with our town and our counties is the feeling that it's not progressing, that we are somewhat of a regressive county commission.&nbsp; And I feel like we need different leadership, younger leadership, people who have a different vision for Reno County, who are at a different place in their lives and really are going to be here for the rest of their lives. And so I knew I wanted to get involved. And to me, it's just about helping to create a community that I want to continue living in for the rest of my life.&nbsp; And I want my kids to put down roots and stay here as well.

Nick Gosnell: Economic development is such a big part of what every county wants to do. And yesterday was a massive day for Reno County economic development with the building of the power plant by Evergy.&nbsp; Now that has been proposed for 2030, they're going to start construction in 2027. And between the power that will be available and the water rights that are available in the city of Hutchinson, it seems like the county is primed for further economic development. How would you as a member of the county commission set policy to foster that and to keep that momentum going forward?

Lindsey Hatfield: Yeah, first of all, I was so excited. I got an email an hour before, well, I got it the night before, but I read it an hour before that press conference and I went over there. It was such an exciting press conference to be there live when it was announced. So how I would help foster that is economic development is such an important part of our community.&nbsp; And I would make sure that any, so any ideas that are brought forth to the county commission, we really are supporting. We're supporting places like our chamber of commerce and other programs in Hutchinson that are really doing the hard heavy lifting for economic development and making sure that we support them in any way that we can, because that is really economic development is the only way we're going to progress and move forward as a county.

Nick Gosnell: As I said to your opponent when I interviewed him earlier on this morning, no matter who wins, it looks like there's going to be two new county commissioners and three, I don't want to say old county commissioners, but three remaining county commissioners. That's it. So how do you persuade when a majority of the commission at least has pointed in a direction and now you, now you need to persuade at least one of them if you want to change the direction at all?

Lindsey Hatfield: Sure. I don't think of it so much as persuasion as just having a conversation and working with them and maybe getting them to understand where I'm coming from. Obviously when you work with anybody, it's a give and take, right? So I want to hear what they have to say and really take that in and, and, and discuss that. And I would hope that they would be willing to give the same back to me so that we could find common ground because really, I think we all probably share the same, what we want for Reno County, how we want it to be. It's just getting there and finding the way to that.

Nick Gosnell: The Reno County health department was put out front as all health departments across the state were during COVID. But the health department does a whole lot of things that, that have nothing to do with infectious disease. And when we're getting back to, I'm praying, normal life, at least closer to normal than we've been in the last five years, talk about the importance of supporting what they do, speaking generally, because the health department is one of the larger departments that the county actually has some oversight over in a way that they maybe don't the other ones that are just for want of a better way of putting it, branch offices of the state, like the treasurer and so on.

Lindsey Hatfield: Right. So that was really the catalyst for me running for this position was the fact that our incumbent, the person who's currently there, essentially felt like wanted to dismantle the health department. And, and, and to me, it's such a vital and important part of our community. As a kid, I got vaccinated there. And I know that it's the only place in Reno County that women can get access to WIC, women, infant and children, which is from pregnancy all through age five.&nbsp; It's extremely important. That's not all that they do, but it is the health of our community. It has to be a place for everyone in the county to be able to come and receive health services. And so that is our responsibility, not only to fund that, but to make sure that it continues and continues to help us have a thriving community.

Nick Gosnell: All right. The county commission, the basic function of it now, as opposed to maybe what it was 20, 30 years ago, now, now that they have a professional administrator, it isn't so much about the day to day deciding what the, uh, what, what check gets written today, as much as it is getting the general direction of the budget and the priorities for the county as a whole from a year to year basis. So what is your experience in that area of things in terms of budgeting and saying, okay, this is a good idea, but maybe not right now. Or this is an idea that we need to do now to set the, to set the pace for future years. How do you make those decisions? How does that go through your mind when you're making decisions for the short, medium and long term?

