Ed. Note: Below is the transcript of the interview with Mike Sullivan. He is a candidate for the district 1 seat on the Reno County Commission.
Marc Jacobs: So, tell us a little bit about Mike Sullivan. Where you're from? What your thoughts are?
Mike Sullivan: Well, I I started. I grew up in Burton, little town east of here, at that time was a nice little town. Spent most of my life really in the Reno County area. Went to Wichita State University. Went to go. Graduated with a degree in accounting. Sat for the CPA exam right after that. Worked for a CPA firm for two years. God really didn't enjoy that. It was kind of boring. So then I came over, worked for Carrie Salt for eight years, was the property manager, then the cost accountant, assistant controller, and then a controller of a division of Canadian Pacific in upstate New York for about a year. After that, I got a job at Nickerson. Was their business manager for 28 years.
Marc Jacobs: So, tell us a little bit about your experience with the Nickerson South Hutchinson School District because I think that that brings a lot to the table that you can offer to the county commission because you're used to dealing with budgets and tax bases and items like that.
Mike Sullivan: Right, right. Well, when of course I came from corporate accounting, and when I got into school accounting, government accounting, the motivation is a little bit different. When you're in corporate accounting, you want the bottom dollar to be big profit. When you're in government accounting, you want it to be zero. So, so that was a bit of an adjustment for me. But the first year I was there, the superintendent had an accident, couldn't help with the budget. I was I was a little nervous to say the least preparing that budget, but the the school board goal was to have maximum budget authority, maximum government money, and to lower the mill levy, I was able to do all three. Which that last one, lowering the mill levy, is was kind of difficult. Well, from the superintendent came back, and from then on, I did the budgets for 28 years.
Marc Jacobs: You know, that's you know that's a major experience because there is a big difference between governmental and for-profit budgets. Another thing I want to expand on is, you know, commissioners set public policy; they adopt said budget and and set the policy in the direction of the county. What do you believe is the utmost number one responsibility for you if you were elected as a county commissioner.
Mike Sullivan: Well, I think it's somewhat like a school board position. As board members, as county commissioners, you need you need to study all the information, get the facts, and make a decision based on those facts. And that decision really needs to benefit the most people in the county. The majority of the people, obviously, you can't please everybody.
Marc Jacobs: You look at you look at the budget itself, and a lot of the a lot of the county budget is set by state mandates. What principles can you apply to the budget to minimize the impact of the state mandates but keep services to the public to the Reno County citizens up.
Mike Sullivan: Well, that's similar also to school budgets. And actually, I just came from the commission meeting. They're working on cutting the budget now, and there's some things you can't cut. Obviously, some things are mandatory. Safety, obviously, is a priority. Regardless, the police department needs to be funded fully funded. Unlike in some cases where they want to cut those budgets, that that's a part of public safety. You you really have to review the facts. I I feel for the guys that are in there now. They're trying to cut the budget, and some things you just you just don't want to take people's jobs away, and especially if those jobs are critical to the county at large.
Marc Jacobs: You talked, you touched about it a little bit there about potential job cuts and trying to balance the budget and try to shrink the budget, so it fits within the mill levy, so you don't have to exceed the revenue neutral rate. What decisions? What are your priorities looking forward or looking forward? What are the priorities that you would put in place for the budget itself? The budget that you can that the local level has in control of.
Mike Sullivan: Well, I think you you have to pretty much evaluate the the programs, the positions that are there, and you know some positions were created years ago, maybe aren't necessary anymore. I think it'd be important to review those and see if something can. Be cut, and it really wouldn't affect anybody. That may not happen. That may not be the case. But I think you know it's incoming. I've got to review that, study it, talk to people, see see what's most important to everybody.
Marc Jacobs: I want to touch base on this because this has been a hot button issue. In fact, the city, the county commission, had a special meeting to address just this topic, and that's data centers and battery energy storage systems. What's your take on one the importance of those facilities? But what's your take on are those facilities needed here? What's the restrictions? What kind of you know concerns do you have?