Lindsey Hatfield: Right. This is where I think my day job helps a lot because I work in property management or asset management. So you're dealing with an asset, a property and Reno County is also an asset, right? And so part of that is creating a budget for your year, looking at your income and your expenses. But a lot, a big part of asset management is not having deferred maintenance. So taking care of the little things, not putting a bandaid over something that's just going to cost you more money down the road. Um, so for me, I'm very comfortable creating budgets, working with budgets cause it's what I do in my day job. And it's really about planning for the big expenses.&nbsp; You're not going to have to replace your roof every year, but eventually you're going to need to replace your roof. You can't keep spending thousands of dollars, patching it and patching it and patching it when really you just need to replace it. So I have a lot of experience with that side sort of stuff with property management and, and I'm very comfortable with budgets.

Nick Gosnell: All right. And there are some areas, as I alluded to earlier, that are branch offices of the state, like the county treasurer basically has to follow whatever the statute says with regard to that county appraiser for all of the frustration that people have with their appraisals and the changes in that kind of stuff. Most of that is statutorily based and has to do with just comparables and those sorts of things.&nbsp; I've talked to the appraiser about that. So in those areas where you may not have a ton of ability to change what they do because the statute says what it says, well, how do you, how do you say to them, okay, yeah, we know you have to do this, but maybe you can do it in a different way, uh, in an effort to, to save the taxpayers money where it's even possible.

Lindsey Hatfield: I think you just hit the nail on the head. You say to them, I know you have to do this, but let's rethink this. Is there a different way that we can do this, hopefully to save people money? Uh, I mean, that's, that's getting into the nitty gritty of it. And I'm sure if I'm elected, um, you know, I'll have a lot of experience with that.&nbsp; But for me, it's all about trying to find new ways of doing things different than what we have been doing. Because to me, it feels like a lot of what we're doing is not helping us progress and move forward as a county. And we're just sort of stagnant and, and that's not my vision for the future.&nbsp; And I think a lot of people who live here, that's not our vision. We want to see people moving back to Reno County and not moving away. And that's what's been happening.&nbsp; So we just need new leadership with a vision who is willing to try something different than what we've been doing.

Nick Gosnell: All right. So how can folks find out more about your campaign and find out more about, uh, just how you plan to deal with issues? They can do so online, right?

Lindsey Hatfield: Yeah. I have a website <a href="http://voteforhatfield.com">voteforhatfield.com</a>. You can go there and you can find out all about me. You can also email me <a href="mailto:Hatfieldforcommissioner@gmail.com">Hatfieldforcommissioner@gmail.com</a>. I'm happy to answer any emails as well, and I live in Hyde Park. I have, I'm right across from the Hyde Park here or that little, you know, the grassy Hyde Park. So come over and say hi, if you want to, we've got all our scary Halloween decorations out right now.

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 </figure>Nick Gosnell: Lindsey Hatfield, she is running as a Democrat for the County Commission District 4 seat, which is the seat that includes most of the city of Hutchinson. And good morning, Lindsey. Lindsey Hatfield: Good morning, Nick. Thanks for having me. Nick Gosnell: You bet. So first of all, for those folks that don't know you, who is Lindsey Hatfield? And why did you decide to run? Lindsey Hatfield: I am a Reno County native. I was born and raised here, went to Bueller High School, graduated. Actually, I met my husband, I say this a lot, but I met him at the Hutchinson Mall about 20 years ago when the mall was a booming place to work. And he and I, excuse me, we moved away when I graduated and went to college. And then in 2018, after we had been married for some time and had a couple of kids, we decided to come back to Reno County to raise our kids and put down roots here because I loved growing up here. And I knew that this would be an amazing place to raise our family and my whole, the rest of my family, my mom and sisters are here. So that's why we came back. And since coming back, I've opened a small business. I own Salt City Scoops, which is a little food trailer that we run mostly in the spring and summertime. We sell ice cream cookie sandwiches. And I also work from home full time in property management. So I do have that full-time job. And then we do that Salt City Scoops on the side. And I'm PTO vice president. I got involved in my kids' school. They go to Allen STEM Magnet School. And we've just been really enjoying a calmer, wonderful way of life for our kids in Hutchinson because I loved growing up here.Nick Gosnell: All right. So how does running for county commission help support that way of life? Lindsey Hatfield: Well, the running for it does not support a calmer. It's a lot of work right now. But I knew when we moved back, I wanted to get involved. Part of my, I had some frustration with our town and our counties is the feeling that it's not progressing, that we are somewhat of a regressive county commission.&nbsp; And I feel like we need different leadership, younger leadership, people who have a different vision for Reno County, who are at a different place in their lives and really are going to be here for the rest of their lives. And so I knew I wanted to get involved. And to me, it's just about helping to create a community that I want to continue living in for the rest of my life.&nbsp; And I want my kids to put down roots and stay here as well. Nick Gosnell: Economic development is such a big part of what every county wants to do. And yesterday was a massive day for Reno County economic development with the building of the power plant by Evergy.&nbsp; Now that has been proposed for 2030, they're going to start construction in 2027. And between the power that will be available and the water rights that are available in the city of Hutchinson, it seems like the county is primed for further economic development. How would you as a member of the county commission set policy to foster that and to keep that momentum going forward? Lindsey Hatfield: Yeah, first of all, I was so excited. I got an email an hour before, well, I got it the night before, but I read it an hour before that press conference and I went over there. It was such an exciting press conference to be there live when it was announced. So how I would help foster that is economic development is such an important part of our community.&nbsp; And I would make sure that any, so any ideas that are brought forth to the county commission, we really are supporting. We're supporting places like our chamber of commerce and other programs in Hutchinson that are really doing the hard heavy lifting for economic development and making sure that we support them in any way that we can, because that is really economic development is the only way we're going to progress and move forward as a county. Nick Gosnell: As I said to your opponent when I interviewed him earlier on this morning, no matter who wins, it looks like there's going to be two new county commissioners and three, I don't want to say old county commissioners, but three remaining county commissioners. That's it. So how do you persuade when a majority of the commission at least has pointed in a direction and now you, now you need to persuade at least one of them if you want to change the direction at all? Lindsey Hatfield: Sure. I don't think of it so much as persuasion as just having a conversation and working with them and maybe getting them to understand where I'm coming from. Obviously when you work with anybody, it's a give and take, right? So I want to hear what they have to say and really take that in and, and, and discuss that. And I would hope that they would be willing to give the same back to me so that we could find common ground because really, I think we all probably share the same, what we want for Reno County, how we want it to be. It's just getting there and finding the way to that. Nick Gosnell: The Reno County health department was put out front as all health departments across the state were during COVID. But the health department does a whole lot of things that, that have nothing to do with infectious disease. And when we're getting back to, I'm praying, normal life, at least closer to normal than we've been in the last five years, talk about the importance of supporting what they do, speaking generally, because the health department is one of the larger departments that the county actually has some oversight over in a way that they maybe don't the other ones that are just for want of a better way of putting it, branch offices of the state, like the treasurer and so on. Lindsey Hatfield: Right. So that was really the catalyst for me running for this position was the fact that our incumbent, the person who's currently there, essentially felt like wanted to dismantle the health department. And, and, and to me, it's such a vital and important part of our community. As a kid, I got vaccinated there. And I know that it's the only place in Reno County that women can get access to WIC, women, infant and children, which is from pregnancy all through age five.