Mike Sullivan: Well, I attended that special meeting. There were a lot of people there expressing concerns over that. Some of those concerns I already had. Number one would probably be water consumption. Number two would be water pollution if they treat the water, and then also energy consumption. At that meeting, someone had suggested that the new power plant south of South Hutchinson, if they have a what they call a hyperscale data center, which is like 50 acres of data center, they said that would take almost all of that energy. So I had two or three questions in. I went to a meeting in Haven where they had two engineers who were expert in this area, and they're actually consulting with Sedgwick County to give them assistance in what questions to ask and what regulations to initiate. After that meeting, I had even more questions, but I think I'm still concerned about the water consumption. If there if there's going to be treatment about water pollution, and also about energy, my my one concern is if they use all the energy that's put out by that plant, which will be fueled by natural gas, so electricity rates could go up, natural gas rates could go up because of demand and consumption, and they could go up for for the public at large, which I would be opposed to that. Initially, my my first thought was, they're going to make money. We don't need to subsidize it. I don't think they should get any tax incentives or any incentives in in utilization of energy. They should pay the same as as others do. Then there's also sound pollution. There have been some records, some lawsuits actually in other areas where the sound that or the noise that's created, it may be a noise that we don't even hear, but it's still harmful to the human brain or the human body. And then there's there's other environmental issues as well.
Marc Jacobs: So, would you be in favor of a moratorium or a well, not necessarily a moratorium, but maybe a limit on the size of a data center. I know that there has been some discussion in other places about. Well, we're all right with having a data center, but we just don't want one of those big 50-acre. You know, is there any is there any give and take where maybe a smaller data center would be more appropriate for this area instead of like a big Amazon or Meta type data center, maybe a smaller one to help with you know with local needs.
Mike Sullivan: Well, I think well based on discussions with some council members, commission members, it it's not likely that that will happen in the county. It would seem to me, based on some information I've gathered, that it's more likely to happen at the old Cessna facility, and that would always have to be approved, obviously, by the city of Hutchinson. That size, the smaller size, probably could be beneficial to the county and the city. And I, as my understanding that the city's already issued some preliminary regulations on that, with the expectation they'll study it further and get better regulations to make sure they don't lose money on the deal.
Marc Jacobs: I want to touch base on another hot button topic because we talk about you know we talked there about the energy and that need, but it seems to a lot of people, and I've heard a lot of people ask. You know, the county always county the county government, and to an extent, even the city government, they provide incentives to attract people to or attract jobs to the county. You know, the county at the present time is kind of. Stagnant. What are your thoughts about using counting funds or county funds or incentives to attract businesses to the community?
Mike Sullivan: Well, I don't really personally believe it's the responsibility of the the county commission or the county or the city for that matter to pick winners and losers. If and obviously you need to provide some incentive for them to come, so we have jobs, to the extent it doesn't harm the rest of the inhabitants of the county.
Marc Jacobs: You know, we talk about you know the big hot button issues, which is childcare and jobs and housing. What's your take on how to move forward? How the county can move forward to help grow the county as a whole.
Mike Sullivan: Well, I guess I'm not personally aware of some things the county has done in the past. I would need to review that and talk to some other experts in that area to see what we can do that won't harm the local economy but will help add jobs. And as far as housing and that sort of thing is concerned, I don't really believe the county is their responsibility to provide cities for that sort of thing. And I think with regard to the data centers, I don't really think that the city or the county should provide any money to subsidize that. They're going to make a lot of money, and I don't think they need tax money to help them with that.
Marc Jacobs: All right, sir. We have just about a little over a minute here. Any final thoughts? Any wisdom that you wanted to let the voters know why they should vote for Mike Sullivan on Tuesday?
Mike Sullivan: Well, I think my opponent and I agree on many issues, but I think in terms of qualification, my 28 years' experience with USD 309 is business manager and clerk of the board. So, I, in 28 years, I missed one board meeting, two board meetings a month, and special meetings. In 28 years, I missed one meeting. Those meetings can be contentious just as well as the county commission meetings can be, so my experience in in dealing with multi-million-dollar budgets for 28 years and dealing with some really sensitive and sometimes controversial issues with the school would give me the experience I think to deal with similar situations with the county.