&nbsp; It's extremely important. That's not all that they do, but it is the health of our community. It has to be a place for everyone in the county to be able to come and receive health services. And so that is our responsibility, not only to fund that, but to make sure that it continues and continues to help us have a thriving community. Nick Gosnell: All right. The county commission, the basic function of it now, as opposed to maybe what it was 20, 30 years ago, now, now that they have a professional administrator, it isn't so much about the day to day deciding what the, uh, what, what check gets written today, as much as it is getting the general direction of the budget and the priorities for the county as a whole from a year to year basis. So what is your experience in that area of things in terms of budgeting and saying, okay, this is a good idea, but maybe not right now. Or this is an idea that we need to do now to set the, to set the pace for future years. How do you make those decisions? How does that go through your mind when you're making decisions for the short, medium and long term? Lindsey Hatfield: Right. This is where I think my day job helps a lot because I work in property management or asset management. So you're dealing with an asset, a property and Reno County is also an asset, right? And so part of that is creating a budget for your year, looking at your income and your expenses. But a lot, a big part of asset management is not having deferred maintenance. So taking care of the little things, not putting a bandaid over something that's just going to cost you more money down the road. Um, so for me, I'm very comfortable creating budgets, working with budgets cause it's what I do in my day job. And it's really about planning for the big expenses.&nbsp; You're not going to have to replace your roof every year, but eventually you're going to need to replace your roof. You can't keep spending thousands of dollars, patching it and patching it and patching it when really you just need to replace it. So I have a lot of experience with that side sort of stuff with property management and, and I'm very comfortable with budgets. Nick Gosnell: All right. And there are some areas, as I alluded to earlier, that are branch offices of the state, like the county treasurer basically has to follow whatever the statute says with regard to that county appraiser for all of the frustration that people have with their appraisals and the changes in that kind of stuff. Most of that is statutorily based and has to do with just comparables and those sorts of things.&nbsp; I've talked to the appraiser about that. So in those areas where you may not have a ton of ability to change what they do because the statute says what it says, well, how do you, how do you say to them, okay, yeah, we know you have to do this, but maybe you can do it in a different way, uh, in an effort to, to save the taxpayers money where it's even possible. Lindsey Hatfield: I think you just hit the nail on the head. You say to them, I know you have to do this, but let's rethink this. Is there a different way that we can do this, hopefully to save people money? Uh, I mean, that's, that's getting into the nitty gritty of it. And I'm sure if I'm elected, um, you know, I'll have a lot of experience with that.&nbsp; But for me, it's all about trying to find new ways of doing things different than what we have been doing. Because to me, it feels like a lot of what we're doing is not helping us progress and move forward as a county. And we're just sort of stagnant and, and that's not my vision for the future.&nbsp; And I think a lot of people who live here, that's not our vision. We want to see people moving back to Reno County and not moving away. And that's what's been happening.&nbsp; So we just need new leadership with a vision who is willing to try something different than what we've been doing. Nick Gosnell: All right. So how can folks find out more about your campaign and find out more about, uh, just how you plan to deal with issues? They can do so online, right? Lindsey Hatfield: Yeah. I have a website <a href="http://voteforhatfield.com">voteforhatfield.com</a>. You can go there and you can find out all about me. You can also email me <a href="mailto:Hatfieldforcommissioner@gmail.com">Hatfieldforcommissioner@gmail.com</a>. I'm happy to answer any emails as well, and I live in Hyde Park. I have, I'm right across from the Hyde Park here or that little, you know, the grassy Hyde Park. So come over and say hi, if you want to, we've got all our scary Halloween decorations out right now.Below is the audio interview.<div><iframe title="Lindsey Hatfield" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=shi38-17184ac-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>

🎧 Transcript: Lindsey Hatfield, County Commission 4

Nick Gosnell: Richard Winger, he is running for District 4 for the County Commission as a Republican. He'll be on your ballot if you live in most of the city of Hutchinson here for the November 5th ballot, but there are parts of the city that have different County Commissioners, but it's mostly the city of Hutch. That's what the district is for, District 4. So I guess, Richard, most folks may know you from your days at Pools Plus. Why throw yourself into the deep end of the pool to run for County Commission?

Richard Winger: Well, when I was working at Pools Plus, you work some long hours and you, of course, are all over the state. But over the course of a number of years, I've had a number of people saying that I should run and to think about it at least. And so after I retired from Pools Plus, I went to actually went to work for the county in the maintenance department, worked there for about six months.&nbsp; My body was telling me I enjoyed the job, but my body was saying no. And so then I went to work for the college and I've been there almost a year now. And so I actually have more time available. I still love this city and this county. And so I thought it was the right time for me to put my hat in the ring. And I like I said, I've lived here since 1973.&nbsp; I've always enjoyed this city and the surroundings around it.

Nick Gosnell: All right. So a county commissioner, because they have a permanent administrator that they've hired, the day to day stuff anymore is usually done through the administrator's office or if it's a legal matter through the county counselor's office.&nbsp; The chief piece of what a county commissioner does is budgeting. What do you know about that and about how the county is doing it and anything that you might have to say regarding the county budget?

Richard Winger:&nbsp;Of course, you run a budget in your house, so you start there, hopefully when you're younger and stuff. Working through Pools Plus, we would do bids and quotes. And of course, you have a budget to do that and you have to be able to get it done under budget or at budget, but try not to go over the budget. As for the county, I would love to see the county be more effective and efficient. I know we were talking about at the forum forward thinking and sometimes that's great and in most cases it is, but there's times though where forward thinking means that you're going to need to raise taxes and that's not always a necessary thing. You can look at the budget and maybe skimp or not have something in a budget in this area that is not utilized like it used to be and use it for something else.

Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;Now, there is one area of the county that has been particularly used over the time since I've been here in Hutchinson. And just to remind folks, my official hire date was December 31st of 2019. I started in January of 2020, so immediately prior to the pandemic. So, the health department kind of got pushed to the front of the line a little bit during the COVID period, but they do a whole lot more than just the emergency stuff that happened during COVID. And I know that your wife worked at the health department for a long time, so you have at least a little bit of inside information on the workings of that. How important is the work of the health department?

Richard Winger:&nbsp;It's very important. It does a number of age groups from infants and toddlers all the way up to elderly people. It actually brings in a revenue stream. Most people don't realize that. They just think they use taxes to support it, but it actually does bring in a revenue stream. They do shots. Women's, infants, and children's department is very important for those young mothers with young children. I use it. I've used it since I was here. I got a TB test when I first went to work at McDonald's, so that tells you how long ago that's been. But I also go there for my shots. They work on, they have foot clinics for those people with diabetes and other things where they can't reach their feet anymore, so they help you take care of that.&nbsp; They do all kinds of things that most people don't realize, not just, you know, emergency care and things like that.

Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;Okay. There are a lot of areas of the county that, for want of a better way of putting it, are branch offices of the state.&nbsp; By that I mean, like your county treasurer's office is, generally speaking, locked in to do whatever the statute tells them to do as far as county treasurer is concerned. County appraiser is much the same way. The statute and the parameters within that kind of control what happens there.&nbsp; So, how much real change can you make in those departments that are basically controlled by things that were passed at a level higher than yours? And how much can you say, hey, listen, what can we do operationally here? Where does that line get drawn?

Richard Winger:&nbsp;Well, operationally, it would probably be the most area that we can control because it would incur, you know, the facility that the operations in, the people that work there, talking about if it's a mandated thing from the state, then there really isn't much you can do. The money is supposed to be allocated and used for that part, and so you really can't do a whole lot with that. That being said, if you have access to, you know, the House and Senate members at the capitol, you might be able to visit with them about some of those, you know, things that are being done and see if you can get them lowered.

Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;There will be two new members of the county commission for certain. Your race is one where both people would be new, and then there's another race that's where both people would be new. But three of the five county commissioners, at least in theory, assuming that there isn't a huge write-in vote in Hirst's district, will be ones that come back that are still there from before. So you have the three that have done it for a long time, or relatively, or that have done it before, and the two that have not done it yet. How do you persuade the majority to not just keep doing what they're doing?

Richard Winger:&nbsp;That's the point we were just kind of talking about. You have to have a quorum, I mean, of voters. And so there's five of us now, would be five of us. So you have to have a three to two vote or four one, or even five oh if it's unanimous. I'm one of those guys, I don't believe in kicking the can down the road, but I also am pretty persuasive when I'm visiting with somebody about something that needs to be done, and I feel strong about it. I can usually get my point across and my goal would be to convince the other commissioners that this is the way we need to go. I've also known a number of the commissioners for a while just through work, and I've worked for them and done things with them, volunteer and other things. So I think I can be a team player, but also not just sit on the bench and not participate either.&nbsp; I want to be one of those that would contribute.

Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;All right. So the big areas of the budget that are things that need to, the county needs to work through, public works is a huge part of the budget as far as dollars are concerned, but that's kind of another one of those areas where, for want of a better way of putting it, if the bridge needs fixed, the bridge needs fixed.&nbsp; So there's a lot of that that is difficult to do much about other than just be proper with maintenance and those sorts of things. How do you say to those folks the difference between we want to do maintenance now so that we have longest life that we possibly can for everything we have to, well, we don't have the budget to do everything all the time. It's something you had to deal with in maintaining things in the business you were in too, I suppose.

Richard Winger:&nbsp;Exactly. And I really, that's one of the things that I noticed when I first moved here. And even as a younger person, a lot of times things, the maintenance wouldn't get done and then it would be broke.&nbsp; And then it's like, okay, we have to fix it. And it's always easier to keep that car longer. If you do that, those minor details and oil changes and things early on, and it makes it last longer. So in the county, you just got to figure out the budget and do a timely schedule on different things. Most people don't see the infrastructure around the city. They just see the city unless you're out a farmer or you're driving out in the county for another reason.&nbsp; You don't see the roads, you don't see the bridges, and they are utilized a lot around this city. We have some great interstate or four lane highways now, but the county roads are still utilized a lot.

Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;Well, and so part of the constant maintenance is that the county commission has a certain number of lane miles. And I don't have the number off the top of my head. I apologize. Don Brittain will probably send me an email saying, it's this number. And that's fine, Don, go ahead and send it to me later. And I'll be sure that I know what it is. But there's a certain number of lane miles that you have to do each year to be able to get through the entire county over the course of several years. Because you can't, there's not an infinite amount of money. You can't do them all every year. So sometimes when budgets are tight, that's one of the things that gets cut back on is that maintenance stuff like we talked about. Are there other areas where the county could go, you know, maybe we don't do this, but we focus on the other things for the purposes of those folks outside of the city of Hutchinson, like we just talked about?

Richard Winger:&nbsp;Well, so there are, Don Brittain is great for that department. And there's 19 other department leaders, and they all work to keep their budgets within the limits that they're supposed to. I know like in roads and bridges, there's also where they go out and they do ditches and they do this or that with heavy equipment. And maybe it's one of those things where they can't do that because they need that money to go to a road. Maybe they have a bridge that had an accident on it and it damaged part of the bridge and that would have to come from that expense to be fixed.

Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;Again, Richard, if people want to find out more about you, what's the easiest way to find out more about your campaign or get a hold of you if they want to talk to you between now and election day?

Richard Winger:&nbsp;Well, I have my cell phone and I answer it.&nbsp; I've heard a few people that are running say that. So it's 620-664-0662. If I don't answer, pardon me, leave me a voicemail and I'll be glad to get back with you. I also have a website on Facebook that my wife put together. It's Winger for County Commission on Facebook. And then we also have an email. It's <a href="mailto:winglaf6@yahoo.com">winglaf6@yahoo.com</a>. That's W-I-N-G-L-A-F, the number six at yahoo.com. That's correct.

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 </figure>Nick Gosnell: Richard Winger, he is running for District 4 for the County Commission as a Republican. He'll be on your ballot if you live in most of the city of Hutchinson here for the November 5th ballot, but there are parts of the city that have different County Commissioners, but it's mostly the city of Hutch. That's what the district is for, District 4. So I guess, Richard, most folks may know you from your days at Pools Plus. Why throw yourself into the deep end of the pool to run for County Commission? Richard Winger: Well, when I was working at Pools Plus, you work some long hours and you, of course, are all over the state. But over the course of a number of years, I've had a number of people saying that I should run and to think about it at least. And so after I retired from Pools Plus, I went to actually went to work for the county in the maintenance department, worked there for about six months.&nbsp; My body was telling me I enjoyed the job, but my body was saying no. And so then I went to work for the college and I've been there almost a year now. And so I actually have more time available. I still love this city and this county. And so I thought it was the right time for me to put my hat in the ring. And I like I said, I've lived here since 1973.&nbsp; I've always enjoyed this city and the surroundings around it. Nick Gosnell: All right. So a county commissioner, because they have a permanent administrator that they've hired, the day to day stuff anymore is usually done through the administrator's office or if it's a legal matter through the county counselor's office.&nbsp; The chief piece of what a county commissioner does is budgeting. What do you know about that and about how the county is doing it and anything that you might have to say regarding the county budget? Richard Winger:&nbsp;Of course, you run a budget in your house, so you start there, hopefully when you're younger and stuff. Working through Pools Plus, we would do bids and quotes. And of course, you have a budget to do that and you have to be able to get it done under budget or at budget, but try not to go over the budget. As for the county, I would love to see the county be more effective and efficient. I know we were talking about at the forum forward thinking and sometimes that's great and in most cases it is, but there's times though where forward thinking means that you're going to need to raise taxes and that's not always a necessary thing. You can look at the budget and maybe skimp or not have something in a budget in this area that is not utilized like it used to be and use it for something else. Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;Now, there is one area of the county that has been particularly used over the time since I've been here in Hutchinson. And just to remind folks, my official hire date was December 31st of 2019. I started in January of 2020, so immediately prior to the pandemic. So, the health department kind of got pushed to the front of the line a little bit during the COVID period, but they do a whole lot more than just the emergency stuff that happened during COVID. And I know that your wife worked at the health department for a long time, so you have at least a little bit of inside information on the workings of that. How important is the work of the health department? Richard Winger:&nbsp;It's very important. It does a number of age groups from infants and toddlers all the way up to elderly people. It actually brings in a revenue stream. Most people don't realize that. They just think they use taxes to support it, but it actually does bring in a revenue stream. They do shots. Women's, infants, and children's department is very important for those young mothers with young children. I use it. I've used it since I was here. I got a TB test when I first went to work at McDonald's, so that tells you how long ago that's been. But I also go there for my shots. They work on, they have foot clinics for those people with diabetes and other things where they can't reach their feet anymore, so they help you take care of that.&nbsp; They do all kinds of things that most people don't realize, not just, you know, emergency care and things like that. Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;Okay. There are a lot of areas of the county that, for want of a better way of putting it, are branch offices of the state.&nbsp; By that I mean, like your county treasurer's office is, generally speaking, locked in to do whatever the statute tells them to do as far as county treasurer is concerned. County appraiser is much the same way. The statute and the parameters within that kind of control what happens there.&nbsp; So, how much real change can you make in those departments that are basically controlled by things that were passed at a level higher than yours? And how much can you say, hey, listen, what can we do operationally here? Where does that line get drawn? Richard Winger:&nbsp;Well, operationally, it would probably be the most area that we can control because it would incur, you know, the facility that the operations in, the people that work there, talking about if it's a mandated thing from the state, then there really isn't much you can do. The money is supposed to be allocated and used for that part, and so you really can't do a whole lot with that. That being said, if you have access to, you know, the House and Senate members at the capitol, you might be able to visit with them about some of those, you know, things that are being done and see if you can get them lowered. Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;There will be two new members of the county commission for certain. Your race is one where both people would be new, and then there's another race that's where both people would be new. But three of the five county commissioners, at least in theory, assuming that there isn't a huge write-in vote in Hirst's district, will be ones that come back that are still there from before. So you have the three that have done it for a long time, or relatively, or that have done it before, and the two that have not done it yet. How do you persuade the majority to not just keep doing what they're doing? Richard Winger:&nbsp;That's the point we were just kind of talking about. You have to have a quorum, I mean, of voters. And so there's five of us now, would be five of us. So you have to have a three to two vote or four one, or even five oh if it's unanimous. I'm one of those guys, I don't believe in kicking the can down the road, but I also am pretty persuasive when I'm visiting with somebody about something that needs to be done, and I feel strong about it. I can usually get my point across and my goal would be to convince the other commissioners that this is the way we need to go. I've also known a number of the commissioners for a while just through work, and I've worked for them and done things with them, volunteer and other things. So I think I can be a team player, but also not just sit on the bench and not participate either.&nbsp; I want to be one of those that would contribute. Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;All right. So the big areas of the budget that are things that need to, the county needs to work through, public works is a huge part of the budget as far as dollars are concerned, but that's kind of another one of those areas where, for want of a better way of putting it, if the bridge needs fixed, the bridge needs fixed.&nbsp; So there's a lot of that that is difficult to do much about other than just be proper with maintenance and those sorts of things. How do you say to those folks the difference between we want to do maintenance now so that we have longest life that we possibly can for everything we have to, well, we don't have the budget to do everything all the time. It's something you had to deal with in maintaining things in the business you were in too, I suppose. Richard Winger:&nbsp;Exactly. And I really, that's one of the things that I noticed when I first moved here. And even as a younger person, a lot of times things, the maintenance wouldn't get done and then it would be broke.&nbsp; And then it's like, okay, we have to fix it. And it's always easier to keep that car longer. If you do that, those minor details and oil changes and things early on, and it makes it last longer. So in the county, you just got to figure out the budget and do a timely schedule on different things. Most people don't see the infrastructure around the city. They just see the city unless you're out a farmer or you're driving out in the county for another reason.&nbsp; You don't see the roads, you don't see the bridges, and they are utilized a lot around this city. We have some great interstate or four lane highways now, but the county roads are still utilized a lot. Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;Well, and so part of the constant maintenance is that the county commission has a certain number of lane miles. And I don't have the number off the top of my head. I apologize. Don Brittain will probably send me an email saying, it's this number. And that's fine, Don, go ahead and send it to me later. And I'll be sure that I know what it is. But there's a certain number of lane miles that you have to do each year to be able to get through the entire county over the course of several years. Because you can't, there's not an infinite amount of money. You can't do them all every year. So sometimes when budgets are tight, that's one of the things that gets cut back on is that maintenance stuff like we talked about. Are there other areas where the county could go, you know, maybe we don't do this, but we focus on the other things for the purposes of those folks outside of the city of Hutchinson, like we just talked about? Richard Winger:&nbsp;Well, so there are, Don Brittain is great for that department. And there's 19 other department leaders, and they all work to keep their budgets within the limits that they're supposed to. I know like in roads and bridges, there's also where they go out and they do ditches and they do this or that with heavy equipment. And maybe it's one of those things where they can't do that because they need that money to go to a road. Maybe they have a bridge that had an accident on it and it damaged part of the bridge and that would have to come from that expense to be fixed. Nick Gosnell:&nbsp;Again, Richard, if people want to find out more about you, what's the easiest way to find out more about your campaign or get a hold of you if they want to talk to you between now and election day? Richard Winger:&nbsp;Well, I have my cell phone and I answer it.&nbsp; I've heard a few people that are running say that. So it's 620-664-0662. If I don't answer, pardon me, leave me a voicemail and I'll be glad to get back with you. I also have a website on Facebook that my wife put together. It's Winger for County Commission on Facebook. And then we also have an email. It's <a href="mailto:winglaf6@yahoo.com">winglaf6@yahoo.com</a>. That's W-I-N-G-L-A-F, the number six at yahoo.com. That's correct.Below is the audio interview.<div><iframe title="Richard Winger" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=etgk2-1718497-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>

Transcript: Richard Winger, County Commission 4

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